DELL Dimension E 520 Case

[species8350]

Hi,

Does the DELL Dimension E520 have the standard atx case?

What is an atx case?

Thanks

[MJMIII]

"species8350" <not_here.5....@xoxy.net> wrote in message
news:dbeb9426-508d-4fed...@21g2000yqj.googlegroups.com...

Learn how to do a basic search. Took all of a split second.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX
--

"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."

[Ben Myers]

The E520 case follows the BTX format which tried to be an industry
standard a few years ago. Seems like most name-brand companies are
reverting back to ATX now.

The glib answer about ATX is to tell you to go to the Intel web site
where you can find ATX standards documents.

ATX was introduced back in 1996 or 1997 to deal with numerous issues
with the older AT standard, named after IBM's PC AT.

The ATX standard covers the shape of motherboards (usually about 9x12
inches) and type of power connector, originally a single 20-pin. There
are lots and lots of variations within the standard, including size and
shape of power supply, smaller motherboards (microATX and ITX), and size
of chassis (full tower, mid-tower, mini-tower, desktop variants).
Current ATX power supplies have as 24-pin motherboard connector and a
4-pin 12v connector to handle Pentium 4-and-later and late AMD CPU power
requirements. The 24-pin connector of some power supplies has a
detachable 4-pin block, making it equally suited for use with older
motherboards that require 20 pin connectors.

The original ATX cases were full towers with a power supply of
"standard" dimensions. Then all the variations began.

ATX and BTX are largely incompatible, except that they accept the same
PCI and PCI-Express cards and that their power connectors are the same.

At this point, I can only suggest that you use the internet to search
out photos and drawings of ATX cases and motherboards. Intel's web site
is a treasure of specs for its motherboards and for some standards
documents, since Intel is in the driver's seat setting many hardware
standards... Ben Myers

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

> Does the DELL Dimension E520 have the standard atx case?

No, it uses a BTX case. BTX was a motherboard standard that Intel
really hoped would catch on. It seems that the only people still using
it for anything are the system designers at Dell.

> What is an atx case?

It's a case that takes ATX or mini-ATX motherboards. Compared to a BTX
case, the ventilation is set up differently. All computer cases should
take some air in from the front of the case, while BTX systems make a
point of doing so with a front mounted fan that blows incoming air
directly over the CPU before it has a chance to be heated up by
anything else.

I don't think you can put an ATX board in a BTX case. If you need a
new motherboard, I might suggest looking up Red Planet Motherboards on
eBay user ID: red_planet_motherboards . I say that as nothing more
than a satisfied customer.

William

[species8350]

Thanks for responding.

My reason for asking is because I am going to fit a wi-fi card to my
tower system and was wondering if the standard bracket on the card
will fit the Dell.

But from what Ben has said, I should be able to fit a PCI wifi card
into the case.

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

> My reason for asking is because I am going to fit a wi-fi card to
> my tower system and was wondering if the standard bracket
> on the card will fit the Dell.

Okay, that's the question you really want to ask. :-)

You can use whatever kind of card your computer has slots for. The
E520 ought to have both PCI and PCI Express slots. It probably has two
of each type--two PCI, 1 4 lane PCI Express, and one 16-lane PCI
Express.

ATX and BTX only apply to the shape and mounting locations for the
motherboard, not what kind of cards you can use with your system.

(Note that PCI-X cards are not related in any way to PCI Express.)

The second question and answer implied by the mention of a "bracket"
is whether you have a full or half-height case. The half-height cases
are typically used in small form factor systems and you'll know if you
have one of those because the bracket openings will be about half the
size they should be. All Dell towers are full height cases (although
people do turn the Dell SFF and desktop machines on their side to look
like squashed towers).

Many wireless and wired network cards actually include both brackets.
If you have a screwdriver, and possibly a small pliers, you can change
them in a minute or two.

William

[species8350]

On Dec 30 2009, 8:36 pm, "William R. Walsh" <wm_wa...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Thank you

Now to try and choose the wireless adapter