XT Case with Modern Motherboard

[Jules Richardson]

Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
> woodelf wrote:
> 
>> Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I am well aware of this.  That part is easy.  I was more concerned 
>>> about the motherboard mounting.
>>>
>> I  have been known  to hack at  XT cases but as for a new motherboard  
>> I am at  loss to just
> 
> 
> It'll fit.  The motherboards are roughly the same size and shape.  The 
> only problem will be the mounting plate and the connector panel.

IIRC, there are raised metal sections welded to the base of the XT case, 
and it's into these that the plastic standoffs for the motherboard sit. 
If I'm misremembering, ignore me...

Anyway, get yourself an angle grinder and slice right down the middle of 
the raised metal sections from front to back. Hammer the remains flat, 
so you've got a roughly flat bottom to the case.

Then, get yourself a scrap ATX tower case (free from all sorts of 
sources) and chop the bit of metal out of that which normally holds the 
ATX motherboard standoffs (I expect nearly all of them unbolt, no 
chopping required).

After making a few strategic holes in the bottom of the XT case, you 
should be able to bolt that assembly in the right place so that the rear 
cut-outs for the cards line up with a fitted motherboard properly. 
You'll then be able to mount any ATX motherboard that the original 
sacrificial ATX case would take.

As for the PSU, good idea of someone's regarding mounting it inside the 
original PSU - you'll want to keep that big red power switch! :-)

Connector panel - if the engineering stacks up (XT card slot holes don't 
get in the way), I'd be tempted to cut out the whole relevant part of 
the aforementioned sacrificial ATX case out and mount *that* inside the 
XT case, bolting it to a suitable cut-out that you can make in the back 
of the XT's case. Lot easier than trying to cut lots of neat socket 
holes in the XT's steel.

The alternative would be to desolder the connectors from the ATX board 
and relocate them via cables to brackets scavenged from relevant ISA 
cards (soundcard, I/O card etc.) - but I don't know what your chances of 
getting the parallel port socket off an ATX board without damaging 
anything would be!

Normally I wouldn't agree with chopping an old machine apart, but it is 
just a PC and not something particularly interesting...

cheers

Jules