Moving a PC from a large tower to a micro case or mini tower

[Dragonsbane11]

Hey all, first time here but I have gotten help from many threads before. I wanted to get some advice on a project I am working on. I am planning on building a mame arcade cabinet and was going to use my old desktop to do it. However it is currently in a big case and I was gonna use that for new internal components of my next desktop. So I was thinking about moving the mobo, hd, ect to a micro case or a mini tower. I graps that it would be dissasembly and reassembly, however I wanted to get an opinion if the parts I currently have would even work in a smaller case, below is my system in a nutshell.


ULTRACF8000Z 1 0.00 0.00
AMD PHENOM X4 9550 QUAD CORE 1
500 GB SATA II 3.0 GB 16MB 7200RPM 1
1G DDR2 PC6400 MEMORY 3
CM HYPER TX2 GAMING CPU COOLING FAN 1
BLACK LG LIGHTSCRIBE 20X DVDRW 1
MSI K9A2 CF-F AMD790X CROSSFIRE 1
ONBOARD 7.1 SOUND 1
GIGABYTE 802.11G 54MBP WIRELESS PCI 1
COOLERMASTER 600WATT EXTREME POWER 1
BLACK X-CRUISER 420 WATT 1
SAPPHIRE ATI HD 3650 512 MB PCI-E 2

Like I said I like my case and was just going to get new parts to go in it although everything here is about 4 years old, save the power supply it caught fire last year and I replaced it.

Anyway, I was looking to move most of that over, maybe shift down to one video card to save on power and get a smaller power supply. Im concerned that the mobo wont fit or that the heat will be too great for a smaller case. I of course know that being in a arcade cabinet there will be more heat (Buying about 6 200mm fans or 2-4 400mm for the cabinet itself to keep air moving.)

for refernece I was think something like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112299
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144162

Any help will be appreciated!

 

[amuffin]

Is your board matx?

 

[scottiemedic]

Neither of those cases will work. The main problem is your mobo. It's ATX and those case can hold a max microATX board. You'll need to swap out your mobo to downgrade the case size.

 

[Dragonsbane11]

Ahh ok, so would some thing like this be better?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119195

Also I am sorry to aks so much but do you know if there would be any microatx boards that take my processor?

 

[scottiemedic]

Motherboard Compatibility ATX, Micro ATX

Yup, that's what your looking for

 

[scottiemedic]

Oh, and there are boatloads of mATX boards for AMD. Sort newegg by CPU type and form factor.

 

[amuffin]

I would get something like a fractal design midi

 

[Dragonsbane11]

Thanks guys! Since I got you here any opinion on if I should just make a new pc for this or is recycling a good move?

 

[scottiemedic]

I'd get whatever appeals to you.

 

[scottiemedic]

I always try to reuse parts, and yours aren't horribly old. They would make a nice Linux learner or NAS or who knows what! Recycle is always a last option in my book, hehe

 

[Dragonsbane11]

Best answer selected by dragonsbane11.

 

[Dragonsbane11]

I always try to reuse parts, and yours aren't horribly old. They would make a nice Linux learner or NAS or who knows what! Recycle is always a last option in my book, hehe

Oh I meant recycle as in use in anew system, not the scrap kind lol. Funny thing is that I have been itching to make a new desktop for a few years but monetary issues hae kept me from it. Now Im looking at making a new desktop and this arcade. I haven made a computer since 2008 so Im a bit rusty...lol thanks for all the help.

 

[scottiemedic]

You bet, have fun with your new toys!!