Repurposing an old HP Compaq dc7600 tower \ VOGONS

Repurposing an old HP Compaq dc7600 tower

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First post, by oeuvre

Posted on 2018-02-22, 20:44

oeuvre Offline

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Gutted an HP Compaq dc7600 mid tower. Standard ATX layout. Front panel was standard as well! Even the power and HD LEDs work.

Rosewill Glacier 700W Modular power supply
Gigabyte Z170HD3P motherboard
Intel i7 6700K
Zalman cooler
Arctic F9 rear fan
32GB RAM
Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 SSD
Seagate 2TB 7200RPM hard drive
DVD/RW drive
5.25" USB 3.0 front panel with 3.5/2.5 bay
NVIDIA GeForce GTX1060 6GB video card

So the original power supply is slightly larger than standard ATX but the screw holes aligned fine for the first part. Addon cards do not require a screwdriver for installation.

Side view of the interior

Hid the hard drive in there since the SATA power connector was jutting out and preventing the case from properly closing.

Roomy!

Side panel. The black frame is removable so I spray painted it black to make it look much better.

Other side. Missing one of the rubber feet.

Before the spray paint

In action!

Front panel USB 2.0 + audio jacks work fine

specs + temps

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7

Reply 1 of 5, by KCompRoom2000

Posted on 2018-02-23, 08:11

KCompRoom2000 Offline

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Really cool! I always enjoy the idea of reusing older computer cases for newer hardware builds, especially cases from OEM P4-era systems like your HP DC7600. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to doing something similar with a midnight-grey Dell Dimension case.

Reply 2 of 5, by oeuvre

Posted on 2018-02-23, 14:58

oeuvre Offline

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You mean like those Dimension 8200 cases? I think it can be done since they're mATX layout

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7

Reply 3 of 5, by greasemonkey90s

Posted on 2018-02-26, 07:37

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very clean i like it

Reply 4 of 5, by chinny22

Posted on 2018-02-26, 13:11

chinny22 Offline

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HP's round that era did have nice cases both in looks and design, Good to know the front panel connectors are all standard, that's usually the main negative

Reply 5 of 5, by oeuvre

Posted on 2018-02-26, 13:52

oeuvre Offline

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Location: USA

They were also quite easy to work with. Opening it is a breeze, toolless access for PCIe/PCI slots, decent amount of drive bays. Nice to have front USB 2.0 + 3.0 + audio again.

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7

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