Alienware 7500 PC Case Build

[mrshinyshoes]

I’ve recently come across this case second hand and i’m looking to build it back up as a mid range PC.


Build principles
1) Keep it as stock as possible, the rgb logic board still works (i think)
2) Air cooled (hoping to cram in a legacy Noctua NH-D14)
3) Not a toaster, if it is back to the drawing board.

Initial thoughts
I think this case (soundproofing) is fairly rare, looking online I haven’t been able to find any with what appears to be stock black alienware soundproofing foam.

The case is a standard ATX case with standard mobo headers. My only concern is the top mounted PSU so I intend to oversize the wattage over actual for longevity / ensure airflow is as good as can be.

Thoughts or similar build findings welcome, i’ll be working out the specs soon.

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[mrshinyshoes]

I can tell you now you do not want to use the sound insulation. It makes absolutely no difference, apart from maybe lowering the sound of a mechanical drive a tiny bit but turns it into an insulated oven. In one of my many cases the same as this (I've had over 10) I managed to buy it. And yeah... Just trapped dust and made it like an oven.

The main mod people used to do then was to remove the grill from the rear fan. IE carve it out of the back of the case (the plastic cover). Or just remove the entire cover.

I have also run a NHD14 in one too. So you should get away with that.

You don't need to overdo the wattage of the PSU. Just make sure the fan is above the mobo. Do not flip it over or the PSU will not breathe. The original case had a Hipro PSU and was a 80mm fan in the back. So if anything a PSU with a 120 or 140mm fan in will get more heat out of the case.

Also. I am not sure you will get the lighting working either. There were two versions of the small PCB in the bottom of the case. One (the cheap one) had DIP switches on it to change the lighting. This would work no matter what. However.. Looking at your one? that looks like the £90 upgrade. IE, it was active and could be changed in Windows with the command centre software. Great right? well no. Unless your board has been named in its BIOS to be an Alienware it will reject it. IE, only OEM Alienware boards (which back then were either Asus or EVGA) with their BIOS modded with a specific tool from Alienware (which even with friends INSIDE the company I was NEVER able to get).

So yeah, if that wee board has DIP switches on it you can change the lighting and it will work. If it does not? you will basically need to rip it all out and DIY bulbs yourself. The bulbs in there as stock are 4 filament. As in, one red, one green, one blue. And the DIP switches would merge them and allow you to have like purple and yellow etc. It was an extremely over engineered system. Hence the absolute ton of wiring just for a few random bulbs dotted around and the 6 bulb front white panel that sits just in the front.

Oh wow thanks for the knowledge especially the nhd14 fitting and PSU info (that will save me a bit of money).

The sound insulation does look like it will act like a blanket, will have to see how temps go.

Good call on the back fan i’ve got a dremel so may remove one of the grills (not the plastic alienware one if I can avoid it).

Re. The lights, I believe mine has the dip switches, i’ll drop a photo at somepoint.

I just love this case, if only it was a bit more portable.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Lighting control board (i think the dips are on the bottom left corner).

Does need the dust removing at some point!

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Fantastic, good job the original owner didn’t tick that box then!

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Build update pics attached below, all parts to get it going have now arrived (GPU im holding out a bit longer to see how the mid range looks after intel battlemage etc.),

Sadly come across my first issue, the PSU screws don’t align to the case bracket. This is a job for another day as I’ll need to drill some new holes for the screws. This gives me time to work out how best to mark the correct spot whilst holding the fairly heavy PSU on the small contact pads at the top of the case.

Due to the placement at the top of the case I can’t get away with just one.

Headline specs;

- Ryzen 7600
- 32gb RAM
- ASROCK B650 Steel Legend WiFi motherboard (seems fairly well reviewed and whilst it is white / grey this case doesn’t have windows so will be fine!)
- Sata SSD to get it going (will move to nvme at somepoint)

I don’t think even a single screw hole aligns sadly, any advice here welcome!

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Progress after too many to count attempts drilling ever bigger holes for the screws I have the PSU mounted in the case!.

Only 3 points align with the bracket sadly but seems okay. The easiest part was marking where the holes will go, I did this by marking out where the existing holes appeared on the PSU and calculated circa 1cm further down from there for each.

Last photo of the 3 is one of the tabs that the PSU rests on at the top of the case, not a lot of contact area although it does sit all the way along the back.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

If B580 money is the top end of your budget, I'd go with that. If you're stretching to £320 then an 8GB 4060ti is a better bet at the moment I think (despite being 8GB), but may change with time and depending on what games matter to you.
If going to ~£360, 7700XT is probably worth the extra in the mid-long term (I'm not sure how the 7600XT 16GB stacks up)

If you're ok with second hand, 6700XT or 6800 (non XT) is worth a look (or maybe a 3060ti or 3070 - but 8GB VRAM is a concern!) - at about £200-250

Edit: I don't expect we'll see much before January (AMD) or around March (nVidia)

Fair points thanks! I’m keeping an open mind GPU wise ideally a solid 1440p card from the next releases or a good deal on last gen.

I’m running a 2070 super at the moment so the 4060 don’t really appeal as an upgrade.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Quick update - i was hoping to finish this tonight but after building up it’s failing to boot :/

Weirdly the motherboard has a post status checker, but they are not illuminating at all. The CPU fan is spinning and the motherboard RGB is working. No GPU currently just the motherboard and igpu (via hdmi).

So far i’ve tried reseating the ram and the CPU (pins look fine) and booting just with one ram stick in the single slot config.

Not sure on next steps I could try and clear the CMOS but not sure what that would achieve.

I might try connecting to a 1080p monitor in the morning but not hopeful as my keyboard num lock isnt doing anything so doubt its displaying anything.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Still no closer to figured out what is wrong! After swapping RAM sticks, attempting to clear CMOS by jumping the leads and also checking outputs on a 1080p monitor from both GPU and igpu still nothing. The weirdest part being no post status checker lights illuminate at all (top right above the ram).

Any thoughts welcome, I will be digging around the Asrock forums.

Current state below (one tower fan removed for easier access to the RAM)

 

[mrshinyshoes]

have you another psu you can try ?

Sadly not to hand no I sold my previous one.

Simplify as much as possible.
Take it down to a board, CPU and a single stick of RAM. Swap sticks and sockets if no success. Give it long enough to boot but 30mins seems excessive. A minute ought to do just to be sure it's not going to flash up on screen just after you've switched off.
Take CPU out, check for any bent or mangled pins and reseat.
Remove the board from the case if no luck as you can get a short you can't see - especially in a non-standard case. Could have a standoff in the wrong place.

Removing the board is a good shout i’ll try that later this week, i’ve checked the CPU socket and the pins were fine, I might try slackening the cooler motherboard mounting incase thats putting pressure somewhere it really shouldn’t.

I’ve also seen bios flashback mentioned but without knowing the bios version it shipped with feels potentially a bit pointless.

The case was never designed for a PSU with a large fan in. The original HiPro PSUs used in there had a 92mm fan pushing through.

It has been a long time since I worked on mine (still got it) but you *may* be able to flip the PSU mounting plate over. I know I put a large fan PSU in mine, but it has been 7 years since I used it.

So basically undo the PSU plate via the 4 screws and see if it fits the other way around.

Very interesting hadn't thought of the stock fan size as this case didn't come with it! Sadly i’ve already drilled new holes for its mount but if it gives me trouble I’ll definitely give reversing it round a go.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

looking good the Alienware from the early 200's were a thing of my dreams but crazy expensive. shame dell got hold of them

They were weren’t they! If you get lucky the cases can come up at reasonable prices.

Hoping to update this soon as a finished build, i’ve since managed to get it booting to bios initially.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

Did you solve the boot issue? Nothing more frustrating than completing a build and "computer says no"!

I did! Currently trying to install windows, my next task is to work out how I can shut the side panel without completely ruining the GPU power cables. Aside from bending them i’m tempted to try a 90 degree connector but fear might fry at somepoint.

(I would show a pic but struggling with imgur embedding)

 

[mrshinyshoes]

What a wonderful case. Rarer than you might think, in such good condition

Thanks appreciate it, it took me a while to find and I had to ‘settle’ for black rather than the neon ones. Would love to get the lights working on it at somepoint, i’ve seen it done via a raspberry pi.

 

[mrshinyshoes]

You might also want to look at ESPHome. It pairs very well with Home Assistant but it can be done on its own. ESP32's and ESP32 S3's can be had even cheaper than Pi's. ESPHome would let you program them with a bit of YAML script.... which you can largely copy and paste from Google
I rather like the M5Stack Atom S3 Lite (which you can get for about £7) as they come with a button, an RGB LED and various other bits like an IR sender, not to mention a case.

Thanks didn’t even think of esp32’s. I’m hopefull as I still have the original controller board with dip switches that if i can power it maybe via molex then it might do something

 

[mrshinyshoes]

I did! Currently trying to install windows, my next task is to work out how I can shut the side panel without completely ruining the GPU power cables. Aside from bending them i’m tempted to try a 90 degree connector but fear might fry at somepoint.

(I would show a pic but struggling with imgur embedding)

Does anyone have any advice for me? I really don’t want to bend the 8 pin connectors on my GPU (its a 9070XT pulse so it has 2 8 pins towards the middle facing straight at the side panel!)

 

[mrshinyshoes]

So I've used a couple of 8 pin 180' PCI-E connectors for years now, first on my 3080 for a nice, neat finish on my vertical mount, and now on my 9070XT as well. They're great and no bother whatsoever. Pics with the 9070XT, but they're not so easy to see.

And with my 3080, before I got the coloured, braided cables:

They look perfect thanks! Will take a look around.

Thanks everyone