Dell Dimension 4500 clam-shell case reuse possibility

The plastic clips onto metal in various places - given that the plastic is well beyond a decade old, it's unlikely you'll get it apart without cracking plastic somewhere - and you'll then face the problem that the case won't take a standard mainboard --- meaning that all in all, it's not worth the effort.

It will take an mATX motherboard, I believe. Long ago, someone posted photos of a successful swap project, so apparently it can be done, but I don't know how to get the front panel off.

Thanks, ein63, I managed with some forces to pull the plastic panels off and exposed the switch PCB, traced the lines and got the hdd led, power switch, and power led pin out. The other PCB for USB and audio are not traceable, though. Indeed, it's a piece of old plastic and a couple of wedges securing the panels broke off. But It's still a great case, unlike those cheap cases made today.   Since I can't get the pin out for the front panel switch connector, have to skip the USB and audio connection on the front, perhaps add a slot panel with the usb and audio later.  

I did some remodeling and adding a case fan for the much warmer CPUs today. Now it's a pretty decent case for another 10 years. :)

Really hate to see such a good piece of hardware goes into recycle yard like a piece of junk. We have only one earth, to protect the environment, we should reuse as much as possible. That's my belief.

I really like to see that Dell, and any other computer manufacturers, can design their hardware for maximum reuse. That's only a humble wish, don't know when will it happen.

Thanks for your reply, rdunnil,  the motherboard tray takes an mATX board which is what I am using. The front panel switch is what I couldn't fully figure out. I got what I need now. Waiting for an SSD to arrive to finish this project next weekend.

Thanks, ein63, I managed with some forces to pull the plastic panels off and exposed the switch PCB, traced the lines and got the hdd led, power switch, and power led pin out. The other PCB for USB and audio are not traceable, though. Indeed, it's a piece of old plastic and a couple of wedges securing the panels broke off. But It's still a great case, unlike those cheap cases made today.   Since I can't get the pin out for the front panel switch connector, have to skip the USB and audio connection on the front, perhaps add a slot panel with the usb and audio later.  

I did some remodeling and adding a case fan for the much warmer CPUs today. Now it's a pretty decent case for another 10 years. :)

Really hate to see such a good piece of hardware goes into recycle yard like a piece of junk. We have only one earth, to protect the environment, we should reuse as much as possible. That's my belief.

I really like to see that Dell, and any other computer manufacturers, can design their hardware for maximum reuse. That's only a humble wish, don't know when will it happen.

There are ways to do that -- but OEMs like Dell are in the business of selling new system - not  upgrading old ones.

Sitting to my right is a Lian Li all-aluminum case that's been through about five different mainboard/CPU combinations over about 18 years of use -- the case has served wonderfully well, and it's gone from a Pentium 3 through a couple of generations of Athlon CPUs - and now a Ryzen CPU.  Standard ATX cases are almost infinitely reusable -- and all aluminum makes them easy to recycle later (unlikee those built from copolymers like the Dell skydive chassis).