Computers & Electronics

Moving Lenovo SFF(p300) to an ATX case?

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Deal Addict
Jun 14, 2011
1801 posts
1266 upvotes

Moving Lenovo SFF(p300) to an ATX case?

I bought a P300 off ebay today(with the coupon for 15% off, couldnt resist anymore)
i7 4790
8gb of ram
1tb hdd
some junky nvidia workstation gpu
For $360 out the door

Question is: do lenovo workstations use standard ATX layouts? I have an old Sonata case with a 500watt psu laying around, and swapping the internals into it would make getting it up for mid-range gaming a lot easier, what with being able to hold full size GPU's and having more than 2x as much juice from the PSU. Or do lenovo's use their own proprietary power ports?

Failing that, i'll just hold off buying a GPU until the are less crazy, and then pickup the 1050ti.
4 replies
Sr. Member
Jul 1, 2009
711 posts
133 upvotes
Callister wrote: http://thinkstation-specs.com/wp-conten ... s/P300.pdf

With the P300, it uses a mATX motherboard and standard ATX power connectors (one 14 pin and one 12v 4 pin). You should be fine with that Sonata case.
Uhh 14 pin isn't a standard ATX connector. 24 pin (20+4) is. You might be able to get an adapter though.
The other thing is, the rear I/O shield may not be removable. Not a huge problem per say, just something to keep in mind.
Deal Addict
Jun 14, 2011
1801 posts
1266 upvotes
ghost1001 wrote: Uhh 14 pin isn't a standard ATX connector. 24 pin (20+4) is. You might be able to get an adapter though.
The other thing is, the rear I/O shield may not be removable. Not a huge problem per say, just something to keep in mind.

OK. This looks like its the proper adapter. I'll order that today and hopefully by the time it arrives(probably end of july :rolleyes: Stuff i order from china through eBay takes a long time to get delivered.) the GPU market will be less of a ripoff.

Back plate isnt a big deal to me, It'll be near a wall and on the ground so other than maybe having to dust the inside of the case more often, it wont be an eyesore.

Thanks
Deal Expert
Mar 23, 2004
35606 posts
18999 upvotes
Scott86 wrote: I bought a P300 off ebay today(with the coupon for 15% off, couldnt resist anymore)
i7 4790
8gb of ram
1tb hdd
some junky nvidia workstation gpu
For $360 out the door

Question is: do lenovo workstations use standard ATX layouts? I have an old Sonata case with a 500watt psu laying around, and swapping the internals into it would make getting it up for mid-range gaming a lot easier, what with being able to hold full size GPU's and having more than 2x as much juice from the PSU. Or do lenovo's use their own proprietary power ports?

Failing that, i'll just hold off buying a GPU until the are less crazy, and then pickup the 1050ti.
Careful, depending on how old that PSU is (and face it, most cases that included a PSU are quite old) it probably doesn't support Haswell low power states. There's an easy enough solution to this with most "aftermarket" mobos--just turn off the Haswell power states (pretty much anything beyond C6). However on an OEM board you may not have the option of doing so (or even seeing what power states are enabled) in the BIOS/UEFI. This means if they're enabled you can run into BSODs on sleep, resume from sleep, and even just idling for long periods.

Plus most old PSUs are group-regulated too, which is kinda crappy. Even famous PSU reviewers like JohnnyGuru/OklahomaWolf/etc. have said older PSUs that might have gotten excellent reviews at the time, would not do so well on score if they reviewed them again today, against more modern supplies.

"Moar watts" doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a better PSU. Granted I know most OEM PSUs are nothing to write home about, you can't really make a group-regulated supply and conform to Haswell and newer power requirements, so you can at least be sure they're not of that older type of PSU topology.

Finally with a 1050 Ti, it consumes little enough power that you may not need to be concerned with a different PSU, though OTOH you may need a larger case and the old PSU may not fit. In that case I recommend getting a new, high-quality supply.

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