Vostro 230 gaming case upgrade?

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Thanks.

would it be possible to swap motherboards in my 230? 

If your question is "can you install Inspiron 660s motherboard in vostro 230 MT case?"

yes but you may or may not need to rewire power switch connector if you want to use the pwr button of 230 to turn on 660s mobo.  chances are Dell use the same 2 pinout as pwr +/- to turn on both mobo.  230 has 14-1 pin.  660s has 12-1 pin.

660s mobo FP header

230 mobo FP header230 mobo FP header

230MT front panel power switch connector 230MT

660s power switch connector

Inspiron 660s Power Button Motherboard Pins to New Case? - Dell Community

yes 230 case can support a Dell or non-Dell mATX board.  you may or may need to rewire front panel power switch connector.

230 MT tear down

ok, Thank you  for this info ill try my best to figure out how to do that.

Sorry for the confusion my question cut off. What I meant was could i switch the motherboard from my 230 with a newer one so I could install a i7.

The motherboard has to have a VGA

Do you know what motherboard could support a i7 without having to rewire?

Sorry I do not know.

user reported "correct" Vostro 230 front panel pinout (PSW= Power switch)

If this is indeed correct, it is following industry standard of pin 6-8 as pwr sw (pin 10 is the missing pin).  In that case many mATX motherboard can be installed without rewiring power switch (except ASUS which uses nonstandard).  for i7 you can consider Dell xps 8700, 8500, or 8300.  8900 is still a bit pricy and much advantage of i7-6700 (8900 over i7-4790/4770 (8700).

So, Just to be clear. If I purchase the Dell xps 8700 motherboard I will  not have to rewire? And it will fit a i7?

sorry I am not able to validate the pwr sw pinout of 230 and 8700.  what I do know from personal experience is 8300 mobo pinout follows intel industrial standard because I had moved it to a case that uses standard pwr sw connector.  it is an extrapolation to presume that 8700 and 8300 use same pinout.  I do not have a 230 to verify its pinout.  if you have a 230 mobo that you can jump start by shorting pin 6-8 momentarily, it would be good evidence.

reference:Solved: XPS 8700, Windows 11, other Dell motherboard - Dell Community

both 8700 and 8300 fit i7 (of diff gen).

Thanks for the info, Do you think a vostro 460 mobo would fit the pins in the 230?

not sure but vostro 460 uses same motherboard as XPS 8300, only BIOS is different.  based on reference it seems if one jumpstarts either pin 6-8 or 6-5, the board can be started either way.  this needs to be verified.