Wow the aluminium part looks like it's brand new 😮

Too bad that the plastic part is really yellowed ... maybe paint could fix it ? ^^

Been cleaning up parts (like dusty CPU HSFs) and cleaned up the dirty ATX case I found and put pics on Vogons a couple months ago. It also had some rust stains inside and I had to take couple of the parts under the shower to kinda blast them with the concentrated powerful water ..ray..thingy (kinda like a less powerful miniature water cannon).
Also cut up a large box into sheets of cardboard for to protecting parts that are packed together in the same box. I was short on those for a long while now. Ceramic knifes are really good for the job, though I dunno if it's a good job for a ceramic knife 😊
Also been labeling and tidying, but still got lots of these chores to do, in parallel to the chores that have nothing to do with computing.

Deksor wrote:

Wow the aluminium part looks like it's brand new 😮

Too bad that the plastic part is really yellowed ... maybe paint could fix it ? ^^

I don't really mind yellowing, and I feel that painting will only make it less original. RetroBrighting is another option (basically bleaching with peroxide in sunlight), but I don't like that you might get streaking or staining that will never vanish. I'll keep it like this for now 😀

My least fav thing to do. Change out thermal pads and compound. This time a Gainward 5900 non-Golden Sample 128MB card.

Cyrix200+ wrote:

Thoroughly cleaned a nice case I got yesterday. It was so very dirty, but all clean now. Now that I have this one I really have […]
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Thoroughly cleaned a nice case I got yesterday. It was so very dirty, but all clean now. Now that I have this one I really have too much AT cases, time to get rid of some haha.

Blah! If only we had transport technology and I had the cash to spare. I'd gladly buy an AT case off you, especially one of these little cases that I can't find anywhere with in driving range.

Cyrix200+ wrote:

I don't really mind yellowing, and I feel that painting will only make it less original. RetroBrighting is another option (basically bleaching with peroxide in sunlight), but I don't like that you might get streaking or staining that will never vanish. I'll keep it like this for now 😀

Yep I've gone to great lengths to restore cases over the years but it's really hard to do well - these days I just give them a really good clean and accept any imperfections as part of their charm and history 😀

Took a Gateway TB3 Performance 500 computer I have had sitting in my closet for a few months out and did a complete restoration. Cleaned it out, wiped the hard drive and did a fresh install of 98 SE, even put a Gateway background on for a nice touch 😀

It's a 500MHz PIII, 64 MB SDRAM, 16 MB TNT2 M64 video card, SB Live! Value sound card, and 20.5 GB IBM Deskstar.

cj_reha wrote:

Took a Gateway TB3 Performance 500 computer I have had sitting in my closet for a few months out and did a complete restoration. Cleaned it out, wiped the hard drive and did a fresh install of 98 SE, even put a Gateway background on for a nice touch 😀

It's a 500MHz PIII, 64 MB SDRAM, 16 MB TNT2 M64 video card, SB Live! Value sound card, and 20.5 GB IBM Deskstar.

What usage will it have in your collection?

liqmat wrote:

My least fav thing to do. Change out thermal pads and compound. This time a Gainward 5900 non-Golden Sample 128MB card.

IMG_0440.JPG

That has nothing on the nightmarish hell that was my BFG FX5900. Silver grease based thermal compound on everything as the result of the previous owners poor application.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

cj_reha wrote:

Took a Gateway TB3 Performance 500 computer I have had sitting in my closet for a few months out and did a complete restoration. Cleaned it out, wiped the hard drive and did a fresh install of 98 SE, even put a Gateway background on for a nice touch 😀

It's a 500MHz PIII, 64 MB SDRAM, 16 MB TNT2 M64 video card, SB Live! Value sound card, and 20.5 GB IBM Deskstar.

What usage will it have in your collection?

Probably just a computer I'll be running as a show piece at a local convention I show PCs at every year. When I get home from traveling, I have to restore its twin brother, a 450mhz PIII.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

liqmat wrote:

My least fav thing to do. Change out thermal pads and compound. This time a Gainward 5900 non-Golden Sample 128MB card.

IMG_0440.JPG

That has nothing on the nightmarish hell that was my BFG FX5900. Silver grease based thermal compound on everything as the result of the previous owners poor application.

I know what you mean. This isn't too bad as it is factory application, but the pads have basically turned to chalk. Super dried out.

Decided to pull out my Packard Bell, MT-32, and other stuff (games, joystick, and gamepad) out of storage, installed some DOS games, like Space Quest 1-3, SimCity 2000 from GOG.com and installed SimCity for Windows.

The monitor I'm using is an ASUS 22" monitor which the aspect ratio doesn't go to 4:3 unless a GUI program or OS is running, and I might use my Dell 19" monitor since it supports 4:3 ratio with or without GUI programs or OSes for the system and install my 2.1 Channel speaker system.

MCGA wrote:

Cyrix200+ wrote:

Thoroughly cleaned a nice case I got yesterday. It was so very dirty, but all clean now. Now that I have this one I really have too much AT cases, time to get rid of some haha.
<snip>

Blah! If only we had transport technology and I had the cash to spare. I'd gladly buy an AT case off you, especially one of these little cases that I can't find anywhere with in driving range.

I'll be getting rid of some big towers first though, they just take up too much space and I don't really need them. I have some nice designs, I'm just running out of space 🙁

Cyrix200+ wrote:

MCGA wrote:

Cyrix200+ wrote:

Thoroughly cleaned a nice case I got yesterday. It was so very dirty, but all clean now. Now that I have this one I really have too much AT cases, time to get rid of some haha.
<snip>

Blah! If only we had transport technology and I had the cash to spare. I'd gladly buy an AT case off you, especially one of these little cases that I can't find anywhere with in driving range.

I'll be getting rid of some big towers first though, they just take up too much space and I don't really need them. I have some nice designs, I'm just running out of space 🙁

You could save a bit of space by using the cases that are not in use (and probably won't be for the foreseeable future) as storage. Small boxes (including things like spare games etc), packaging material you don't want to let go of (like ESD bags or something), spare fans, spare backplates...I know it may sound a bit extreme to some, but it has helped me in the past back when I had very little space to begin with.

Watched a movie in Windows 3.11

Also removed the loud NMB 80mm fan in the Pavilion and replaced it with a quiet 90mm Arctic fan that moves air just as well and is much quieter. All I really hear now is hard drive noise.

Began digging out my testing desk. Getting close, I think tomorrow I'll be able to finish and close the case of a P4S build too long in the making. It's s478, Northwood, 2.4? with XP. Should I go ATi or NV? Never had the former back in the day...

elod wrote:

Began digging out my testing desk. Getting close, I think tomorrow I'll be able to finish and close the case of a P4S build too long in the making. It's s478, Northwood, 2.4? with XP. Should I go ATi or NV? Never had the former back in the day...

DX9: ATI
DX9.0c: NVIDIA

I have a PC Speaker hooked up to my Lo-Tech Tandy Compatible Sound Card that sounds distorted, and I don't know if I should make a cable that has a 100ohm resistor and a 1ųf capacitor or solder on a potentiometer (volume wheel/knob) to the speaker to remove the distortion. I'm also planning on making an IBM PC Speaker wire from the motherboard to the Lo-Tech Tandy Compatible Sound Card with a 100ohm resistor and a 1ųf capacitor as well to prevent distortion and shorting the motherboard.

Anyone else make retro GIFs?