Ok, I'd call this a good first start:

HD fits like a dream:

Port situation is pretty cramped though:

No optical media was a given, but no removable media at all is a pain. I think I'm going to try can cram a SD card drive in there somehow. Also plan to pin-out the PS2 connector and get that in there somewhere. I actually have the onboard USB connected to the case's built-in side-panel slots, but a couple rear slots might be useful too...

Nothing wrong here, only a beautiful project 😀
Voodoo + Pico gus : nice!

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-04, 01:02:

Phew! I think this is going to be a winning combination! Now to throw these parts at the case and see what sticks...

The case is simply gorgeous, by the way.
The Celeron 300/333 is a timeless gaming classic of that era.
There's one caveat, though: at 100 MHz FSB(300Mhz -> 450) , it's faster than many PII.
Unfortunately, the LX/EX can't do that. You need at least a ZX.

Nexxen wrote on 2025-10-04, 01:59:

Nothing wrong here, only a beautiful project 😀
Voodoo + Pico gus : nice!

Thanks! 😊

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-04, 06:05:

The case is simply gorgeous, by the way.

Yeah! It certainly looks good in pictures (which sold me on it, originally), but it has its issues. Those plastic handles are much less sturdy than they should be, making the whole thing rather wobbly. The power cable routing for the PSU is a horrific mess. And having the power buttons, lights, and USB on a removable side panel is a real pain it the butt when building a system!

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-04, 06:05:

The Celeron 300/333 is a timeless gaming classic of that era.
There's one caveat, though: at 100 MHz FSB(300Mhz -> 450) , it's faster than many PII.
Unfortunately, the LX/EX can't do that. You need at least a ZX.

Yup, knew this going in. At best, I can put a 533 MHz Celeron on a slocket and see how that performs. One of my Acorp boards has an Apollo Pro 133 chipset which would open up a lot of possibilities, but I feel that's slightly newer than the specs I'm targeting (and the slowest CPU I have to put in it is a P3 750).

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-04, 13:20:

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-04, 06:05:

The Celeron 300/333 is a timeless gaming classic of that era.
There's one caveat, though: at 100 MHz FSB(300Mhz -> 450) , it's faster than many PII.
Unfortunately, the LX/EX can't do that. You need at least a ZX.

Yup, knew this going in. At best, I can put a 533 MHz Celeron on a slocket and see how that performs. One of my Acorp boards has an Apollo Pro 133 chipset which would open up a lot of possibilities, but I feel that's slightly newer than the specs I'm targeting (and the slowest CPU I have to put in it is a P3 750).

Nope, the problem is that the Pentium 2's L2 cache doesn't operate at full speed, making it slow.
And the Celeron with a 100 MHz FSB and no L2 cache outperformed the Pentium 2 with a 66 MHz FSB thanks to faster memory, even with equal core frequencies.
But only the lower-end Mendocino models—the 300A, and often the 333—can operate at a 100 MHz FSB.
The higher the frequency, the less likely it is. The processor multiplier is locked. And the Mendocino process technology only allows frequencies of 300–550 MHz.
This was the key to creating a "student" PC.

Looka great. Well done. How did you handle the mounting of the motherboard? I am assuming there were no mouting holes of AT motherboard?

Really awesome build. The voodoo 2`s are so expensive. Back then this might have been an "ok" build, but right now this would qualify as a premium retro build. TNT2 with voodoo 2 would probably make a killer combo for early and late DOS games.

I once thought about getting the PicoGUS. I have heard it is really convenient. How does it fare and sound as compared to the actual AWE 64 or other cards it emulates?

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-04, 13:45:

Nope, the problem is that the Pentium 2's L2 cache doesn't operate at full speed, making it slow. And the Celeron with a 100 MHz […]
Show full quote

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-04, 13:20:

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-04, 06:05:

The Celeron 300/333 is a timeless gaming classic of that era.
There's one caveat, though: at 100 MHz FSB(300Mhz -> 450) , it's faster than many PII.
Unfortunately, the LX/EX can't do that. You need at least a ZX.

Yup, knew this going in. At best, I can put a 533 MHz Celeron on a slocket and see how that performs. One of my Acorp boards has an Apollo Pro 133 chipset which would open up a lot of possibilities, but I feel that's slightly newer than the specs I'm targeting (and the slowest CPU I have to put in it is a P3 750).

Nope, the problem is that the Pentium 2's L2 cache doesn't operate at full speed, making it slow.
And the Celeron with a 100 MHz FSB and no L2 cache outperformed the Pentium 2 with a 66 MHz FSB thanks to faster memory, even with equal core frequencies.
But only the lower-end Mendocino models—the 300A, and often the 333—can operate at a 100 MHz FSB.
The higher the frequency, the less likely it is. The processor multiplier is locked. And the Mendocino process technology only allows frequencies of 300–550 MHz.
This was the key to creating a "student" PC.

Sorry, I meant that the Acorp board would open up other (Pentium III, etc) CPU possibilities - I get that there's little overclocking potential in faster Mendocino Celerons. So yeah, if I'm stuck at 66 MHz FSB then at least 533 MHz > 333 MHz. Of course the classic build would be a 300A @ 450 on a BX, but I'm working with what I got here!

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-10-04, 15:18:

Looka great. Well done. How did you handle the mounting of the motherboard? I am assuming there were no mouting holes of AT motherboard?

Yeah, there's no overlap between BabyAT and mATX. So it meant a lot of careful(ish) work with my Dremel making new holes. I wasn't as accurate/careful enough to keep the holes small enough to thread the standoffs into, so I had to use a nut on the back of each. Also, the bottom-left hole on the board isn't grounded so I just put a standard BabyAT plastic standoff in there and left it floating. I could go back and use an actual screw-in nylon standoff, but ehhh.. the board is quite stable without it.

Basically, BabyAT in a mATX case is very doable, you just have to want it! (It also helped that all the boards I was looking at were late 90's transitionary boards that all support ATX power.)

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-10-04, 18:13:

Really awesome build. The voodoo 2`s are so expensive. Back then this might have been an "ok" build, but right now this would qualify as a premium retro build. TNT2 with voodoo 2 would probably make a killer combo for early and late DOS games.

I once thought about getting the PicoGUS. I have heard it is really convenient. How does it fare and sound as compared to the actual AWE 64 or other cards it emulates?

I'm still in the building phase of this one and haven't really got in to putting it through its paces yet. I'm also using this build to explore the PicoGUS, which I haven't done much of as of yet. That said, last night I had a peek at where the PicoGUS project is at these days and a lot has changed in the past year! With everything it can do now, I'm thinking that the AWE 64 might actually be redundant in this build...

Ok, hold on to your socks... I've solved my slot shortage problem by enabling this case's True Gamer Mode:

As you can see, I've now found room for both rear USB slots as well as an SD to IDE adapter (using a CF card adapter face plate 🥴):

😊

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-04, 19:42:

Ok, hold on to your socks... I've solved my slot shortage problem by enabling this case's True Gamer Mode

Neat. Should keep the graphics cards cool too

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-10-05, 19:04:

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-04, 19:42:

Ok, hold on to your socks... I've solved my slot shortage problem by enabling this case's True Gamer Mode

Neat. Should keep the graphics cards cool too

Huh, funny you mention that...

I considered the fans for this one more of a looks thing than functionally necessary. I never worried about cooling my Voodoo 2s back in the day, and the cases then were pretty bad for airflow. Well, I was playing Quake 2 last night with the side panel off and the fans turned to minimum and had it hard lock up - and the Voodoo 2 was surprisingly hot to touch. So, I sheepishly buttoned up the case and cranked the fans back up to give the poor thing some airflow. Oops! 😬

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-04, 01:02:

CPU: Celeron 333 (SL2WN) Memory: 128 MB of "SpecTek" RAM Storage: 160 GB Samsung 2.5" PATA laptop HD (this case was designed on […]
Show full quote

CPU: Celeron 333 (SL2WN)
Memory: 128 MB of "SpecTek" RAM
Storage: 160 GB Samsung 2.5" PATA laptop HD (this case was designed only for SSDs.. hopefully this works)
Graphics: nVidia TNT2 Vanta 16 MB AGP + Voodoo 2
Sound: Sound Blaster AWE 64 Value (with a 16 MB upgrade) + PicoGUS

The attachment IMG_3119.jpeg is no longer available

great project and fine looking machine!

On those specs, sure its not the fastest machine but those Celerons and a TNT2 make great windows 98 machines for tackling all that late 90's gaming goodness in my view

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-05, 20:42:

I considered the fans for this one more of a looks thing than functionally necessary. I never worried about cooling my Voodoo 2s back in the day, and the cases then were pretty bad for airflow. Well, I was playing Quake 2 last night with the side panel off and the fans turned to minimum and had it hard lock up - and the Voodoo 2 was surprisingly hot to touch. So, I sheepishly buttoned up the case and cranked the fans back up to give the poor thing some airflow. Oops! 😬

glad you solved that, would be a shame to damage anything!

A lot prettier than my Win98 system! 😀

I like it! Don't find it silly at all! Also, love the AWE64 and PicoGUS combo. Have them both, but are in my DOS 6.22 rig. 🤣

StriderTR wrote on 2025-10-06, 18:16:

A lot prettier than my Win98 system! 😀

I like it! Don't find it silly at all! Also, love the AWE64 and PicoGUS combo. Have them both, but are in my DOS 6.22 rig. 🤣

Ok, the votes are in - it's now a "snazzy" case!

As for the AWE 64, I'm having second thoughts. For DOS gaming, I think the PicoGUS does everything I need - I've added a DreamBlaster X2GS to bumf up its MIDI capabilities. For Windows 98, I'm thinking SB Live! might be nice, but maybe too new. I have a Aztech-branded A3D 1.0 card that I've never tried out, so maybe I'll give that a shot - it would fit exactly in the 1998 year I'm targeting with this build.

gerry wrote on 2025-10-06, 16:27:

ubiq wrote on 2025-10-05, 20:42:

I considered the fans for this one more of a looks thing than functionally necessary. I never worried about cooling my Voodoo 2s back in the day, and the cases then were pretty bad for airflow. Well, I was playing Quake 2 last night with the side panel off and the fans turned to minimum and had it hard lock up - and the Voodoo 2 was surprisingly hot to touch. So, I sheepishly buttoned up the case and cranked the fans back up to give the poor thing some airflow. Oops! 😬

glad you solved that, would be a shame to damage anything!

Coming back to it a day later, I'm almost certain I accidentally had the standard OpenGL drivers selected instead of the 3Dfx ones - meaning I was mistakenly playing it off the (passively cooled) TNT2, and cooking the Voodoo 2 from behind. Also not great, but at least it wasn't the Voodoo 2 giving up and crashing!

(And it explains why I was finding everything annoyingly dim. I remember now that Quake 2 on a Voodoo card was always much brighter - to the point of almost being washed out, but it sured helped in deathmatches!)