VOGONS


First post, by gerry

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I realise i have a few computers that i don't really use much and that it might be fun to take circa 2008 or later motherboards and use an old 90's/early 2000's case

I've seen a few examples here and there on YouTube and admit I've never done that - but with cases being the thing that takes up the most space it may be better to re-deploy some of them rather than acquire new ones!

are there any gotcha's or tips from experience when doing this, or is it as easy as working with a contemporary case - it was all fairly standardised around atx from the mid 1990's anyway wasn't it?

Reply 1 of 18, by flupke11

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ATX only really became the norm from 1997 onwards, so fitting an ATX in an AT-case is often a challenge (I/O ports on ATX don't match with the hole for the AT keyboard...). The other way around should be a lot easier.

Reply 2 of 18, by RandomStranger

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There are some late AT-early ATX case that can handle modern ATX motherboard. Like the one I use for my Pentium MMX build:

images

cNWLBMql.jpg oM716w3l.jpg Z2I3dK0l.jpg
Old pictures, I gave it some good cleaning since.

This case can handle a modern motherboard, you can use the reset button in place of the power button and it can make a good sleeper build.
I'd pay attention to which components I'm using because of the poor air flow, but if you specifically target budget and low power components, it shouldn't be a problem.
For example an i5-10600T has 35W TDP which is about the same as a Pentium 2 or Pentium 3. That with something like a GTX1650 with a 75W TDP can make a decent pair and those have no issue running on a quality 300W PSU. I wouldn't expect them to overheat in a retro case.

sreq.png retrogamer-s.png

Reply 3 of 18, by dionb

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gerry wrote on 2021-05-06, 09:20:

I realise i have a few computers that i don't really use much and that it might be fun to take circa 2008 or later motherboards and use an old 90's/early 2000's case

I've seen a few examples here and there on YouTube and admit I've never done that - but with cases being the thing that takes up the most space it may be better to re-deploy some of them rather than acquire new ones!

are there any gotcha's or tips from experience when doing this, or is it as easy as working with a contemporary case - it was all fairly standardised around atx from the mid 1990's anyway wasn't it?

In general ATX = ATX, but sometimes locations of screw holes can differ, particularly if the new board is uATX instead of full ATX. But the most important ones at top and bottom of the back plate will always be OK. Use plastic standoffs for any holes on motherboard not lining up with holes on the case.

Apart from that, cheap cases from the late 1990s were notorious for their hand-shredding sharp edges. Be aware and be careful. The same cases tended to have very poor acoustics (noisy as hell), and airflow usually wasn't great either. Don't go putting a Core i7 build with SLI GTX3080s in a crappy low-end beige case - you'll regret it on multiple counts. Nothing wrong with good quality (InWin, Antec, Chieftec etc) old cases though, although airflow still won't be up to modern high-end standards.

Reply 4 of 18, by douglar

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I've been upgrading my parents Gateway P5-200 since 1997 when they ran out and purchased an ATX like computer and threw out the old 486. The case didn't accept a standard sized IO shield (opening was twice as tall with a screw to hold the top in place), but my dad added a strip of sheet metal to allow the case to accept a standard sized ATX IO shield in the early 2000's. Currently running a Ryzen 3200G with a 120GB SSD.

Reply 5 of 18, by OSkar000

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My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be hard to find these trays now so I can't give you any tips about where to find it. Search for "Lian Li D8000 " or "Lian Li mother board tray".

I had to remove most of the backside of the case when i converted it but nothing is visible from the sides or from the front. Had it running like this for about a year now with no issues. Looks great and old... just how it was supposed to be 😀

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Some more pics here:
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/15064-den … -uppgraderingen
Some pics from the conversion, many years ago now 😀
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/812-at-ti … tx-konvertering

Reply 6 of 18, by Oetker

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OSkar000 wrote on 2021-05-06, 14:07:
My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be ha […]
Show full quote

My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be hard to find these trays now so I can't give you any tips about where to find it. Search for "Lian Li D8000 " or "Lian Li mother board tray".

I had to remove most of the backside of the case when i converted it but nothing is visible from the sides or from the front. Had it running like this for about a year now with no issues. Looks great and old... just how it was supposed to be 😀

_dsc9742.jpg
_dsc9740.jpg
_dsc9850.jpg
_dsc9876.jpg

Some more pics here:
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/15064-den … -uppgraderingen
Some pics from the conversion, many years ago now 😀
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/812-at-ti … tx-konvertering

Very cool. I see you also upgraded motherboard tray to a 120mm fan. I've done something similar (posted about it before), a 3D printer really helps too. I wasn't able to fit a 140mm rear fan but with a printed adapter I could fit a 140mm in the front.

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Reply 7 of 18, by gerry

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great project OSkar000!

dionb wrote on 2021-05-06, 11:09:

In general ATX = ATX, but sometimes locations of screw holes can differ, particularly if the new board is uATX instead of full ATX. But the most important ones at top and bottom of the back plate will always be OK. Use plastic standoffs for any holes on motherboard not lining up with holes on the case.

Apart from that, cheap cases from the late 1990s were notorious for their hand-shredding sharp edges. Be aware and be careful. The same cases tended to have very poor acoustics (noisy as hell), and airflow usually wasn't great either. Don't go putting a Core i7 build with SLI GTX3080s in a crappy low-end beige case - you'll regret it on multiple counts. Nothing wrong with good quality (InWin, Antec, Chieftec etc) old cases though, although airflow still won't be up to modern high-end standards.

i remember some of those shredding cases!

airflow seems to be the big issue, so provided i have something 1997 or later and take care not to overload it (in heat terms) it should be ok the whole. I can see myself doing a (re)build or two in the future then 😀

Reply 8 of 18, by DaveJustDave

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check out the Sleeper Battlestations subreddit.. lots of people doing this..

https://sleeperbattlestations.reddit.com

I have no clue what I'm doing! If you want to watch me fumble through all my retro projects, you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrDavejustdave

Reply 9 of 18, by PcBytes

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Mine isn't anything so special to write about. Originally housed some old KT600-based Sempron, a 40GB and a 80GB HDD (Maxtor Fireball 3 and a Excelstor/Hitachi IIRC), some god-forbid-anyone-using-it awful LG drive and a utter crap noname PSU. Oh, and the front LEDs were originally blue/white with a switch to turn off the white ones.

Currently running on my main machine (i5 3470, GTX 650, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB, FSP Bluestorm II 500 PSU) and the leds have since been rewired - blue is the power LED and what used to be the white leds are now bright red leds for HDD activity.

Oh, and the silver DVDROM drive is actually an faceplate-swapped Samsung SH-224DB. I had a silver and a black faceplate for Samsung drives bundled in a car boot sale bought ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe. Surprisingly, those fit like a glove on my SH-224DB which was originally black.

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Then there's this old JNC/Deer case I had bought at a car boot sale as well. Used to be a low end Duron machine with a low end PSU to match as well (PREMIER LC-B350ATX of the worst kind.), now houses a rebuilt 500W Allied AL-8500BTX, an Core i3 540 and a nice red HD4850 512 with 2x WD Raptor 74GB (no, I ain't running them in RAID.) , a faceplate swapped LG DH40N SATA DVDRW and 3GB of RAM. Airflow isn't much of an issue though that's probably thanks to the sidepanel fan.

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"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 10 of 18, by creepingnet

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I did this way back in 2003. I started out with a circa 1988 GEM Computer Products 386 DX-20 system that I had running as a Pentium 233 MMX for awhile, and then converted it into a mATX desktop case using the backplane from a Gateway Essential 550C and a HP "Firebird" Socket 370 Motherboard (later upgraded to an Intel Desktop Board D815EPV). It started out a Celeron 500 with 96MB of RAM, and grew to a Pentium III 1.0GHz with 512MB of RAM running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 with an NVIDIA GeForce MX4000 PCI 128MB and a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live 5.1. This was my main machine from 2003 till 2011.

https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199423
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199424
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199426

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 11 of 18, by PcBytes

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creepingnet wrote on 2021-05-06, 17:29:
I did this way back in 2003. I started out with a circa 1988 GEM Computer Products 386 DX-20 system that I had running as a Pen […]
Show full quote

I did this way back in 2003. I started out with a circa 1988 GEM Computer Products 386 DX-20 system that I had running as a Pentium 233 MMX for awhile, and then converted it into a mATX desktop case using the backplane from a Gateway Essential 550C and a HP "Firebird" Socket 370 Motherboard (later upgraded to an Intel Desktop Board D815EPV). It started out a Celeron 500 with 96MB of RAM, and grew to a Pentium III 1.0GHz with 512MB of RAM running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 with an NVIDIA GeForce MX4000 PCI 128MB and a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live 5.1. This was my main machine from 2003 till 2011.

https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199423
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199424
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199426

The links seem to give "Invalid File Specified"...

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 12 of 18, by OSkar000

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Oetker wrote on 2021-05-06, 14:16:
OSkar000 wrote on 2021-05-06, 14:07:
My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be ha […]
Show full quote

My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be hard to find these trays now so I can't give you any tips about where to find it. Search for "Lian Li D8000 " or "Lian Li mother board tray".

I had to remove most of the backside of the case when i converted it but nothing is visible from the sides or from the front. Had it running like this for about a year now with no issues. Looks great and old... just how it was supposed to be 😀

_dsc9742.jpg
_dsc9740.jpg
_dsc9850.jpg
_dsc9876.jpg

Some more pics here:
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/15064-den … -uppgraderingen
Some pics from the conversion, many years ago now 😀
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/812-at-ti … tx-konvertering

Very cool. I see you also upgraded motherboard tray to a 120mm fan. I've done something similar (posted about it before), a 3D printer really helps too. I wasn't able to fit a 140mm rear fan but with a printed adapter I could fit a 140mm in the front.

Thanks 😀

There are some work left to do on it... getting the floppy drives to work would be fun (and somewhat useful).

The fans is 140mm, it is a tigth fit but it works fine. The backside is not so pretty but no one can see it under my desk so its not so important.

Reply 13 of 18, by Oetker

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OSkar000 wrote on 2021-05-06, 19:17:
Thanks :) […]
Show full quote
Oetker wrote on 2021-05-06, 14:16:
OSkar000 wrote on 2021-05-06, 14:07:
My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be ha […]
Show full quote

My main workstation is built in an old (1990s) case and converted to ATX with a motherbord tray from Lian Li . It seems to be hard to find these trays now so I can't give you any tips about where to find it. Search for "Lian Li D8000 " or "Lian Li mother board tray".

I had to remove most of the backside of the case when i converted it but nothing is visible from the sides or from the front. Had it running like this for about a year now with no issues. Looks great and old... just how it was supposed to be 😀

_dsc9742.jpg
_dsc9740.jpg
_dsc9850.jpg
_dsc9876.jpg

Some more pics here:
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/15064-den … -uppgraderingen
Some pics from the conversion, many years ago now 😀
https://www.sweclockers.com/galleri/812-at-ti … tx-konvertering

Very cool. I see you also upgraded motherboard tray to a 120mm fan. I've done something similar (posted about it before), a 3D printer really helps too. I wasn't able to fit a 140mm rear fan but with a printed adapter I could fit a 140mm in the front.

Thanks 😀

There are some work left to do on it... getting the floppy drives to work would be fun (and somewhat useful).

The fans is 140mm, it is a tigth fit but it works fine. The backside is not so pretty but no one can see it under my desk so its not so important.

I used a floppy to USB converter for my 3.5" drive, but that won't work with a 5.25" one.

Reply 14 of 18, by OSkar000

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Oetker wrote on 2021-05-06, 20:31:
OSkar000 wrote on 2021-05-06, 19:17:
Thanks :) […]
Show full quote
Oetker wrote on 2021-05-06, 14:16:

Very cool. I see you also upgraded motherboard tray to a 120mm fan. I've done something similar (posted about it before), a 3D printer really helps too. I wasn't able to fit a 140mm rear fan but with a printed adapter I could fit a 140mm in the front.

Thanks 😀

There are some work left to do on it... getting the floppy drives to work would be fun (and somewhat useful).

The fans is 140mm, it is a tigth fit but it works fine. The backside is not so pretty but no one can see it under my desk so its not so important.

I used a floppy to USB converter for my 3.5" drive, but that won't work with a 5.25" one.

I have seen a some version that works with 5,25" floppys but it seemed to be quite expensive and hard to get.

One of my ideas was to put a compact computer with a good floppy controller inside the case and then share the floppy drives over the network. Not sure if its possible or easy... but seems like a good idea to try some day 😀

Reply 15 of 18, by dionb

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OSkar000 wrote on 2021-05-06, 20:59:

[...]

I have seen a some version that works with 5,25" floppys but it seemed to be quite expensive and hard to get.

One of my ideas was to put a compact computer with a good floppy controller inside the case and then share the floppy drives over the network. Not sure if its possible or easy... but seems like a good idea to try some day 😀

Just did a quick google on Pi and 5.25" to see if anything had changed since the last time I looked and sure enough:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-p … y-drive-support

Raspberry Pi hat with old FDC that lets it talk to pretty much any floppy drive. That would easily fit in any case.

Unfortunately the maker's site seems down at the moment - but archive.org is here to help:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210423090104/ht … ontroller-board

Reply 16 of 18, by creepingnet

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PcBytes wrote on 2021-05-06, 18:05:
creepingnet wrote on 2021-05-06, 17:29:
I did this way back in 2003. I started out with a circa 1988 GEM Computer Products 386 DX-20 system that I had running as a Pen […]
Show full quote

I did this way back in 2003. I started out with a circa 1988 GEM Computer Products 386 DX-20 system that I had running as a Pentium 233 MMX for awhile, and then converted it into a mATX desktop case using the backplane from a Gateway Essential 550C and a HP "Firebird" Socket 370 Motherboard (later upgraded to an Intel Desktop Board D815EPV). It started out a Celeron 500 with 96MB of RAM, and grew to a Pentium III 1.0GHz with 512MB of RAM running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 with an NVIDIA GeForce MX4000 PCI 128MB and a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live 5.1. This was my main machine from 2003 till 2011.

https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199423
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199424
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/filedata/fetch?photoid=1199426

The links seem to give "Invalid File Specified"...

I was away from my PC at the time, apparently the links don't work since VCFED updated their board - so here's the pics +1 of my 2003-2011 Sleeper Build main PC.

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~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 18 of 18, by waterbeesje

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I went for the Pentium G5400 and uATX Fujitsu motherboard in my 1999 retro white ATX full tower. No need for additional screw holes or plastic adapters. Combined it with a passive heat sink and a Pico PSU. Modded the power brick from the Pico PSU into an old ATX PSU housing (that PSU died earlier) and it's silent as if it's off.

The whole thing only consumes 6W idle and 25W under load, so no heat problems 😀 but don't expect it to run modern games to satisfaction.

But you can go quite far with modding. Somebody I know a little turned an IBM model 30 into an i7 9700k and gtx1060.

https://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/1937564
(Dutch, but you may translate with your favourite service)

Stuck at 10MHz...