Love these boards with SIMMS and the model name is equally cool! 😎

I have finally got my 1997 build close to 100% completion so I thought I'd show it off. My goal with this was to get as close as feasibly possible to my family's first "internet" computer which we got in 1997.

Finding the exact ATX case was the biggest hurdle. This one came up for sale on eBay last year, but I got involved in a bidding war with someone, and lost out. Then as luck would have it, the guy who outbid me put it back up on eBay and I wasn't going to let it go this time. Spent way more than a reasonable person would, but I know I would have regretted passing it up again.

The original system was bought all together from a local computer shop. Here's what I can remember:

Pentium 200 MMX CPU
S3 ViRGE DX graphics card
32 MB RAM
3.2 GB HDD
CD-ROM
3.5" floppy
Sound Blaster (though unsure what model)
33.6k dial-up modem
Windows 95 version "b" with the explorer sidebar and active desktop
Princeton Graphics EO50 CRT monitor
Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard
Microsoft IntelliMouse with wheel
Microsoft SideWinder game pad controller
Altec Lansing ACS45 PowerCube speakers
UMAX Astra 610P flatbed scanner
Epson Stylus Color 600 inkjet printer

I've managed to put together a rig that is nearly identical. The only things that aren't quite accurate are the motherboard (this one is from 1998 and has AGP) and the 3.2 GB hard drive (this one is 6 GB). I did take the liberties of installing a quiet Noctua fan on the CPU, a PCI network card instead of a modem so I can connect to my Retro LAN, and 128 MB of RAM (I'm pretty certain by the time this PC was retired in 2001 we had upgraded this from 32 to 64 and then to 128). The ISA Sound Blaster 16 came from my parts stash.

Somehow also found the exact same Alpha floppy disk box and Laserline CD tower on eBay. I do have the correct scanner and printer as well, just no room on the desk right now.

To finish it off, a Windows 95 for Dummies book, and the Win95 and Pentium case badges from Geekenspiel - think it turned out amazing! This thing is honestly so calming and nostalgic to use and play period games on. The feel of that weird keyboard, which everyone hated except my mom, the sound of the ACS45 speakers, all of it. I do think the CRT needs to be serviced (maybe re-capped) because it behaves strangely sometimes. But for now, I get to play POD, DOOM, Rebel Moon Rising, Chex Quest, Warcraft II, and all the other games I enjoyed as a kid - with the hardware it was meant to be played on.

Sweet system and I like that you put in some effort at cable management!

nezwick wrote on 2025-11-15, 19:43:

I have finally got my 1997 build close to 100% completion so I thought I'd show it off. My goal with this was to get as close a […]
Show full quote

I have finally got my 1997 build close to 100% completion so I thought I'd show it off. My goal with this was to get as close as feasibly possible to my family's first "internet" computer which we got in 1997.

Finding the exact ATX case was the biggest hurdle. This one came up for sale on eBay last year, but I got involved in a bidding war with someone, and lost out. Then as luck would have it, the guy who outbid me put it back up on eBay and I wasn't going to let it go this time. Spent way more than a reasonable person would, but I know I would have regretted passing it up again.

The original system was bought all together from a local computer shop. Here's what I can remember:

Pentium 200 MMX CPU
S3 ViRGE DX graphics card
32 MB RAM
3.2 GB HDD
CD-ROM
3.5" floppy
Sound Blaster (though unsure what model)
33.6k dial-up modem
Windows 95 version "b" with the explorer sidebar and active desktop
Princeton Graphics EO50 CRT monitor
Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard
Microsoft IntelliMouse with wheel
Microsoft SideWinder game pad controller
Altec Lansing ACS45 PowerCube speakers
UMAX Astra 610P flatbed scanner
Epson Stylus Color 600 inkjet printer

I've managed to put together a rig that is nearly identical. The only things that aren't quite accurate are the motherboard (this one is from 1998 and has AGP) and the 3.2 GB hard drive (this one is 6 GB). I did take the liberties of installing a quiet Noctua fan on the CPU, a PCI network card instead of a modem so I can connect to my Retro LAN, and 128 MB of RAM (I'm pretty certain by the time this PC was retired in 2001 we had upgraded this from 32 to 64 and then to 128). The ISA Sound Blaster 16 came from my parts stash.

Somehow also found the exact same Alpha floppy disk box and Laserline CD tower on eBay. I do have the correct scanner and printer as well, just no room on the desk right now.

To finish it off, a Windows 95 for Dummies book, and the Win95 and Pentium case badges from Geekenspiel - think it turned out amazing! This thing is honestly so calming and nostalgic to use and play period games on. The feel of that weird keyboard, which everyone hated except my mom, the sound of the ACS45 speakers, all of it. I do think the CRT needs to be serviced (maybe re-capped) because it behaves strangely sometimes. But for now, I get to play POD, DOOM, Rebel Moon Rising, Chex Quest, Warcraft II, and all the other games I enjoyed as a kid - with the hardware it was meant to be played on.

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Not everybody hates that keyboard 🤣 I know I really liked mine. Fun story is; I bought it the day before a written exam, where we were to bring our own computers if we didn't want to do it hand written. (Yes, high tower Aopen HX-08, 17" CRT etc). And I decided "crash or burn" and only brought my new, totally unknown Natural keyboard. And I loved it! 😀

Edit: may be a couple of years off, so it might just have been a midi ATX tower and a 14" CRT

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-11-16, 14:03:

Not everybody hates that keyboard 🤣 I know I really liked mine. Fun story is; I bought it the day before a written exam, where we were to bring our own computers if we didn't want to do it hand written. (Yes, high tower Aopen HX-08, 17" CRT etc). And I decided "crash or burn" and only brought my new, totally unknown Natural keyboard. And I loved it! 😀

You know, I spent my entire child/teen years hating on that keyboard and all the future "ergonomic" keyboards my mom would buy for herself over the years. Now, after all this time, I find the Natural keyboard not all that bad. It's still a little awkward for gaming, and takes up a ton of space on the desk, but I find that I can type out a multi-page letter in MS Works pretty comfortably. I will say that I have changed my opinion of this keyboard.

Such a neat job with those IDE cables! Eye pleasure indeed!

Hello, dear Vogons. My first post here and after almost a year after reading your topics, posts, solutions, problems etc., I managed to get it up and running that IBM rig. Got the courage to register now and to show you my setup. I've been building it part by part. Trials and errors. Too many great machines here, so mine is nothing special. I hope you like it 😀

IBM 300GL 1999 Model 6563-83G

Motherboard: Intel 6563VHG Apollo Pro 133A/T
CPU: Slot 1 Intel Pentium III 600EB Coppermine 600/256/133 with passive cooling
GPU: Abit Siluro GeForce 2 MX 400 64mb SDR 128bit with passive cooling
RAM: 1x256mb/133mhz Kingston SDR
Sound card: Creative Audigy 1 "SB0090"
PCI: USB 2.0 card NEC UPD720 Enhanced controller v.1.0
Monitor: Acer LCD AL1711 17 inch 1280x1024/75hz 5:4
Speakers: Cambridge SoundWorks by Creative SBS-52
PSU: ASTEC 145W
HDD: 20GB Seagate Barracuda ATA
CD: LG 48x
Floppy: NEC
Keyboard: IBM KB 9930
Mouse: PS/2 Cordless (no such thing as word "wireless" back than, lmao) Logitech with 2xAAA batteries, year 01/2000
OS: Windows 98 SE

Machine runs and plays great. It is really silent. Here and there some BsoD and freezing, but hey, this just enriches the retro era experience as I remember it back in the day. Wish I got a GeForce 2 GTS, a board with Intel 440BX chipset and some Roland speakers.

Big ups to you all and massive respect!

Congrats! Looks so white! Did you do any bleaching? Have never seen that shape of the CPU cooler on these 300GLs, cool)

AndrewRus wrote on 2025-11-17, 21:16:

GPU: Abit Siluro GeForce 2 MX 400 64mb SDR 128bit with passive cooling

Do not want to fearmonger too much, but that MX400 may still require some active cooling. I myself have a 32Mb Mx400 with passive cooling like that, but then I see that some of them have fans on top of the very same-size heatsinks. I only used mine for several months, and was sort of proudly having it passive and silent, but now (seeing more and more coolers on this model), I'm having second thoughts, will be going to have a cooler if I ever seriously use it again.

AndrewRus wrote on 2025-11-17, 21:16:

Hello, dear Vogons. My first post here and after almost a year after reading your topics, posts, solutions, problems etc., I managed to get it up and running that IBM rig. Got the courage to register now and to show you my setup. I've been building it part by part. Trials and errors. Too many great machines here, so mine is nothing special. I hope you like it 😀

Beautiful! I will say there's something undeniably appealing about those vintage LCD monitors.

Welcome to the forum!

AndrewRus wrote on 2025-11-17, 21:16:

I managed to get it up and running that IBM rig. Got the courage to register now and to show you my setup.

Looks great. Well done. Pentium III era is such a great period of time, and you have a smart looking PC from that era.

Great game selection too. Does Vice City run OK on that PC though?

I had the exact same desktop computer when I worked for IBM as a WebSphere admin/developer. I always felt the computer was very slow in spite of its specs. It might have been because of a slow hard drive.

Halofiber86 wrote on 2025-11-17, 21:32:

Congrats! Looks so white! Did you do any bleaching? Have never seen that shape of the CPU cooler on these 300GLs, cool)

Bleaching? Not at all! It looks even whiter in person. Funny how it looks in these photos so white to you that you suggested bleaching. From the warm halogen lighting in my room it does not look that white in pictures to me. But yeah, I searched parts that were almost never exposed to light of day and stored in basements probably, haha. The passive Slot 1 Pentiums have that plastic tunnel-like cooling attached to the second fan of the PSU. Does a great job.

Halofiber86 wrote on 2025-11-17, 21:41:

Do not want to fearmonger too much, but that MX400 may still require some active cooling. I myself have a 32Mb Mx400 with passive cooling like that, but then I see that some of them have fans on top of the very same-size heatsinks. I only used mine for several months, and was sort of proudly having it passive and silent, but now (seeing more and more coolers on this model), I'm having second thoughts, will be going to have a cooler if I ever seriously use it again.

If you look at the 5-th picture, you can see on the right side at the bottom the case fan that blows fresh air directly on the GPU radiator and to the left side I have removed the blank PCI metal piece so that the hot air gets away and it really does. IBM engineers made it that way. So the GeForce has passive + active cooling. 😀 I really wanted a "silent" setup.

sunkindly wrote on 2025-11-18, 02:27:

Beautiful! I will say there's something undeniably appealing about those vintage LCD monitors.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks, friend. It is not "era correct" I guess to you that I used LCD with that setup but it "feels" somewhat right. I specifically wanted early white plastic-case LCD not just any 5:4 monitor.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-11-18, 15:46:

Looks great. Well done. Pentium III era is such a great period of time, and you have a smart looking PC from that era.

Great game selection too. Does Vice City run OK on that PC though?

Thanks, friend! Never tried it... Vice City or any GTA from that 2002 era would be too much of a cup to handle on that setup. Maybe with a 900Mhz CPU and a GeForce 2 with DDR probably... These are Win XP, Dx.9 games. 😀
Warcraft III from the same era is the only one I've tried. Runs almost good, though. 800x600 on High detail. Surprised. Year-wise Quake III runs perfect 35+ FPS with 5-6 Bots, 800x600 all High detail and Half-Life 1 runs even better on 1024x on Direct 3D.

mtest001 wrote on 2025-11-19, 10:16:

I had the exact same desktop computer when I worked for IBM as a WebSphere admin/developer. I always felt the computer was very slow in spite of its specs. It might have been because of a slow hard drive.

Probably, friend. My drive is 7200rpm and the PCI USB 2.0 controller works way above the speeds of the integrated 1.1 USB. We are joking with my buddy that this IBM boots and loads faster than his Pentium 4 Celeron 2.4Ghz with WinXP. Not a joke actually. We tested it. 😀

AndrewRus wrote on 2025-11-19, 11:51:

Thanks, friend! Never tried it... Vice City or any GTA from that 2002 era would be too much of a cup to handle on that setup. Maybe with a 900Mhz CPU and a GeForce 2 with DDR probably... These are Win XP, Dx.9 games. 😀
Warcraft III from the same era is the only one I've tried. Runs almost good, though. 800x600 on High detail. Surprised. Year-wise Quake III runs perfect 35+ FPS with 5-6 Bots, 800x600 all High detail and Half-Life 1 runs even better on 1024x on Direct 3D.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Was just curious if you were planning to play GTA on this machine, as it was in your photo with it.

Sounds like you will have a lot of fun with this machine.