This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's basement, I decided to give it a full refurb. Apparently mice had been nesting inside, and minor flooding in the basement had caused a significant amount of rust:

Soaking the case metal in industrial-strength vinegar removed most of the rust, but unfortunately I had to replace several of the original components that had failed over the years. On the plus side, I think the case cleaned up very well:

Components list:
-Enlight 7237 mid-tower ATX case
-StarTech ATX 20/24-pin 400-watt PSU
-FIC AD11 Socket A / Socket 462 ATX motherboard
-AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1400C 1.4GHz CPU
-Corsair 256MB UDIMM DDR PC-2100 RAM [2x / 512MB total]
-ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB AGP
-SanDisk 128GB Extreme CF card + IDE-to-CF adapter & 5.25" mount bracket [2x / 256GB total]
-Generic PCI network card
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Drive IR
-Sony MPF920-D 3.5” floppy disk drive
-Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40A CD-RW drive

I've replaced every case/mobo fan with Noctua equivalents to help reduce noise, plus the PSU's internal fan. As a Win98SE box, the Radeon 9600 Pro is probably overkill, but I got a good deal on it as NISB. It's been a pleasure resurrecting this machine, which I've begun to affectionately refer to as "Rusty," and pairing it with a 19" CRT transports me straight back to the early 2000s every time I use it.

FlyingToaster wrote on 2026-07-03, 02:21:

This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's […]
Show full quote

This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's basement, I decided to give it a full refurb. Apparently mice had been nesting inside, and minor flooding in the basement had caused a significant amount of rust:

The attachment 20250329_190246_edit.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20250329_203114.jpg is no longer available

Soaking the case metal in industrial-strength vinegar removed most of the rust, but unfortunately I had to replace several of the original components that had failed over the years. On the plus side, I think the case cleaned up very well:

The attachment IMG_6272.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_6276.jpg is no longer available

Components list:
-Enlight 7237 mid-tower ATX case
-StarTech ATX 20/24-pin 400-watt PSU
-FIC AD11 Socket A / Socket 462 ATX motherboard
-AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1400C 1.4GHz CPU
-Corsair 256MB UDIMM DDR PC-2100 RAM [2x / 512MB total]
-ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB AGP
-SanDisk 128GB Extreme CF card + IDE-to-CF adapter & 5.25" mount bracket [2x / 256GB total]
-Generic PCI network card
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Drive IR
-Sony MPF920-D 3.5” floppy disk drive
-Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40A CD-RW drive

I've replaced every case/mobo fan with Noctua equivalents to help reduce noise, plus the PSU's internal fan. As a Win98SE box, the Radeon 9600 Pro is probably overkill, but I got a good deal on it as NISB. It's been a pleasure resurrecting this machine, which I've begun to affectionately refer to as "Rusty," and pairing it with a 19" CRT transports me straight back to the early 2000s every time I use it.

The attachment IMG_6295.jpg is no longer available

great rescue, nice spec too - Athlon 1400 and the agp card make it great for everything 98se (and pretty good for win xp if you want that)

That's not a rig, but I found the original CD that came with my first ever CD Recorder - a SCSI Smart&Friendly. Many years ago I burnt The Need For Speed: Special Edition on it. Back before using CD images for everything, I liked duplicating my original discs and using the copies to play, to improve the longevity of the originals.

Burnt CDs tend to degrade much faster; this one still reads fine, even if discoloration is obvious at the edges. The disc is more than 25 years old and was burnt probably 15-20 years ago.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-06-09, 21:14:

Law212 wrote on 2026-06-09, 14:30:

Thanks ! I'm glad someone else appreciates that the desk is also period correct. I love this set up , I just need a good KVM set up but now I am enjoying my retro PC set up immensely

I wish I could see it, but your chosen image host doesn't display images in the UK.

I have the same trouble in the UK, so just use the Opera browser (in Windows and Linux) it's got a free built in VPN perfect for this issue!

FlyingToaster wrote on 2026-07-03, 02:21:

This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's […]
Show full quote

This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's basement, I decided to give it a full refurb. Apparently mice had been nesting inside, and minor flooding in the basement had caused a significant amount of rust:

The attachment 20250329_190246_edit.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20250329_203114.jpg is no longer available

Soaking the case metal in industrial-strength vinegar removed most of the rust, but unfortunately I had to replace several of the original components that had failed over the years. On the plus side, I think the case cleaned up very well:

The attachment IMG_6272.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_6276.jpg is no longer available

Components list:
-Enlight 7237 mid-tower ATX case
-StarTech ATX 20/24-pin 400-watt PSU
-FIC AD11 Socket A / Socket 462 ATX motherboard
-AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1400C 1.4GHz CPU
-Corsair 256MB UDIMM DDR PC-2100 RAM [2x / 512MB total]
-ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB AGP
-SanDisk 128GB Extreme CF card + IDE-to-CF adapter & 5.25" mount bracket [2x / 256GB total]
-Generic PCI network card
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Drive IR
-Sony MPF920-D 3.5” floppy disk drive
-Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40A CD-RW drive

I've replaced every case/mobo fan with Noctua equivalents to help reduce noise, plus the PSU's internal fan. As a Win98SE box, the Radeon 9600 Pro is probably overkill, but I got a good deal on it as NISB. It's been a pleasure resurrecting this machine, which I've begun to affectionately refer to as "Rusty," and pairing it with a 19" CRT transports me straight back to the early 2000s every time I use it.

The attachment IMG_6295.jpg is no longer available

Love it.

Nice to see another Geekenspiel customer? 😀

I have an old unit and it has a smell of musk (not Elon) about it.

Did you find this unit had an odd off smell due to being in the basement and if so, how did you get rid of it?

Great pictures.

vad4r wrote on 2021-05-02, 05:55:

In Germany we have the Voodoo Alert Forum https://www.voodooalert.de/board/forum/ , a Forum roundabout the 3Dfx cards. The Users […]
Show full quote

In Germany we have the Voodoo Alert Forum https://www.voodooalert.de/board/forum/ , a Forum roundabout the 3Dfx cards. The Users make every year some Lanparties (before Corona). The lanparties have themes like PCs only with 3Dfx included or "Midrange lanpartie".

Midrange mean: only 1 CPU Core and GPU max to Nvidia 7xxx oder ATI 1xxxx. This is one of my midrange PC:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 Prozessor 661 "Cedarmill" 3,6Ghz @ 4,38Ghz (max. 4,5Ghz)
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS9900, converted to CNPS9900max rotor
Case: Zalman GT-1000 "Z Machine"
Mainboard: Asus Striker Extreme (NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI)
RAM: 4GB (2x 2048MB) GEIL Black Dragon DDR2 6400, CL4-4-4-12 with Xilence Dual Heatpipe Passive Memory Cooler
Grafik: 2x XFX GeForce 7950 GT 610M XXX with cooler conversion from Point Of View GeForce 9800 GTX+
NIC: 2x onboard
Sound: Asus SupremeFX
HDD1: WD WD2002FAEX Black 2TB
HDD2: Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 1TB
ODD: LITEON DVD RAM
PSU: be quiet! Pure Power 10 400W
Frontpanel: Lamptron FC5 V2
FAN: 1x 120 & 2x 80 Zalman
Weight: 18,8kg

The attachment 2018_01_22 zMachine (0).jpg is no longer available

The attachment 2018_01_22 zMachine (1a).jpg is no longer available

The attachment 2018_01_22 zMachine (2).jpg is no longer available

The attachment 2018_01_22 zMachine (3).jpg is no longer available

The attachment 2018_01_22 zMachine (6).JPG is no longer available

To new? Please let me know!

Simply stunning setup you have there!!!

Still have to connect the Roland RA50 (has full MT-32 functionality) and SC-55 to the PicoGUS and the sound system, but I didn't have any DIN5 cables for the MIDI commands and am unsure how to best route the sound without buying extra mixer stuff.

Other than that, I am pretty happy about it:
ASI T-Bird case
Gigabyte GA-486AM/S motherboard w/ 512 K cache
AMD Am5x86 P75-S 133 MHz
2x32 MB 60ns FPM RAM
ELSA Winner 1000 Trio (S3 Trio64 PCI 2 MB)
Terratec Gold 16/96 (ESS 1868F)
PicoGUS
Adaptec AHA-2940 SCSI controller
dual Nakamichi MJ-5.16 drives (5x CD changer, 16x speed)
Mitsumi 3.5" floppy

Peripherals:
Yamaha YST-MS30 2.1 sound system
Cherry G80-1000 keyboard (Cherry MX Blue switches)
Cherry M-5400 mouse (via PicoGUS serial emulation)
Roland RA-50
Roland SC-55 Mk. II
Eizo F931 21" (Trinitron Aperture Grille, 160 Hz up to 1024x768 Hz, up to 2048x1536 resolution at 85 Hz)

allesclar wrote on 2026-07-09, 21:59:

Love it. […]
Show full quote

FlyingToaster wrote on 2026-07-03, 02:21:

This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's […]
Show full quote

This has been an ongoing project for the last year-ish; after digging one of my nasty old circa-2000 Windows PCs out of my dad's basement, I decided to give it a full refurb. Apparently mice had been nesting inside, and minor flooding in the basement had caused a significant amount of rust:

The attachment 20250329_190246_edit.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20250329_203114.jpg is no longer available

Soaking the case metal in industrial-strength vinegar removed most of the rust, but unfortunately I had to replace several of the original components that had failed over the years. On the plus side, I think the case cleaned up very well:

The attachment IMG_6272.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_6276.jpg is no longer available

Components list:
-Enlight 7237 mid-tower ATX case
-StarTech ATX 20/24-pin 400-watt PSU
-FIC AD11 Socket A / Socket 462 ATX motherboard
-AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1400C 1.4GHz CPU
-Corsair 256MB UDIMM DDR PC-2100 RAM [2x / 512MB total]
-ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB AGP
-SanDisk 128GB Extreme CF card + IDE-to-CF adapter & 5.25" mount bracket [2x / 256GB total]
-Generic PCI network card
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! Drive IR
-Sony MPF920-D 3.5” floppy disk drive
-Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40A CD-RW drive

I've replaced every case/mobo fan with Noctua equivalents to help reduce noise, plus the PSU's internal fan. As a Win98SE box, the Radeon 9600 Pro is probably overkill, but I got a good deal on it as NISB. It's been a pleasure resurrecting this machine, which I've begun to affectionately refer to as "Rusty," and pairing it with a 19" CRT transports me straight back to the early 2000s every time I use it.

The attachment IMG_6295.jpg is no longer available

Love it.

Nice to see another Geekenspiel customer? 😀

I have an old unit and it has a smell of musk (not Elon) about it.

Did you find this unit had an odd off smell due to being in the basement and if so, how did you get rid of it?

Great pictures.

Thank you! Yes, the stickers are all from Geekenspiel.

As far as the smell, stripping down the PC and giving the case a concentrated vinegar bath (and then a thorough rinse with water) seems to have taken care of any lingering odors. It's powerful stuff!

NorsteinB wrote on 2026-07-22, 14:50:

Still have to connect the Roland RA50 (has full MT-32 functionality) and SC-55 to the PicoGUS and the sound system, but I didn't […]
Show full quote

The attachment 486er fast fertig.jpeg is no longer available

Still have to connect the Roland RA50 (has full MT-32 functionality) and SC-55 to the PicoGUS and the sound system, but I didn't have any DIN5 cables for the MIDI commands and am unsure how to best route the sound without buying extra mixer stuff.

Other than that, I am pretty happy about it:
ASI T-Bird case
Gigabyte GA-486AM/S motherboard w/ 512 K cache
AMD Am5x86 P75-S 133 MHz
2x32 MB 60ns FPM RAM
ELSA Winner 1000 Trio (S3 Trio64 PCI 2 MB)
Terratec Gold 16/96 (ESS 1868F)
PicoGUS
Adaptec AHA-2940 SCSI controller
dual Nakamichi MJ-5.16 drives (5x CD changer, 16x speed)
Mitsumi 3.5" floppy

Peripherals:
Yamaha YST-MS30 2.1 sound system
Cherry G80-1000 keyboard (Cherry MX Blue switches)
Cherry M-5400 mouse (via PicoGUS serial emulation)
Roland RA-50
Roland SC-55 Mk. II
Eizo F931 21" (Trinitron Aperture Grille, 160 Hz up to 1024x768 Hz, up to 2048x1536 resolution at 85 Hz)

Beautiful work, and very jealous of your MIDI setup!!