90's style modern PC

[CreamyNutButter]

I am a bit too young to really be a 90s kid (I started using PCs when I was 3 years old in 1998), but I like 90s PC games, and I am actually quite fond of the beige, boxy style that others find hideous.  I came up with the idea of housing a modern, but cheap gaming PC in a 90's style beige case, using a beige CRT monitor, and a beige mouse and keyboard.  The first part I found was the monitor.  Some people down the street were moving and I saw two CRTs being left on the porch.  I asked if I could have one, and the lady said that I could have the older one.  It had a small crack in the front and was missing the stand.  I lugged the CRT back to my house and, to my relief, it worked perfectly.  The second part I came across was the keyboard.  My next door neighbor was getting rid of some old PC stuff and she had an old Dell QuietKey keyboard.  I know this is laughable compared a quality mechanical keyboard such as a Model M, but I have very little to spend.  I just bought the mouse on eBay, a beige, generic 2-button mouse (called a "Take me Home mouse").  The main component I need to find is a quality beige ATX case.  There is one for $40 on Newegg, but it is not worth that much, and perhaps I will find one for free or significantly less if I scrap it from an old PC.     

[nubbinator]

Not really sure what you're asking, but you can check your local thrift stores and see if they have any.  Just keep in mind that not all of them are ATX and many have abysmal airflow and are loud for that little air flow.

[Tym]

eBay has an un-ending supply of old PC's working and not in horrible beige. The hard part is finding one which is not hugely over valued by the owner as they usually are.

[ZoGxll]

Good luck finding a case, I think this is a neat idea and would love to see it finished.  When it comes together you should post some pictures.

[noisyturtle]

Dude, you could build a badass Win '95 machine with like a Voodoo TNT or Diamond Monster and throw in some 256 ram. Better yet, just hit the thrift stores and look for an IBM Aptiva machine. You'll be playing Blakestone and Jill of the Jungle in no time!

[tjcaustin]

No way, turn the wayback knob one step further.  Win3.11 for lyfe.

I spent so much time watching toaster screensavers...

[sicaine]

I realy dont think that those 90's pcs were any beautiful at all :>

But go to a scrapyard?

[nubbinator]

No way, turn the wayback knob one step further.  Win3.11 for lyfe.

I spent so much time watching toaster screensavers...

The first computer I ever built either ran Windows 3.0 or 3.1, I can't remember, but oh how I loved that 90MHz IBM 486 DX2.

[SmallFry]

First one I ever built was a P4... lol.

[noisyturtle]

First one I ever built was a P4... lol.

[badcop]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-ATX-Case-with-300-Watt-PS-NEW-in-original-box-Warranty-/200876459766?pt=US_Computer_Cases&hash=item2ec52b86f6

got a psu and everything lol.  just make sure its atx, beef up the cooling and you're good to go.

[Grim Fandango]

This topic makes me feel old...

[jdcarpe]

This topic makes me feel old...

Me too. First PC I ever built myself was a 486.

It's funny you had this idea. I had a dream one night that I lived in a totalitarian society. I lived in an apartment made from a shipping container. My "computer" was actually only a dumb terminal, that connected to a kick-ass PC in a server room in a nearby shipping container. Everyone had the same type of setup. All the clever hackers built bleeding edge systems and housed them in old, beige cases, so that when the police would raid the server farm, theirs wouldn't get smashed like the modern black and silver cased PCs would.

[nubbinator]

Me too. First PC I ever built myself was a 486.

But how fast was it?

I remember having to fuss with jumpers on my 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, and HDDs to get the master/slave setups right and remember how much of a pain SCSI was.  I remember how amazing it was when Zip disks and then CDs came out and how I was amazed at how much stuff I could fit on a 3.5" floppy.

[ZoGxll]

You'll be playing Blakestone and Jill of the Jungle in no time!

Whoa, Jill of the Jungle. That brings me back big time, makes me want to get Dosbox running.

[jdcarpe]

Me too. First PC I ever built myself was a 486.

But how fast was it?

I remember having to fuss with jumpers on my 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, and HDDs to get the master/slave setups right and remember how much of a pain SCSI was.  I remember how amazing it was when Zip disks and then CDs came out and how I was amazed at how much stuff I could fit on a 3.5" floppy.

50MHz. DX 50, no DX/2 bs!

[CreamyNutButter]

Dude, you could build a badass Win '95 machine with like a Voodoo TNT or Diamond Monster and throw in some 256 ram. Better yet, just hit the thrift stores and look for an IBM Aptiva machine. You'll be playing Blakestone and Jill of the Jungle in no time!

Actually, my plan was to build a modern PC that looks like a 90s machine.  I already have a Windows 98/DOS machine with a Rage 128 Pro and 512 of ram.  I could post pics of my older machine too, if you are interested.

[Lanx]

pc cases were just horrible to work with pre antec, i think the whole color and bling thing started around 2001, the gaudy era.

[davkol]

AT cases were mostly rock-solid. You'd have to mod one to use it with modern ATX mobos.

[Tym]

This is an old PC case, ATX ready so your sorted on that front only $20 + Postage

http://www.ebay.com/itm/90s-Retro-Generic-Empty-Computer-Tower-ATX-Form-Factor-/151040067503?pt=US_Computer_Cases&hash=item232ab087af

[Hak Foo]

I don't advise of cases where the PSU overlaps the motherboard.  Especially on modern builds with robust CPUs, you'll have limited cooler selection and a very good chance of overheating.

I built an Athlon 1200 into such a case, overheated unless you left the case open, because there was nowhere the heatsink could draw air from.

Also, if you get a case that uses drive rails, make sure you get the rails, because they're often impossible to find aftermarket.

An interesting case was used on some of the Gateway 2000 Pentium-era machines.  It's ATX, of relatively sensible layout, but it can be used as either a desktop or tower, by unbolting and rotating the drive cage.  It's a little shallow-- if you can find a relatively small board that only engages six of the nine ATX mounting points, it would fit nicely.  You can *ALMOST* fit a 120mm rear exhaust but should be able to easily fit a 92.  Here's a pic of a build in it from long ago.

http://forums.gideontech.com/vps/showphoto.php/photo/3643/cat/500/ppuser/4322

[daerid]

Me too. First PC I ever built myself was a 486.

But how fast was it?

I remember having to fuss with jumpers on my 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, and HDDs to get the master/slave setups right and remember how much of a pain SCSI was.  I remember how amazing it was when Zip disks and then CDs came out and how I was amazed at how much stuff I could fit on a 3.5" floppy.

50MHz. DX 50, no DX/2 bs!

I might have you beat. 386 SX 20mhz, here. DOS 5.0/Windows 3.0. This was in...I wanna say... 1990?

[SmallFry]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antec-Beige-SOHO-Full-Tower-Server-10-Bay-Case-SX1040-ATX-Board-Form-Factor-/160987570927?pt=US_Computer_Cases&hash=item257b9b62ef

[dante]

I miss the horizontal desktop cases that the monitor sat on - NOT the vertical.

If you are thinking of doing Win95 there are apps out there that let you do a reduced install that will eliminate a lot of the crap you don't care about for additional speed.  Specifically some of the Netscape apps run a lot faster and are more stable once some of the crap is gone (heh heh.)

[fohat.digs]

I have a nice horizontal desktop PS2 - I think it is a 486 - that I would sell for a reasonable price, but the shipping would be devastating.

[Leslieann]

Some of the old cases were nice, I have one with a stainless steel frame. Weighs a ton.

If you want an older styling, I highly recommend a Supermicro tower. You can get used ones at a decent price and while older styled, are much more modern inside. Otherwise, like others have said, you may have to make it fit ATX, or have trouble with component fit. We use MUCH larger heatsinks today than we used to and need more air flow.  Back then processor heat was sub 100watt and a video card that might push 10. Today we have processors breaking 100, and video cards pushing 200 watts on up to nearly 300. Those old cases can't cope with it without a LOT of modifications, and some may destroy the look you were after.

AOPEN and Inwin also had/has some older style towers that were/are more modern.

[rowdy]

I recently threw out about 30 old PCs - mini-towers, full towers, desktop cases, servers, mobos, printers, monitors, cables and other stuff )

Put it all out for hard rubbish.

Nothing happened that night.  The next night all but two printer, one scanner, a few cables and the monitors had disappeared.

By the next day all that was left was one printer, the scanner and a few cables.

By the time the collection was scheduled, there was nothing left.

I kept all the old keyboards though.

[Hak Foo]

The Antec SX1000/Chieftech Dragon is definitely iconic of early 2000s builds.  You can pretty easily mount a 120mm exhaust, or do an "inverted" build by removing and swapping the top and bottom panels-- drilling out rivets required.

[Internetlad]

Neat idea, but to be honest, making sure everything is compatible is the biggest issue. As somebody noted earlier old cases have pretty ass airflow, either being almost completely open with vents on all possible sides, or completely closed with a crazy loud 80mm fan on the back.

Finding an old ATX case wouldn't be hard, but you might have to monkey with switches for power since some older machines had the power switch hooked right up to the PSU (not hard to make or buy a power switch, though. Power supplies seemed to be mounted in the strangest ways, like 4 screws couldn't hold it so you needed mounting rails and a huge piece of metal holding it up, and trying to get it in and out required the removal of every single panel on the computer and a pry bar.

[Tym]

Neat idea, but to be honest, making sure everything is compatible is the biggest issue. As somebody noted earlier old cases have pretty ass airflow, either being almost completely open with vents on all possible sides, or completely closed with a crazy loud 80mm fan on the back.

Finding an old ATX case wouldn't be hard, but you might have to monkey with switches for power since some older machines had the power switch hooked right up to the PSU (not hard to make or buy a power switch, though. Power supplies seemed to be mounted in the strangest ways, like 4 screws couldn't hold it so you needed mounting rails and a huge piece of metal holding it up, and trying to get it in and out required the removal of every single panel on the computer and Gorden Freeman.

FTFY

But in all seriousness, I quite like the idea! Good Luck, Post Pictures!

[Internetlad]

Power supplies seemed to be mounted in the strangest ways, like 4 screws couldn't hold it so you needed mounting rails and a huge piece of metal holding it up, and trying to get it in and out required the removal of every single panel on the computer and Gorden Freeman.

Please, he's way too busy to work on old power supplies himself.
http://www.destructoid.com/crowbar-delivered-to-cern-s-gordon-freeman-hilarity-and-a-contest-ensue-112187.phtml

[dndlmx]

I've entertained the idea of building a "sleeper" in the past. But I'm super OCD, the parts would need to match somewhat. I don't think I've seen beige LCD monitors around.

 Is this the case you're referring to OP?

[dndlmx]

Edit: derp, disregard.

[Leslieann]

If I really wanted something that screamed retro and cool.

I would start with a an old Mac G4 cube, while they actually sold from 2000-2001, it's immediately identifiable, readily available, and just modern enough you could use a flat screen for that retro futuristic look. Put a modern ITX board (perhaps an AMD with 7660 incorporated). You could even one up Apple and fit a more modern power brick inside along with an SSD.  As for the screen take an old Apple screen and swap the internals with a more modern one if it's too old.  With the right cooling, the whole thing could be completely silent and modern. You could also go Intel internals, a small video card and actually run OSX. There is even tutorials on how to get the touch sensor working.

My custom cube was based on this very idea, but I didn't want to pay what some people were asking for a clean Cube case at the time, only to rip it apart, so I made my own box out of aluminum and oak. 

We left beige boxes because they were boring. The Cube was small, easy on the eyes, and quiet.

[rowdy]

Or an 80s style modern PC?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Upgrade-your-original-1984-Macintosh-to-run-OS-X-S/

[dndlmx]

 

[digi]

My first PC, cost the family $3k at the time:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Leading-Edge-DC-2010-E-Phoenix-8088-MS-DOS-Complete-Computer-System-/221219063515?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item3381af06db

Gogo Kings Quest I & Tetris.

Who remembers parking the heads on the MFM Hard Drive before you moved the computer? 

[Lanx]

honest to betsy i just had a dream about my old high school computer lab. At that time our school got funding for 30 pentium 200's

except our desks were weird, it was like this



so if you looked at the classroom you had 30 students just looking down, also remember this was in the late 90's so these were huge 14in crt monsters.

man i remember that classroom, i loved it so much, me and other geeks took it over cuz our computer teacher was really far behind, i mean he was teaching us python on these things, when we could have been learning visual basic 1.0, oh he also encouraged us all to pirate, and said, wow so many copies of windows 95, does anyone need this at home? just bring back the disk tomorrow. (or was it floppies? was win95 9 disks?)

[Masterchief79]

A modern PC in a vintage-looking case is actually a nice idea. I have some old Pentium I and Pentium MMX server cases with a special coating, to keep electronic radiation inside the case (all black, looks really cool). Of course there's no way an ATX board goes in there. Stuff for an interesting modding project though... my PC atm is just lying on the floor without a case, on the mainboard packaging, with an 3770K and HD7970 Crossfire (all watercooled), i can add a picture when I'm home.

I actually like the idea of stuffing all of that into an mini-ITX case even better. Your idea is a nice one for a modding project though, especially building all of that out of really old stuff. I got about 35 AGP cards and a lot of old boards and CPUs lying around.

[wcass]

the oldest thing on my shelf is a Tyan S1564D Tomcat IV fully populated with two Pentium 233 and 8 sticks of RAM.

i wanted to find a picture of it on the internets and found this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/review-socket-7-pci-motherboards,46-19.html

and this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tyan-Tomcat-IVD-S1564D-Motherboard-/310384914723?pt=Motherboards&hash=item484461f123

damn! i think i need to post this on ebay. 

[samwisekoi]

A modern PC in a vintage-looking case is actually a nice idea. I have some old Pentium I and Pentium MMX server cases with a special coating, to keep electronic radiation inside the case (all black, looks really cool). Of course there's no way an ATX board goes in there. Stuff for an interesting modding project though... my PC atm is just lying on the floor without a case, on the mainboard packaging, with an 3770K and HD7970 Crossfire (all watercooled), i can add a picture when I'm home.

I actually like the idea of stuffing all of that into an mini-ITX case even better. Your idea is a nice one for a modding project though, especially building all of that out of really old stuff. I got about 35 AGP cards and a lot of old boards and CPUs lying around.

Do it the other way around.  Get an old 'AT' size case, then drop an i7 ITX mobo, SSD, SATA III disk, and an SFX power supply in it.  You would have plenty of room for a Corsair H2O cooler on exhaust and a 120 in for positive pressure.

Slap a 1280 non-widescreen LCD in a monitor case, add a beige mouse and keyboard, and there you are!

You could even put a slot-load DVD burner behind a 5.25" floppy face plate.

 - Ron I samwisekoi

[daerid]

^^^^^

[Masterchief79]

Yep, nice idea, too, don't have the money for such a project atm (it's all being wasted on old keyboards).
Here are the pics of my setup if anyone is interested:

[Tym]

Yep, nice idea, too, don't have the money for such a project atm (it's all being wasted on old keyboards).
Here are the pics of my setup if anyone is interested:

The hell is up with your resolution bru? (Guessing Bru is the shortened version of Bruder)

[Masterchief79]

It's a 1920x1080 TV, I usually just use it as a PC monitor and didn't change the gfx settings in GTA4 yet.
"Bru"

[ninjadoc]

I actually have several in my basement. I kept the good ones and trashed the thin ones. I have a few power supplies too. I'm going to make a retro PC so I would need to see what I'm going to use. I'm in traveling distance to you too. I live in Cincinnati so no whipping. PM me your email address and I can send you some pictures. Wife has talked me into cleaning out the basement! 

[fohat.digs]

Wife has talked me into cleaning out the basement!

Oh, no!

I have an old PS2 (I think it's a 486) desktop (horizontal) that I would sell cheap, but shipping would be murder.

[samwisekoi]

Wife has talked me into cleaning out the basement!

Oh, no!

I have an old PS2 (I think it's a 486) desktop (horizontal) that I would sell cheap, but shipping would be murder.

Let's talk!

Can you post a photo or two?  I'd really like to slide a slot-load BD-ROM behind a full-height 5.25 floppy faceplate.

 - Ron I samwisekoi

[fohat.digs]

This thing is heavy. Shipping will be as much or more than price. I live near Atlanta.

[samwisekoi]

Wow.  Thanks!

The details.  High-capacity 1.44 Megabyte floppy (yes folks, more than a Megabyte of storage!)  PS/2 connectors with filler panels in the larger AT-connector holes.  RS-232 serial port in both DB-9 and DB-25 sizes indicated by the square-wave emblem for a DIGITAL signal.  And a whole add-in card for the Centronics printer port.

I bet that supports all 256 VGA colors, too!  And probably has MORE THAN 640k of memory.

Shipping aside, I honestly couldn't case-mod it into a mATX power-house.  I mean I could certainly do it physically, but it would be a sacrilege.  Can't do it.

Thanks for dragging it out and taking the photos.  I hope you got some enjoyment out of it.

Very best,

 - Ron I samwisekoi