Former Glory...

Chris [BEANS] · 15 Nov 2019 at 10:46

So...

My old PC needed replacing, and nothing was worth reusing.

However, although it isn’t up to playing anything current to a decent standard it still runs and it is already set up and configured for a lot of retro games I still really enjoy playing, and I don’t want to clutter the new PC with emulators and the like.

The new PC is currently lacking a GPU that’s been RMA’d, and I’m left with time on my hands this weekend so I’ve decided to refurb the old girl and set it up for some retro gaming from the sofa on the big TV...

Opening up the old girl revealed a disgusting, shameful, mess...

... but this mess was still running a treat.

(yep, the rubber on the CPU cooler has aged and died, leaving one of fans literally hanging off!!)

The case is massive, heavy, and cumbersome and what with the case fans and duff cooler it’s also very loud too...

So... I’ve ordered the smallest full ATX case I could find, a new cooler, and my intention this weekend is to resurrect her.

No idea what my former specs are anymore, but I’ll post them later before I start the job.

It won’t be anything to look at, and the specs will be obsolete, but if I can play Streets of Rage II from the sofa with a wireless pad then it’s much better than just slinging it all in the bin!

Chris [BEANS] · 15 Nov 2019 at 11:40

snips86x said:
Good god that dust

I know. It’s a fricking horror show!!!

It lived on the floor and had no love for years.

The new beast is on a desk, cable managed, and has a glass panel so I’m obliged to clean it occasionally!

Still, not too late to show some love to this one

Chris [BEANS] · 15 Nov 2019 at 12:09

I’ve got three cans of compressed air, and a new cooler.

I went for a Q500L. It’s the smallest full ATX case I could find, it’s not expensive, and has good airflow.
It’ll never be seen, so aesthetics weren’t important.

Chris [BEANS] · 15 Nov 2019 at 16:37

Yeah, looks like it’s a terribly performing case, but the demands on it will be minor so I’m hoping it’ll be fine...

We’ll see...

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 10:39

Right... time for some tea and toast, then I can crack on with the job at hand.

As my main PC is out of action, and this little tinker will be in pieces, can anyone recommend a good image host for forum pictures that I can use from my phone?

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 16:43

So far, so good... I'm posting from the newly refurbed PC.

Actually been quite a fun little project for the day...

Started off with the old beast of a case, and worst of all, what was inside...

(to be fair, cable management on this side wasn't too bad!)

However, this was horrific...

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 16:51

Well armed, I started the task...

... and found the grime to be disgusting. I'm genuinely ashamed!!

However, this bad boy came out looking like new!!

GTX 970, that's been in there at least a year, maybe longer.
I either bought it from MM here, or from someone on the unofficial OcUK discord...

Likewise, the RAM came out looking pretty clean too. This too was a second hand upgrade from someone who either posts here or was a PUBG regular a year or two ago...

It's two 8 gig sticks, but I've no idea what speed...

Can anyone decipher this? I should probably just download CPU-Z to be fair... Lazy posting!

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 16:56

Warning!! The next couple of images are likely to offend!!!

Im genuinely surprised it still works!!

A lot of the paste had become a thin liquid that wiped away easily and was clearly achieving nothing.

A lot of the paste had hardened to a weird kind of sticky tar like substance.

Not good!!

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 17:02

Turns out my CPU is an i5 3570K... which means very little to me... :confused:

Once cleaned up, it was all uphill form here

Much improved by the addition of a fantastic little cooler!! £20, paste already applied, and it literally just pushes stright on, zero fuss or messing about whatsoever!!

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 17:12

New case is a bit odd, in that you mount the PSU at the front on a bracket, and you have to remove the front panel itself to do so...

It enables the smallest footprint possible, while still maintaining enough room for a full ATX motherboard and components though, and that was what I was looking for.

Drives mount nicely on the rear of the motherboard tray too...

(ignore the fact I have managed to get everything the wrong way up!!)

Chris [BEANS] · 16 Nov 2019 at 17:17

Finally...

Won't win any races, and won't win any beauty contests, but it's much tidier, and infinitely cleaner than it was before...

In total, it cost me less than £100 to refurb it. It was otherwise only going to go in the bin, and frankly after getting a good look inside it probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway!!

Now to try to set it up for the fun stuff!!

Chris [BEANS] · 19 Nov 2019 at 13:51

I’ll look forward to your thread about it

I’m going to set this up for retro gaming on the big screen with a wireless pad...

I’ll post up any significant progress, or the end result as soon as I can.

Can’t wait to have a cheeky bit of Desert Strike while sat back on the sofa, or some Mario maybe...

Chris [BEANS] · 19 Nov 2019 at 20:12

Yeah, I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

My ultimate goal is to set it up (somehow?!?) to wake on LAN with a wireless pad, boot into a front end, and play a number of emulators...

I think I need to sort a fresh install of Windows now too. It’s doing some odd things like defaulting to Steam link audio on boot no matter what else I set as default, and no matter what I do I can’t install nvidia control panel either.

Edit: If you do refurb yours, bung up a thread. Always fun to see what other people are doing.

Chris [BEANS] · 20 Nov 2019 at 13:56

No smokers, just six or seven years of neglect and being sat on different carpets in different houses...

Really brief research shows that you can apparently get bigger PSU’s and GPU’s in there if you really want!!

I mean, that’s a terrible idea, but you ‘can’...

Chris [BEANS] · 22 Nov 2019 at 08:35

Reinstalled windows last night, and all of the previous niggles that I couldn’t rectify are sorted \o/

Looks like this needs a wireless ‘entertainment’ keyboard with a track pad, and a decent Bluetooth pad. (Do the bluetooth x-box pads work with any bluetooth adapter, or do I need a Microsoft adapter??).

This weekend I’ll try to set up Launch Box/Big Box with a select handful of games, and quite possibly a new TV too...

Ha, all this messing about and I’ll probably spend the vast majority of my time on it playing Desert Strike