I am Oldskool

[ALXAndy]

Tired of seeing Threadripper builds? (haha)
Tired of every one boasting of uber hardware?
So bored you could just sit in the corner and fap?

Well you've come to the wrong place, sorry.

Oh yeah, what am I up to. Well, a few days ago I procured a 2005 Alienware case. This one to be exact.



It was covered in rubs, gouges, scratches and smelled like BO. Seriously, the bloke who delivered it freaking STUNK. The entire case just stunk of armpits. After heaving for a while and giving it a good clean down with some window cleaner (with vinegar) I took a look over it. Three cracks, none visible thankfully. I will get to that later.

So this is what it should look like.



Only it didn't because it looked like ass and stunk like armpit.

I began working on it yesterday and spent most of the day colour sanding, cutting, buffing and polishing. Here are the fruits of some of my labour.

Side panel and top. Look at the one in the background (not done at that time) for comparison.



This took about an hour. My hands are still numb from two days of it.



Wet sand 3000, T-cut metallic and then Plastx for that super shine. I will be using some kind of wax/polish on it next. You can literally see your face in it.

OK, so before I even started to think of what hardware to put in this thing I bought this.



Quickly followed by these.





So that I can inject the cracks and stop them spreading. Right now they are very small fatigue cracks (from where some ***** tried to pull the side panel off without removing the screws :cussing:

The case needs minor repairs but will be solid once I am done. OK, so literally just as I was sanding the last panel for cutting etc a pair of bike wheels I have had on Ebay for over three months finally sold at my asking price. I was happy.

I started digging and thinking, man, it's amazing how quickly you forget technology once you move on. In the end I settled for an Asus A7V8X/LAN/GOLD.







It has RAM and a CPU but I don't know what either are yet. Not a problem, both are literally tuppence. So obviously I needed a graphics card. The last AGP card I had was a 9200 Pro. Then I moved onto PCIE. However, I need to be very careful because the games I am intending to run spaz out on more modern hardware. These games include, but are not limited to.

Sega PC Daytona USA
Sega PC Sega Rally Championship
Midtown Madness 1&2
Motocross Madness 1&2
Half Life, HL OP, BS
Gunman Chronicles

And so on. I have all of my PC games going back to 1996. Literally hundreds.

So I had a think and remembered that the last time I played those games was on my 3DLabs Oxygen 32mb X4 AGP. So I started the hunt, and found this, a Wildcat 64mb VP560.



It is brand Harry Spankers and cost me £15. It seems 3Dlabs have had a clearout, and one company in particular on Ebay have hundreds of them. This is good, because it has brought the price down to practically bugger all. I won't need to replace the caps, either. I've got the drivers too, because 3Dlabs still have them on their site.

OK, so storage. £3.99 oh yes.



DVDRom £5



Round IDE cables 99p each



And I could not resist this. £6 though !



Cooling. Why yes, it will be water cooled with a proper loop

Couple of things. I will be running Windows 2000 with DX8.1 (easily the best way to enjoy old games !) I have a 400w PSU that needs a new 80mm fan. I will most likely braid that..

I checked the GPU before I bought it. Apparently it can run 1080p lol. Hilarious and runs digital into modern panels

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I had a look at the PSU last night. It's a Zoostrom (so ******) 300w. The rear fan is dead, so I got this for £1.59 from China



Going back to the block... This is it here. Ignore that it's pretty much black, I have buffing compound. Instead focus on the four holes that pass straight through...



So then I did some looking online and found this.



And guess what? we have a match. It will bolt straight to the board. Couple of problems.

1. The G 1/4 holes have a 45 deg slope before they are flat. This was for old barbs. What they would do is wrap something around them that I believe to be plumber's tape, then screw them in. So O-rings are out.

2. This means that unless the acrylic is reversible you will be making me a new acrylic top.

Cool huh?

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So the inner chassis and panels got a bath (and myself at the same time haha)



I also liberated it of the stupid mass hard drive cage.



I managed to sweep up the shavings this time and haven't got them in my foot

I removed the cages so I can fit this.



180mm Vegas Quad. Paid a fortune for it and this is kinda a junkyard build so I am trying to use up all of the decent stuff I have lying around (it's a lot !).



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OK so I think the CPU is a AMD Athlon XP 2400+. Unless any of you guys know better? I would imagine the 2400 part gives it away but it's been many years since I saw one.





The ram is 512mb. More than enough, I only needed 128. I can't totally test it ATM because I have no GPU. However, when powered on it beeps once. Good news? I know PCs can fire without a GPU you just can't see it. If it was going mental I would be far more worried tbh. Unfortunately it seems some one got a bit frisky with the thermal compound and covered the entire CPU. It's just taken me 20 minutes to clean it lol.

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Ever since being given this block forever ago I have wondered why it had a funny channel machined out of the bottom.



Then I looked at the CPU socket.



And it all made perfect sense...

 

[ALXAndy]

Ahh throwback memories seeing that case, good luck with the build

I've been after one since 2007. I had a couple offered to me, but they were broken and parts were missing (the lock flap, etc). This one is complete but needed serious cutting etc. Noticed today that one of the side panels still has some haze from cutting the scratches out so will need to go over that again with the fine compound.

Other news. I think I have secured a EK rad (120, more than enough) and that will be on a pair of Cougar Vortex in orange. I found a orange and yellow 24 pin braided extension for a DFI build that never happened and a few other orange bits and pieces. I have ordered a Bitspower rip off res from China.



And a slab of 10mm acrylic so that Gareth (Cenedd) can machine/G 1/4 a new top for the block for me. Also ordered some nitrile rubber in 3mm to make a new Oring/gasket because the one in there is toast.

I'm using the leftover fittings from my Triad build.



With hopefully clear hose. Not that it matters, because all of my spare coolant is red.



Or I have XSPC in clear red.



I am going to box in the PSU, so yeah nothing overly major (I am not skinning it like I did with the Predator 2 as that was waaay too much work by hand) but I have some Corsair grommets and god knows what lying around so it will most definitely be a tart. Here are the fans I have.



So it should cool very well. Am going to try something different with the rad this time too, hope it works out OK

 

[ALXAndy]

*pants* am finished.



There are still some very minor swirls and flat spots but I can't do any more. It's pretty bloody good tbh. Not looking forward to cleaning it every few days now !

The nitrile rubber also came, AKA "The O-ring stuff".



Unfortunately I have no Super Glue so I have just ordered some.

 

[ALXAndy]

The 20gb hard drive arrived. Tested.



Feel the powah !

 

[ALXAndy]

Time to boost the HDD speed to a whopping 50mbps.

 

[ALXAndy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeGTUlA82g

Yay, it works !

 

[ALXAndy]

I built a TR system into a case from 2004

Nice build btw, retro PC gaming is actually a thing now!

It sure is. Glad I kept all of my games now !

How did this work out? I am tempted to do it for my PC(s), and this looks like a very neat solution.

Not sure it hasn't arrived yet. I have used it before with a 16gb flash drive but the drive had terrible RW. It does definitely work though. A mate of mine is using an SD card adapter and he said it's ace. I didn't know they did SD, could have gotten a much bigger drive FFS. Ah well, it's done now

 

[ALXAndy]

OK so work for today. First job was fitting and drilling the holes for the 140mm Cougar Vortex intake.



I am going to make a cover for the middle and wires. I can't fit the 180mm Vegas unfortunately, as it fouls the side panel. Harumph. Oh well... I also had an old orange SATA extension lying around so I converted that to Molex and finished up the 24 pin to 20 pin conversion.



I still need to make a floppy power extension from molex (for the "SSD") and then make up a distro for the pump and fans. I also welded up the cracks on the case, one needs some buffing but that went well and it's now back to full strength

I also ordered this a couple of days back.



500mm x 500mm 3mm. I've had a really cool idea for the rad mount and I still need to box in the PSU. Had a think about that earlier and I think I have a solid plan for that now

Also on order and waiting for them to arrive..





For general assembly/dampening. I ordered this Bitspower copy res for £8.



This is coming for the Oring.



And I have sourced one of these in a swap with a chum

 

[ALXAndy]

Thanks man. I discovered 3DLabs back in the late 90s (probably '99). I bought an 8mb Permedia 2 card to replace an old Voodoo 2 and it went wrong. I contacted 3DL (who were in the UK) and they sent me a 32mb Oxygen. Ace card tbh, more than enough to run my games

What I really wanted was a Number Nine Revolution AGP. Sadly the only place I could find them was in the USA. I know they were a U.S company, but they used to put messages from Beatles songs on the back of their GPU. So for example the Revolution would say "He's got a ticket to ride" and stuff like that. Sadly Nvidia crunched them like they did all of the other companies who used to make their own GPUs

 

[ALXAndy]

Loving this build mate. Retro builds are in! Such a good idea to water cool it. My athlonXP 1600 system now sits in the loft as its noise is comparable to our dyson

Yeah, turn up the speakers when you watch the video and listen to the cooler go. It's like a typhoon !

 

[ALXAndy]

Yea mate, crazy to think we used to put up with that.

I thought it was broken tbh. You're right, I have absolutely no idea how we used to put up with that ! the 2005 Alienware chassis I am using was made long before that but it had two 80mm exhaust. On top of two 80mm intake and a 80mm side intake. Must have sounded like a bloody bee hive !

 

[ALXAndy]

An odd day for the plastic to arrive but hey, whatever right?

Floor pan



Side panel



Cable management (24 pin and IDE)



And grommets.



Now for some design.

 

[ALXAndy]

 

[ALXAndy]

Don't be afraid to call it gaudy. If you thought that I was aiming for class and style you were wrong. I want bright, tacky and gaudy. That is how it went, from beige to luminous orange and yellow. I am modding this now, as distastefully (yet clean and tidy) as possible. That is the whole point in an old skool build right?

Any way, today I painted the fan wires and cut a new centre piece for the intake, that's now as tidy as you like.



I then fitted the floor with this stuff.



Seriously, it should carry a health warning. Anything it touches it sticks to and you ain't getting it off.



Try and ignore all of the light flooding in. It won't do that when everything is closed up I had the same issues with Dianoga.



Nice and tidy.

 

[ALXAndy]

Work continues. Firstly I braided the entire FP.



Wow, now I know why my hands are covered in hard skin and cuts.



Just in case you were wondering what had happened to the gills. I spent a couple of hours cleaning and then welding them up the other night. Then reassembled.

 

[ALXAndy]

Before.



I actually thought that the black inside part was nickle coated, but nope.



All copper ! Before.



After.



For the inside I used a Dremel wire brush and then compound on a polishing attachment. For the bottom I went P1200, P1500, P2000 and then P3000. Not a mirror but hey, it'll do

 

[ALXAndy]

Looking good
I would be cutting out a hole to match the front fan though,better throughput of air with no restriction

You can't. There are mount holes for the case itself. The airflow is actually very good. The 80mm cutouts are bumped outward so there is no turbulence. Already tested the intake fan at certain voltages, 12v is fine and it brings in loads of air I mounted it so that the centre of the fan is dead centre with the middle of the two 80mm holes. Meaning that it's only really the flat spot that is covered.

 

[ALXAndy]

So today I fixed the PSU as the fan came Here it is apart.



New fan in.





And done.

 

[ALXAndy]

Making Orings 101. First you need a block and some nitrile rubber.



Remove old Oring and fit new.



Mark, cut (making sure the cuts are perfectly straight)



And...



OK so I admit it took me two attempts. Lessons learned from mistake... 1, you need a tiny amount of super glue. 2, you only get one shot. If you miss the glue dries and goes hard and then the Oring will not bond. So you can either shave it off and try again, or just start again like I did.

I also got out the heat gun and Isoprop and made the PSU a little more palatable.

 

[ALXAndy]

liking this project, would like to know at the end the total cost just out of interest..

I dont know if ive missed anything but with the amount of work going into the insides, are you retrofitting a vision panel?

No. The outside of the case will remain 100% bone stock. Once you cut an Alienware you destroy it forever IMO. I already cut a panel on one before and it cost me £130 to replace. With the sides back on I want all of them to be bone stock.

I can pretty much tell you what it cost now tbh. Do bear in mind that 90% of this was for modding reasons only. The hardware itself cost peanuts. Also bear in mind that most of this was not needed, but I got it any way.

Block - free
Acrylic for block top - £4
Oring £1.19
Rad - £5 in postage (swapped with a mate for a 1156 back plate for a Corsair AIO as they were trying to charge him £18)
Res - £8.50
Fittings. 5 were left over from my last project and I bought 2 more. So add that as you feel valid. They were £2.99 each on OCUK clearance. They're Bitspower.
Boxed motherboard, Athlon 2400+ XP and 512mb DDR4 was £25.
PSU - free, needed a £1.30 fan to repair
HDD £3.99
DVDR £5
IDE cables 99p each
Acrylic £10.59
GPU - £15 (brand new)
Fans - had them in a box for over two years (all of the Cougars)
IDE - CF adapter £3.49 but got refund as I think it's faulty and £5 for a 4gb reasonably quick CF card.
Case £35
Coolant - left over
Tubing - again left over, but I have loads in this size any way as my last loop used all BP fittings in white again on sale for £2.99 ea.

TBH that is about it. I do not count things like glue, plastic weld and tools because every tool I buy gets constant use for everything, not just a PC. Same goes for masking tape, double sided tape and tape foam, I use them constantly so have to top them up at some point. Silver vinyl was leftover from my last project too, I decided to use red on that instead.

To any one out there thinking about starting up modding *this* is the way to go about it. It's seriously cheap hardware and if you **** up it's easy to replace for a reasonable price.