TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Trekkie4]

The space next to the I/O area seem to have some space, perhaps for a hole for a 80mm fan..? With some modifications, that could be more useful

Ha, no way 80mm fan would fit in there (it actually looks a lot bigger than it really is). 40mm fan ... at most.

But again, no drilling or hacking ... ever! I was searching for one of these cases for years, decades even! Took me 16 years to find the 1st one, and then I found 5 more within the next year or so. At the time I thought I scored the jackpot, but then right after I found the 1st one we had natural disaster, followed by death of someone very close to me few more months later. So they have a special meaning to me, I guess you could say they are my personal project which was never fully completed & worked out as intended. They are fully assembled, and everything is working fine but I had other plans for them which (at this point, unfortunately) is no longer an option.

Edit
Here, I found few more photos of the sleeper build. I was initially going to make a full-size ATX system, featuring dual 8600GTS in SLI. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the appropriate S775 board capable of SLI at the time, and this MSI mATX one kinda appeared out of nowehere. So I changed my initial idea & decided to go with mini sleeper instead


For the sake of comparison, this is what the other mATX case looks like, which actually came with the original motherboard from back in a day. So what you see here is what (and how) the case would have looked like in 1998, when this particular machine was brand new.

 

[forman313]

I pulled this old thing from a 4U file server a couple of months ago. Not a single scratch or speck of dust anywhere. It was pristine.

The server was built over 20 years ago, but never put to use. I have a theory as to why .. How about you guys?

 

[Ruru]

I pulled this old thing from a 4U file server a couple of months ago. Not a single scratch or speck of dust anywhere. It was pristine.

The server was built over 20 years ago, but never put to use. I have a theory as to why .. How about you guys?

At least the paste have dried pretty nicely

 

[Greenslade]

I suppose you could hack them one way or another, but actually I disagree. They had terrible air flow, which would put a limit on the performance & cause most of the components to overheat. I know, because I actually tried (and even made) something similar not so long ago:

Not sure if you have seen this one?


Looks like your average Celeron 300 ... or perhaps Pentium II at most, right?! Nope!


I should probably point out that none of the components (especially the case) had been cut or otherwise modified in any way, I wanted to keep it fully stock. Justin Case I ever decide to re-purpose this case for the chronologically-correct system. And so because of that it has terrible air flow, the only intake is a small 80x80 fan in the front. Graphics used to be 8600GTS, which was later upgraded to GTX550. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to overheat & MOSTLY runs within normal temperature. I do say mostly, because if you keep pushing it over the limit you could easily cook the entire thing.

@Greenslade I wanted to address the matter of screws one more time. The easiest way to describe is through the HiFi & turntables, which (most commonly) use M2 & M2.5 size:


This one above was Shure M91GD, with M2.5 screws holding the cart in place. As you can tell, I was using longer screws at the time (18mm in length) which are ALSO M2.5 just like any other shorter ones, such as these for example:


Apart from being shorter, these other ones also had a different head (hex Allen) So you see, it doesn't matter how long or short they are, or which kind of screwdriver they require. What matters is the thread, and these are both M2.5. The same thing with computer case screws. They may (or may not) come in different shapes or forms, but they HAVE to be either M3 or threaded ones, to be of any help.

Thanks once againTrekkie4 :) I just looked on my Turntable and you are right there they are the ones i need.They are Really tiny on my Goldring Elektra .but they will do the trick.What deck do you have?

 

[QuietBob]

Using a modified exe called FastDoom, my system will push 50-60fps in most areas of the original Doom

Really impressive results for a 486, those are Pentium 75 MHz frame rates. What CPU is that?

 

[budget_Optiplex]

Really impressive results for a 486, those are Pentium 75 MHz frame rates. What CPU is that?

I'm using an Evergreen upgrade CPU which is basically an AMD 5x86 133MHz adapted to an interposer with a voltage regulator on it to allow it to work in older 5 volt only 486 motherboards. Interestingly I also have an Intel DX4 100MHz OverDrive CPU that benches about the same as the AMD at 133MHz using common 486 era benchmark programs. Where the 133MHz helps is in Build engine games - Duke Nukem 3D runs quite smooth at 320x200, on the 100MHz CPU Duke 3D can have some minor stuttering.

One of these days I'll finish restoring the case the system is in, as it is the build runs fine but I have no front panel installed.

Another really slick tool I found, is the Engineer SS-02 solder sucker. It is impressive, and easily will clean PCB vias of all solder residue with one click using just a cheap 30 watt pencil tip soldering iron as your heat source! So as part of restoring the DTK motherboard in my 486 build, I had to remove a soldered in Dallas RTC chip that was dead, and then install a socket for an aftermarket self-contained Dallas RTC replacement to hold the BIOS settings.

 

[Trekkie4]

Thanks once againTrekkie4 :) I just looked on my Turntable and you are right there they are the ones i need.They are Really tiny on my Goldring Elektra .but they will do the trick.What deck do you have?

No no no, I only used turntable to set an example, to show you how you can have multiple M2 or M3 screws but with different heads and different in length. What you need is M3, one size larger from the ones on a turntable. If you don't wish to shop online, just pay a visit to the local hardware store & ask for M3 screws and nuts, I guarantee they will have a whole bunch.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Cool. Did they have propriety parts on those PC,s?
Or is that a more recent thing?

Dell is one of those companies that swing back and forth between using/designing proprietary parts to making fully standards compliant systems. In the case(no pun intended) of those systems, everything but the PSU and motherboards were industry standards compliant. They were very easy to work on as the PSU's of that time were VERY hardy & resilient(generally) and rarely failed. So when one of those systems came to me for service, it was usually something plugged into it, which made the work much easier. Granted, I always checked the voltages anyway just to be sure.

 

[Greenslade]

Dell is one of those companies that swing back and forth between using/designing proprietary parts to making fully standards compliant systems. In the case(no pun intended) of those systems, everything but the PSU and motherboards were industry standards compliant. They were very easy to work on as the PSU's of that time were VERY hardy & resilient(generally) and rarely failed. So when one of those systems came to me for service, it was usually something plugged into it, which made the work much easier. Granted, I always checked the voltages anyway just to be sure.

Thanks for your answer Lex Can you answer this one Trekkie4 said i needed M3 screws and i saw these M3 Cheese Head Nylon Plastic Sloted Bolts Screws would the10mm ones to get.I suppose you are the wrong person to ask as you in the US use feet and inchies.I prefer feet and inches my self .I see that will be £3 for 10 screws and 10 nuts. 6mm would be to short.

I don,t.think anyone will be buying these Ali Express knock offs

 

[Audioave10]

another repair success

 

[lexluthermiester]

Thanks for your answer Lex Can you answer this one Trekkie4 said i needed M3 screws and i saw these M3 Cheese Head Nylon Plastic Sloted Bolts Screws would the10mm ones to get.I suppose you are the wrong person to ask as you in the US use feet and inchies.I prefer feet and inches my self .I see that will be £3 for 10 screws and 10 nuts. 6mm would be to short.

I want to say 8mm would likely work, but I would need to see photo's for context. BTW, metric is far more common stateside that most people realize. Anyone with training in a science related field is going to think and breath it.

I don,t.think anyone will be buying these Ali Express knock offs

I would SOO buy BOTH of those if they were based on a newer platform. For example, a PentiumM which had/has full DOS and Win9X support. Hell even a modernized Pentium1 would be better. But an 8086 & 386? Those are just too old. Needs a better screen too, but still. The folks who made those were on to something and did a fair decent job for how limited their resources had to be.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

BTW, meteric is far more common stateside that most people realize. Anyone with training in a science related field is going to think and breath it.

Or many mechanical equipment, especially if imported. The mystical 10mm socket...

 

[lexluthermiester]

The mystical 10mm socket...

?!? Why is 10mm "mystical"?

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

?!? Why is 10mm "mystical"?

You can never find it...

Ok, maybe you can, but Google it. It is a thing.

 

[lexluthermiester]

You can never find it...

Ok, maybe you can, but Google it. It is a thing.

I know it's a thing, just never understood it. I have no problems finding my 10mm tools any more than any of the rest of them...

 

[Greenslade]

I want to say 8mm would likely work, but I would need to see photo's for context. BTW, metric is far more common stateside that most people realize. Anyone with training in a science related field is going to think and breath it.


I would SOO buy BOTH of those if they were based on a newer platform. For example, a PentiumM which had/has full DOS and Win9X support. Hell even a modernized Pentium1 would be better. But an 8086 & 386? Those are just too old. Needs a better screen too, but still. The folks who made those were on to something and did a fair decent job for how limited their resources had to be.

Like you Lex .i was bought up with feet and inches and lbs and onces .Thank god we did not the Euro. I n fact if someone on here was to make me a pci bracket i would only need tiny screws see bracket below.Unfourunatly i don,t know any one with a 3D Printer.I had a thought are there any that do 3D printing?I don,t want to pay more than £5 for it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Like you Lex .i was bought up with feet and inches and lbs and onces .Thank god we did not the Euro. I n fact if someone on here was to make me a pci bracket i would only need tiny screws see bracket below.Unfourunatly i don,t know any one with a 3D Printer.I had a thought are there any that do 3D printing?I don,t want to pay more than £5 for it.

Ah, I see. Those are just standard M3 drive screws. They're the type you use to screw in a floppy or optical drive to a drive cage. Hard drive and case screws(#6-32 UNC type) are threaded to large.

 

[Greenslade]

Ah, I see. Those are just standard M3 drive screws. They're the type you use to screw in a floppy or optical drive to a drive cage. Hard drive and case screws(#6-32 UNC type) are threaded to large.

I have just tried one of thouse £5 boards that were boxed and new i bought earlyer this year.I thought i would give it
a last chance to see if i could get it to go.I put in a gpu that was spinning but had no signal. Then i thought i would try another one i new that it did not spin ,but it worked and got the board running.The thing about it is the other card works on another board?I anly had the board on for five minutes but the GPU was really hot.It does not bleep ro get on the Moniter the heatsink fan sounds really noisey.I was going to buy another board but as i have got this one going i want,but it looks like i will have to get a cheap gpu.
How can a card that can,t spin make the board work ,when one that does spin can,t.

 

[Jfat69]

Exterrnal SCSI cd-rom player

Take notice of the Xe on the back. Looks familiar?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Exterrnal SCSI cd-rom player
View attachment 301696View attachment 301697

Take notice of the Xe on the back. Looks familiar?

I've had one of those... The mid-90's were an awesome time!

 

[Jfat69]

I've had one of those... The mid-90's were an awesome time!

Yes they were. Unlike all the crappy internal cd and dvd readers I got after that, it still works fine!

 

[3x0]

Does anyone have any experience removing rock hard thermal paste from a northbridge heatsink? I don't want to scratch the heatsink to hell, would dipping it in alcohol overnight help or do I need more serious chemicals?

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Does anyone have any experience removing rock hard thermal paste from a northbridge heatsink? I don't want to scratch the heatsink to hell, would dipping it in alcohol overnight help or do I need more serious chemicals?

Alcohol is pretty good in my experience, but I would try rubbing it off with alcohol before sending it for a bath.

 

[basco]

overnight isopropanol

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

Rectified spirit (96% ethanol) is my goto for that purpose.