New PC in retro case?

[rade]

Hey guys,

This might annoy some of the purists among you but I would like to put a relatively new PC in an old 486 case. Mainly to play games thru dosbox and scummvm, and I reckon it'd be cool to have an old case sitting up on the table. I don't mind butchering up the rear end for ports but the rest of the mobo/psu should line up right?

Also where should I be able to procure one of these cases?




Edit: looks like I'm trying to fit an ATX in an AT form factor, sounds like I should get a mATX mobo and put a new mobo backplate in?

[DonutKing]

mATX has a large rectangular section at the back of the board for all the onboard ports, while AT typically only has one round hole for a keyboard. So you will need to hack out a section for the entire mobo backplate. Some of these old cases can be made of pretty thick steel and can be difficult to cut.

Some of the mounting holes in the mobo won't line up so you'll need to drill new holes in the case. You'll need to be careful that the expansion slots line up properly to be able to secure your cards.

The power switches on AT cases are big on/off mains switches running off the PSU, while on ATX they are 5VDC momentary switches running off the motherboard. So you will need to swap the switch over. Flip switches won't work, you'll probably need a push button switch.

As for where to find cases like this... if you find any let me know I have a couple of AT cases that I'm not using but they look more like this:


Probably about 10 years ago now, a friend and I tried to fit a new ATX motherboard into an old full tower AT case. It didn't work very well and we ended up just making a mess of it and having to throw out the case :/

[bYrd]

The problem with these sort of cases is that they are absolutely cheap and nasty. Forget about smooth corners, removable drive bays, etc - they were built cheap and it shows. Consider using a donor ATX case for the backplate, and the "guts" to be mounted inside.

Look into perhaps a quality AT case, like IBM used (PC XT, PS/2) systems - much stronger and larger.

JB

[rade]

I'm not too worried about the build quality, it's more for nostalgia than anything else (grew up gaming on one of these machines)

I'm thinking the main hurdle will be actually sourcing one of these cases.

[Ethan W]

It's not quite of the same vintage, but Zenskas did something similar to what you are thinking of: a Sleeper PC.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=935575

Air flow is also going to be a concern. If you specifically want an AT case, then by all means, make a custom tray, but you might want to consider the earliest ATX case you can get your hands on.

[Xtreem]

Should get one of those new Gigabyte OC boards, put it in an old 486 case and wire the "turbo" button to the 4GHz OC button on the mobo

[Ethan W]

Originally Posted by Xtreem

Should get one of those new Gigabyte OC boards, put it in an old 486 case and wire the "turbo" button to the 4GHz OC button on the mobo

lol, nah, wire it up to some red cathodes and a few deltas.

Not too keen on the idea of putting an OC'd i7 in a case that was designed to have the air exhausted by the PSU fan only :P.

[Mau1wurf1977]

DOSBox and ScummVM aren't very demanding. You could get one of these DELL Optiplex from eBay and use its guts.

There is also mini ATX and uATX also shouldn't be a problem.

You won't need any cards, as sound and video is onboard these days and that's all you need for DOSBox and ScummVM.

If you aren't worried about the looks at the back, it's quite easy really. E.g. cables just coming out at the back kind of style. For the board you can cut out the section from an ATX board and use that inside the AT case. Russian style with some duct tape and you are set :P

But if you want the back neat, then you will have the challenge of a ATX board in an AT case. I know there are ATX cases with mounting holes for AT boards and you can get a read cover thingy to make it neat at the back, but I'm not aware of a solution for the other way round.

[Zenskas]

Originally Posted by Ethan W

It's not quite of the same vintage, but Zenskas did something similar to what you are thinking of: a Sleeper PC.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=935575

Air flow is also going to be a concern. If you specifically want an AT case, then by all means, make a custom tray, but you might want to consider the earliest ATX case you can get your hands on.

Hahah was just reading this thread and looking at my current PC!
I would recommend you find an older beige pentium 2/3 case like I did, this means you can still fit standard mobo's in and it will require less work.
Currently my main rig is now the budget sleeper PC, budget has been expanded and I really need to take new photos for my thread.
Airflow was not as much of a problem as I thought, specs in sig yet it runs extremely cool. I'm talking max CPU temps are 38C with fans turned up, GPU gets to 63C with fan on auto. Even with the CPU+case fans turned up it is fairly quiet. I have got a 1000rpm Enermax cluster in the front with the front grill cut out (under the front plastic cover so you can't see it), as well as a cluster on the CPU cooler, and an 1800rpm 80mm Noctua for the rear with the standard grill cut out and replaced with a wire grill (neeeeed to update thread).
And I turn all the fans to bare minimum when at idle or watching movies and it's very, very quiet about 30cm away from where I sit!

You should try to find another IBM Aptiva case, they look almost as retro as an older AT case, yet have smooth interior edges and the ability to fit a lot of modern hardware into a small space.

[Mau1wurf1977]

Nah it's got to be an AT case for DOS games

While the Aptiva case is very Retro, it's not authentic for the time period of games. It might fool kids from today though...

Now if you can find an old IBM PS/2 desktop case and put a mini ATX system in there.

Now THAT would be cool!

[Zenskas]

I have a few old AT cases too, and to be honest they look no older than the IBM aptiva. They are also crapper quality and while I'm sure there are good quality AT cases out there, they are harder to find and then you still have to butcher them up. And have fun getting cut on the sharp edges

[Mau1wurf1977]

Originally Posted by Zenskas

and to be honest they look no older than the IBM aptiva.

Really?

http://www.stevenread.com/art/img/go...reen_burn2.jpg

But these are the cutest:

http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/...30-2nd-pic.jpg

Now THAT'S what I call retro...

The Aptiva is nice, but it's already very modern in relative terms... Round shapes, ATX, Soft power...

It has to have a hard power switch. One that's so hard, that when you flick it everything shakes a little :P

PS: I like your "sleeper" project.

Maybe I should call my Super Socket 7 system "The impostor"...

486 Acer (assembled in Australia!!!) on the left and on the right a Pentium 133 "impostor" machine :P

[Zenskas]

You couldn't really build something in either of those cases
The two linked ones, not your ones.

Most AT cases are similar in shape to the aptiva, it only has one round bit on the outside which is a handle thing on the top. The rest is pretty much square, beige box, with a nice door covering the drive bays like some other older AT cases. The interior form factor of mATX does not really dictate how old it looks on the outside and the OP would still need to convert the mobo tray to ATX anyway
I use a keyboard to turn it on, now there's a nice way to turn a PC on! Besides can you even use the old switches to turn it on if you used a modern ATX mobo and PSU anyway???

[Mau1wurf1977]

Originally Posted by Zenskas

You couldn't really build something in either of those cases !

Anything is possible!

[Zenskas]

I suppose you could just use a m-ITX mobo for the second one. And an external PSU or something.