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Question Anybody ever used an old, old 'behemoth' style IBM PS/2 tower for a new computer build?

G

GunsMadeAmericaFree

Golden Member
I saw an old, old - what I call 'behemoth' style IBM PS/2 computer tower from the 80's at a thrift store. The thing looked so heavy duty that it looked like you could hit it with a baseball bat without doing much more than a little ding to the metal, which appeared to be 2-3 times as thick as it is on modern cases.

Have any of you ever repurposed one of these things for a new computer build?
 
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Dont think you can because they used an original AT power supply and not a ATX power supply which later became standard.
Also i believe the mounting and back panel cutout might not align, not to mention they were VERY HEAVY.

I do not think its worth your time or effort.
 
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Hmm. But with so much space, couldn't you just remove the old power supply and put in an ATX?

And even if the old holes don't line up, again, with so much open space to work with, couldn't you just drill holes, or even just put in a small piece of plywood or something non conductive and screw into it? Trying to think 'outside the box'.....
 
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I did -- It was a 1995 Compaq ProLiant server case. I didn't worry about the PSU. A friend in the local political club had an old IBM midtower that died on her. I took the junk off her hands. It had a special cage for the PSU which would just unlock and swing away from the case. So I cut the sheet metal and installed that assembly into the ProLiant with pop-rivets, so that it still functioned as designed.

It was a great case, and I put 3" double-caster braked wheels on it. I've got a picture somewhere, but I'd need to look for it. I had also cut out the left side-panel to fit a Lexan rectangle with rounded corners and the rubber grommet material you could buy at one of the well-known online case-mod shops. If that wasn't enough, I was able to put reflective auto window film on the Lexan in the most perfect way one would want. [Sometimes you see someone's car with window film that looks like a careless disaster of wrinkles and bubbles.]

I was too quick to give the beast to my brother, who now lives up in NV near Reno. I wish I'd kept it.

OK. . . HEre's one snap:

P1010202.JPG
 
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I still have this one in my garage:

retrocomputing.stackexchange.com

Was there a technical advantage to such tall PC tower cases?

I saw a tweet today about what it claims is "the tallest PC case" which appears to have been made by SuperMicro: Further tweets in the thread include pictures of the inside of the case, ...
retrocomputing.stackexchange.com retrocomputing.stackexchange.com

It has a 300a Celeron inside based on these old days:

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I've never understood why people want a clear side on their computer case. It seems like it would be a potential failure point. But then again, I've considered putting a board up on the wall, and then just mounting my computer on it, like a type of art.
 
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igor_kavinski said:
Junior not liking the blinking lights and kicking the glass? 😛

Or junior going, me like lights. Me break glass and get em!
Click to expand...
Well, modern cases have glass-windowed sidepanels, or just glass side-panels. Modders who've done what I showed in my photo use Lexan or Plexi-glass. But I don't know of any "failures", based on my experience. Supposedly, shielding your components with metal may keep out those cosmic rays that could occasionally reset RAM bits. But I've never had any cosmic ray experiences, either.

Adding "Bling" may be a waste of money and time. Still, it makes a case look more interesting than a Monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey".
 
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The big problems you will run into are power supply form factor, motherboard standoffs, and motherboard I/O shield. Nothing that can't be overcome, but you will need some specialized tools like taps and good metal cutting tools. Beware of just using something like a dremel to cut the actual metal as you will have metal filings and dust all over the case that will need to be removed to prevent future risk of shorts.
 
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Fallen Kell said:
The big problems you will run into are power supply form factor, motherboard standoffs, and motherboard I/O shield. Nothing that can't be overcome, but you will need some specialized tools like taps and good metal cutting tools. Beware of just using something like a dremel to cut the actual metal as you will have metal filings and dust all over the case that will need to be removed to prevent future risk of shorts.
Click to expand...
Trying to remove the heat from modern CPU/GPU using 60mm-80mm fans can be a challenge as well as noisy.
 
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