Retro/Vintage Case Mod Idea

[88keys]

Okay so this is an idea that I've been toying around with for awhile now and now that I'm building a new PC here in a few months, I've decided to seriously consider embarking on this project.

In a nutshell I want to get a vintage computer chassis from the 80's or early 90's and modify it to house standard (m)ATX components. I want to keep the outside as original as possible to maintain the appearance of an old PC.

The Computer that I'm building is going to be fairly high end with nothing less than an i7 six core CPU running 32GB of RAM so I can't go with anything too tiny as cooling would become an issue. I also don't plan to have an internal optical drive so I'm looking for some creative suggestions in regards to what to do with the floppy/CD rom (if applicable) drive bays.

I would like for it to be something that was iconic in some way like the early Apple computers, Commodore Amiga 2000, IBM 5150 etc. And horizontally oriented cases would be preferred. But if it looks cool enough I'll still consider it.


Commodore Amiga 2000

IBM 5150

IBM 5155 (this could be cool if I can come up with an idea for the monitor.

Macintosh II

Olivetti M24 (I really like the looks of this)

 

[aigomorla]

LOL!

lots of dremel required...
also i would pick up a lian li motherboard panel so you can do a drop in fit and just mod so the tray holds.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...Replacement_PC-6X_Motherboard_Tray_-_Red.html

You may also need to cut the tray down in size, but it has the required hole spacing and PCI-E holders.
It would save you some time vs trying to fit your motherboard, and then the rear IO shield on a old system like that if the spec doesn't work out.

Also look for Momentary Vandel switches which you will probably need.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._16mm_-_Black_Housing_-_Dot_Illumination.html

You can get the prewired ones which plug in directly to your motherboard, or get the required connectors at an autostore and crimp them yourself.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

LOL!

lots of dremel required...
also i would pick up a lian li motherboard panel so you can do a drop in fit and just mod so the tray holds.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...Replacement_PC-6X_Motherboard_Tray_-_Red.html

You may also need to cut the tray down in size, but it has the required hole spacing and PCI-E holders.
It would save you some time vs trying to fit your motherboard, and then the rear IO shield on a old system like that if the spec doesn't work out.

Also look for Momentary Vandel switches which you will probably need.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._16mm_-_Black_Housing_-_Dot_Illumination.html

You can get the prewired ones which plug in directly to your motherboard, or get the required connectors at an autostore and crimp them yourself.

If he doesn't buy the whole motherboard pan, the ISA, EISA or PCI slots may or may not fit. But that can be determined before taking action. If they fit and provide mountings for the typical graphics card position and the run of all the slots of the motherboard, you could just go to Sears and get a drill-and-screw-tap kit for something between $5 and $10. Then carefully mark your ATX holes attentive to making the IO plate and slots match up to the rear case panel, and drill and tap the holes for any ATX brass-standoffs.

I had never seen this Lian-Li part, so that could be the easier path on something like this. But I was successful with an old Compaq-ProLiant tower which had a non-ATX motherboard pan and standoff holes.

This is all going to depend on what type of case you choose for modding.

 

[88keys]

LOL!

lots of dremel required...
also i would pick up a lian li motherboard panel so you can do a drop in fit and just mod so the tray holds.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...Replacement_PC-6X_Motherboard_Tray_-_Red.html

You may also need to cut the tray down in size, but it has the required hole spacing and PCI-E holders.
It would save you some time vs trying to fit your motherboard, and then the rear IO shield on a old system like that if the spec doesn't work out.

This would probably depend on which case. I was looking at the insides of the Amiga, and it looks pretty close to standard ATX confirguration and modding could very will be a simple matter of tapping new threads for the mobo, and drilling new mounting holes for the PSU...

The Macintosh II on the other hand would obviously need more work though I don't think it would be extraordinarily difficult.

The biggest challenge of a narrow chassis like the Macintosh II would be cooling. It's 5.5" thick so it's not too bad because a standard ATX PSU would still fit, but I would most likely have to mount the video card separately and connect it via a ribbon connector. Not to mention that it's 14" x 18" footprint should give me plenty of room to do all of these things. And finally, I would most likely need to caefully cut out new vents in between the recesses and may need to use shrouds to make for better cooling because I guarantee that case doesn't cool worth a shit.

Also look for Momentary Vandel switches which you will probably need.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._16mm_-_Black_Housing_-_Dot_Illumination.html

You can get the prewired ones which plug in directly to your motherboard, or get the required connectors at an autostore and crimp them yourself.

Not to sure what I'll do here. I want to keep the exterior as original as possible, but I know that most older computers used either a latch or a toggle switch of some kind. I'm not sure how I'd convert that to a momentary switch.

If worse comes to worse I could discreetly place an aftermarket momentary switch on the side that uses no LED. Or perhaps even on the back and just set the UEFI to power on via keyboard.

What surprises me is that I was searching online to see if I could find anyone doing what I plan to do and I couldn't seem to find it. I found a few people throwing ideas around, but nothing that has seen the light of day.... I've seen it where people have taken vintage hardware and placed it in a modern chassis or built replicas of old PCs, but nothing like what I'm doing... I honestly figured that with the new found fascination of all things 80's these days that this would be a popular thing to do.

 

[MongGrel]

Interesting idea, but just seems more trouble than it's worth to me unless you're planning on using a dinky monitor with it also.

 

[88keys]

Another thing that I've noticed checking eBay is that alot of these cases aren't in the best shape. The plastic on alot of these cases seems to have a brownish tinge to it. Is there a way to clean that off? Or would I have to paint it?

 

[88keys]

Interesting idea, but just seems more trouble than it's worth to me unless you're planning on using a dinky monitor with it also.

It depends on how you look at it

I kind of have a thing for some of these old PCs. I used to have a Macintosh II and a Commodore 64 (never an Amiga), so there is a little bit of nostalgia in it for me.

And modding a C64 to hold a modern higher end PC is just not feasible so I'm doing the next best thing which is the Commodore Amiga.

Though FWIW, I plan on using an older style keyboard with the case.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Another thing that I've noticed checking eBay is that alot of these cases aren't in the best shape. The plastic on alot of these cases seems to have a brownish tinge to it. Is there a way to clean that off? Or would I have to paint it?

There's a homemade whitening thing called

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright

 

[DigDog]

what about,

1)buy a mountain mods case

2)paint it to look like a (small) mainframe, and

3)not have to work with a crap 80s case?

i'm not bought on the good looks of any of those 3 cases, and you go through a whole lot of work just to make it work.. all the while the performance is lower than a $50 case.

all in the name of good looks, sure, i'm ok with that, but is this kind of retro your idea of beauty?

(yeah i can see the appeal of the PC that looks like a C64/NES/Amiga/whatever. but these are generally nickel and dime systems, mame emus, not cool $2000 machines.)

 

[ssamhouu]

Very cool retro idea! Brings back old memories!

 

[88keys]

what about,

1)buy a mountain mods case

2)paint it to look like a (small) mainframe, and

3)not have to work with a crap 80s case?

It would be nice, but then I could just buy an old clunky full tower and do the same thing.

i'm not bought on the good looks of any of those 3 cases, and you go through a whole lot of work just to make it work.. all the while the performance is lower than a $50 case.

all in the name of good looks, sure, i'm ok with that, but is this kind of retro your idea of beauty?

(yeah i can see the appeal of the PC that looks like a C64/NES/Amiga/whatever. but these are generally nickel and dime systems, mame emus, not cool $2000 machines.)

Well it's all in the eye of the beholder, I'm sure they'll look much nicer after having been cleaned and such. TBH, the fact that I haven't seen any examples of this being done just makes me want to do it even more.
That and when people see some 25+ year old chassis sitting on my desk thinking that it's some old POS until I fire it up.

Since I don't plan overclocking, cooling won't be that big of a deal TBH. I'll still likely need to implement some creative solutions to get temps down to normal levels. On the positive side; Vintage cases are often very sturdy and contructed of heavier gage material than many modern cases, also these cases will have plenty of space to work with which is beneficial for cooling, however the major downside is that ventilation is poor and I'll have to find a way to add fans and vents for them.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

TBH, the fact that I haven't seen any examples of this being done just makes me want to do it even more.
That and when people see some 25+ year old chassis sitting on my desk thinking that it's some old POS until I fire it up.

I KNOW I have posted pics of my i5-4670T powered Macintosh LC on these forums...

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Interesting idea, but just seems more trouble than it's worth to me unless you're planning on using a dinky monitor with it also.

Well, I may have drifted from one perspective on this to another. Mine was a huge Compaq ProLiant case. With the EISA slot mount mounts, they all fit PCI/PCI-E and I had two additional slot-mounts available beyond the ATX motherboard I put in the case. It's very tedious lining up the motherboard or "ATX-stencil" and getting the holes started for the standoffs, but I did it.

Now I wish I still had that case in my possession. It would've been great for water-cooling and multiple graphics cards. It was just so hu-u-uge for this room, especially with other computers sharing floorspace.

I say, go with the Amiga if the slot-mountings are compatible. Actually, looking at it, they may look so but I doubt they are. At least I had room in the case-rear sheet-metal to cut the I/O-plate hole. It was definitely a tedious mod by itself.

I've seen folks put computers inside old pre-1950s radio boxes. There's not end to the possibilities if it floats your boat.

The Amiga might work with the Lian Li product, but OP will have to investigate further.

 

[88keys]

There's a homemade whitening thing called

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright

That's awesome

I KNOW I have posted pics of my i5-4670T powered Macintosh LC on these forums...

I'd like to see it

And FWIW, I stand corrected, looking at this more, I recall that the Macintosh LC is the one that I used to have. But it's too skinny for me to mod without going to ITX components which I don't wanna do.

 

[88keys]

So the Amiga chassis would most likely be the easiest mod.
Unfortunately Commodore Amigas fetch alot of money on eBay ranging from $200-$1000+ dollars. I saw a non working one sell for $100. The Amiga must have a much larger following than what I would have guessed

So there is a good chance that I might end up with the Macintosh II, and here is what I'd have to do to get the Macintosh II chassis to work.

The Dimensions are 5.5" x 14" x 18" which is a little bit narrow, but the footprint is plenty large enough to fit mATX components inside.

Based on pics that I've seen, it does appear that they do use the full available depth of this chassis so realistically, I should have about 5" of workable height.

This means that I should have just enough room to install a PCIe video card (link) with PCI brackets measuring 4.75" in length. Though I may have to remove the shield as that seems to stick out past the bracket slightly.
Standard ATX PSUs are about 3.5" in height when oriented horizontally so that shouldn't be an issue so long as I can provide ventilation for the fan.
And lastly, I would use a small drill bit with a Dremel to cut out additional vents. I'd also set up a jig to keep the cuts straight. This would provide enough ventilation for the CPU, PSU, and Video Card.


Here is a rought draft of the mods that be doing.

Rear View:

I'd probably use the lian li mobo tray and trim it off just past the PCI brackets, cut out spaces for 80mm fans, and remove the tabs because my motherboard will probably need to sit as low as possible in order for this to work. If worse comes to worse, there is plenty of room to place the video card elsewhere if need be.
I'll aso need a PSU bracket (I can probably have one made at work) to mount the PSU as shown.




Side view:

There will be alot of dead space here so an extra couple of vents here would also be helpful so I can install 2 120mm exhaust fans. If the video card doesn't fit on the motherboard, this will be it's home and the ventilation would instead be used for that.









Front View:

Not much to see here. I'd use the secondary floppy drive slot for external USB 2/3 ports which should fit exactly. The other one (with a cover) might end up being used an express card slot. This could serve a variety of purpose such as Wifi, Card reader, external, SATA, etc, etc.

 

[88keys]

The Amiga on the other hand would go more like this:

Nice view of motherboard tray

The easiest thing to do here is cut out the the rear of the case as needed and remove the mobo posts and then affix the lian li motheboard tray in it's place along with a PSU bracket on the top right. This would essentially make installation and changing parts simple and straightforward just like any other (m)ATX PC. I would also install a PCI slot exhaust fan using 2x 120mm fans and then use a shroud to direct the air out through the open pci brackets, and because they'll have no PCI bracket covers, I'll affix a small sheet of perforated steel to them.

Front fascia view:

It's pretty obvious the ports on the lower right corner would be for USB and audio.
The 5.25" bay would might be used as a card reader, or I could get something like this and use a SSD and essentially make swapping drives an easy task (might be useful for testing OSes without dualbooting), or just pop in a storage drive and be done. It also goes well with the retro look back when they put those stupid locks on everything.
The floppy bay again would be converted into an express card slot.

This would be the more expensive route to go, though I might get one for a decent price if I keep my eyes peeled on Ebay, but patience isn't one of my strong suits. But in the end, this will be far less work with alot more room for mistakes. (If I screw up cutting out those vents on the mac, I could very well have to buy another case). But given the following the Commodore Amiga seems to have, I could very well see some people being unhappy with me for bastardizing one of these.

 

[bigboxes]

1)buy a mountain mods case

Then it wouldn't be a retro mod. Personally, I like the project. OP, keep adding to this thread as you make progress.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Protip regarding USB ports in a classic Mac floppy slot.

Take a diamond file and widen the slot by shaving about 1/32" of an inch top and bottom. This should be barely noticable.

http://mindprod.com/electronic/B007G5L54C.html

Then get one of these (or a USB 3 equivalent) - if you cut off some of the rubber, it should fit in the slot quite handily, and the USB ports will be flush to the front of the case.

(Yes the screen is installed upside down. Once it's booted, the screen rotation activates. Couldn't find a longer LDVS cable.)

Hopefully you can do a better job with the retrobright than I did though. I think I'm probably going to sand and repaint that thing one of these days.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Alternatively, you can widen the slot for a slot loading optical.

My problem is I get to the 80/20 point of a case mode project and then don't follow through with all the fiddly finishing work that actually makes them look not sloppy.

My other problem is that even with the additional exhaust fans I added after these pictures were taken (one to either side of the motherboard, exhausting rearwards), the LC still overheats like a mofo if you load the GPU.

 

[88keys]

Alternatively, you can widen the slot for a slot loading optical.

My problem is I get to the 80/20 point of a case mode project and then don't follow through with all the fiddly finishing work that actually makes them look not sloppy.

My other problem is that even with the additional exhaust fans I added after these pictures were taken (one to either side of the motherboard, exhausting rearwards), the LC still overheats like a mofo if you load the GPU.

I'm really impressed

I suppose you're using one of those brick style PSUs... I thought about doing that because it would open up my modding options greatly, but I just don't like the limitations of going to ITX components.

 

[88keys]

@Dave.
A possible solution to your overheating issue could be to remove the hard drive and mount it in an external enclosure of some kind with SATA and Power connected to it so you can still boot from it.
And you could mount it inside this to maintain the retro look

Then I'd see if you can extend those vents with a dremel all the way to the back of the case. Then you can install maybe 2x 80mm low profile exhaust fans to get some hot air out of there. Then you could try to find some old PIII fans and use them on the back corners.

I know those chassis had little feet on them so you might even want to look into opening a hole on the bottom for a fan like a laptop cooler would have.



Now back to my mod idea.

Did some more research on the Amiga 2000 chassis and I finally found it's dimensions.

The motherboard (which occupies the entire bottom of the chassis) is 16.5" x 13". This is good to know because I know exactly how much space I have to work with.

The height of the chassis is 6.1" high. Judging by the pics and the fact that older pc cases used heavier gage steel, I would guess that the material thickness is probably about 1/16" which would cut off 1/8" off of total height (or 0.125") so your workable space inside should be approximately 5.975" which means that my power supply should be a very snug fit (which isn't a bad thing) at 5.9" regarding the related dimension. In the event that it doesn't work however, there should be plenty of room ton find another place to mount it if need be.

Did some researching regarding mobo trays and I found one that would be a near exact fit so long as the PSU installs like I think it should.

If this works out, the mod would be a simple matter of cutting out the entire rear of the chassis, then drilling/tapping new threads to mount a standard (m)ATX board, then installing these rear panels accordingly which will allow me to install 2x80mm fans and I'll probably try to squeeze in a 90mm fan over the unused PCI slots. Edges would need to be trimmed to match the contour of the case exterior, and I'd need some kind of spacer to cover up the gap the PSU will leave behind, but it would look very nice once it's painted to match and finished.

 

[88keys]

Decided on Amiga 2000 Chassis

Discussion will continue here.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37101325#post37101325

Please close this thread.