retro emachines PC rebuild

[NuclearNerdz]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   I want to rebuild my father's old emachines computer as a sleeper pc, but on a budget. If anyone has ideas, suggestions, advice, or have a build that is similar, then I would be glad to listen. As you can see in the pictures of the computer, the machine has an Intel Celeron 325 D processor, a 40GB hard drive, a Combo Drive (it reads both cd's and dvd's), and 256MB of DDR SDRAM. It will not POST due to a broken pin on the cpu, but all the other systems, (including the mouse, keyboard, and monitor), seem to be in working order. It currently runs Windows XP.

[kelvinhall05]

Use spoilers next time, saves me 20 seconds of scrolling.

 

That looks like it should fit any micro ATX case, modern PSU, etc. Might have to do some ziptie engineering for cable management, fans, and storage, but it should be fairly easy.

[atxcyclist]

Holy crap, I had this exact model eMachines for a while, still have the case.

 

If you're going to build a sleeper, just realize that you won't realistically be able to use the optical drive. It's IDE and any motherboard made in the last decade is going to have SATA-only for attached drives. There are adapters, but honestly I would just skip the optical drive functionality. Also, if I remember correctly these old cases have little "humps" in-between the expansion card slots, so you'd need to break one off if you're using a double-slot graphics card (do this before you install the motherboard). It is standard mATX, and the power supply is a standard ATX. 

 

The biggest issue though is that airflow is catastrophically bad in this case, there is not really a front intake at all, and I think the rear fan is either an 80mm or a 92mm. If you wanted to make a Ryzen-based APU setup you'd probably be OK, but adding a discrete card is going to cause overheating problems.

 

 

I had a Phenom II X6, GTX 750Ti, and a 500 watt EVGA power supply crammed into my case just as a test, the only way I could keep it from melting down was to cut a hole for a 140mm fan on the side panel right over the graphics card, and put a grill over it. This worked, but it really did away with the pure sleeper aspect.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

23 hours ago, Caroline said:

Well it can take new components.

 

Depends on how much you're willing to spend on the upgrade. If you get a midrange+ graphics card then get an expansion slot cooler (the big workstation/server models, not the tiny blowers) to have some air intake or it'll be a furnace.

The PSU will have to act as an exhaust so make sure it's a somewhat decent unit and not some noname china tin can.

You can get a new ODD to replace that old model and it won't look bad because of the front cover.

I believe on these old eMachines, the cover for the disk drive is actually part of the drive unit. It's not something you can pop off and stick onto another drive or simply slide into the case and have the button and lights line up. 

Spoiler

 

On 9/1/2020 at 2:14 PM, NuclearNerdz said:

-snip-

Whatever you do with it, please keep the stickers! Those stickers are so period correct. You don't see those anymore. 

[SpikeSpiegel]

Some of those caps are about to leak.  You should recap them before they do.