Attempting a sleeper

[Rex Hite]

Using an old Enermax case.

One criterion is  that the removable drives must all work.

The DVD RW and the Zip drive are ATAPI and connect with a PCI-E IDE card.

The two floppies use a small floppy-to-usb adapter and plug in to the motherboard headers.

It's built around a B550 motherboard with a Ryzen 7 5800X

A video card suitable for Flight Simulator will be added when they become available at a reasonable price. When that happens I will revisit the cooling requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WhitetailAni]

A man after my own heart - old removable media is nice.

Just wish my floppy-to-USB thing worked. Does yours allow read and write?

[Rex Hite]

The 3.5 inch drive works fully but the 5.25 inch drive has intermittent problems. It always did though.

The BIOS automatically named the ZIP drive correctly.

[LED_Guy]

On 12/20/2020 at 7:48 PM, Rex Hite said:

Using an old Enermax case.

One criterion is  that the removable drives must all work.

The DVD RW and the Zip drive are ATAPI and connect with a PCI-E IDE card.

The two floppies use a small floppy-to-usb adapter and plug in to the motherboard headers.

It's built around a B550 motherboard with a Ryzen 7 5800X

A video card suitable for Flight Simulator will be added when they become available at a reasonable price. When that happens I will revisit the cooling requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're missing the opportunity for an ultimate sleeper.  Those old Commodore PET computers in the background!!!!

 

GO FOR IT ! ! !

[Rex Hite]

Those PET are mint and not to be messed with!

 

The little case screws that do not have the grippy surface make installing the PCI-E cards a whole lot easier.

 

[A1200]

17 hours ago, Rex Hite said:

Those PET are mint and not to be messed with!

 

The little case screws that do not have the grippy surface make installing the PCI-E cards a whole lot easier.

 

Yes never mod classic computers with modern PCs, it's sacrilege. Last PET I had was an 8032 with dual disk drive and traction printer. Oldest thing I have at the moment is 2 Amiga 1000s.

[Rex Hite]

Finished apart from a graphics card suitable for Flight Simulator. The case can fit a double slot 12" long card.

 

 

I made use of the serial and parallel knock-outs for some extra USB from the board headers freeing a PCI-e slot..

 

 

Fit and finish is perfect for the effect. I will leave the label residue from some IT department's sticker. It rounds out the look.

 

 

The IBM Keyboard works with a PS2 to USB adapter. Unfortunately I couldn't find a modern beige mouse so I settled for a white one.

 

Windows 10 occasionally tests to see if floppy drives are inserted. Presumably there's a registry change to prevent that.

 

 

 

 

 

[MadAnt250]

Nice.

 

[steelo]

Haha...that's awesome. Personally, I'd get tired of the case really quickly though. It's like putting a supercharged V8 into a 1981 Toyota Corolla. 

 

What am I saying...I'd do the same exact thing you did if I had an old case...LOL

[Rex Hite]

I added a Radeon RX 580 video card and am experimenting with a way to bring in more cool air without butchering the case.

I made a baffle from black coroplast for a 120mm fan that draws air in from the very few rear case vents available. I arranged it so the fan sits in a chamber that only gets air from outside. Air can leave the case via the power supply fan and through a pattern of holes on the right case panel.

 

[Rex Hite]

I ran AIDA64 CPU stress test with all the case panels removed (two side panels and the front) and then with the case fully reassembled and closed.

I also used Unigine Superposition Benchmark to run the Radeon RX 580 at 100% load and recorded some maximum values with the case panels off and then on.

 

 

 

 

I'm pleased with the case so far. Its effect on the outcome of these tests seem marginal.

 

 

 

[Rex Hite]

I ran another set of stability tests.

For a test I opened up the case, blasted a table fan into it and ran AIDA64 CPU stress test and Furmark for about 10 minutes.

 

I then closed the case and put it where it will normally be and attached all the peripherals (two firewire scanners, one USB scanner, Two USB printers, card reader, phone charge, 2 bus powered disks, one externally powered disk) and ran AIDA64 CPU stress test and Furmark simultaneously for half an hour.

 

 

I don't know if a half hour of Furmark and AIDA64 stress test simulates anything real-world but I just wanted to see if there were any run-away temperatures or the system had any instability issues. I did some light browsing for the duration of the tests.

I am not overclocking except for D.O.C.P memory setting in the BIOS.

 

ASUS Prime B550 PLUS

Ryzen 7 5800X

16 GB: Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK16GX4M2B3200C16

Corsair Force MP600  (PCI-E 4.0 x4) M.2

WDS500G3X0C-00SJG0  (500 GB, PCI-E 3.0 x4) M.2

Radeon RX 580 Series  (8 GB)

Corsair CX 750M power supply

Corsair H60 single fan AIO radiator

Firewire PCIe card

USB 3 PCIe card

ATA/IDE PCIe card

 

Floppy drive 3.5" on Teac USB adapter

Floppy drive 5.25" on Teac USB adapter

Iomega ZIP drive on ATA PCI-E card

LG DVD burner on ATA PCI-E card

 

Since there was no appreciable difference running the system outside the case, vs inside I think this sleeper case has been a success and I see no reason to not use it.

I also think the Corsair H60 AIO is a vary capable little unit. I would have preferred an air cooler but the power supply interferes with anything big enough.

The modified case fan I built to draw outside air made no benefit whatsoever so I removed it. That was a pleasant surprise.

I'll see if that holds up when I replace the RX 580 with a newer video card. I'm hopeful.

 

 

 

 

 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

On 12/24/2020 at 8:20 AM, A1200 said:

Yes never mod classic computers with modern PCs, it's sacrilege. Last PET I had was an 8032 with dual disk drive and traction printer. Oldest thing I have at the moment is 2 Amiga 1000s.

Never mod classic computers that don't have board problems. If it's a replaceable component, the. You fix it. If its mainboard problems, then that's when it's ok.

[Rex Hite]

2 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Never mod classic computers that don't have board problems. If it's a replaceable component, the. You fix it. If its mainboard problems, then that's when it's ok.

I have a number of Commodore PET chassis in various states of un-repair or even un-repairability and I would consider sleeperising one but it would have to use the original keyboard (re-mapped as needed) and the original green phosphor screen. Of course a modern external monitor could always be used as well, but the Commodore PET is all keyboard and screen so those must be retained in a sleeper, somehow.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

3 minutes ago, Rex Hite said:

I have a number of Commodore PET chassis in various states of un-repair or even un-repairability and I would consider sleeperising one but it would have to use the original keyboard (re-mapped as needed) and the original green phosphor screen. Of course a modern external monitor could always be used as well, but the Commodore PET is all keyboard and screen so those must be retained in a sleeper, somehow.

you could remap the keyboard, but the screen is actually easier.  you could get a little lcd (however big it is on the PET like 9in or something) and get the adaptor to use it with hdmi.