Found an old computer. What do?

[BustinJustin]

I was leaving the house this morning and I stopped by the dumpsters to get rid of some trash. Lo and behold, there on the ground, as if someone knew I was going to come by, was an old ass computer. In particular, it was a Packard Bell Pack-Mate 7600.  

 

I don't know anything about the specs or anything else. I just know it's older than anything else I own. I can't even figure out how to open the sumbitch. 

 

I was thinking about doing something kind of like the winning team from Mod24. Taking an old computer case and putting modern hardware in it. Nothing super special fancy; just a low to mid-tier rig. The problem is I've never done any modding to any case ever in my whole entire life. I have access to anything that I would need at my job, so tools are not a problem. The problem is experience.

 

So...any tips or suggestions? I'm open to whatever, including "For the love of all that is good in the cosmos, DON'T DO IT!!"

 

Any tutorials or anything that may help me?

 

Thanks!

[SAV1OUR]

did you find another computer a few months ago? 

[heathd]

http://pbclub.pwcsite.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pack-Mate_7600

[Juganog]

Turn the current pc into a server a really crappy server

 

Mod the case see what you can do! you can only learn for failing 

[Arphenyte]

Grab a sheet of paper and start by drawing what you want to do (an sketch should be fine), then start focusing on the details, and then try to make it reality (think before hand what are you gonna do, and how are you gonna do it, so you don't make much mistakes on the process).

[vern021]

Try to check if you can fit a matx mobo there and make a new back I/O. Sandblast the whole thing then try to make new holes for the standoffs then paint it. Interesting project. I want to see it in the making.

[BustinJustin]

did you find another computer a few months ago? 

 

Yeah I did. I still have it, too. It's just sitting on my floor doing nothing. The case was pretty screwed.

[BustinJustin]

http://pbclub.pwcsite.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pack-Mate_7600

 

Holy crap! It's pretty old!

[Toddwjp]

it free, go to town with power tools and see what happens, your first attempt at modding should be something cheap with no planning to learn how tools and other stuff work when applied to pc 

[Flight1sim]

Hey If you ever do it @BustinJustin, i'll take my old cases from 1995-1997 and mod one of them! (was already planning to paint them)

[BustinJustin]

I finally figured out how to take the case apart. It's WAAAYY different than anything today. It has metal braces and screws everywhere plus some rivets that I'm going to have to cut out. There was a daughterboard type thingamajig that had an expansion card attached. And it actually has a removable mobo tray! From 1996!

 

Pics and other thoughts soon.

[Cooleb09]

Dissolve it in Nitric acid and harvest the gold/copper from the pcb?

[Tr3vor]

The thing about old packard bell computers is that they are way different than AT or ATX designs. It appears this is one of the systems that has a riser card for the PCI/ISA slots that goes horizontal.

You'll have a hard time putting any modern hardware in it. 

 

Personally, I'd use it as a retro DOS/Win95 gaming PC. That's a ton of fun. The system has the right hardware for that sort of stuff, like a 166Mhz Pentium. I actually have a similar packard bell sitting across the room, although the hardware is a bit higher end.

[Recon97]

Save that computer for your kids or grandsons or daughters.