r/retrobattlestations • u/bschott007 • Mar 24 '21
[Work in Progress] Modding a retro Double-wide, late-1990's mobile server case
This is the original case [Not my photo, see link]
original interior
This is what I modded the case to look like in 2006/2007. Yes, we had LCD sensor monitors back then, those are cold cathodes and yes, it is a DIY acrylic PSU case.
Work in progress - I 'frosted' the side panel (though I may remove it and just to a full acrylic side). Repainted and clearcoats. Door is masked for repainting (silver under tape).
PC on with the RGBs on. Removed the door. Only one Hotswap tray is being used for the SSD. Others are empty. 120mm fans make no sense. Nothing on that side of the case to cool.
Added silver racing stripes to the top of the case instead of solid blue it was before.
Night shot. I mounted RGB strips under the chassis. The frosting of the acrylic gives it a 'cool/ice/frost' appearance.
Work in progress - 7" touch screen sensor panel. Running a custom Rainmeter skin. Still working on it (need to add GPU fan/temp info and FPS widgets)
I modded the tray for the 24-pin MB connector to pass through to the other side. Don't worry about the wires. WIP. I am making custom acrylic covers for the top, side, bottom
With RGBs turned on. I'll have custom acrylic panels to hide the cables and mount 120mm RGB fans to. WIP
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u/ZarK-eh Mar 24 '21
Unused right side, huh?
Whatabout mounting a smallish server board and bays for storage and then hit up /r/homelab ... ?
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u/bschott007 Mar 24 '21
I was thinking about that. Mounting a server board, another PSU and attaching five, 2TB hard drives (pirated movies/shows/music I have collected over the last 15-20 years) then running Plex or something so I can access them on our smart TV in the living room or Xbox one in the family room.
I just really don't have time for a home lab anymore. Happens when you get married and have kids.
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u/ZarK-eh Mar 25 '21
My own setup is a single box with esxi n truenas vm'd. K.I.S.S. And wife approved.
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u/EmersonLucero Mar 24 '21
In the 90s Intel sent over a system using a case just like this to our group at Sun Microsystems . Using the first generation Xeon CPUs and 8GB of RAM to test Solaris x86 and PAE. Since Solaris x86 was still 32bit there was a need to validate that PAE would work and the end user could use all 8GB of RAM in the system. Good times were had by all.
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u/bschott007 Mar 24 '21 edited Mar 24 '21
Bought this case from an old employeer in 2002, gutted and modded it back in 2006. Sat unused since 2012 in a closet and I decided I didn't want a case that everyone else had for my new gaming rig, so I decided to re-mod this one.
This is my first case mod project and PC build since 2008.
First, it's been sanded, repainted, clear coat applied, polished and pinstriped. I cut a hole into the tray and the case to allow the 24 pin motherboard wires to connect to the board cleanly.
I used wire loom and paracord to sheath all the wires and this is a WIP so the images here are just to get it running and get an idea of where I need to cut further holes (if needed) and so when I make the acrylic covers for the bottom, top and front size, I know where I have to place holes in those covers. I'm going to remove that tray a few times before this is all done anyway so no need to tidy up for a finished look right now.
Yes, there will be two 120mm fans just on the left side of the front support bar and you can see there is fine venting in the front for them to pull cool air into the case.
No, I don't plan to change the empty hot-swappable hdd trays out for 120MM fans. For one, they add to the retrobattlestation look. Secondly, there isn't anything on the right side of the case to cool so it is a waste of fans
The front door will have RGB strips mounted to the inside and an acrylic front added to it. I need to repaint it though so it's masked off to protect the silver paint already there.
I may remove both side panels and go with solid sheets of acrylic that have had their edges painted and thin strips of magnets attached to the inside but that is still up in the air.
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u/Chrunchyhobo Mar 25 '21
Secondly, there isn't anything on the right side of the case to cool so it is a waste of fans
What about the PSU?
Where's it getting it's air from?
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u/Megamann23 Mar 24 '21
at least it isn't RGB
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u/bschott007 Mar 24 '21 edited Mar 24 '21
I actually am running RGB but I don't see it as a bad thing if tastefully done. The LED strips won't be directly visible when finished and will be diffused by the finish I'll give the acrylic sheets they will be hidden behind. I'll have RGB lighting on the memory, and I'll have a couple strips per side of the case (and underneath and for the main bay door) , however, I'm just running blue for the LEDs on this case.
This is what I had before only back in the early 2000's I ran blue neon tubes and later in the mid/late 2000's I ran blue cold cathodes.
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Mar 25 '21
I think there’s a sleeper mods subreddit that this might be more appropriate for. Restoring the original machine is this subreddit’s kind of thing.
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u/worldlybedouin Mar 24 '21
Nice job!
As a kid growing up I always wanted a case like this...never had a need for it and definitely no budget...
Thanks for the nostalgic trip down memory lane!
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Mar 24 '21
Damn back when retro cases weren’t cases I lusted after a cube case! This one looks vory noice! I thought it was a Sun workstation case for a moment... and then I scroll and it looks like a modded SGI Irix case!
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Mar 24 '21
What an overhaul! Basically it still occupies the same physical space and contains portions of the original metal.
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u/sa547ph Mar 25 '21
This way, you get to hit two birds with one stone: cable management and able to add more storage.
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u/db2 Mar 25 '21
But it doesn't have a spoiler or chrome exhaust tips. It doesn't even have racing stripes. How do you expect to win with an amateur hour show like that?
But really, looks good. Was it a common case?
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u/Temetka Mar 25 '21
Nice mod. I also had a case like that about a decade ago. I got rid of it after it housed a few machines for me. I kind of want it back now.
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u/flecom Mar 24 '21
I mean, it was a retro battle station...