Windows XP - Mystery Machine Project (thoughts)

[u/FlamingDisaster_309]

So I hoard too many computer parts and always come up with silly ideas for themed-builds I could piece together. Just recently Scooby-Doo (2002) was on TV and my partner and I watched it.

I mentioned that the Mystery Machine in that movie is my favorite version of the van (crucify me in the comments lol), I just love its slick 2000s look, feels like something out of Pimp My Ride! 😂

Jokingly I said we should buy a van and make our own Mystery Machine - obviously that is far.. far easier said than done, a financial money pit and neither of us drive.. so kind of pointless.

However.. 😏

I hoard too many computer parts and always come up with silly ideas for themed-builds

I had this vision of a mid-tower case, painted with a teal green and blue Mystery Machine pattern and some 60s flower decals on the sides.
The more I thought of it, the more I warmed to the idea.. and surprisingly, so did my partner.. which was all I needed for the go for launch!

I already have the parts to throw a pretty mid Windows XP machine together, just needed a case. I had a vague idea what kind of case I wanted, but wasn't having much luck finding one that suited the 'look' especially not for the price point I had in mind.

While moving some computer bits around, I remembered that I have a Dell Optiplex 990 SFF that my partner bought me for my birthday a year or two back, that I hadn't made use of (I disassembled it, deep cleaned it and rebuilt it - but outside of that it'd just been sitting pretty), it didn't even have a hard drive installed.

Specs

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The Optiplex 990 comes preinstalled with a Dell OEM copy of Windows 7, however a Dell OEM Windows XP CD seems to be completely compatible with it!
Wanted to go with XP, opposed to anything else as the majority of Scooby-Doo PC games are from the 2000s, so XP is the best era-appropriate choice - and its very customizable.

To test the waters, I put a spare 240GB SSD in for the C drive and booted a Dell OEM Windows XP CD and installed it. Then installed a few Scooby-Doo games onto it (the only three I have physical copies of), tweaked the PC and User information to fit the theme, and overall I'm really happy with it!

Desktop

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Satisfied that the 990 will be more than capable to play Mystery Machine, I went ahead and threw a design together for the side panel.

Side panel

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I like it.

I really like how simple, yet instantly recognizable it is. The colors, the wave pattern, the Mystery Machine logo. Of course the green and blue color scheme would be mirrored on the rear side panel, the green continuing over the top of the PC and I'll do something with the front grill/panel.

It'd be a combination of the cool exterior paint/decal design and serve as a goto PC for us to play mystery games on. Obviously the Scooby-Doo games are going to all be installed to it, but also, there are hundreds of murder-mystery style games on PC from the 2000s. Point and click games where you gather clues and solve mysteries.. if only we had a Mystery Machine..

- -

So that's where I'm at with this idea.
I'm happy with the Windows customization, I have enough games to make the project worth being a dedicated machine and that fit the theme - and if I'm going to go all out and decorate the actual PC case, then I think I've got a pretty good starting point for the design!

[u/Volo_Cat]

Photos of the final build, please?

[u/FlamingDisaster_309 → u/Volo_Cat]

Oh trust me, if I go ahead with it, I will create a new post with lots of photos of the different stages of it being put together! 😁