Case Mod - In Progress IBM PS/1 2125-RoG - 06 June 2015

Hi everyone.

I have had a few attempts at making my own cases in acrylic for some time but there was nothing worth sharing compared to the amazing mods and scratchbuilds I see here. Lately however I got the idea of modding one of the dinosaurs buried in my basement, as I was thinking about building a more compact case than the Lian-Li PC 27 I used.

It is still done with (very) limited skills, tools, budget and time, mostly using spare parts and materials.

Above all it is a tribute to my first ever PC, an IBM PS/1 model 2011, first model of the PS/1 series, which was launched exactly 25 years ago in June 1990.

So let me introduce to you the project:

IBM PS/1 2125-RoG​

The host case:


27cm (length) x 35cm (depth) x11cm (height), I don’t have the monitor.

I did not use my original PS/1 Model 2011 (a 286@10MHz, with 1MB RAM and 30MB HDD) as it is in working condition and at the time it felt really too small. I thus used an IBM PS/1 Model 2121 of 1992, originally a 386sx16, which is basically as big as two 2011 stacked. Since then I found a second spare 2011 case and started thinking about a new project.

The nice thing about early PS/1 cases is the way they slide open: front/top/sides upper cover slides on the bottom/back plate, leaving all the internals easily accessible. There are no screws, just a single button on top, locking the upper cover in place.

Objectives:

Give a more modern look to the case while…

… Preserving the original shape a maximum, especially the way it slides open
… Fitting-in the following gears:

• Intel i5 4670k cooled with a Antec Kühler 620
• Asus ROG Impact VI with 2x8GB of G.Skill DDR3-2400 Trident X
• EVGA Geforce GTX 770 SC 2GB cooled with a Corsair H55 mounted with a Kraken G10
• Crucial MX500 M.2 500GB SSD & WD Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5’’ HDD

… Getting decent cooling by keeping the two closed-circuit loops.
… Avoiding the use of a PCI-E riser (no space for a rigid one and I never managed to get a decent flexible one)… this meant adding a minimum of 2cm to the original height…

A glance at the final result:


Step 1 : the bottom plate/motherboard tray and the back-plate

I had a first try at making a whole new bottom plate in acrylic, but the end result was bulky and the sliding/locking was not as good as the original.

I thus chose a lighter design, cutting the bottom plate just where it was needed to fit the mother-board and graphic card, and getting the additional 2cm required by using a spare 4mm acrylic sheet and 2cm L-shaped aluminium rails.

The original bottom plate, cut:


Work done on the new motherboard tray:







This design improved the cooling system I thought about (by providing more clearance under the case): stacking the two radiators and two Be Quiet 120mm fans, with air taken from underneath the case, exhausted on top.

On the left side rail I drilled a holes to fit USB and audio ports taken from a Bitfenix case and also a rectangular hole to exhaust a bit of the GPU's RAM/VRM warm air. In addition I cut a round hole on the tiny front rail to host on/off button from a Lian-li case.



I used the same spare acrylic for the back-plate, painted in the same flashy red as the MB tray for the inside and covered with a fake carbon fibre sticker for the outside.

Work done on the backplate:






The final look of the bottom/back plate:




Step 2: work on the cover

A simple paint job on the front plate:


Some trials and errors on the upper part of the case, gladly invisible now.
Initially I had thought to cut a hole for a 120mm fan grill, but the end result was quite uggly.





I then found 16.5cm speaker cover from a VW Gold 4, which used as a fan grill would have the advantage to hide my deplorable lack of skill at drilling/cutting.





Work on the case was completed but I was still a bit worried about how everything would fit in there.

Step 3: Fitting everything in.

Cable management was as expected a real issue

Here is a look at the inside, with all parts and wires in, except for the SFX PSU which comes above the CPU.



Here is a side view when closed.



A view at the not too great back plate



And finally a look at the working PC.



The background pic is the original welcome screen of the PS/1, a simple shell for PC-DOS 4.01. I also installed another classic piece of IBM memorabilia for the picture: an IBM RT3200 including a trackpoint, ThinkPad style.

The whole thing has a Thinkpad/Intellistation feel actually.

What’s next?

• I realized I forgot to put a HDD LED, I will install it on the A: LED space on the front.
• I may make a better back plate.
• Think about a custom water cooling.
• I have the project of putting the same gears in the original PS/1 2011 case (half the heigth of this one) with a custom WC with pump/tank/rad in a small tower outside.

List of the gears used in this built:

• Intel i5 4670k@4200Mhz, cooled by an Antec Kühler 620
• Asus ROG Impact VI motherboard
• 2x8GB DDR3-2400 G-Skill Trident X
• EVGA Geforce GTX 770 SC 2GB cooled with a Corsair H55 mounted with a Kraken G10, mildly overclocked to 1161/1213MHz for GPU and 1788MHz for memory.
• SilverStone SX600-G SFX 600W PSU
• Crucial MX500 M.2 500GB SSD & WD Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5’’ HDD
• Lian-Li PT-SK03B kit for the power button
• 2x be quiet! Shadow Wings PWM 120 mm Fans
• 1x Noctua NF-A6X25 FLX fan for the front air intake (through the floppy drive hole). I am thankful to Noctua for coming with this rather unusual form factor
• BitFenix USB 3.0 Upgrade Kit for Outlaw and Shinobi for USD 3/USB2/Audio front ports
• A 120mm Silverstone magnetic fan filter, stuck underneath the case.
• A blue led to replace the original orange one.

 

I see no pictures?

You need to have in work pictures in your first post.

 

Thanks for letting me know. Pictures appear on my screen, they're hosted on a Bit Tech album. But there might be an issue on how I posted them.

 

dug this one up after seeing your new build
i really like your projects!

specific to this build, how are temps with 2 radiators staced?

 

Hi and thanks for the interest.

Both GPU and CPU stay below 60° these days with a room temp of about 22°... I'm actually used to much lower temps, hence the idea to go for a custom loop on the new project...

I could also try to invert both rads and see if I obtain better temperatures.

 

i'm not surprised, but it's not as bad as i thought it would be!
really wish i had gone for an itx mobo when i upgraded last - it opens up for more versatility

 

Answered a bit fast sorry:

Temps iddle/low activity: CPU around 35°, GPU: below 30°

Gaming (I mostly play PlanetSide 2): both CPU and GPU around 55-60°

 

wow, those are nice idle temps - thought idle and active temps would have been closer together...
nice!