Case Mod - In Progress Vintage mod: IBM PS/1 Model 2011 (1990) - SFF & Watercooled - Update 15/11

Hi everyone,
I’m halfway through a new vintage mod project and I figured it was a good time to share a few pics.
This is a follow-up to the mod of the IBM PS/1 2121 I posted a few weeks ago (The PS/1 2125 - ROG).

Objectives:
- Switch the box from a PS/1 2121 to an IBM PS/1 2011: the original PS/1, twice as thin: 26x7x30cm (width/height/depth).

My PS/1 2011, in working order, keeping this one


- Bring as little modification to the original box as possible, except the paintjob, and especially preserve the way it slides open.



- Keep the same CPU/MB and GPU (Asus ROG Impact VI et EVGA GTX770 SC)
- To do so, give up on both closed-circuit loops previously used for a single custom watercooling loop, with an external cooling tower.
- Having the tower’s design somewhat match the PS/1 look, especially air intakes.

Elements of the loop:
- CPU Block EK Supremacy MX
- GPU Block EK-FC770GTX with EK-FC780GTX Ti rear plate
- Pump-Tank Combo EK-SBAY DDC 3.2 PWM
- Radiator EK Coolstream XTC 280
- 2 x Be Quiet Silent Wing 2 140mm fans
- 4 simples 13/10 fittings and 4 L-shaped Alphacool 13/10 fittings
- 2 Phobya Quick Coupling Valves, 13/10
- Red EK coolant fluid
- flexible Alphacool 13/10 tubing

Other parts :
- A flexible PCI-E 16x riser
- SD Card Reader (Akasa AK-ICR-13)

Step I : The cooling Tower

This PS/1 case is so small that I didn’t find a way to host the motherboard and graphic card together with the pump and tank. I chose a combo pump/tank instead and decided to put it in the external tower.
As for my previous mod I have few tools and mostly used spare acrylic sheets.
The tower dimensions are 15,3(width)x36(heigth)x13,5cm(depth) and the shape of the radiator let me install a SD card reader at the bottom.

Just to have a first idea, I stacked these elements together with a cardboard version of the grill:


And here are the blueprints (made with Draftsight):

Sides and vertical parts of the grill (acrylic 2,5mm) :


Top and bottom parts (acrylic 5mm) and horizontal parts of the grill (acrylic 4,5mm) :


A first try at putting things together:


Cleaning and gluing the grill




Aluminum radiator rails


Front view, once assembled and painted


For the paintwork, I tried to get the same texture as the PS/1 case using a sandy texture layer, plus a black layer… not quite like the original but still ok.

The grill is removable for maintenance


The back is still messy


I still need to simplify and braid the cables, and I will also make part of the tubbing rigid so that I can close the case, to get a cleaner look.

Front view with temporary braiding and quick coupling system installed


Close-up on connections



 
Step II: modification of the PS/1 case itself

Over the summer I modded the case a bit with the following objectives:
- Keep the upper part clear of any modification in order place the screen on top, in the original PS/1 spirit.
- Cut/drill the bottom of the case : to make an intake for the SFX PSU, and to fix it as well as the motherboard.
- Mod the back of the case to accommodate the I/O backplate, as well as connections to the cooling tower.
- Add something to hold the PCI-E 16x riser.

Before we start…

Front view of the original case

On my previous PS/1 mod someone told me it was a shame to do make use of the original 3.5’’ hole… I don’t have much space as the GPU will be right behind, but at least I will put USB ports there and the eject button will be recycled as a power-on switch.

Rear view

Quite a bit of work to come… with an obvious issue of rigidity in the end. Those PS/2 ports are exactly the size of the pass-through Phobya quick release valves I bought… at least that one less cut-out.

Freeing space…


(parts of) what will get in

Clearly this will be quite packed in there… the SFX PSU barel fits in height, there is not enough width to use a rigid riser… hence the use of the flexible one so that the GPU and MB overlap.

Cutting out the bottom of the case


Work on the backplate




Some additions

From bottom to top :
- The PCI-E Riser holder
- A plate to reinforce the backplate
- The PSU holder

Front plate, painted


The front USB/LED/Switch panel and the power on LED



The bottom of the plate, painted


On second thought I will replace the fake carbon by an actual thin sheet of carbon fiber or simply acrylic.

Overall view when assembled



Step III…. hmm… step I bis, back to the cooling tower

Here is where I had left it : quite a mess with tube out of the case.


And here is a rather tidier layout, using L-shapped fittings (3x G1/4 ->13/10 from Alphacool and a generic 13/10 -> 13/10). I kept the flexible tubes, no real need to go for hard-tubing.



As a final touch I made a rear grill out of a spare steel grill sheet.

Note to self: this badly cuts, don’t forget gloves next time.

And here is the final view (just need to remember to conceal the power cable of the pump):


Next steps (hopefully soon): assembling the components and testing the loop.
Speaking of which, I am still looking for a PCI-E 3.0 certified replacement for my noname (and potentially non-reliable) PCI-E extender. I spotted the Lian Li PW-PCI-E38.
Anyone used it before? Any feedback? It seems more available than the 3M I was looking for initially.

 

Nice. Those IBMs are design classics. I like the radiator housing it's a good match.

 

Slick tower.
Yes, The LianLi is probably the next best choice for cables.

 

Thanks for the info I'll probably order one then, it's 38cm long, it's a bit long for this project, but I want something reliable and PCI-E 3.0 able.

 

Hi everyone!
This project is slowly getting to an end (well, I am thinking of a few improvements already).
Step III inside tubing & installation of the components
First of all I had to mod my 770 into a single slot, as it was not fitting the height of the case, especially as ROG Impact VI and VII have a rather high module for wifi and M.2.
I hope that for the next gen Nvidia will move to single slot cards, it’s always scary to ‘butcher’ one’s equipment like this and I would like something more affordable than an EVGA 980ti Kingpin

Removing the cover of the second DVI slot:

I then cut each connection with cutting pliers:


As the graphic card is placed above and horizontally I had to wire everything and place the tubes in advance. I also had enough space to install a 2.5’’ hard drive
Inside view before the installation of the GPU:

Compared to my original plans I had to move the water intake to a closer location from the CPU… it’s not as nice as having in/out tubes side by side but I just didn’t have enough space... that said, this way the loop is simple and short.

With the GPU installed:

I am quite found of the EK backplate

Testing the loop, finally:


This weekend I should have some final pics of everything working on my desk

 

It's really nice to up cycle stuff like this, good job .... pity it can't be done for other halves ? I could do with them having a bit of re-plumbing and shiny new bits ? or maybe just trade them in for a younger newer model and ebay the old one

 

And finally…

Here is the PS/1 with everything back on my desk and working.


Really glad I made this first attempt at building a custom watercooling loop it was fun

It’s not quite over though… I’d love to lower temps a bit, probably going to install EK vardars, maybe a thicker radiator.

And now let the game begin

 

Secret reveals - you didn't do it, Minions did

 

Eveything is so crammed in there I had to call for help

 

Hi everyone!

After a few days using the PC I am thinking of a few improvements for the next few weeks:

1. I would really like to get the temps down. I am thinking of replacing the radiator for an Alphacool Monsta 280 with4 EKWB Vardar F1-140 in push/pull... I would have loved to get my hands on some F3-140ER instead but they still seem to be unavailable.
Anyone ever tried these very thick radiators? Do you think the setup above would manage to cool my overclocked i5 and GTX770? (I assume it would not be worse than what i have anyway )

This will also mean working on the tower again: slightly more depth and heigth (but I would really likse to stay below 40cm heigth in total including tank) and new rear grill.

2. I am going to rework the whole backplate of the main case, with female pwm and molex plugs especially... right now the external cable goes through the rear plate and is directly plugged to the components... I'd like something easier to unplug.

3. I am not convince by the phobya quick disconnect fittings I used... they tend to leak quite a bit when plugging in... messy and not really reassuring. I will try to find those used by EK for their Predator AiO, or maybe some Koolance... same again if anyone has tried these before advice more than welcome.

 

Hi everyone, just a quick weekend update, on improving cooling and noise levels

More work on the grill of the cooling tower


The inner side, before:



It was far too partitioned and also very close to the fans


After reworking horizontal blades:




After reworking vertical blades:




From outside the grill looks almost the same, but I get temperatures (from what I see from idle and gaming, confirmation through OCCT forthcoming) that I only got before by removing the grill, as well as very low noise operation.

I also had a try at painting a thin red stripe on the upper part of the front plate of the case itself, as the black/red theme was not very obvious once the case was closed.

A first test:



Still working on it right now: sanding, new layers etc.


Next step: I want to add two new fans at the back of the tower to pull air from the radiator, but without changing the tubes too much.

 

A few words to let you know that this project made me want to start a scratchbuild with the same concept of a compact case below the screen together with a cooling tower.
I am at the sketches stage right now.
More news soon.