This might be the craziest one yet...

"Nibby" (nibby68)
07/09/2019 at 10:50 • Filed to: None

Take your typical Dell Optiplex GX110 from the year 2000. Add a modern optical drive.

Note the side panel. That button on the bottom of the front bezel releases it and it swings upwards like a gullwing door.

Gut the case. All these parts are going to a friend’s place. Original was a 600MHz Pentium III with 128MB RAM and 10GB HD.

The front with everything removed.

Note how utterly proprietary this is.

An inside view from the side

Removed or flattened these clips. Combination of a wire cutter and dremel. See that long thin metal tab near the drive cages? That was all flattened eventually by a hammer.

Cutting p roposal

All cut. Not perfect but it’ll do. Ended up touching the edges a bit with the edge of a grinder.

Side panel doesn’t care about the rear being cut off. Fits just like it originally did.

Cheap donor case.

And we’re gonna reuse half of it.

View from the other side. Also this was $25 shipped on ebay and it... came with a 240GB SSD sitting in it. Nice!

This air powered tool did the job (thanks Geoff for your advice). Haven’t tried it on human flesh yet.

Cut it like so... and was able to drill some holes in the original case to screw this... half case into the new one.

The rear... am retrobrighting the case right now.

Here you can see how it is secured to the case. There’s also a USB 3.0 front panel I spray painted white.

Should be fun! Just waiting for the motherboard and it’ll be ready to go.

DISCUSSION (37)

M.T. Blake > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 10:52

You’re making me want to throw a LAN party

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 10:55

Nibby what the fuck

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 10:58

Kinja'd!!!

MonkeePuzzle > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:02

Kinja'd!!!

Nibby > M.T. Blake
07/09/2019 at 11:07

come over we have gigabit

ok no we don’t but

and 100 more > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:07

Quick question: I have one of the SFF Optiplex units (i think it’s a 360) languishing in my closet ; how garbage are these? Are they worth anything to anyone?

Kinja'd!!!

Nibby > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2019 at 11:07

not looking forward to wiring the front panel headers

nerd_racing > M.T. Blake
07/09/2019 at 11:07

Gonna play some red faction and Unreal Tournament 2000!

Nibby > and 100 more
07/09/2019 at 11:09

they’re not really worth using for unless you wanna play like XP era games or something like that... if you’re feeling charitable you can install whatever OS you want and some word processing software and donate it to charities near you that give computers to those who can’t afford them or for kids who don’t have access to PCs

and 100 more > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:16

Thanks!

Yeah, it’s doing me no good. Might as well put it to use. I had plans of gutting it and turning it into a fanless media center pc, but that trend died a quick death once streaming services came out.

punkgoose17 > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:19

This reminds me, I have a net book with a 32GB micro SD right now it has Wolfeinsti en and Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 on it. Any recommendations for old era games?

Chariotoflove > MonkeePuzzle
07/09/2019 at 11:19

Thank you. Someone had to do it.

Chariotoflove > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:21

Amongst all this, what made my eyes go wide was the $25 score of a box with working SSD. Well done.

Nibby > punkgoose17
07/09/2019 at 11:23

could be sweet for DOSBox or ScummVM... Day of the Tentacle, DOOM, etc. Snes, N64, NES, Genesis emulators too

Nibby > Chariotoflove
07/09/2019 at 11:24

that SSD is sitting around, if you want it for $25 let me know

Nibby > and 100 more
07/09/2019 at 11:24

XP MASTER RACE

punkgoose17 > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:34

Good ideas!

Chariotoflove > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 11:34

Hey thanks! If I had a use for a disembodied SSD I might take you up on it.

M.T. Blake > Nibby
07/09/2019 at 14:50

I’ve got cellular internet because I’m one block into the ‘boondocks’. I’d probably have high latency running anything newer than the original counter strike.