Another IBM NetVista sleeper

"Nibby" (nibby68)
02/04/2019 at 13:30 • Filed to: None

Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p guts in an IBM NetVista M41 case
280W Lenovo 80+ power supply
Lenovo M92p motherboard
Intel Core i7 3770 3.4GHz quad core processor
16GB DDR3 PC3-12800U RAM (4x4GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 1GB PCIe video card
DVDRW drive
640GB Western Digital 7200RPM hard drive
180GB Intel 520 SSD
Windows XP + Windows 7 64 dual boot
Floppy drive installed, not connected
HDMI
DVI
VGA
Audio in/out jacks
Serial port
Ethernet
2xUSB 2.0 ports rear
2xUSB 2.0 ports front
4xUSB 3.0 ports rear

Metal part of case has been spraypainted with black Rustoleum appliance epoxy

Side of the case

Other side with original XP sticker

Original IBM model + serial # sticker

The rear, jerryrigged the rear fan and power supply in there... spare PCI brackets, zipties, some old motherboard standoffs and VGA fasteners did the job.

Front

The original guts, all filthy and disgusting. 2.0 GHz Pentium 4 with 1GB RAM

Overview of all the guts

I used some male to female Arduino pins to reroute the original NetVista power switch and LEDs to the motherboard.

Another shot... the SSD is chilling in a spare bay underneath the optical drive

BIOS screen

System summary

Windows 7 desktop

Specs

Windows XP desktop

Access IBM + specs

Programs galore

All fired up and running! Temperatures are fine, idles in the low-mid 30s and under Prime95 stress test, high 60s/low 70s. These cases are built very well and are TANKS! Also pretty easy to work with.

DISCUSSION (12)

404 - User No Longer Available > Nibby
02/04/2019 at 13:41

3770... I’m still finding a justification to replace my 3570K + Radeon R9 290 machine. It still runs smoother than my i7-6700 machine at work, lol.

Been eyeing a Ryzen 1600-2600 system for like... 2 years?

Nibby > 404 - User No Longer Available
02/04/2019 at 13:42

wait this summer for ryzen 3000 to come out then upgrade

404 - User No Longer Available > Nibby
02/04/2019 at 13:44

That’s what I did when I first specced the build sheet with 1600... then 2600 is out and I still didn’t get a single thing, only changed my build sheet, lol.

The only justification I have now is I want an mini-ITX machine so it fits under my desk better.

Nibby > 404 - User No Longer Available
02/04/2019 at 13:46

get one of these netvistas and build it in one

404 - User No Longer Available > Nibby
02/04/2019 at 13:58

I do have a Dell GX620 sitting around. Thought about gutting that but it’s quite a bit of work to get the GPU to sit properly. Figured the board is the easy part. And doesn’t help when I don’t have any tools, lol.

Nibby > 404 - User No Longer Available
02/04/2019 at 14:03

ah, the tower one? can’t use actually... non-standard BTX layout, which is flipped mATX

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Nibby
02/04/2019 at 14:04

XP Royale is the only correct way to do XP.

Nibby > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
02/04/2019 at 14:07

for sure!

404 - User No Longer Available > Nibby
02/04/2019 at 14:10

Yeah, the SFF tower. Just noticed that after looking at the pics.

Size was perfect though, exactly what I need. Otherwise this is the closest thing I selected for my build: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/node-series/node-202

Missed a sale, it was down $5 0 last week. Maybe if I see it on sale again I might pull the trigger on my build, but RAM is still so darn expensive.

Nibby > 404 - User No Longer Available
02/04/2019 at 14:13

that’s a really clean case

Jason Spears > Nibby
02/04/2019 at 14:14

This is great.

Do you plan to open up the back some so the PSU can breathe more?

Was the M92p available with an i7 or did you add that?

Did you happen to measure power draw before and after? Even if that P4 was a Northwood I bet it was a hog.

Nibby > Jason Spears
02/04/2019 at 14:19

power supply is fine, original one from the M92p... i7 3770 was an option. The original P4 mobo didn’t even post so I trashed it. Didn’t measure power draw but the 280W 80+ Lenovo one should be fine.