E-Waste AOpen Sleeper PC from 2000??

[@HuntersMoon78]

Wasn't expecting to see Windows 10 on that machine.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha tell me about it.

[@vivienm7]

I have a P5QL-E motherboard from that generation; very similar to the one you have, with the 1394 and the Atheros wired controller. One suggestion - explore putting a 45nm CPU in there. The Q6600 was great value for a few years, but a Q8400 or an E8400 (if you wanted higher-MHz dual core) will run at much lower idle power consumption... and it's really what that motherboard/chipset is designed for.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this info!!! I may - also may give the system a fighting chance in another case haha.

[@vivienm7]

@@TheRetroRecall If you're going to put it in another case, look and see where the 20/24-pin ATX connector is. On the P5QL-E, it is in a weird place at the top left, which means that it is very awkward to put the board in a case with a bottom-mounted PSU. And 2009-2010ish is the time that most enthusiast cases switched to bottom-mounted PSUs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you! That's good to know ahead of time for sure, much appreciated. I have a few cases, so I will keep that in mind.

[@geofftottenperthcoys9944]

Loved my Q6600, used it for years, til I got an i5-3550

[@RuruFIN]

I'd go for a LGA771 Xeon and modify it and the mobo bios. Those are half-free these days.

[@maxtornogood]

2000 era case with like a 2009 era board running Windows 10 on an old model Intel SSD, nice! I actually picked up a generic Antec black box tower with a 2010 GA-880GA-UD3H board at a PC recycling group I used to volunteer for long ago (before they shut down). It was unloved and they gladly let me have it. Black Box Specs: CPU: 6-core AMD Phenom II X6 1100T. Water Cooling: Hydro Series™ H55 Quiet CPU Cooler. PSU: Corsair 650W. Graphics: GeForce 9800 GT graphics (wanted to try GTA 5 at the time). RAM: 16GB DDR3 HDDs: 2x 160GB Samsung. OS: Windows 10 & Linux Mint (was previously Win 8). Still works, still viable in 2023!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha that's crazy and awesome all rolled into one... Water cooled?!? That's pretty sweet. Nice system! Yeah, I was pretty shocked to see this system in that case. Thanks for watching!!

[@maxtornogood]

@@TheRetroRecall Cheers! I'm proud of myself for being able to modify it to my liking and call it my own! 😄

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha for sure!

[@abunk8691]

That sleeper PC seems to have been upgraded over time. The SSD, Wifi card, and GPU all are from around 2010~2014. The wifi card in particular being AC1200 wifi seems to be the newest part there, and was tripping me up when you showed it on device manager because of how new it is compared to the other parts. Very nice that you rescued it as it can still be a capable if on the basic end of PCs today. That PC could have a new home to someone who needs a PC for basic tasks. But probably after a case swap as I don't think the airflow would be that good inside that haha.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha agreed! I would love to do a vid of moving these components to a NOS or even a modern case and create a reverse sleeper lol. Oh the ideas. :)

[@outtheredude]

Nice sleeper system you have going there! I have a late '00s system too based around a Q9650 with 8GB of G.Skill DDR2 1000 memory, a 2GB EVGA 750 Ti SC graphics card, an Audigy SB0090 sound card, SanDisk X400 boot SSDs & WD Black HDDs, all running off a Gigabyte EP35-DS3R motherboard, inside a Cooler Master Elite 370 case with DVD optical drives, a Scythe Kaze Master KM01-BK VFD fan controller, a floppy drive, blue halo LED case fans and an EVGA G2 550 PSU. It's also a dual boot system between Windows XP Pro 32-bit and 10 Pro 64-bit.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's a pretty awesome setup you have there yourself!

[@branhicks]

I have an Aptiva case from 1999 as my daily with an am4 system. Everything fits perfectly

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome! I would argue that this system is a bit tight with minimal airflow. I may be transplanting it to a more appropriate case in the future. Thanks for watching!!

[@l0ud5p34k4]

4:20 I don't quite get how people always get that wrong. If you look at the side where the bit in the middle of the fan (i.e. the part that houses the motor and axle) is spinning, it's the side, that air gets drawn into, so the intake side, if you're looking at the side, where the middle bit is not spinning and is also connected to the outer frame the air will get blown towards you, so that is the exhaust side. Generally speakin, that is. There are fans that are designed the other way around but you can also tell by the way the fan blade is curved. If you're looking at the convex side of the blades, that's the intake side and vice versa. Apart from that, there are also arrows on fan frames that show the direction that the fan is spinning in and that the air will move.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for the info! Something in passing I guess - I stand corrected :)

[@l0ud5p34k4]

@@TheRetroRecall I just realized, that I should have worded that a bit nicer... sorry for that. Also, I just remembered an exception to the convex rule, with the Geforce GTX 900 and 1000 series, EVGA had the ACX coolers where the fan blades were swept the other way around, so the concave side of the fan blades was facing the intake side. They claimed it reduced noise.

[@TheRetroRecall]

No worries :) I appreciate the info! Hopefully you subbed and can lend some future advice too! :)

[@jessestrobel2]

Enjoying your channel! Great vid

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks so much!

[@stevencamp6824]

Plus all the usb ports, most boards in the late 90's only had 2 or 3

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah for sure. I mean I don't know what I wljld do with them all now, 4 seemed like enough on the board but hey... Why not... Ports! Haha!

[@larrymorgan4004]

This was apparently built around 2007 because of the components used and how dirty it is. They dug it out of mothballs to sell recently, wiped all the drives, installed a new operating system, which explains 'user' as the login name. But they probably wanted way too much for a machine so long in tooth (by today's standards. So, they got angry and threw in away

[@TheRetroRecall]

Possibly for sure. At least it hasn't been melted down and can live another day!

[@larrymorgan4004]

@Karataus You certainly gave it a new lease on life. Whether the original owner threw it out or perhaps a buyer got rid of it because the cpu cooler was full of dust, causing it to thermal throttle, making it so slow it was useless. It took someone with your skills to resarect it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Much appreciated!! I would love to give it a new case to live in though!

[@Otakunopodcast]

It is so sad that that someone just up and ditched that computer... specs-wise it is still quite viable/usable even today. I mean it probably wouldn't play cry... You know, I was about to make that age-old joke, but tbh it probably COULD play crysis. Maybe not at the super highest quality settings, but it should be quite playable at more modest quality settings. I wouldn't mind having a rig like that one, weird hacked-up older case and all. What a lucky find!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha agreed, I was shocked to find it... But does it play Crysis?? Lol! Yup, I went there. I will try just for fun!

[@tellyjoossens4186]

The Aopen case I bought in 2008 is still in use today. only swapped motherboards and psu's i5-9600k in it at the moment. They were sturdy cases. mine has the side ventilation tunnel which originally would be positioned above the cpu but since motherboard designs changed with the years it kinda sits next to it. the 12mm case fan still seems to perform well, although it has sleeve bearing. Originally had a Asus K5 socket 775 motherboard in it with an E6750 cpu and a gts 250 (still have those and still works !)

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome and thanks for sharing this!! I loved the Aopen cases - they were so versatile in what you could do with them and what components you could fit in them. Heck - look at yours! Thanks for watching!!

[@zeddik99]

18:05 I was thinking you didn't plug the PCIe power cable back in... but either way

[@TheRetroRecall]

I did in between takes :)

[@davidlawrenc]

seeing that sleeper reminds me of my gaming rig Its an Antec Lanboy chassis from 2006 my mother board is a Gigabyte P31m running a 4th gen i3 at 3.5ghz with 8gb ddr3 ram I have 6 hdds nothing big but starting @ 1tb down to 500gb to this day even now i am using it, i watch your creations on it Keep up the retro side of gaming David from South Africa

[@TheRetroRecall]

Love this share and love that you are enjoying the channel. More to come!

[@davidlawrenc]

I cant wait too see what's next 🤔

[@TheRetroRecall]

New video planned for Saturday release!

[@davidlawrenc]

@@TheRetroRecall I'll be eagerly awaiting the video

[@stevencamp6824]

I love Aopen cases

[@TheRetroRecall]

As do I. I also loved a lot of their products in general!

[@jeffb6786]

Nice find. I like the case. I have a few sleeper builds in retro cases like that. And as for the optical drive, the board has IDE, so just find a beige IDE DVD--RW. I have 4 of them for builds like that. Get a Core2Quad Q9650 and a better cooler, switch the fans so they run the right direction and you're pretty much good on Win 10. The janky adapter wire for the video card is because the P/S doesn't have PCI-e power. Older PCI-e video cards came with those adapters; I have several of them. Again, good find, especially for e-waste. Have fun with it and explore until you have the system you want.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks so much for the compliment, additional info and for watching!

[@KimPossibleShockwave]

>When this graphics card is more modern than the one you're currently using FML

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha sooo true - irony? :). All in all it's a pretty decent system. Very deceiving of course!

[@ShieyV2komputroniks]

older lcds hat flourescent backlight , that can be the flickering

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks and that makes total sense.

[@RandyDarkshade2]

The fan was your first clue? To me it was the huge ass wi-fi antenna out the back. and the fact Sata didn;t exist in 2000 let alone E-Sata. Looking at the mpbo's IO is a big sign it's a sleeper.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey, when going through E-waste stuff and juggling ya never know what era it's from - that and as I noted I spend 0 time looking at them until a video - but thanks for pointing out just the same. Keeping it light, having fun. Thanks for watching!

[@nathann0100]

I love how i built a computer like this like a week ago with the same mobo with a 90s a open case

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha no way! What case did you use?

[@nathann0100]

Not right positive of the model it was a p3 system with a build date of 99

[@TheRetroRecall]

That sounds great. I love these old builds.

[@nathann0100]

I as well even though It causes a space problem in my office. So far my wife hasn't said a word about the pc hoarding

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha I'm border line in trouble here, not gonna lie :)

[@georgez8859]

Another Great Find. I have that Motherboard Also. should make a very nice system Thanks for the Video

[@TheRetroRecall]

No problem! I was shocked to have found it and to discover what was inside!!! :). You have that board? That's awesome!

[@3dfxvoodoocards6]

Interesting video, like! Curiously I have the same problem with 2 different systems for 2 weeks now and I can’t find the reason why they don’t display the image on the monitor. Two weeks ago I swapped a video card in my Athlon Xp system and when I powered it on the motherboard started and worked but I got no image on the monitor. I tried other video cards, the same thing, motherboard on but no image on the monitor. I tried two more PSU’s, same thing. Changed the RAM, cables, Monitor, same thing. I purchased a P3 Tualatin with motherboard and RAM and to my horror I got the same problem. I couldn’t believe it. I changed everything but got the same problem on 2 different systems. I thought about purchasing a third system, but after seeing your video I will try tomorrow to clean both motherboards as good as I can, especially the AGP slot and hope that it works. If it doesn’t, I will have to find another hobby, solving hardware problems is too stressful :)) I guess I aged 5 years in those two weeks :))

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha! Stick to it. I was so confused, so when I used the contact cleaner it worked right away - after I had spent an hour off camera changing monitors cables, etc. If a few of your systems are not working, chances are it could just be a dirty slot! Good luck!

[@3dfxvoodoocards6]

@@TheRetroRecall Thank you for your answer! I hope it’s just a dirty AGP slot like in your case. I will try it tomorrow :)

[@Mainframev1976]

I have that same Speed Deamon sticker on a pc. lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha no way!! Small world.

[@itstheweirdguy]

In 2023, this would be a really nice XP build, as far as Windows 10, it's going to be slow. In the Windows 7 hayday this thing I'm sure worked great.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this! I'll be honest, it felt pretty smooth, however I did not get to deep into it. In a future video I'm sure we will revisit this system and get everything cleaned up - see what it can do!

[@itstheweirdguy]

@@TheRetroRecall intensive websites and windows updates really will drag. Old games and software that runs well on it should run just as good as back then though. It’s the modern software where it would be weak. I had a phenom II until 2017 which is probably a touch faster than this I assure you it’s slow. I like what I see here I’d love to see it cleaned up re cabled…look up the pin mod for the cpu you can up the fsb to 1333 that board should handle it, probably would bump it up to being equal to my old phenom II x4 840

[@TheRetroRecall]

That would be great. Yes - totally makes sense re : Intense windows activities VS games of that era. I don't know much about the video card.. Will have to look it up. Thanks again!

[@waize]

the fan pushing air the wrong way out front bothers me.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha, that's actually a great call out! I totally didn't notice it outside of just mentioning it. Duly noted for the restoration vid!! Great catch.

[@willaimkazer9754]

Whats the GPU, GTX750ti or HD7970? 6:07 in video.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I will have to dig the machine out and find out. I do plan on doing a followup vid on this machine. :)

[@hydra3693]

>e-waste >SATA ports >PCIE slots >DDR3 slots Hard nope. Plenty of upgrade room to usefulness.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure!

[@schnitzelsamy]

Very cool

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!

[@2xtreem4u]

i used to build sleeper PCs

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome. I was shocked when I saw this system... It totally threw me for a loop!

[@2xtreem4u]

@@TheRetroRecall my favorite was an AT/ATX case with the best you could get in 2004 sold it to a friend and he had a break-in and they left the PC and stole the screen

[@TheRetroRecall]

Terrible they got broken into... However leaving the PC because they thought it was junk is a win!

[@EastAngliaUK]

what is the newest pc you use?

[@TheRetroRecall]

I7 thinkpad P14s and a Dell i9. Then a whole bunch of older stuff lol.

[@michaelperugini4199]

i would love to have this case.! would you sell it?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey Michael! Not looking to part with anything just yet but will let you know if that changes!

[@Mini-z1994]

Pretty neat sleeper rig even if its a bit of a jank attempt at one, like no modifications beyond the side panel fan is pretty jank. SSD might be old enough too fully support trim in windows xp btw, my old intel 330 60 gb drive does if you download the right " Intel ssd toolbox " version. Super reliable drives as well from this generation of ssd drives as long as trim is done reasonably often. Bit over 25 TB writes on this little 60 gb drive & it's at like 92% health left almost 10 years later. HD 6770 is a re-released hd 5770 basically, bit dated by it's second release but not a bad bargain as either of those versions, i think the card was about 100 - 130$. Gpu is fast enough too play some e-sports titles like valorant on low settings with reasonably good fps, some older AAA titles like killingfloor 2, borderlands 2, GTA IV between 720p too 1080p resolution with a bit faster processor like a 4th gen I3 or I5 too have a bit more efficient cpu cores as core 2 is pretty slow by now for some games, even e-sport titles. ANY game that will launch in windows xp or vista basically works on this system no problem with some tweaks too the graphics settings & maybe a patch or two if they have some old compatibility issues related too how many cpu cores, ram,cpu speed or amount of vram you got. With the modded fan already done there by the previous owner, how about trying some additional mods yourself ? Maybe cut out a bit of the bottom & put some magnetic dual 120mm fan filter on there along the bottom with fans, or maybe just too have a natural convection of air too be drawn in through the filter & a bit taller feet on the case, maybe front fan can be modded too a 140mm even if the plastic front is mostly in the way it would cut down a lot of noise most likely regardless. Otherwise perhaps a period correct case from Antec, Zalman or Coolermaster would be better for this. Like a Coolermaster haf932 i can see this build being used in for sure with a bit larger cpu cooler & those red led fans.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Holy, so much great info in just one comment.... Thanks for this info, it's greatly appreciated! Yes, I think rescuing the hardware and placing it into a Coolermaster or more appropriate case would help it along. Heck - I may even locate a beige one haha! Thanks for this and thanks for watching!

[@Mini-z1994]

@@TheRetroRecall checked what the ssd is btw ? if the pc is hooked up still crystaldiskinfo should show what it is & how worn down it is atm.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It is not as I am working on Saturdays video, but I will definitely check!

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

That board and CPU were actually pretty awesome in their time but that case is a joke. No ventilation on the back at all and that front fan was just blowing out the already poor amount of air that was inside it. Makes me wonder why the previous owner bothered to cut a hole in the panel instead of just replacing the case,it's literally an oven

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. It was definitely forced into the case! I left the side off when testing, but I think we are going to have to save this poor machine in a future vid!

[@randomcrap7682]

"because of thermal paste reasons i will not remove that" you SHOULD remove the heat sink for thermal paste reasons...

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for the comment. I totally will when it comes time for the clean up - however for the video and testing to see if the system would even work, I was not going to disturb what was there.

[@2528drevas]

Maybe re-paste the card?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey Daniel! Sorry - which card are you referring to... the Video Card?

[@dominikschutz6300]

Windows 11 would work. I have a video about this, with a Q9650 CPU :)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey, awesome. Thanks for the info! I'll take a look at it for sure.

[@BenState]

you unplugged the gpu power and then didnt replug it in

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for the catch, however I did catch it off camera and just didn't provide the update :)

[@BenState]

@@TheRetroRecall ah ok nice

[@Roadkill7878]

I am trying to understand why someone would spend that sort of money on quality parts at the time and then put them in an old case and spend time making a manky modification to the side panel. It just does not make any sense

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. I mean it's cool ish to look at today and talk about, however back then, I am not sure I would have dug out a 9 year old case and threw my brand new parts into it! It's clear the board is forced into the case near the IO shield as well.

[@princestubbs5797]

You unplugged the video card......

[@TheRetroRecall]

I had plugged it back in during shooting and just didn't add it into the edit. . Great catch!