Thank you Matt. I really enjoyed this video. My grandfather passed away a few weeks ago and I’m going to help my step grandma clean out their garage. I know there are two computer towers in there from the early 1990s that belonged to my late grandma. You’ve inspired me to try and make a sleeper build with them. It will be a way for me to remember my two grandparents while also helping my step grandma.
that will be very hard, mate. if those from AT era, this means it will require a lot of work and tools. totally not worth it. just believe me. just get something like on this vid - that at least from times when ATX became standard. sorry for your loss.
"Very balanced" should include a good airflow corresponding to this era hardware. Modern PCs shouldn't be used in such cases. Not to mention he ruined a nice socket 7 ali chipset machine. Wow.
Most prebuild has good IO shield design, not only design, but some of them use foam shielding so it doesn't bump directly to metal. The downside for IO shield like in the video, most of the time it only fit into their own case, you can't use that IO shield with regular case.
AMD has come a long way! I didn't build my first pc until 2016 though as I'm only 23 lol. I got a fx 6300 back then and now I'm on a 5700x. I plan to keep sticking with AMD if they keep on the same great path
@@aakirax Yeah going from the FX 6300 to the 3600 was a big jump in performance! The only reason I upgraded from my previous 3600x to 5700x was because I got a used 3080 and the 3600x was bottlenecking in some games. But the 3600/3600x is still very capable and I will probably give it to a friend who doesn't have a pc
@@Bdot888 honestly in my opinion, the 3600 is probably the best modern budget friendly CPU that can play almost anything in 1080p paired with a half decent gpu like a GTX1060, the price to the performance ratio is just too good if you're on a budget.
Intel - AMD... It's just a personal preference. I've built several of both types of systems and they all yield pretty similar results in the end. It all depends on how much you're willing to spend and how far you want to go. I remember my first "sleeper" system was an IBM PS2. I got it free. Upgraded it to a Pentium II, 512MB RAM, an 8GB HD, a SoundBlaster audio card and a 3DFX VooDoo II AGP video card running Windows 3.1. I had almost $1K in that system. Today, it would just be a door stop, a boat anchor or sitting in a museum somewhere!
yep was going to say this, sure their are some special slots for modems around this time AMR and later CNR, but that board was only ISA and PCI. Yep SD-RAM as DDR wasnt really a thing till the P4 era
He can't possibly remember something when he probably wasn't born yet, so I'll cut him some slack 🙂. I built PCs with PCI graphics cards back in the day (AGP slot was just getting introduced), but I'd probably need some catching up if I built one today.
My parents had this same PC and man that tooless drive cage was ahead of it’s time. And man do I remember just about everyone breaking the front bay covet off of these things 😂
yes I was thinking the same, just for the change up, tho I sometimes notice in the comments sections u got dudes complaining about older hardware, as if its a boomer thing, you can't please everybody, go checkout the new videos covering the revival of RX 580's people are mad Why are u covering this ancient video card? ☺
@@MrSamadolfo People are nuts, I take it you mean the 2048 variants from Ali/Amazon vendors? Considering they've been selling those for less than the price of 1030s, even 730s sometimes on Ali, they are extremely relevant. Shoot I'd buy them if I was building office PCs and just needed simple video adapters at those prices.
I had one IBM like that. Didn't even have AGP, but it helped me to game when I couldn't afford a gaming PC. It has a special place in my heart. I wish I found an IBM case like that.
Wow I'm amazed at the temps overall. I figured the gpu would thermal throttle being one of the only exhausts other than the psu. That one fan in the front is God tier.
I couldn't leave that fan alone, I would have to use a Dremel to cut out the metal against the fan to allow more airflow. Otherwise a cool build, better performance than I expected.
I use that CPU (though I put a copper slug Wraith Spire I have on it for a bit more cooling) with a 2060S, pretty much the same specs as this. The case is cooler than mine though. I think I'd make busy with the Dremmel though to cut away the metal in front of the fan and maybe open a vent under the bottom lip of the front panel for intake. I probably wouldn't bother with a rear fan because the PSU isn't being stressed so should be fine extracting air from the case.
I have the same Aptiva case coming in the mail. Definitely planning on drilling a hole in the front, 2 holes on the bottom, and an exhaust hole in the back.
I want to build one that maintains the use of the floppy and DVD drives, as an intermediary machine that can transfer data between more modern and legacy machines.
awesome video i love sleeper builds, man those U.S prices are unbelievable, in south america an amd rx 6600 costs 700 Dollars just crazy anyways keep it up! good stuff
Yes I know what you mean hermano, in south america checkout Rinconstiff, hes good at covering a very wide range of pc parts from very old to very new on a continual basis, you have to because in latin america parts wether they are used or new are way overprices, plus u got sellers trying to charge way too much because options can be very limited, when I fly to central america to visit family i always take computers down with me to use while im down there on vacation then when i fly back i gift them to cousins. I mainly take laptops because Customs Aduana normally does not hassle me that I have to pay a customs fee, but whenever I take a desktop they always force me to pay a customs fee no matter how old or new the desktop is, They fee can run from $200 to $500, they over exaggerate what its worth. Thats why u see stores down there passing the custom costs to the buyer. Which is why its way overpriced down there. Custom fees are preventing the average consumer down there accessing computer tech. Its not cool.
I used to have one of these in 2008. I only had the original hardware though. An ebay industrial pc fan could probably get a bit more air in and give it authentic sleeper sound
I love sleeper builds... have one myself in an old AOpen HQ08 fulltower case that I chuse to paint black on the inside to contrast more to the outside (also have internal lighting controlled with an chassi intrusion switch to light up when opened for even more contrast). In my build I used a USB floppy, USB Parallell port and USB Gameport on a PCI bracket and another bracket with both 9 and 25pin Serial connected to a motherboard header, a SATA to IDE converter for a 5.25" IDE harddrive caddie in the front and to complete the look it also have a beige DVDRW that I sanded of the DVD markings... so not only does the computer look old, all the old legacy connections and hardware works!). To complete the external look I painted the rear of my black PSU silver and painted the blue USB3 ports on the motherboard black so the sleeper look contunues even when viewed from the rear. Sadly my case had no stickers when I got it so I made a custom sticker for the front in the style of Emachines "Never obsolete" with bogus spec/preinstalled software aswell as big lettered "HYPER THREADING" as it claimes to sported a P4 2.4Ghz and stuck an XP license on the side aswell as a P4HT and WinXP sticker on the front. Finally I customized Windows 10 to look like XP with 6 or so tweak tools in combination with several legacy software, combined with a custom motherboard BIOS logo sporting the XP bootlogo. As a stroke of luck I managed to find a small manufacturer casebadge that ties to the manufacturer on the XP license so I ran with that and included it in the OEM part of Windows systeminfo. Airflow can be tricky sometimes but in my case there was ample space to make cutouts for a 240mm watercooler in the front to act as intake and 3 80mm as exhaust together with the PSU (one of the 80mm fans use a custom 80mm-to-2x60mm adapter I made as my motherboard tray had space for two 60mm fans above the motherboard I/O shield and I just couldn't get myself to install 60mm fans in the system).
Good build, I especially like the choice of the GPU. I often do builds like yours with older parts from my gaming rigs and sell them off as general use PC's. Newer builds for 1080 gaming sometimes end up in older cases with a 5600, 16 gig of ram and get custom paint jobs and new fans or sometimes I'll cut a 200mm into a side cover with topside vents. Neon green with grey pinstriping with red accents seems to be very popular. You might want to take your build and demonstrate some of the mods and cooling solutions you can apply just for fun and a new paint job would push it over the top. It would make a great video.
Very well done video! Straight to the point, no nonsense and loved the concept of a "no major mod" build! That takes some skill and planning to pull it off especially keeping within a budget! Your finished results were not only really clean and tidy but also more than capable for gaming! Very impressed! No one does that anymore. Big fan of the "sleeper" PC concept and have built a few but I'm discovering that these older full size systems are getting harder and harder to find. The last one I built was using a black E-Machines mid tower case and was extremely difficult to make everything work out. Had to do some pretty serious mods to that case to get it done.
I grew up building in just such a case, way, and I do me WAY back when, as I started building PCs back in 1986 so I know first hand the struggles you've encountered. I also know that you could have purchased a CD Drive, reasonable inexpensive, that would have fit in that space easily and could have worked; which would have been a huge bonus to the Sleeper Concept. Even the current drive might have worked unless is was MFM. The Floppy could have been plugged in as well to at least light up if nothing else as they only need a power cable to give the appearance of actually operating. Overall a great build. I was surprised to see the GPU was almost bottlenecking the CPU in many of the games. I didn't know what to expect as I really thought the 6600 was a good card. I believe you could have done resizable bar, or whatever AMD is calling it, unless this CPU don't support it and link the two that may have helped overall performance. I know this Link, don't care what AMD calls it, works on the Ryzen 5 5600X so I'd like to think it would work on the 5500; but I also think the MB might have to support it as well and not sure if the B Flavor does. I know the GPU supports it as does the Z Flavor MBs and I'm almost positive that the Ryzen 5 series does as well.
3:05 AGP modem ….. looks like an ISA connection to me 😅😂🤣. All good. I grew up with these pc specs in one of my newer pc builds back in the day. The KII-300 was an awesome hip and vg overclocker …… not as good as the Celeron 300A …. But still good with a simple FSB tweak from a 33mhz to 66mhz FSB with a dip switch change 💪🤯😇🥰
Crazy how much the spec of your personal rig is the same as mine. My PC died on me recently so I've been looking around UA-cam for recommended builds and stumbled upon your channel. I thought it was my Asrock mb that packed up but after swapping out with a new MSI one I'm still getting no picture, won't even boot to bios. I've now come to the realisation that it might now be my Ryzen 7 1700 CPU that has died, I've never had a CPU die on me before so will need to pull the trigger and buy a new Ryzen CPU. Currently looking at the Ryzen 7 5600X as a mid range CPU replacement but was keen to know when you built your personal rig and if you've been having any issues recently seeing as it's getting on for +5 years now. BTW, great channel Matt, very informative, you've grabbed a new subscriber 😁
Thanks for this. I really want to get back into PC gaming and with an old case in the loft started looking at sleeper builds. This was a great video to help with that decision. Last time i built a PC was 20 years ago!
Fantastic video 😀 I love sleeper builds, and your build is really interesting, with just one fan in the front, and yet, as you said, the temps are all really good, which really shows how great your AMD parts are, when considering power vs performance. Please keep up the good work! 🙂
I recently saw a PC on my local OfferUp for $300. Inside the PC is an i7 8700k housed on an MSI Z370-A PRO motherboard, 16GB of DDR4 RGB RAM at 3000 MHz, and a GTX 1060 6GB. All of this is installed on a Kediers C270 open air case that has 7 inatalled RGB fans. It also comes with a Corsair H100i 240mm cooler. All it needed was a power supply and hard drive. I bought the PC an an upgrade to the FX8320 that we had as our only PC since 2020.
Ryzen 5 5500 is a very underated cpu especially if your still using B450 boards still using PCI Gen 3 tech. If your going to use R5 5600/X, might as well really buy and use B550 boards to utilize that Gen 4 tech in it😉😎
I liked it alot! My main system is "sort of" a sleeper build... I hate RGB and I run 4 3.5 inch HDD's in my system and most modern systems don't allow that. My system (Ryzen 7 3700x, 1060 6gb, 32gb ram,1tb nvme, (3) 8TB HDD and a 2TB HDD) fit inside my Carbide Series™ SPEC-01 Red LED Mid-Tower Gaming Case. People think I run an old pc.. but she's plenty fast for me!! Keep up the great work Sir!
Everything you did is great. Personnally, I dont like vintage beige cases. I would ditch the money for a brand new case, but I understand the point of the sleeper PC. Cost effective nostalgia 😊 Well done!
When I'm going to build a sleeper then I'll use my old compaq case from 2003 and put a gtx 1060 strix in it. And yes the card does fit without modding the case and means I can keep the cd-rom and floppy drives xD
i built a sleeper pc, except mine wasnt for gaming (since thats what my main pcs for) but for movie and anime storage. it has 8TB storage (2x4TB hdds) occupying the 2 optical drive area with 2 front-side hdd-ejecting mount and a ssd (either 256gb or 128gb). its a i3-10300 which has a igpu, so i dont need a gpu for it to run. costed around 600$ CAD (around 400$ USD)
The Beige Era ATX's ran from about 1997 to 2003. Almost every model made between that timeframe would accept a modern mATX motherboard or mATX/SFX power supply. However, only about half of them would accept both at the same time. Those are the ones to keep an eye out for.
I have a few tips about building sleeper pcs. 1: When it comes to selecting cases, try avoiding oem cases, because they have very little room due to them using smaller components. My case for example, is a generic brand one from 1999 and has fan sockets, and better compatibility with motherboards. Therefore, you won’t need to Dremel (as much). 2: Try using more compact components, so you could maybe utilize the cd drive and the floppy to make it look more like a sleeper. 3: Try adding the ibm theme to Windows to make it look like an ibm.
To make it more sleeper PC, I should recommend to add beige CRT monitor, beige IBM Model M keyboard and beige COM Port mouse (all Modern motherboards have one COM Port header). In this anybody woudn't notice that it is modern PC, only notice when Windows 10 is booted.
0:58 I'm gobsmacked that you describe such basic tools as drills, rotary tools and jigsaws are 'niche equipment'. The only one I would agree with would be the rotary tool, but probably not for the reason you think. A rotary tool is almost never the right tool for the job, and is almost always the mark of a rank amateur. They have their place, but 90% of the time when you see a 'maker' on youtube using a dremel, they don't know what they are doing, and you shouldn't copy them. You can do almost any job neater, more accurately, and more safely with some other tool. Most PC case work can be done with a drill, a hand nibbling tool, a hacksaw and a set of files.
I've kept my collection of 25 y.o. Inwin mATX cases just for sleeper builds. These classic "Coffin" beige cases were well-known for their quality build. 1+mm thick steel construction. I love them, and have modded them to now accept SSDs, front panel USB ports, and 120mm side exhaust fans. The only thing I'm missing are the drive bay covers. I shouldn't have thrown them away decades ago! :) Anyone know where I can buy some 3.5" Inwin covers?
This year i also bought simular PC for 500$ also, that was my budget and for 1080p gaming Ryzen 5 5500 Gtx 1660super 16GB 3200Hmz SSD 512 gb Glad to see more ppl with this Ryzen :) Most have 5600x ,but for me that was not for my budget
Lol that was my dads first PC. That IBM used to play all my sims games, fifa, F1 racing, homeworld, etc….it felt weird going to school and all the kids would talk about n64 and PS games they were playing. And I’d be like I play on my dads computer 🤓
Yikes, only air holes at the bottom on side panel ? Atleast have case with single back case fan holes, you can replace that with an small AIO for the cpu. Then i would recommend getting a blower style gpu, it shoots the hot air to the back side also.
Dude! That’s my very first pc model with windows 98 and 8 whole gb of hdd. Yours missing a front cover that swings open to reveal the cd and floppy disc.
Honestly, I duno why this isn't the normal form factor for gaming pcs. I get the psu draw from the bottom keeps temps down or whatever. But, I swear somewhere in the manual it says the power regulator needs to be able to draw from the rest of the computer. Thats why its designed to be above the cpu. lol.
I grabbed a lian li large atx case for a tenner (because it is atrociously large and heavy.) Dropped an asus 320 m-k /ryzen 5 3600/16gb ddr4 corsair ram in it and a 5700xt gpu. I did use an m2 ssd which cost a bit more than if i had just used a larger storage hdd. All in, £390 and my son uses it for Elden ring, Hogwarts, all the usual suspects like pubg, gta5 etc. It isnt a sleeper so to speak but for under 400 quid it slaps. Great build.
IBM Aptiva E2U was my first computer. 56k modem and a hefty 5.56gb HD which was filled up quickly with Napster. Had to buyva 100gb external hd which was the size of a shoebox aand had to be plugged into a wall. Fun times
I love the aesthetics of this case, and really want to build in it, as I have one like it. I just dont want to put in the effort to saw holes for the PSU and exhaust fans.
I did the same thing earlier today and could only fit a 6500XT into a $500 budget. The rest of the parts except the power supply are virtually identical. Then I realized you didn't include a case and used a "found" case. So this is effectively a $550 budget rig. Still great picks, just slightly more for people who don't randomly have a compatible case for free lying around.
It's pretty easy to find a 10-20 year old micro ATX compatible case for $10-15 at a thrift store or garage sale, if building a sleeper is on your to-do list. I've done 3 of them in the last year.
Maybe psu is part of the issue or graphics card? Seems like tje psu prices have jumped up recently along with gpu prices being up n down maybe he got a good deal on a gpu?
My first PC I built was a K6-2. I have owned only 2 intel-based systems. The Pentium D and the i3-10100F. Your choice of CPU and GPU is hamstringed. Your 5500 and MB are a good combo for a Gen 3 system. However, your 6600 GPU is a Gen 4 with only 8 physical lanes. You leave a chuck of performance on the table. Either a 3000's series (not G sku's) and 5600 (not G sku's) and beyond are gen 4. The I3-12100 is also gen 4. I have a 5600 with my x570 paired with an RX 5700XT, and a 3600 paired with an RX 5700xt. Revised 10/1/2023: 5600 now paired with the RX6700xt and the 3600 paired with RX7600 8gb
Thank you Matt. I really enjoyed this video. My grandfather passed away a few weeks ago and I’m going to help my step grandma clean out their garage. I know there are two computer towers in there from the early 1990s that belonged to my late grandma. You’ve inspired me to try and make a sleeper build with them. It will be a way for me to remember my two grandparents while also helping my step grandma.
that will be very hard, mate. if those from AT era, this means it will require a lot of work and tools. totally not worth it. just believe me. just get something like on this vid - that at least from times when ATX became standard. sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss. It may be worth seeing if they have any old digital photos from the 90s saved on those PCs.
we all are sorry for your loss
@@mc_simyou know he can drill out mounting points right?
Dont forget to copy out all the files from the old storage to new storage. Sorry for your loss and good luck mate. Cheers
You should do a reverse sleeper where you make a PC look blazing fast, but fill it with components from 1998.
That would be funny
Just buy any gaming pre-built in the 300$ range.
or just get any dell prebuilt@@LewdSCP1471A
Sleeper PCs are always cool to watch, but not only that this is very balanced and powerful!
"Very balanced" should include a good airflow corresponding to this era hardware. Modern PCs shouldn't be used in such cases. Not to mention he ruined a nice socket 7 ali chipset machine. Wow.
3:40 That's probably one of the cleanest IO shield designs I've ever seen, I'd even prefer it over modern designs we have in the market today
Most prebuild has good IO shield design, not only design, but some of them use foam shielding so it doesn't bump directly to metal.
The downside for IO shield like in the video, most of the time it only fit into their own case, you can't use that IO shield with regular case.
Once AMD, always AMD! From K6 to Ryzen 5, this PC is always AMD, before and after. Love this AMD build.
AMD has come a long way! I didn't build my first pc until 2016 though as I'm only 23 lol. I got a fx 6300 back then and now I'm on a 5700x. I plan to keep sticking with AMD if they keep on the same great path
@@Bdot888 my journey with AMD started on an fx 6300 too! Now I'm on Ryzen 5 3600
@@aakirax Yeah going from the FX 6300 to the 3600 was a big jump in performance! The only reason I upgraded from my previous 3600x to 5700x was because I got a used 3080 and the 3600x was bottlenecking in some games. But the 3600/3600x is still very capable and I will probably give it to a friend who doesn't have a pc
@@Bdot888 honestly in my opinion, the 3600 is probably the best modern budget friendly CPU that can play almost anything in 1080p paired with a half decent gpu like a GTX1060, the price to the performance ratio is just too good if you're on a budget.
Intel - AMD... It's just a personal preference. I've built several of both types of systems and they all yield pretty similar results in the end. It all depends on how much you're willing to spend and how far you want to go. I remember my first "sleeper" system was an IBM PS2. I got it free. Upgraded it to a Pentium II, 512MB RAM, an 8GB HD, a SoundBlaster audio card and a 3DFX VooDoo II AGP video card running Windows 3.1. I had almost $1K in that system. Today, it would just be a door stop, a boat anchor or sitting in a museum somewhere!
Pretty good and balanced build! Congrats!
Aye, that 500gb NVMe drive though.
AGP modem? :D AGP is only for videocards. And that's an ISA slot (card 8bit, slot 16bit). Also that's SD ram, not DDR. And K6II goes up to 550MHz.
yep was going to say this, sure their are some special slots for modems around this time AMR and later CNR, but that board was only ISA and PCI. Yep SD-RAM as DDR wasnt really a thing till the P4 era
He’s just
Very inexperienced and more of a modern tech guy the sleeper builders out of his range
isn't AGP like Advanced Graphics Processor or something like thay
He can't possibly remember something when he probably wasn't born yet, so I'll cut him some slack 🙂. I built PCs with PCI graphics cards back in the day (AGP slot was just getting introduced), but I'd probably need some catching up if I built one today.
lol
My parents had this same PC and man that tooless drive cage was ahead of it’s time. And man do I remember just about everyone breaking the front bay covet off of these things 😂
Allah tera shukar you've came back I've thought you've stopped making videos after the new year in 2023!
what the?!
Who are you?! What are you doing in his video?!
nice to see you making content like this, need more recycle old into new builds (not new but needs to be done more)) PC Parts are getting expensive
yes I was thinking the same, just for the change up, tho I sometimes notice in the comments sections u got dudes complaining about older hardware, as if its a boomer thing, you can't please everybody, go checkout the new videos covering the revival of RX 580's people are mad Why are u covering this ancient video card? ☺
@@MrSamadolfo
People are nuts, I take it you mean the 2048 variants from Ali/Amazon vendors? Considering they've been selling those for less than the price of 1030s, even 730s sometimes on Ali, they are extremely relevant. Shoot I'd buy them if I was building office PCs and just needed simple video adapters at those prices.
There are no such thing as en AGP modem (Accelerated Graphics Port),
the bottom slots are ISA that predates PCI and AGP (and pcie)
I had one IBM like that. Didn't even have AGP, but it helped me to game when I couldn't afford a gaming PC. It has a special place in my heart. I wish I found an IBM case like that.
Wow I'm amazed at the temps overall. I figured the gpu would thermal throttle being one of the only exhausts other than the psu. That one fan in the front is God tier.
lol airflow is a meme xD ive similar cabinet but a exhaust fan at back ive normal temps
Thank you I’ve been running out of modern unique builds to watch
I couldn't leave that fan alone, I would have to use a Dremel to cut out the metal against the fan to allow more airflow. Otherwise a cool build, better performance than I expected.
I use that CPU (though I put a copper slug Wraith Spire I have on it for a bit more cooling) with a 2060S, pretty much the same specs as this. The case is cooler than mine though. I think I'd make busy with the Dremmel though to cut away the metal in front of the fan and maybe open a vent under the bottom lip of the front panel for intake. I probably wouldn't bother with a rear fan because the PSU isn't being stressed so should be fine extracting air from the case.
3:10 "AGP Modem" Haha, this pink-pony PC builder has not idea what 8-bit ISA is! 🤣😂🤣
No USB 3 USB 4 USB C is a real downer. But overall Proformance is adequate a big plus is if you get burgled, they won't thick to take his 😆
i'd personally put tall feet on it, and put fans on the bottom as intake and another fan in the back as exhaust, but that would break the rule you set
I have the same Aptiva case coming in the mail. Definitely planning on drilling a hole in the front, 2 holes on the bottom, and an exhaust hole in the back.
hows the build coming@@Kenneth-bm5zr
I want to build one that maintains the use of the floppy and DVD drives, as an intermediary machine that can transfer data between more modern and legacy machines.
Really cool idea man, lots of old shells and towers kicking around that dont ever get used, nice way to give them some new life
Nice!
Maybe u can make a DOS gaming pc using those retro parts? haha
yes i mentioned it to him if he has some spare time if he could test if it still posts.
awesome video i love sleeper builds, man those U.S prices are unbelievable, in south america an amd rx 6600 costs 700 Dollars just crazy anyways keep it up! good stuff
Yes I know what you mean hermano, in south america checkout Rinconstiff, hes good at covering a very wide range of pc parts from very old to very new on a continual basis, you have to because in latin america parts wether they are used or new are way overprices, plus u got sellers trying to charge way too much because options can be very limited, when I fly to central america to visit family i always take computers down with me to use while im down there on vacation then when i fly back i gift them to cousins. I mainly take laptops because Customs Aduana normally does not hassle me that I have to pay a customs fee, but whenever I take a desktop they always force me to pay a customs fee no matter how old or new the desktop is, They fee can run from $200 to $500, they over exaggerate what its worth. Thats why u see stores down there passing the custom costs to the buyer. Which is why its way overpriced down there. Custom fees are preventing the average consumer down there accessing computer tech. Its not cool.
@@MrSamadolfo damn, I’ve seen 6800 xts go under 400 usd in the USA
maybe its better to go buy a gpu in usa then bring it back lol
I used to have one of these in 2008. I only had the original hardware though. An ebay industrial pc fan could probably get a bit more air in and give it authentic sleeper sound
I love sleeper builds... have one myself in an old AOpen HQ08 fulltower case that I chuse to paint black on the inside to contrast more to the outside (also have internal lighting controlled with an chassi intrusion switch to light up when opened for even more contrast). In my build I used a USB floppy, USB Parallell port and USB Gameport on a PCI bracket and another bracket with both 9 and 25pin Serial connected to a motherboard header, a SATA to IDE converter for a 5.25" IDE harddrive caddie in the front and to complete the look it also have a beige DVDRW that I sanded of the DVD markings... so not only does the computer look old, all the old legacy connections and hardware works!). To complete the external look I painted the rear of my black PSU silver and painted the blue USB3 ports on the motherboard black so the sleeper look contunues even when viewed from the rear. Sadly my case had no stickers when I got it so I made a custom sticker for the front in the style of Emachines "Never obsolete" with bogus spec/preinstalled software aswell as big lettered "HYPER THREADING" as it claimes to sported a P4 2.4Ghz and stuck an XP license on the side aswell as a P4HT and WinXP sticker on the front. Finally I customized Windows 10 to look like XP with 6 or so tweak tools in combination with several legacy software, combined with a custom motherboard BIOS logo sporting the XP bootlogo. As a stroke of luck I managed to find a small manufacturer casebadge that ties to the manufacturer on the XP license so I ran with that and included it in the OEM part of Windows systeminfo. Airflow can be tricky sometimes but in my case there was ample space to make cutouts for a 240mm watercooler in the front to act as intake and 3 80mm as exhaust together with the PSU (one of the 80mm fans use a custom 80mm-to-2x60mm adapter I made as my motherboard tray had space for two 60mm fans above the motherboard I/O shield and I just couldn't get myself to install 60mm fans in the system).
Those temps were really good for what looked like a coffin inside.
Good build, I especially like the choice of the GPU. I often do builds like yours with older parts from my gaming rigs and sell them off as general use PC's. Newer builds for 1080 gaming sometimes end up in older cases with a 5600, 16 gig of ram and get custom paint jobs and new fans or sometimes I'll cut a 200mm into a side cover with topside vents. Neon green with grey pinstriping with red accents seems to be very popular. You might want to take your build and demonstrate some of the mods and cooling solutions you can apply just for fun and a new paint job would push it over the top. It would make a great video.
Great channel. I might build my old pc to be a sleeper. Thanks for the info.
☝️ That is not Matt.
Very well done video! Straight to the point, no nonsense and loved the concept of a "no major mod" build! That takes some skill and planning to pull it off especially keeping within a budget! Your finished results were not only really clean and tidy but also more than capable for gaming! Very impressed! No one does that anymore. Big fan of the "sleeper" PC concept and have built a few but I'm discovering that these older full size systems are getting harder and harder to find. The last one I built was using a black E-Machines mid tower case and was extremely difficult to make everything work out. Had to do some pretty serious mods to that case to get it done.
Bruh. 6 gig drive? That's huge for modern day
I grew up building in just such a case, way, and I do me WAY back when, as I started building PCs back in 1986 so I know first hand the struggles you've encountered. I also know that you could have purchased a CD Drive, reasonable inexpensive, that would have fit in that space easily and could have worked; which would have been a huge bonus to the Sleeper Concept. Even the current drive might have worked unless is was MFM. The Floppy could have been plugged in as well to at least light up if nothing else as they only need a power cable to give the appearance of actually operating. Overall a great build. I was surprised to see the GPU was almost bottlenecking the CPU in many of the games. I didn't know what to expect as I really thought the 6600 was a good card. I believe you could have done resizable bar, or whatever AMD is calling it, unless this CPU don't support it and link the two that may have helped overall performance. I know this Link, don't care what AMD calls it, works on the Ryzen 5 5600X so I'd like to think it would work on the 5500; but I also think the MB might have to support it as well and not sure if the B Flavor does. I know the GPU supports it as does the Z Flavor MBs and I'm almost positive that the Ryzen 5 series does as well.
3:05 AGP modem ….. looks like an ISA connection to me 😅😂🤣. All good. I grew up with these pc specs in one of my newer pc builds back in the day. The KII-300 was an awesome hip and vg overclocker …… not as good as the Celeron 300A …. But still good with a simple FSB tweak from a 33mhz to 66mhz FSB with a dip switch change 💪🤯😇🥰
A man of culture, eh? Was about to say the same thing.
Crazy how much the spec of your personal rig is the same as mine. My PC died on me recently so I've been looking around UA-cam for recommended builds and stumbled upon your channel. I thought it was my Asrock mb that packed up but after swapping out with a new MSI one I'm still getting no picture, won't even boot to bios. I've now come to the realisation that it might now be my Ryzen 7 1700 CPU that has died, I've never had a CPU die on me before so will need to pull the trigger and buy a new Ryzen CPU. Currently looking at the Ryzen 7 5600X as a mid range CPU replacement but was keen to know when you built your personal rig and if you've been having any issues recently seeing as it's getting on for +5 years now. BTW, great channel Matt, very informative, you've grabbed a new subscriber 😁
Thanks for this. I really want to get back into PC gaming and with an old case in the loft started looking at sleeper builds. This was a great video to help with that decision. Last time i built a PC was 20 years ago!
I was not expecting this video, u allways impress me
Fantastic video 😀 I love sleeper builds, and your build is really interesting, with just one fan in the front, and yet, as you said, the temps are all really good, which really shows how great your AMD parts are, when considering power vs performance. Please keep up the good work! 🙂
I recently saw a PC on my local OfferUp for $300. Inside the PC is an i7 8700k housed on an MSI Z370-A PRO motherboard, 16GB of DDR4 RGB RAM at 3000 MHz, and a GTX 1060 6GB. All of this is installed on a Kediers C270 open air case that has 7 inatalled RGB fans. It also comes with a Corsair H100i 240mm cooler. All it needed was a power supply and hard drive. I bought the PC an an upgrade to the FX8320 that we had as our only PC since 2020.
Ryzen 5 5500 is a very underated cpu especially if your still using B450 boards still using PCI Gen 3 tech. If your going to use R5 5600/X,
might as well really buy and use B550 boards to utilize that Gen 4 tech in it😉😎
I liked it alot! My main system is "sort of" a sleeper build... I hate RGB and I run 4 3.5 inch HDD's in my system and most modern systems don't allow that. My system (Ryzen 7 3700x, 1060 6gb, 32gb ram,1tb nvme, (3) 8TB HDD and a 2TB HDD) fit inside my Carbide Series™ SPEC-01 Red LED Mid-Tower Gaming Case. People think I run an old pc.. but she's plenty fast for me!! Keep up the great work Sir!
Everything you did is great. Personnally, I dont like vintage beige cases. I would ditch the money for a brand new case, but I understand the point of the sleeper PC. Cost effective nostalgia 😊
Well done!
You can get this motherboard (b450 pro4 r2.0) with already updated bios.
When I'm going to build a sleeper then I'll use my old compaq case from 2003 and put a gtx 1060 strix in it. And yes the card does fit without modding the case and means I can keep the cd-rom and floppy drives xD
Just what I needed after a long hard day, thanks Matt 🙏🏼
i built a sleeper pc, except mine wasnt for gaming (since thats what my main pcs for) but for movie and anime storage. it has 8TB storage (2x4TB hdds) occupying the 2 optical drive area with 2 front-side hdd-ejecting mount and a ssd (either 256gb or 128gb). its a i3-10300 which has a igpu, so i dont need a gpu for it to run. costed around 600$ CAD (around 400$ USD)
You got lucky with that particular case! Very few cases from the beige era have such a usable MATX layout
The Beige Era ATX's ran from about 1997 to 2003. Almost every model made between that timeframe would accept a modern mATX motherboard or mATX/SFX power supply. However, only about half of them would accept both at the same time. Those are the ones to keep an eye out for.
I have a few tips about building sleeper pcs. 1: When it comes to selecting cases, try avoiding oem cases, because they have very little room due to them using smaller components. My case for example, is a generic brand one from 1999 and has fan sockets, and better compatibility with motherboards. Therefore, you won’t need to Dremel (as much). 2: Try using more compact components, so you could maybe utilize the cd drive and the floppy to make it look more like a sleeper. 3: Try adding the ibm theme to Windows to make it look like an ibm.
To make it more sleeper PC, I should recommend to add beige CRT monitor, beige IBM Model M keyboard and beige COM Port mouse (all Modern motherboards have one COM Port header). In this anybody woudn't notice that it is modern PC, only notice when Windows 10 is booted.
I’ve had the stock cooler for my Ryzen 7 for 5 years and no problems with heating nor sound. People underestimate the basic stock coolers imo.
That's really slick, I love it.
I love the retro boards.
0:58 I'm gobsmacked that you describe such basic tools as drills, rotary tools and jigsaws are 'niche equipment'.
The only one I would agree with would be the rotary tool, but probably not for the reason you think.
A rotary tool is almost never the right tool for the job, and is almost always the mark of a rank amateur.
They have their place, but 90% of the time when you see a 'maker' on youtube using a dremel, they don't know what they are doing, and you shouldn't copy them.
You can do almost any job neater, more accurately, and more safely with some other tool.
Most PC case work can be done with a drill, a hand nibbling tool, a hacksaw and a set of files.
Sweet build, Matt!
I've kept my collection of 25 y.o. Inwin mATX cases just for sleeper builds. These classic "Coffin" beige cases were well-known for their quality build. 1+mm thick steel construction. I love them, and have modded them to now accept SSDs, front panel USB ports, and 120mm side exhaust fans. The only thing I'm missing are the drive bay covers. I shouldn't have thrown them away decades ago! :) Anyone know where I can buy some 3.5" Inwin covers?
Im using that rx6600 and I love this build. Nice. Cheers 👍
I think it woulda been neat to just swap in a compatible optical drive, but otherwise I like the fit!
This year i also bought simular PC for 500$ also, that was my budget and for 1080p gaming
Ryzen 5 5500
Gtx 1660super
16GB 3200Hmz
SSD 512 gb
Glad to see more ppl with this Ryzen :)
Most have 5600x ,but for me that was not for my budget
I like the concept of a sleeper pc , and i really like your choice of components, nicely done.
Really well done video. Engaging for sure.
Really like the old school aesthetic
Lol that was my dads first PC. That IBM used to play all my sims games, fifa, F1 racing, homeworld, etc….it felt weird going to school and all the kids would talk about n64 and PS games they were playing. And I’d be like I play on my dads computer 🤓
Actually good build mate!
I do prefer the videos you mod the builds using tools though
Yikes, only air holes at the bottom on side panel ?
Atleast have case with single back case fan holes, you can replace that with an small AIO for the cpu.
Then i would recommend getting a blower style gpu, it shoots the hot air to the back side also.
Beautiful Sleeper, i'm currently looking for a beatiful tan case, the retro look is awesome. Great video.
That is a super project, congrats
Awesome Matt!
Very cool, had no idea what a sleeper pc was. Definitely digging the idea.
Great build!
Saabs and PC!!! OMG!!! my worlds collide
Dude! That’s my very first pc model with windows 98 and 8 whole gb of hdd. Yours missing a front cover that swings open to reveal the cd and floppy disc.
Good job!
Cool idea, how about a fallout inspired PC build, where you put a lcd into a old monitor and in the back of it motherboard and rest of components?
The keyboard with the 9009 keycap theme looks sick and pairs well with the sleeper build🔥
Love your projects Thanks for the vids.
this video was satisfying to watch
It seems that the drive bay door is missing :( Other clarifications: ISA modem, and SDRAM, not DDR.
I bet the airflow in this pc is great.
"Fortnite: Epic VD". Couldn't agree more. :)
The graphics card alone costs 449.99 in Canada 💀 any alternatives I am able to buy the other parts than the graphics card
Really nice, probably a blower style GPU cooler would help a lot on this build.
Honestly, I duno why this isn't the normal form factor for gaming pcs. I get the psu draw from the bottom keeps temps down or whatever. But, I swear somewhere in the manual it says the power regulator needs to be able to draw from the rest of the computer. Thats why its designed to be above the cpu. lol.
Nice idea ✨
it wasn't a agp modem it was a isa modem, agp is a graphics card port
yeah i got my rx 6600 brand new for 239 USD from BestBuy, thought mine as well upgrade now if the prices start increasing again
I grabbed a lian li large atx case for a tenner (because it is atrociously large and heavy.) Dropped an asus 320 m-k /ryzen 5 3600/16gb ddr4 corsair ram in it and a 5700xt gpu. I did use an m2 ssd which cost a bit more than if i had just used a larger storage hdd. All in, £390 and my son uses it for Elden ring, Hogwarts, all the usual suspects like pubg, gta5 etc. It isnt a sleeper so to speak but for under 400 quid it slaps.
Great build.
I'd like to see a reverse where a modern case is painted beige!
glad you back
IBM Aptiva E2U was my first computer. 56k modem and a hefty 5.56gb HD which was filled up quickly with Napster. Had to buyva 100gb external hd which was the size of a shoebox aand had to be plugged into a wall. Fun times
I love the aesthetics of this case, and really want to build in it, as I have one like it. I just dont want to put in the effort to saw holes for the PSU and exhaust fans.
the hardest thing to do this is finding the case
I did the same thing earlier today and could only fit a 6500XT into a $500 budget. The rest of the parts except the power supply are virtually identical. Then I realized you didn't include a case and used a "found" case.
So this is effectively a $550 budget rig. Still great picks, just slightly more for people who don't randomly have a compatible case for free lying around.
It's pretty easy to find a 10-20 year old micro ATX compatible case for $10-15 at a thrift store or garage sale, if building a sleeper is on your to-do list. I've done 3 of them in the last year.
Maybe psu is part of the issue or graphics card? Seems like tje psu prices have jumped up recently along with gpu prices being up n down maybe he got a good deal on a gpu?
fantastic build for the price.
I had a system with the AMD K6-II 233 MHz. Still remember that data.
Totally something else, what camera are u using?
sweet build
My first PC I built was a K6-2. I have owned only 2 intel-based systems. The Pentium D and the i3-10100F. Your choice of CPU and GPU is hamstringed. Your 5500 and MB are a good combo for a Gen 3 system. However, your 6600 GPU is a Gen 4 with only 8 physical lanes. You leave a chuck of performance on the table. Either a 3000's series (not G sku's) and 5600 (not G sku's) and beyond are gen 4. The I3-12100 is also gen 4. I have a 5600 with my x570 paired with an RX 5700XT, and a 3600 paired with an RX 5700xt. Revised 10/1/2023: 5600 now paired with the RX6700xt and the 3600 paired with RX7600 8gb
Damn that HDD is one big boy.
Haven't seen one of those in ages.
0:32 whyd you dislike your own video :( show yourself some love king
old school pc cases are totally going to make a comeback. The tempered glass shit is a trend I hope dies out quickly
This is awesome! kind of a Series S killer!
You can't get any better for the price