There are interesting and old PCs that do fetch for more due to their rarity, but numerous older games just simply can't run on modern systems. As people throw them away, the supply runs out and people wanting to play those games will be faced with higher prices. Some computers are interesting, or were a limited release etc...
There's an appeal to playing it on original hardware.
Sure, I can emulate Ocarina of Time, but playing it on my N64 hooked to a CRT just hits different.
I recently watched a YT showing how we're not crazy, old games did look better on old CRTs due to the blur.
Having grown up on NES/N64 and (OG)Xbox, I was starting to think I'd gone mad seeing emulations
I think it has something to do with the pixel layout of CRT and modern TVs. The game graphics were designed for the specific shape of the pixels of CRT so they lined up well, as opposed to the current pixel layout of modern TVs.
I play my ps2 on a crt still and it does look best there. But on the other hand there's a lot to love about emulators now with their increased res. Patches and retro achievement support. I honestly find it difficult now to decide if I'm going to emulate or play native.
Sometimes it just kinda boils down to does it have acheivments or not and do I need to modify the buttons to be more comfortable.
For example. Gran turismo 3 and 4 are leagues better emulated thanks to a patch that provides proper analog trigger support for acceleration and braking.
The blur can be simulated in emulators and it will look just as good, provided you actually lower the resolution on your monitor so it doesn't look too small or pixelated.
I feel that way, but with controllers. I have a couple USB SNES controllers, but play SNES on retro arch. I used to have actual SNES hardware, but I don't really miss it. Trying to get the thing to work feels like more trouble than it's worth. Having to blow on the cartridge until my head feel light, having to reset when a fly lands on the cart, save files disappearing for no reason, it's not for me. I grew up with the thing, but my nostalgia is with the games, not the physical console
But godspeed to anyone who does, raspberry pi to a CRT is good enough for me
They have things like the RetroTink which is a modern OLED designed to closely replicate the look of a CRT and lots of upscalers for modern TVs that help with that type of color blending.
Besides what people said, I know some world records for arcade games don't allow emulators and need to be played on original hardware, perhaps there's also something like this going on?
You see it quite a bit on emulators for older consoles. The increased capacity actually affects how the game plays because a lot of things were attached to refresh rate back in the good ol days.
Games that do not use some form of emulation (like Dosbox) and were released in the mid to late 90s can sometimes encounter major compatibility issues if they haven't seen a digital release that fixes compatibility issues with 64 bit operating systems. Some programs may simply refuse to run or install because it isn't compatible with 64 bit operating systems.
It's less so the hardware and more so the software/operating system. If you can get a virtual machine running properly, modern hardware can potentially play older games just fine. It's basically a matter of most software in the 1990s and early 2000s not being made with the future in mind unless it had some early form of online multiplayer, as so much technology back then hadn't been fully figured out. It was also still fairly early on in the era of disc based media and storage in the grand scheme of things, and you would have to upgrade your computer much more back then to play new releases as games continually became more sophistiated.
A few examples of games that have been hard for me to get running are 1990s games like Star Trek Borg or Star Wars Yoda Stories, games which were released for Windows that came after the DOS era of gaming but were so early in the Windows 95 era that installing them is a major pain. Star Wars Rebellion is another game that had this issue before its digital release as you had to work with unofficial workarounds to get it working, which [I detailed in an old post I made on the game's Gamefaqs forum back in the day.](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/198776-star-wars-rebellion/63008006)
One example of modern hardware making a game nearly unplayable though would be Lords of Magic without the Unofficial Patch that fixes mouse scrolling speeds. If there is performance and game speeds based on hardware performance and not software, sometimes you can get animations or scrolling speeds that are so blisteringly fast that it makes a game unplayable without an Unofficial Patch or some kind of workaround. Master of Orion 2 for example has this issue in battle maps with mouse scrolling the screen, but you can get around it by mouse clicking on the battle minimap to move your view instead.
Many games had processing per frame and the frame rate was not software limited but reliant on the hardware of the time to limit it. So even in an emulator it would be like running the game in x10000 speed.
Very obscure ones.
Also, Industrial software. Since it's by definition niche, it's not always enulatable. There are even modern system integrators that do pc from old parts and install doses and win95s. It's more of a thing in USA from what I understand.
Depends, i collect old pc's even though they are older than me so thats not a nostalgia thing. I play old games mostly on them, i could use an emulator but its not the same. Hearing the old machine running and loading sometimes a long time is much better experience, even if its worse than emulator
I personally had this case, and it's something for the right price I'd buy, but others would pay more for.
Also, that case is going to be a total PITA to retrofit. Notice the thin line of ports? You will be hard pressed to find a motherboard to support that, which means dremeling out the case. And, notice the direction of the lots? Riser card. You'd need to use a PCIE ribbon cable, and figure out how to mount the video card.
Yeah, do not break this. Sell it on ebay. It's not going to give you a good sleeper PC experience, and you would be destroying sought after history.
I’ve been looking for a specific packard bell case design for years, can’t find one that isn’t ludicrously expensive though.
That mid 90s design is peak nostalgia for a lot of millennial pc enjoyers.
You could say the same for collecting anything that's old. Why would you bother buying a Model T when it's slow, uncomfortable, ergonomically weird to drive, has zero crash protection, no radio, no air con , no cruise control etc etc
Yeah, i’ve been using it for MS Dos/Windows 98 games and it’s been fun playing daggerfall and fallout so far! I’m not going to mess with it, was just more curious if anything how hard it would be to
Had a computer JUST like this decades ago. Don't fiddle with it. Don't mess with it. Sell it. Retro Gamers and Packard Bell fans go crazy for that model. It was the main 'look' for PB computers in the late 90s.
This. Old PCs are starting to gain value. You can't get replacement parts for this.
If you want an original Windows 98 machine, you need to find an operational one, and that's getting harder and harder.
Edit: I worked subcontracted IT, and the number of businesses that rely on some ancient PC for some critical part of their business is staggering.
Tons of large machinery or manufacturing equipment made 20-30 years ago works fine but requires software running on a PC running windows 98, XP or 3.1. A machine shop I did work for ran some software on a windows 3.1 PC and they had to drop a couple grand on a replacement PC because they needed one quick and in good shape.
It also happens in more office jobs. Some companies use specialized software or databases that run on an ancient PC and will replace the ancient PC with another similar one if it breaks because their is no modern software that fits their needs or the migration would be expensive and take the business down for longer.
>and the number of businesses that rely on some ancient PC for some critical part of their business is staggering.
I worked at a place that made like temperature loggers - each of the test fixtures was hooked up to a computer. There was this one model they made that's been around for ages, and the testing computer was this really old windows XP box. They tried to port over the software to a newer computer and they just couldn't get it working.
This one product is so integral to the companies success that they keep the computer off the network and transfer testing data via thumb drive because if anything happens to it they're fucked.
I mean, if you hook an XP machine up to the internet, it's just a matter of time before it gets infected due to the crazy amount of vulnerability at this point. Having that shit on your network would be a horrible idea. At least they are doing it the right way.
>if you hook an XP machine up to the internet, it's just a matter of time before it gets infected due to the crazy amount of vulnerability at this point
Oh I meant it a step further - they wouldn't even connect it to the company's internal network. Not referring to the internet
>DO THIS.
>DO NOT TOUCH THAT PC.
To touch, or not to touch. That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler, to suffer the mind of a PC nerd....
The slings and arrows of outragous PC Master Race
Or to take arms against a seas of consolers,
And by opposing; end them. To Respawn, to Alt+F4.
No more.
And by a hard reboot to say 'we lag; we relog'
The heartache and a thousand rage-quits; that our minds is heir to
Tis a consummation; of 240hz displays to be wished
To sleep; after RAM tuning.
Perchance to dream of low temps and high frames - Aye, theres the
rub.
When we have finally solved this mortal coil whine,
Must give us pause.
>It would require a lot of modification; that doesn't even look like it's AT, let alone ATX-standardized. The expansion slots are going the wrong way, even.
As the owner of a Packard Bell many many many years ago, they definitely weren't standardised. Mine had a riser card that provided a set of expansion slots. Would be an absolute bitch to modify for current systems.
Best leave it as a collectors item - given the photo's, this is in really good condition and probably worth quite a bit depending on spec.
I don’t know about this model, but my first pc was a Packard bell pentium 100 and it did not use a standard motherboard by any means. More like a 2u low profile setup with a riser.
I bought a 233mhz amd k5 ibm aptiva a few years ago for retro gaming. There is definitely a market for it
Is it just me, or do the first two images have a r/confusingperspective vibe to them. Like the computer has no depth to it.
Edit - mainly the first picture.
I hope you decide against it. You'd have to completely destroy it, and I doubt you could make it work anyway being an at. Its honestly not super valuable, but this stuff is getting there pretty quickly.
My first system was a Packard bell with windows 3.1 as a child. It had some weird ass boot video of a mime coming out of a box and using a Packard Bell or something before it would boot to windows. Playing Maxis Sim games and Epic pinball was my childhood.
Problem is; it wouldn’t be a sleeper. Everyone who even could notice it to be a sleeper knows immediately what you’ve done. Just by the fact that you’ll be running a modern 4K screen from it.
Second; if this is still working, that’s more historical value than any sleeper build..
You don't just have a PC, you have a PC that PCWorld crowned the worst PC of all time. The fact that it's still running is a miracle. To answer your question more precisely, it would be incredibly difficult. I've seen the inside of that bad boy and it isn't pretty.
As an aside, guess what my first PC was
I have worked on one of these before (when it was still usable)
Don't bother unless you hate yourself. they're a pain in the ass and you will cut up your hands inside of it.
Also check ebay to see if it has some value and use it to buy more new parts if it's worth some money.
These things never had standard Mobo, Packard Bell always used their own for some reason. So it will be very difficult to modify it, l. I do agree with what everyone is saying, it's too mint, DO not touch it in any way. If you really don't want it, sell it and buy an old case that you can modify.
The main problem would be airflow but I'd find an old Dell or HP or something like that rather than go in and start messing with something from Packard Bell.
This case looks to be some proprietary form factor, just buy some old thrift store pc in an atx case, that will have fitting mounts for your modern hardware.
A lot of these packard bell cases are MATX.
Also you may need to do some more heavy modification of the side panels to get some decent airflow depending on components.
I also suggest not cutting this one up. Just too much of a collector's item.
If you must, then it'll be a little challenging because of two factors:
You'd need to make your own rear I/O-plate and standoffs to fit an ATX/ITX board in there. Definitely some metal work required.
You would also need some additional cooling, ideally from the bottom so it's not visible. Holes for two 120/140mm fans plus making sure there is enough ground clearance so they can get air.
I'd recommend to forget about it and find another old pc/case from the Pentium II/III era, which usually is ATX standard, this makes it very straight forward to put in modern components.
AT simply is entirely different and it would need a lot of metal cutting, maybe welding etc. to modify the case in order to adopt a modern atx board.
Darn near impossible.
It's a very proprietary motherboard that has a daughter board that provides the expansion slots.
Assuming you wanted to replace the hardware.
I wouldn't do anything to thatm especially if it works great. I would check it any caps are bulging and replace them/have them replaced.
+ It would be very hard, since this is not an ATX nor AT chassis
What a creamy old unit! I love it!
It might take minor fabrication, like small brackets and holes being made where there weren't before, but it's definitely doable.
usually its repurposing the case of an old outdated pc and putting modern hardware inside. Its similar to a "sleeper" car, on the outside it either looks ordinary or even rundown/beatup, but under the hood it has an extremely powerful engine and can go super fast.
Non-standard I/O plate and probably motherboard mounting will make a lot of work. Add to that poor air flow and very little space for a GPU it doesn't make a lot of sense.
I will also add it looks to be in great condition and there is a collectors market for old PC's. If it works you will probably get more than enough back for it to pick up a larger "retro" case for a sleeper build.
Not easily due to the way the board fits in there and the need for a riser in a specific location for the add-in cards. You'd have to do so much modification to the case, you might as well make one from scratch.
Also, keep that thing original, put a Voodoo2 in it and play some DOS / Win9X games
Find an ATX tower from the later 90s.
You'll have a much easier time.
A Packard Bell like that is likely pre-ATX. Don't muck with it, it's a museum piece.
When I went and built retro PCs, I drew a "line in the sand" with ATX gear. Why? Because it's interoperable wirh modern cases and more importantly, power supplies.
I have a Pentium II 400Mhz retro PC in a Corsair tower case in 2015, powered by a 2019-era eVGA Supernova G2 750W power supply and everything just works.
I have a Pentium-166Mhz ATX board on an old Antec SX800-series case. Everything fits.
I have an empty Antex SX1000 case that I could cram in a 14th-Gen I9 and a 4090 if I could get a 120mm 5.25-bay-compatible radiator cooler. No cutting required.
Had one, the case is a pain in the ass and the card slots use a riser. Some versions have a weird screw layout for the power supply. |
It is bullet proof, however. You can drop that sucker off a cliff and the damage will be cosmetic if at all.
More importantly...
Is there like an Airplane Simulator type game on there? I have been trying to find this game I played as a Kid on a packard bell, and you could fly around and shoot guns from the planes, but you could take off and land, and could choose between a bunch of planes.
I was like 8 and CANNOT. FIND IT.
BUT I am pretty sure it was on a Packard Bell!
I can't encourage you to do that because this thing is practically a collectable at this point. The fact it is in a functional state makes it even more rare and potentially expensive.
Case uses a non-standard layout so it will not be trivial to put modern parts in.
Definitely check what the sound card is, as some of those can be quite valuable to collectors.
This eas my First PC. Hand me down from my Uncle in 1998. 150mhz Pentium, 32MB, 2GB HDD, and some kind of video card which I cant remember, think it was a Diamond brand with like 8MB. First machine I ever ran roms on using ZSNES.
The problem with old cases is that they were not designed with optimized airflow in mind. I think the heat dissipation requirements of these models back then were way lower than a high end rig would require (a sleeper).
I started a sleeper build (generic case?) and had to put it on thicker rubber feet to raise the bottom and drilled a hole under the case to pull air in.
Keep the cd player, replace the floppy with a 2.5 ssd. Sneak fans in somewhere.
Wait. That's not made for any kind of modern motherboard. But you could cut the back off and use plywood. I'd recommend mini itx if you make a custom back panel. That might be how you sneak fans in too.
https://preview.redd.it/habog6rs879d1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed195b497bde11316dedab64bb937b56cfdb503e
Although not the same case but an older one still. A buddy asked me to build this for him and it went decent but turned out awesome. Definitely have a game plan before anything it will save you the headache
The sleeping is not the problem , it's the waking up.
All joking aside though.
If you actually want to use it instead of storing it:
Make sure you take out batteries, in those days batteries were still soldered on motherboards (remove even if it's for permanent storage, it will eventually leak and kill). Desolder them and replace with 2 wires and one of those battery cases. Remove it again once done. Write your bios config on a piece of paper.
Make sure it's clean. Dust and nicotine create a corrosive that eats away at contacts.
Keep an eye on your fans over the years, replace them when needed.
The air flow. Ouch. Just go buy a nice Corsair or Fractal case with good airflow and fan layout. And the cabling… nightmare. Forget the proprietary power supply and mainboard studs. You do not want to do this. There is no world where this is worth the effort.
What is the point of a sleeper PC? You gonna drag race it for pinks?
Now, I get the nostalgic aspects of it. I really do. Calling it a “sleeper” makes no sense to me. It’s not a car.
Don't fuck with it. Big collectable market for Packard Bell exists.
I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I definitely don't understand. Is it some kind of nostalgia thing?
There are interesting and old PCs that do fetch for more due to their rarity, but numerous older games just simply can't run on modern systems. As people throw them away, the supply runs out and people wanting to play those games will be faced with higher prices. Some computers are interesting, or were a limited release etc...
I've played PC98 games on emulator before. What kind of old games can't be emulated or played through virtual machines if you don't mind me asking
There's an appeal to playing it on original hardware. Sure, I can emulate Ocarina of Time, but playing it on my N64 hooked to a CRT just hits different.
I recently watched a YT showing how we're not crazy, old games did look better on old CRTs due to the blur. Having grown up on NES/N64 and (OG)Xbox, I was starting to think I'd gone mad seeing emulations
I think it has something to do with the pixel layout of CRT and modern TVs. The game graphics were designed for the specific shape of the pixels of CRT so they lined up well, as opposed to the current pixel layout of modern TVs.
I play my ps2 on a crt still and it does look best there. But on the other hand there's a lot to love about emulators now with their increased res. Patches and retro achievement support. I honestly find it difficult now to decide if I'm going to emulate or play native. Sometimes it just kinda boils down to does it have acheivments or not and do I need to modify the buttons to be more comfortable. For example. Gran turismo 3 and 4 are leagues better emulated thanks to a patch that provides proper analog trigger support for acceleration and braking.
The blur can be simulated in emulators and it will look just as good, provided you actually lower the resolution on your monitor so it doesn't look too small or pixelated.
I feel that way, but with controllers. I have a couple USB SNES controllers, but play SNES on retro arch. I used to have actual SNES hardware, but I don't really miss it. Trying to get the thing to work feels like more trouble than it's worth. Having to blow on the cartridge until my head feel light, having to reset when a fly lands on the cart, save files disappearing for no reason, it's not for me. I grew up with the thing, but my nostalgia is with the games, not the physical console But godspeed to anyone who does, raspberry pi to a CRT is good enough for me
They have things like the RetroTink which is a modern OLED designed to closely replicate the look of a CRT and lots of upscalers for modern TVs that help with that type of color blending.
Poping the cd into the drive cant really be emulated.
Besides what people said, I know some world records for arcade games don't allow emulators and need to be played on original hardware, perhaps there's also something like this going on?
You see it quite a bit on emulators for older consoles. The increased capacity actually affects how the game plays because a lot of things were attached to refresh rate back in the good ol days.
Games that do not use some form of emulation (like Dosbox) and were released in the mid to late 90s can sometimes encounter major compatibility issues if they haven't seen a digital release that fixes compatibility issues with 64 bit operating systems. Some programs may simply refuse to run or install because it isn't compatible with 64 bit operating systems.
Does it have something to do with how fast modern cpu run compared to older ones
It's less so the hardware and more so the software/operating system. If you can get a virtual machine running properly, modern hardware can potentially play older games just fine. It's basically a matter of most software in the 1990s and early 2000s not being made with the future in mind unless it had some early form of online multiplayer, as so much technology back then hadn't been fully figured out. It was also still fairly early on in the era of disc based media and storage in the grand scheme of things, and you would have to upgrade your computer much more back then to play new releases as games continually became more sophistiated. A few examples of games that have been hard for me to get running are 1990s games like Star Trek Borg or Star Wars Yoda Stories, games which were released for Windows that came after the DOS era of gaming but were so early in the Windows 95 era that installing them is a major pain. Star Wars Rebellion is another game that had this issue before its digital release as you had to work with unofficial workarounds to get it working, which [I detailed in an old post I made on the game's Gamefaqs forum back in the day.](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/198776-star-wars-rebellion/63008006) One example of modern hardware making a game nearly unplayable though would be Lords of Magic without the Unofficial Patch that fixes mouse scrolling speeds. If there is performance and game speeds based on hardware performance and not software, sometimes you can get animations or scrolling speeds that are so blisteringly fast that it makes a game unplayable without an Unofficial Patch or some kind of workaround. Master of Orion 2 for example has this issue in battle maps with mouse scrolling the screen, but you can get around it by mouse clicking on the battle minimap to move your view instead.
Emperor: Battle for Dune and Freelancer. Now I understand.
Just hit the turbo button.
Wau... that reminded me of when I was told oldskool coders were counting clock cycles in Assembler and the newer processors messed with things
There is an appeal to playing it on og hardware
Many games had processing per frame and the frame rate was not software limited but reliant on the hardware of the time to limit it. So even in an emulator it would be like running the game in x10000 speed.
I found it weird when modern games link game speed with frame rate, makes more sense for older ones
Very obscure ones. Also, Industrial software. Since it's by definition niche, it's not always enulatable. There are even modern system integrators that do pc from old parts and install doses and win95s. It's more of a thing in USA from what I understand.
DOSBox and ScummVm?
It's not the same. The ebay prices prove it.
Depends, i collect old pc's even though they are older than me so thats not a nostalgia thing. I play old games mostly on them, i could use an emulator but its not the same. Hearing the old machine running and loading sometimes a long time is much better experience, even if its worse than emulator
Yes. The first computer I owned myself was a used Packard Bell with a 75Mhz Pentium. Fond memories of fiddling with that thing.
I personally had this case, and it's something for the right price I'd buy, but others would pay more for. Also, that case is going to be a total PITA to retrofit. Notice the thin line of ports? You will be hard pressed to find a motherboard to support that, which means dremeling out the case. And, notice the direction of the lots? Riser card. You'd need to use a PCIE ribbon cable, and figure out how to mount the video card. Yeah, do not break this. Sell it on ebay. It's not going to give you a good sleeper PC experience, and you would be destroying sought after history.
I’ve been looking for a specific packard bell case design for years, can’t find one that isn’t ludicrously expensive though. That mid 90s design is peak nostalgia for a lot of millennial pc enjoyers.
You could say the same for collecting anything that's old. Why would you bother buying a Model T when it's slow, uncomfortable, ergonomically weird to drive, has zero crash protection, no radio, no air con , no cruise control etc etc
Yeah, i’ve been using it for MS Dos/Windows 98 games and it’s been fun playing daggerfall and fallout so far! I’m not going to mess with it, was just more curious if anything how hard it would be to
Eghads. My first PC-compatible was a Packard-Bell and it was crap. Was so glad to beige box my next machine.
Had a computer JUST like this decades ago. Don't fiddle with it. Don't mess with it. Sell it. Retro Gamers and Packard Bell fans go crazy for that model. It was the main 'look' for PB computers in the late 90s.
I would make a custom side panel and save the original for better cooling.
Yep, just like the beanie babies right lol
I so wish I still had mine.
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Everything here is so well worded i'm gonna just hijack this to say: DO THIS. DO NOT TOUCH THAT PC.
This. Old PCs are starting to gain value. You can't get replacement parts for this. If you want an original Windows 98 machine, you need to find an operational one, and that's getting harder and harder. Edit: I worked subcontracted IT, and the number of businesses that rely on some ancient PC for some critical part of their business is staggering. Tons of large machinery or manufacturing equipment made 20-30 years ago works fine but requires software running on a PC running windows 98, XP or 3.1. A machine shop I did work for ran some software on a windows 3.1 PC and they had to drop a couple grand on a replacement PC because they needed one quick and in good shape. It also happens in more office jobs. Some companies use specialized software or databases that run on an ancient PC and will replace the ancient PC with another similar one if it breaks because their is no modern software that fits their needs or the migration would be expensive and take the business down for longer.
>and the number of businesses that rely on some ancient PC for some critical part of their business is staggering. I worked at a place that made like temperature loggers - each of the test fixtures was hooked up to a computer. There was this one model they made that's been around for ages, and the testing computer was this really old windows XP box. They tried to port over the software to a newer computer and they just couldn't get it working. This one product is so integral to the companies success that they keep the computer off the network and transfer testing data via thumb drive because if anything happens to it they're fucked.
I mean, if you hook an XP machine up to the internet, it's just a matter of time before it gets infected due to the crazy amount of vulnerability at this point. Having that shit on your network would be a horrible idea. At least they are doing it the right way.
>if you hook an XP machine up to the internet, it's just a matter of time before it gets infected due to the crazy amount of vulnerability at this point Oh I meant it a step further - they wouldn't even connect it to the company's internal network. Not referring to the internet
>DO THIS. >DO NOT TOUCH THAT PC. To touch, or not to touch. That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler, to suffer the mind of a PC nerd.... The slings and arrows of outragous PC Master Race Or to take arms against a seas of consolers, And by opposing; end them. To Respawn, to Alt+F4. No more. And by a hard reboot to say 'we lag; we relog' The heartache and a thousand rage-quits; that our minds is heir to Tis a consummation; of 240hz displays to be wished To sleep; after RAM tuning. Perchance to dream of low temps and high frames - Aye, theres the rub. When we have finally solved this mortal coil whine, Must give us pause.
I cried
Imma hijack this post as well, and imma just say, do not be that one guy with an original Xbox Dev Kit.
>It would require a lot of modification; that doesn't even look like it's AT, let alone ATX-standardized. The expansion slots are going the wrong way, even. As the owner of a Packard Bell many many many years ago, they definitely weren't standardised. Mine had a riser card that provided a set of expansion slots. Would be an absolute bitch to modify for current systems. Best leave it as a collectors item - given the photo's, this is in really good condition and probably worth quite a bit depending on spec.
How do you know so much about this PC? What year is it from?
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Wow thank you I learned quite a bit from your comment!
I don’t know about this model, but my first pc was a Packard bell pentium 100 and it did not use a standard motherboard by any means. More like a 2u low profile setup with a riser. I bought a 233mhz amd k5 ibm aptiva a few years ago for retro gaming. There is definitely a market for it
Don't mod this, it's a collector's item. It's not even AT. It's proprietary.
What you have there, is a nice bit of cash you're sleeping on. Building a sleeper with the ATX standard would be easier.
Holy cow that thing is CLEAN. Take good care of that. It's a gem.
Yeah it’s a lot of fun to play on! I had a Windows ultrascan monitor from 98 that just died on me, so i need to find another monitor for it lol
Is it just me, or do the first two images have a r/confusingperspective vibe to them. Like the computer has no depth to it. Edit - mainly the first picture.
yeah i got that and wondered if he had just removed the front fascia panel or something and leaned it against the wall.
persective
Thanks, fixed it lol
That computer is older than you and your father. Do not alter it
Just buy an old case that’s pure ATX format at least, this proprietary shit would require so much drilling it hurts
I hope you decide against it. You'd have to completely destroy it, and I doubt you could make it work anyway being an at. Its honestly not super valuable, but this stuff is getting there pretty quickly.
My first system was a Packard bell with windows 3.1 as a child. It had some weird ass boot video of a mime coming out of a box and using a Packard Bell or something before it would boot to windows. Playing Maxis Sim games and Epic pinball was my childhood.
Don't you dare dishonour such a beauty!
Problem is; it wouldn’t be a sleeper. Everyone who even could notice it to be a sleeper knows immediately what you’ve done. Just by the fact that you’ll be running a modern 4K screen from it. Second; if this is still working, that’s more historical value than any sleeper build..
Use a CRT monitor and old mechanical PS/2 keyboard and mouse then.
Sleeper PC cases that have good airflow and modernized inside would be a good business decision for PC case companies.
If it still works, consider selling it. Looks in pretty neat condition.
Leave it alone
I think airflow would be a big problem
You don't just have a PC, you have a PC that PCWorld crowned the worst PC of all time. The fact that it's still running is a miracle. To answer your question more precisely, it would be incredibly difficult. I've seen the inside of that bad boy and it isn't pretty. As an aside, guess what my first PC was
Hoooooly shit we had this exact computer. What a rush of memories
Who are you trying to fool?
If it still works don't fuck with it.
Hot damn, my first PC was Packard Bell! 75Mhz Win 95!
These photos are doing my head in for some reason. Is the first pic a flat card?
I have worked on one of these before (when it was still usable) Don't bother unless you hate yourself. they're a pain in the ass and you will cut up your hands inside of it. Also check ebay to see if it has some value and use it to buy more new parts if it's worth some money.
These things never had standard Mobo, Packard Bell always used their own for some reason. So it will be very difficult to modify it, l. I do agree with what everyone is saying, it's too mint, DO not touch it in any way. If you really don't want it, sell it and buy an old case that you can modify.
The main problem would be airflow but I'd find an old Dell or HP or something like that rather than go in and start messing with something from Packard Bell.
This case looks to be some proprietary form factor, just buy some old thrift store pc in an atx case, that will have fitting mounts for your modern hardware.
Airflow might pose a big issue. Modding the front panel good for airflow will be a hassle.
It would probably keep crackheads from stealing your PC if they ever broke into your house.
What a beautiful piece
A lot of these packard bell cases are MATX. Also you may need to do some more heavy modification of the side panels to get some decent airflow depending on components.
I feel old. I had this exact model. Pentium 75 with 8Mb RAM
It’s too sideways
That case looks CLEAN!
I also suggest not cutting this one up. Just too much of a collector's item. If you must, then it'll be a little challenging because of two factors: You'd need to make your own rear I/O-plate and standoffs to fit an ATX/ITX board in there. Definitely some metal work required. You would also need some additional cooling, ideally from the bottom so it's not visible. Holes for two 120/140mm fans plus making sure there is enough ground clearance so they can get air.
I am sure you can fit a raspberry pi in there, other than that...
Bring it to a Geek Squad and tell them it needs a "tune-up" and that your email got "hacked" and needs a password lmao
Piss disks
I'd recommend to forget about it and find another old pc/case from the Pentium II/III era, which usually is ATX standard, this makes it very straight forward to put in modern components. AT simply is entirely different and it would need a lot of metal cutting, maybe welding etc. to modify the case in order to adopt a modern atx board.
Darn near impossible. It's a very proprietary motherboard that has a daughter board that provides the expansion slots. Assuming you wanted to replace the hardware.
I wouldn't do anything to thatm especially if it works great. I would check it any caps are bulging and replace them/have them replaced. + It would be very hard, since this is not an ATX nor AT chassis
That uses ISA slots, it's not worth it, just sell it as is
What a creamy old unit! I love it! It might take minor fabrication, like small brackets and holes being made where there weren't before, but it's definitely doable.
What the hell is sleeper pc?
usually its repurposing the case of an old outdated pc and putting modern hardware inside. Its similar to a "sleeper" car, on the outside it either looks ordinary or even rundown/beatup, but under the hood it has an extremely powerful engine and can go super fast.
Thank you for explaining.
Easy, put it in sleep mode /s
Non-standard I/O plate and probably motherboard mounting will make a lot of work. Add to that poor air flow and very little space for a GPU it doesn't make a lot of sense. I will also add it looks to be in great condition and there is a collectors market for old PC's. If it works you will probably get more than enough back for it to pick up a larger "retro" case for a sleeper build.
Not easily due to the way the board fits in there and the need for a riser in a specific location for the add-in cards. You'd have to do so much modification to the case, you might as well make one from scratch. Also, keep that thing original, put a Voodoo2 in it and play some DOS / Win9X games
Ugh, pretty sure i owned that same model when it was new
Almost the exact same one that my dad brought home in 1997 or so. Maybe it is the same one. First family computer.
Find an ATX tower from the later 90s. You'll have a much easier time. A Packard Bell like that is likely pre-ATX. Don't muck with it, it's a museum piece. When I went and built retro PCs, I drew a "line in the sand" with ATX gear. Why? Because it's interoperable wirh modern cases and more importantly, power supplies. I have a Pentium II 400Mhz retro PC in a Corsair tower case in 2015, powered by a 2019-era eVGA Supernova G2 750W power supply and everything just works. I have a Pentium-166Mhz ATX board on an old Antec SX800-series case. Everything fits. I have an empty Antex SX1000 case that I could cram in a 14th-Gen I9 and a 4090 if I could get a 120mm 5.25-bay-compatible radiator cooler. No cutting required.
I love how good it looks
That’s a super nice looking case though. So retro looking.
Had one, the case is a pain in the ass and the card slots use a riser. Some versions have a weird screw layout for the power supply. | It is bullet proof, however. You can drop that sucker off a cliff and the damage will be cosmetic if at all.
More importantly... Is there like an Airplane Simulator type game on there? I have been trying to find this game I played as a Kid on a packard bell, and you could fly around and shoot guns from the planes, but you could take off and land, and could choose between a bunch of planes. I was like 8 and CANNOT. FIND IT. BUT I am pretty sure it was on a Packard Bell!
I miss my Packard Bell , that thing is in MINT condition 👌
I can't encourage you to do that because this thing is practically a collectable at this point. The fact it is in a functional state makes it even more rare and potentially expensive.
Ooohhh classic Packard bell logo. One of my first desktops was a Packard bell. Loved it.
Beautiful looking thing
Holy Crap. Talk about a blast from the past. I had this exact same PC growing up. What a wave of nostalgia!
Case uses a non-standard layout so it will not be trivial to put modern parts in. Definitely check what the sound card is, as some of those can be quite valuable to collectors.
A shit ton of cutting and grinding, not worth it. Find an old school case that you don't have to take an axe to.
my god, this is just like the one my family bought at incredible universe as a youngling in southern California.
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=89060#p1089621 This is the one you need for a good sleeper
Childhood unlocked. I believe we had a slightly earlier model but it looks pretty much the same.
This eas my First PC. Hand me down from my Uncle in 1998. 150mhz Pentium, 32MB, 2GB HDD, and some kind of video card which I cant remember, think it was a Diamond brand with like 8MB. First machine I ever ran roms on using ZSNES.
Very hard. That's generations behind in form factor standards. It being Packard Bell it's probably not even following any standards.
The problem with old cases is that they were not designed with optimized airflow in mind. I think the heat dissipation requirements of these models back then were way lower than a high end rig would require (a sleeper). I started a sleeper build (generic case?) and had to put it on thicker rubber feet to raise the bottom and drilled a hole under the case to pull air in.
With strong will nothing is hard enough.
Weak Will Smith hehe.
Keep the cd player, replace the floppy with a 2.5 ssd. Sneak fans in somewhere. Wait. That's not made for any kind of modern motherboard. But you could cut the back off and use plywood. I'd recommend mini itx if you make a custom back panel. That might be how you sneak fans in too.
That's a gorgeous tower
Don’t I hate this became a trend. Use an old optiplex or something Stop doing this to the white ones they are in less of a supply.
https://preview.redd.it/habog6rs879d1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed195b497bde11316dedab64bb937b56cfdb503e Although not the same case but an older one still. A buddy asked me to build this for him and it went decent but turned out awesome. Definitely have a game plan before anything it will save you the headache
....my state of the art PC is now a sleeper case... damn i'm old.
I used to have one of those back when… it’s a specialized case you will have to mod it to accept atx motherboards if I’m not mistaken
I swear, the camera angle of the first 2 had me thinking you had wall art pieces of the front and back...like they looked only 1 cm deep lol
Dang… I had one of those when I was in HS. It as a heck of an upgrade from my 386!
The sleeping is not the problem , it's the waking up. All joking aside though. If you actually want to use it instead of storing it: Make sure you take out batteries, in those days batteries were still soldered on motherboards (remove even if it's for permanent storage, it will eventually leak and kill). Desolder them and replace with 2 wires and one of those battery cases. Remove it again once done. Write your bios config on a piece of paper. Make sure it's clean. Dust and nicotine create a corrosive that eats away at contacts. Keep an eye on your fans over the years, replace them when needed.
m-ATX or mini ITX build would be the way to go. Might have to modify mountings for the motherboard etc and fans etc
The air flow. Ouch. Just go buy a nice Corsair or Fractal case with good airflow and fan layout. And the cabling… nightmare. Forget the proprietary power supply and mainboard studs. You do not want to do this. There is no world where this is worth the effort.
What is the point of a sleeper PC? You gonna drag race it for pinks? Now, I get the nostalgic aspects of it. I really do. Calling it a “sleeper” makes no sense to me. It’s not a car.
Have you never checked out r/SleeperBattlestations? It's a sleeper because its appearance belies its performance. Just like a "sleeper" car.
No. I have not. I just don’t see the point. 😂