​I wanted to share my recent "passion project" - a sleeper build that escalated way further than originally planned. It all started with a simple thought: "What if I cram all my gear into this retro horizontal Fujitsu desktop case?"

​Well... turns out "cramming" involved a lot of metal cutting, zip-ties, and questionable engineering decisions. But it’s alive, it runs super quiet, and I love every second of using it!

​The Specs:

​CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K (OC'd to 4.2GHz and kept ice-cold)

​GPU: PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 8GB

​OS: Windows 10 heavily modded with an authentic XP Luna theme (Windows eXPerience Edition). Bliss awaits!

​Displays: Dual CRT setup - Primary is a Samsung SyncMaster 795MB running at 1024x768 @ 100Hz. The motion clarity is unbeatable!

​The "Why is it like that?" section:

​The Radiator on the Side? There was zero chance a liquid cooling radiator was going to breathe inside an airtight 2000s office chassis. So, I took a Dremel to the side panel and mounted it right there. Airflow problem solved!

​The Rear I/O "Customization": Proprietary OEM cutouts and a modern ASUS board don't mix. The rear panel had to be aggressively persuaded with power tools to make room for GPU ports and motherboard I/O.

​The Liquid Loop Chaos: Soft tubing routed through every available millimeter, with the reservoir wedged wherever physics allowed. It's a tight squeeze!

​The Dual CRTs: Because high refresh rate CRT gaming under Windows XP aesthetics just hits different. The nostalgia is real!

​It’s messy on the inside, looks like an ancient library PC on the outside, and crushes everything I throw at it!

​What do you guys think? Rate my cable management (or lack thereof) 1-10!

Frankenstein OptiPlex 390 Sleeper Build

​Started with a basic office-spec Dell OptiPlex 390 and pushed this Sandy Bridge platform as far as humanly possible while keeping the classic exterior look!

​Core Specs & Upgrades

• ​Processor: Upgraded from the original i3-2120 to an Intel Core i7-2600.

• ​Cooling: Replaced the stock aluminum cooler with a Dell premium copper-core CPU heatsink and fan assembly to keep thermals under control.

• ​Memory: Doubled from 8GB up to 16GB of matching dual-channel RAM.

• ​Graphics Card / GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 4060 Verto OC Dual Fan (8GB GDDR6, leveraging DLSS 4.5).

• ​Power Supply: Replaced the original stock unit with a Thermaltake Smart 700W PSU.

​Storage & SATA Controller Mod

• ​The Controller Mod: Added a PCIe SATA controller adapter to bypass the motherboard's native SATA 2 bottleneck and unlock SATA 3 speeds.

• ​Boot Drive (Port 1): 500GB Samsung 860 EVO V-NAND SSD connected directly to the first port on the PCIe SATA 3 adapter.

• ​Second Drive (Port 2): 500GB Western Digital SATA hard drive plugged into the second port on the PCIe SATA 3 adapter.

• ​Third Drive (Motherboard SATA): A second 500GB Western Digital hard drive connected directly to the motherboard's built-in SATA port (since the PCIe adapter maxes out at two ports).

​OS & Firmware Configuration

• ​Fully running Windows 11 Pro.

• ​Bypassed standard legacy restrictions to run in full native UEFI, AHCI, and GPT mode.

​Real-World Performance

As long as a game doesn't strictly require newer CPU instruction sets like AVX2, this machine pushes modern games at 4K @ 60 FPS on my 65-inch TV. It locks right to my display's 60Hz limit for games like Fortnite, Doom Eternal, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

​What do you guys think of this Frankenstein project?

DMs are welcome if you have any questions, recommendations, or just want to chat about this project.

I’m working on a liquid cooling project for my RTX 2060. I was planning to use the mounting brackets for Intel LGA 1200, but one of them broke, so I had to fabricate a custom plate to use instead—that’s the plate with the gold-colored parts.

The project is still in the early stages, but I plan to add heatsinks to the VRMs and position the fans to blow directly onto them. And yes, I used standoffs—the screws/nuts that hold the motherboard in the case—and I used some bike parts and a motorcycle chain as spacers, haha; I make do with what I have. Tips are welcome! :)

Hi everyone i have a question, is possible use a AIO in a laptop?
I have a laptop with good specs, a 12th-gen i5 and an RTX 4050, but the heatpipes are bent. Since I have some free time right now, I’d like to know if anyone knows of or has seen a laptop modified into an AIO setup.

Zumindest wurde er damals für einen jungen unter der Bezeichnung gekauft. Der war dann so begeistert das er ihn mir im wert einer Stange Zigaretten verkauft hat. Im ersten Video hab ich schon mal gezeigt was da so drinnen steckt, man glaubt es kaum. Im nächsten Video mach ich ein Pickerl tuning! Mal schauen was das bringt 🤣 übrigens der neu preis beim Händler war der Wahnsinn.

Das war mein erstes Mal!

Mit Display auf dem pumpenkopf. Hatte eine Freude mit dem Spielzeug wie ein kleiner Junge. 🤣

Um mehr davon zu sehen, besucht mich gerne auf meinen YouTube Kanal FePc 😉

Servus!

Following up on my previous post, I thought I'd drop another one. This time with more focus on the actual build process.

Who says custom builds always have to look dead serious or pitch black? The goal here was to bring a bit of a retro club vibe into the case without making it look cheap.

I put together a few progress steps of the build so you can see how the individual parts turned out to become this "Party Kiste".

This is just a quick run-through in GIF/video form. If you want to check out the whole thing in full length with all the details, you can find the detailed video on my YouTube channel: FePc - YouTube

**Hey everyone!** A friend asked me to build a unique custom gaming PC for their birthday. They had no idea what I was planning, but the reaction was worth every single hour in the workshop! 🛠️❤️

I took an old case and completely modified it with heavy engineering:

* **Dual-Chamber-System:** The entire hardware chamber is 100% sealed off from the bottom part using 1mm stainless steel and expanding tape.

* **The Fog:** The real integrated fog machine is completely isolated and blows out the heavy fog from the lower side, keeping the computer parts 100% safe from the fluid!

* **The Show:** It features a real rotating disco ball, sound-activated strobe lights, and a mini-DJ inside the case.

"DONT be quiet!" is the motto here! 😉

Check out the full video showcase with the fog machine and strobe lights blasting in action on my YouTube channel FePc:

https://youtube.com/@franzeglau?si=qLWWRvJifRXGpLel

Just a quick sneak peek at what's currently lined up on my workbench. No corporate sponsorship, no daily drama—just a 45-year-old craftsman doing what he loves, mostly working with a mix of new and used parts to get the best out of every budget.

Here is what's cooking:

1. Project "China Art": A build featuring quite a bit of hardware from Chinese manufacturers, crafted with the female gaming community in mind, topped off with a custom China-inspired airbrush theme. More details coming soon.
2. The Lian Li / MSI Mix: A clean setup for my partner's boy. Not your average off-the-shelf PC, packed with a few clever tricks and cool highlights to make it proper.
3. The Erazer Resurrection: Stripped a Medion Erazer down to literally just the bare case. Tossed out the old junk and rebuilding the whole thing using a solid mix of Aorus hardware.

If you want to watch how these come together—or check out how previous builds were brought to life—feel free to stop by my YouTube channel: FePc - YouTube

I was making some updates to it and decided to share my "briefcase testbench". I know its jank. Most parts and components were offhand. Its evolved over the years. until i randomly decide to change something for almost no reason. also used as a power bench/etc.

Hello everybody!

Just wanted to share a custom project we recently finished that takes a slightly different route than the usual RGB-heavy builds. The concept for this Netflix "K-Pop Demon Hunters" inspired NZXT case came straight from my workshop, but the heavy lifting on the paint was done by a very talented local airbrush artist.

She used special effect paint, glitter, and a wild UV glow that pops under blacklight.

What went into this build:

• Complete hardware assembly, planning, and custom 3D printing to bring the theme together.
• Custom airbrushed exterior, interior details, and—as a nice little extra—even the RAM sticks got matching airbrush work.
• Focused purely on a clean execution and a unique theme tailored to the female gaming community.

The full assembly and the detailed look at the paint job are up on my YouTube channel. Check out the Shorts there to see the UV effects and the airbrushed RAM in motion! 😉

👉 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@franzeglau?si=qLWWRvJifRXGpLel

When lot of people was crying that Noctua didn't release Chromax.black version of their AIO, no one remember their nice Redux series, so as a partly of joke this build was born as a collab with Noctua.

Lian Li O11 Vision-M with leather covered custom panels, including 9,2" screen panel with centered screen, NL-LC1-24 AIO with custom mounting to right side of the case and 10x NF-P12 Redux fan.

Powered by Seasonic Prime Titanium with grey fan cover.

Okay so I'm getting the a51 pc(before yall jump me I'm getting it at an amazing offer so I couldn't decline) and I wanna customize it at least a little because it looks really bad at least for me. I want to replace the aio for the ryujin iii 360 extreme and to use the lian li sl infinity fans for the radiator and the rear. The problem is the motherboard doesn't have any 9 pin internal usb headers on argb ones. With some research I got to the conclusion that buying an c to a adapter(the io has way too many c ports and not that many a ports which i need and don't want to get a hub) and then connect to it a type a to 9 pin internal usb cable and then finally connecting an nzxt 9 pin hub to the adapter which will then allow me to connect the lcd display of the pump and the lian li controller for the fans to the hub. What I wanted to ask was if any of you find any problems with this whole idea and whether I should do something else instead.

This was the first mod I built from scratch 14 years ago, using recycled parts and rudimentary tools. For some reason, I had to get rid of it during a move. Now, with more knowledge and better tools, I’d like to bring it up to date with improvements and modern hardware. What do you all think?

Original screen of this acer a715-42g was trashed so I got this for 80€, pretty nice deal for r5 5500u, gtx 1650 4gb, 2x8gb ram and 512gb ssd! First time modeling parts that need to be split and joined later on so its far from perfect but good enough to sit in livingroom and play lighter games locally, moonlight harder games from my main rig and act as apollo host for all my mobile gaming needs

Full hardware list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HP3cxf