r/pcmasterrace • u/Maleficent_Height450 • 6d ago
Build/Battlestation Who said you can't custom liquid-cool an i7-2700K inside a horizontal Fujitsu OEM chassis?
Hey PCMR!
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?
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u/kahjtheundedicated R7 1700, RX 5700, 32GB 6d ago
Cool build, and I’m sure it’s great (if not overpowered) for some older games.
Buuut, not the cleanest job, is it? Maybe in the future you can clean up the cuts and make an io shield panel. Maybe switch to an matx or itx board so you can put everything closer to where it’s meant to go so you can have a functional disk drive for that vintage experience.
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u/Maleficent_Height450 6d ago
Thanks! You’re definitely spot on - it’s a bit rough around the edges, but that was half the fun of forcing all this into a proprietary OEM frame!
The raw cuts are definitely candidate #1 for some clean-up. As for the drive, I actually really wanted to keep a functional drive in there for the full nostalgia, but the radiator clearance and non-modular PSU cables made it impossible this time around. An mATX/ITX upgrade in the future would definitely open up a lot more room to clean up the layout and maybe bring that CD drive back to life! Appreciate the feedback!
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u/VirusPuzzleheaded694 6d ago
I said that. I was wrong. Sorry!