The Old Boi PC: A Journey of Rebuilding and Overhauling

Hey guys, it's Austin, and you might remember me from my previous project, the Old Boi PC. Well, I'm back with an update on where I left off. Last time, we had successfully set up the system, but there were a few things we needed to work out.

We started by swapping out the 2080 Ti for an RTX 2070. This was a bit of a surprise, as I had originally planned to use something else. However, when I opened up the case, I found that the fan was stuck on the battery on the motherboard, and it was passively cooled.

I decided to put the 2080 Ti back in, but this time, we were going to make sure we had enough cooling. We added an extra rear exhaust fan, which helped to reduce the heat coming out of the back of the case. The system was still throttling a bit, but it was better than before.

Next, I wanted to see if we could overclock the processor. Normally, I would manually tweak the settings or use the motherboard's auto-tool. However, Intel now has a performance maximizer tool that can help with this process. This tool is only compatible with Z390 motherboards and 9th Gen processors, so it was a bit of a challenge to set up.

I spent about an hour waiting for the screen to come back on, but when it did, I was excited to see the results. We were able to get a 200 megahertz boost, which is not bad considering we're still working with a system that's been around since the early 2000s.

As I was exploring the system further, I noticed that there was one mod that could help us improve the cooling even more. It involved holding the camera for a second, but it ended up fixing the issue and gave us a cleaner look. Unfortunately, this means our system doesn't look as stock-like anymore.

Now that we've got everything sorted out, let's take a closer look at the system itself. One of my favorite things about this build is how old-school it looks. If you come around to the front, you can see the PCI covers and the power supply, which gives it a bit of a nostalgic feel.

The only downside is that I have to tape over or turn off some of the LEDs to get rid of that shiny new look. However, the beige color in the case helps to balance it out and make the system blend in a bit better.

We're currently using an Optane drive as our main storage device, which gives us some nice performance benefits. When we finally get around to putting in our own hard drive, we'll be able to pair it with the Optane for even better speeds.

Overall, I'm really happy with how this build turned out. It's not perfect, but it's close enough, and we've had a lot of fun getting here. Let's take a closer look at some benchmarks to see just what we're working with.

The system is posting and has Windows installed. We did some minor cable management to keep things tidy and organized. The main thing holding us back from finishing the build is waiting for the bracket that will allow us to install our normal hard drive. Once that arrives, we'll be able to complete the project and have an even better system.

That's where I left off, but I wanted to give you a bit of context on why this project was so important to me. It's not just about building a computer; it's about breathing new life into something old and making it relevant again.

I've had a lot of fun working on the Old Boi PC, and I'm excited to see where we go from here. Stay tuned for more updates as we finish up this build and continue to push the limits of what this system can do.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin,and you might remember this guy.So last year, we tried to rebuilda super old-schooldesktop with some proper,oh, I got that on really tight,some proper internals,so with a RTX 2080 TI, Core i7 9th Gen.It was very exciting.However, one of the problems we hadwas that because I gave myself eight hoursto do the entire build,it technically works,but, well, with no coolinginside and all this hardware,it runs toasty.By toasty, I mean, like,it's obscenely warm.So today, we're going to try to fix thatand actually rebuild this thing properly.All right, so some of my parts are in.I'm actually still waiting for Amazonto deliver a few more things,but, first step, I want to takeeverything out of this casebecause, as you can see,it is pretty filthy.And to be fair, this system does work,so right now it is fine.The big issue though isespecially with that 2080 TI,it was incredibly warm.Like, way, way too warm that I would neverwant to run a system that wasthrottling pretty heavily.Now I did order a Blu-ray drive,so at least we'll beable to cover this hole,but I'll definitelykeep the CD drive therejust because it looks cool.- Did we not order a white one?- No, I couldn'tfind a white one.Wait, wait, does that look janky enoughthat it actually looks okay?- No, that's actually fine.- Okay, so we've got our WD Black.We'll put that back in a little bit.- I actually don't rememberbuilding this thing at all,so, you'd--- It was, like, December.It was, like a few months ago.It was, like, six months ago.You don't remember the video at all?- And we're overclocking this?- Yes.So I think we're gonnaactually be able to reusealmost everything on this board.So we have 16 gigs of RAM?Yes, 16 gigs of RAM,so that should be fine.Wait.No, I think I lied.Oh, it's eight gigs of RAM.Wow, we really got lazy.I'll find some more RAM.Oh, look at that, beautifulthermal paste applicationby Past Austin.- At least we didone thing right, right?- Hey!Dude, I'm so excited for that case speaker.- 'Cause it actually worked.- It does, I like the beepingwhen I turn on my system.All right, I think that is about as cleanas that's going to get.That's actually wayshinier than it used to be.So, with our i7 9700K out,we pretty much got thisentire thing disassembled,which means that, I guesslet's try to figure outhow we could put fans in here first.So, if we take this out...(drive bay rattling)- Yeah?(drive bay rattling)Scratches build character.- Wait, we're just gonna havean exposed fan here?No, look at it from the front.Do we have some kind of grill or grateor something we can put on top of it?- You know what we could do?- What can we do?- I can go to Target and make one.- So we finally have, a day later,our Amazon package with notonly the cooler for the system,which I really, reallyhope fits, but importantly,we also have our brand-newZ390 motherboard.Now this is importantfor a couple of reasons.First of all, there's no extra real reasonwhy we have this ITX.We have a much larger board now.But importantly, since this is Z390,we'll be able to overclockthis a little bit better.So my thought is thatwe should split this up.So I'll work on getting the motherboardand the cooler builtif you want to figure out how to getthe actual 80 mil fans installed in here.We don't have, oh, webarely have clearancefor the power supply.Oh man, that's close, all right.So that's gonna be a littleflashier than I like.This actually does have LEDs on board,or rather, it has RGB.I might turn that off'cause I definitely don'twant any RGB coming out.But, I mean, there'sno window or anything,so we should be okay.- All right, so I got a bunch of thingsthat look like they'reoverkill for that one vent,but Home Depot doesn'texactly sell, you know,this big of whateverhardware cloth, wiring,whatever you want to call it.It's like very complicated model building.Hey, look at that!Cool!So I added the mesh,and I glued it in place,and most of it is all set andthe glue's dried and stuff.In the meantime, while I let that dry,we can actually add the 80mil fan to the inside now.(fan rattling)Yeah, like that.- Hey, Ken, we may haveoverlooked something.Where's our hard drive gonna go now?Okay, let's put it here for right nowabove the Blu-ray drive?- Look, it would actuallylook really nice right here.- That doesn't look reallynice, that looks dumb!It looks like you forgot your hard drive.Another day, another chanceto work on the Old Boi PC.So, last night, we gotthis thing actually set up.It is posting and I've gotWindows and everything installed.I did some very minor cable management,but the main thing isthat we're still waitingon the bracket to actuallyput our normal one terabytehard drive in so we canpair this with Optane.I will say this thingdoes look pretty sleepery.So besides the black power supplywhich is a little bit of a giveaway,everything else back herelooks pretty standard.I mean, if you look at the motherboard,obviously, DisplayPortwasn't around in 2001,but with our PCI covers onboard,it looks fairly low-key,but especially if you come around front.I'm pretty happy with just howold-school this system looks.I will say, this looksa little bit more jank(laughing) than I thinkI had hoped it would be.I don't really know whatelse we can do with it.We can overclock the 2070, but I'm--(record scratching)Wait, what?Where did the 2070 come from?Well, originally, I hadsomething different in mind.The main thing I'm going to do hereis swap out that 2080 with this RTX 2070.This should give me amuch more reasonable TDPinside this case.So I was noticing this was runninga little bit slower than I expected,and I open it up to findthat the fan's not spinning.It's like, oh, that's weird.Well, the fan is oversized.It's literally stuck on thebattery on the motherboard.So this is a passively-cooledRTX 2070 right now.Through a weird coincidence,we may have to put the2080 TI back in herebecause that's probably our best option.Okay, so the 2080 TI is up and running.I'm currently running throughmy first run of Time Spy.It's toasty, like, it's no doubt thatthere's a lot of heatcoming out of the backnot only because of the power supply,but also because of the rear exhaust fan,both of which are dumping heat this way.So we're throttling somewhat,although, actually, it's not too bad.So I think now what I'm going to dois I'm going to manually spinup the fans a little bit moreand then we can start overclocking.I'm not gonna touch that 2080 TI.It's already throttling as is,but what I do think iswe do have some headroomon the processor.So normally I would overclock manuallyor sometimes I'll give themotherboard auto-tool a try,but Intel now has aperformance maximizer tool.So this is not something youcan use on all Intel CPUs,so you need a Z390 and youneed a 9th Gen processor.So that actually took about an hour.The screen went black foralmost that entire time,so I wasn't sure if it was working,but it looks like it did.Let's see what our results are.So we got 200 megahertz more.A'ight, I mean, that's not exactlythe largest overclock in the world,but it's better than it telling usthat we don't have enough coolingto run it at stock speeds, right?- You know, I actually have a modthat I think can help us.- Okay.- You want to hold the camerafor a second?- I will hold the camera.(panel rattling)(Austin laughing)- Problem solved.- I mean,that actually does solve the problem,but it kinda ruins the aesthetic!Now you can tell it's clearly nota stock-looking system.- We can turn off theLEDs or tape over them,and we have beige in it.(tense music)- Powered everything.- So, what is happening?- Okay, so it's been a couple dayssince we've finished Old Boi.We're trying to shoot the conclusion,and for some reason it's no longer postingor booting whatsoever.So this is the point in the videowhere I was going to give you an update,and like, "Hey, look, Old Boi is done!"We installed our harddrive and a new enclosure!"It's all up and running and perfect!"- Wait, youinstalled the hard drive.Were you wearing youranti-static ankle bracelet?"Let's revisit Old Boi," you said.- No, no, it's fine, it's fine.- "Let's reshoot the ending," you--- It's fine, it's fine!- You know, this video was done.(PC beeping)- Come on, Old Boi.You don't have to be sosmug about it, you know.- I'm not smug, I'm just...- Right?So I'm gonna reseat the memory.But I just don't understand what changed.It's literally been two days.I hear friendly beeps,whirring and wishing and whooping and--(PC beeping)VGA?It's a VGA problem, wow.Okay, so let me reseat the graphics card.I think the cable was just tension'cause I'm, like--(metal rattling)- Oh, god.- What was that?- (laughing) What did you do?- It was like a thump!(PC beeping)All right, so let me put adifferent graphics card in now.- All right, sowe have the new card in.- I just put a 1650 in just to seeif it's a 2080 TI issue or it'sa motherboard issue or what.(PC beeping)(heavy sighing)- You'll probably lose--- This was fine before.Wait, should we try a different monitor?There's no way the monitorwould keep it from posting.- Okay, so, just put it up here.We'll just rely on integrated graphicsand see if that works.- Just pull the graphics cardout all altogether?- Just pullthe graphics card altogether.- Okay, so, we can't even booton integrated graphics.What could've gone wrong?Did you unplug somethingto make this video more interesting?- No.Why would I do that?- Wait--- No, why would I do that,(laughing) you're really--(Austin laughing)- So I've cleared the CMOS now,and now--(PC beeping)Nope.And the CPU comes up.VGA, and it sits on VGA.It just can't get anykind of graphics, though.We know everything is plugged in.We've tried different GPUs.We've even tried runningon the integrated graphics.- Hold on, I have a plan.I have a plan.- What plan might that be?- You want to hold the camera.Now, I don't know if you didthis when you were a kid,'cause you had a TV whenyou were a kid, right?- A TV?- Yeah.- Yeah.- Right, this is off, right?Yeah, it's off.- Ah, I guess.- So something that we did growing upto get the TV to work...(fist thudding)(PC beeping)So it was a shot. (laughing)- It is now supposedly fine.By switching to HDMI, let'sactually pull this monitor,'cause the monitor's theonly thing that's changed.If the monitor is enoughto keep this entire system from posting.Just gonna find my inner zen right now.My inner Ryzen.- So they pluggedin a line from the PCto our TV over herejust to see--- Oh, not coming up, though.- No?- Anything coming on that?I'm not getting the beeps anymorewhen we unplug the DisplayPort.Let's try HDMI with theintegrated graphics.That's the only thing left.If this doesn't fix it,I'm literally at a loss for what happened.Something must've broken.- All right, moment of truth.- I don't think this is gonna work.(PC chiming)Okay, goes straight toboot, pretends it's fine.Oh, are you (beep) serious right now?- Wow!- I don't understandhow this monitor can keep theentire system from posting.Like, that, to me, is crazy.All right, just gonnadrop this in slot onelike it was before.So now, in theory--(PC beeping)Oh, what?- Moral of the story?- What is the moral of the story?The moral of the story islife is not fair sometimes,and there are just noanswers to life's mysteries.Or I did something dumb and I don't know,but I can't imagine what did it, I can't.- The moral of the story,if it ain't broke, don't fix it.- I swear, if that'sthe end of the video,I'm gonna be so mad.So, Ken, what do we have up right now?- So, we're in Windows.We were in Windows.Okay, now we're in Windows again.So right now we're plugged into HDMIon the 2080 TI--- GPU.It's literally set up the way it was.The issue the entire timehad nothing to do with the computer.It was the display whichkept it from postingand kept us from getting any signal.- 'Cause this is a1080 display over HDMI.That's 4K, no, so's this,so I think it's--- So you're trying to tell methat the issue to our entire problem hereis that our 2080 TIcan't push a 4K signal?That's the whole problem?- That's my theory.- That's a dumb theory.Well, why don't we dothis before we do that?Why don't we take the DisplayPortand plug it into this monitor?- Oh, there it is, oh.- System just restarted.- Oh.- What, why did...What?How is unplugging the DisplayPort--(PC beeping)Hold on, hold on, hold on.Let me compose myself for a second.So the issue we're having right nowis that if we plug anything DisplayPort inregardless of the displayinto the graphics card orthe integrated graphics,our system no longer boots.I've never seen plugginga DisplayPort cableinto a graphics card reboot a system.I cannot (grunting) imagine that.Do we have some weird cable shorting it?- I mean, it's crazy because--- No, no, I'm, no, no.- You're committed?- This will not stand.This will not stand.(rock music)- Oh, it's on.- Wait, it was the cable?It was...SO the problem the entire timewas that we had a long DisplayPort cable,and that was enough to kill the system.A DisplayPort cable?I'm gonna lose my (horn honking) mind.Are you--- So, wait, so,if we plug in that cable(laughing) into here,will it work?- Yeah, I'm sure it will.I'm sure, 100% sure it will.- In hindsight, I felt likewe probably should tried that an hour ago.(Ken laughing)- (laughing) Thanks, Matt!I'm sure this is just gonnamagically show up, okay.(Ken laughing)(Matt laughing)Let me see this cable.I'm actually really curiousto see what kind of evil cablecaused this many problems.It's a long DisplayPort cable,but I've never seen a cablecause this many issues.Here you go, you can take it and just,see how long it is, see?Look how far apart we are right now.This is enough to kill the systemregardless of what graphicscard we plugged it into,regardless of integrated graphics.- It restarted the system!- We plugged this in and it restarts it!- Here.- Where did you put the cable?