The Ultimate Sleeper Gaming PC: A Retro Revival

Hey guys, this is Austin, and today we're building the ultimate sleeper gaming PC. And it's all thanks to our friends at Intel for sponsoring this madness. The rules are very simple: we have to find the oldest, most beige retro-looking chassis we can, load it up with some high-end stuff, and make it look like something from 1999.

We want to find a case that's going to look old and retro on the outside but can handle the latest games, video editing, and streaming. We're talking about a ninth-gen core i7, high-end graphics, Optane memory, and everything we need for an overkill gaming PC. But we don't want it to be too modern or flashy on the outside.

We're looking at ITX supplies, but we don't want to commit to that just yet because they can be expensive. We'll take our time finding the perfect case, and when we do, we'll build this beast of a PC. The main idea is to have an overkill gaming PC that looks like it's something from 1999.

I've been searching for a retro-looking case, and I think I finally found one. It's got Wi-Fi built-in, which is nice. And yes, it supports Optane! Let's go with ITX and see how small we can make this build. I'll just grab the smallest cooler I can find.

I'm nervous about this build because we need to make sure we have enough power. We're talking 1050W of power here, which is a lot for an old-school case. But if we find the right components, we should be fine.

The star of the show here is definitely the i7 9700K. It's a ninth-generation Intel processor with eight cores and can be overclocked. We'll see how much we can push it depending on the case and other components.

I've got a little problem, though. I'm looking for an older system, preferably one of the old beige towers. I need something that looks like it's from the early 2000s but doesn't have to work anymore. Would you happen to have anything like that? Is this going to be a problem?

I told our friend about what we're looking for, and he said he might have just the thing. We'll head over there now and see if he can hook us up with something retro.

We finally got our hands on an old system, and it's actually pretty cool. It looks like it's from the early 2000s, but when we opened it up, we found that it has everything we need. The motherboard is a bit old-school, but we'll make it work.

The first thing we can remove is our modem, which we won't be needing anytime soon. With that out of the way, we have our motherboard ready to go. It's going to look hilarious with a 2080 TI graphics card on this tiny little motherboard.

We've got our processor installed, cooler in place, Optane memory, and RAM. Now it's time to figure out how to put everything together. We need to install the hard drive, power supply, and finally, the graphics card. This is not a high-end unit, but we should have enough power to handle some serious gaming.

We've made some progress, and it looks like this is going to work. Now we just need to figure out where to put everything in our retro case. That's the final step – and hopefully, the easiest one.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.And today, we're building theultimate sleeper gaming PC,and it's all thanks toour friends at Intelfor sponsoring this madness.The rules are very simple.We have today, which rightnow it is 10:40 a.m.,to build an entire sleeper gaming PC.And what does that mean?Well first of all, wewant to find the oldest,the most beige retro-lookingchassis we can,and load it up with someproperly high-end stuff.We're talking a ninth gencore i7, high-end graphics,Optane memory, the entire deal.The main idea here is that we have to havean overkill gaming PC that looks likeit's something from 1999, right?I don't want from the outside--There's no RGB, there's no huge exhausts,or anything like that.This should look like someold Windows XP system,but inside it can handle allthe latest games, editing,whatever we want to actually throw at it.We may want to go for an ITX supply,but until we find the case Idon't wanna commit to that,because ITX supplies are more expensivethan generally not.Yeah, well actually this one's not so bad.So we've got--Oh, it's got wifi built-in,as well as we can--Oh, does it have Optane though?It does support Optane, okay, excellent.Let's go ITX.I've got the smallest cooler I can find.Lets get our core i7and lets get our Optane.I'm just afraid that 1050'snot gonna be enough power.We need this to be awesome,but it's so hard to pick.Unless we were able to finda properly big, old case.If we do, I don't thinkit'll be a problem,but I'm just so nervous.I don't wanna commit to something.I want it as small as possible.What if we get a low-profile card,and that's our backup, but wetry to put the RTX 2080 TI in.- Yeah.- So, that was mostly successful.The main thing I'm worried about right nowis that we still don't have a case.There were a couple inthere that looked okay,but for the most part, theyall looked way too modern.The star of the show here thoughis definitely the i7 9700K.It's a ninth generation Intel processor.It is a full eight core chip,and on top of that, it is over clockable.Now, depending on the caseand everything else we choose,I'm not so sure how much wecan actually over clock it.But the whole idea here isthat I wanna have a systemwhich looks old and retroand lame on the outside,but can handle the latest games,video editing, streaming, whatever.Now we just have to find the case,and actually build it.Hey how's it going? I've gota little bit of a weird one.I'm looking for an older system,preferably one of the old beige towers.I'm mostly just needing it for the case,it doesn't actually have to be working.Would you happen tohave anything like that?Is this gonna be a problem?Do you think we'reactually gonna have a realhard time finding these old systems?'Cause he's right, most people justrecycle them at this point.- Yeah, I mean, no one really wants them.- You wouldn't happen to have any olderdesktop towers, preferablysomething beige?Dude, its one o'clock.We need to have time to get backto the office, and build this.If we don't get something inthe next hour, we're screwed.There's no way.- We'll be right over then.Alright, talk to you later.No problem.- Okay, that sounded promising.- So, I told him what we needed.He's just gonna give us the case.It might have some parts in it,but I think he might just give us onewith just the case, nothing else.- Oh, that's perfect.- Yeah.- Success.So Ken pulled this one out.We were able to find a computer shop,with what I think is the perfect case.So it's nicely beige.Up front you can see it's gotoriginally an Intel Celeron,got the old school powerbutton, even got a CD drive.Now we just have toactually build this thing.But this, I mean look at this.Imagine walking up, seeing this system,and inside you've got afull 2080 TI, a core i7.Ah, man, I really did not thinkwe were gonna pull this one out.I really thought that we hadbitten off more than we could chew.And so with that wehave everything we needto build the ultimate overkill sleeper gaming PC,which is a little bit of a mouth full.But now that I have asuper cool wardrobe change,I think I'm ready. Come on,how can I not wear this?It literally just showed up.Microsoft sent over awindows, ugly sweater.So I really don't knowhow old the system is.If I was to take a guess, Iwould say probably early 2000's,but the important thing is, is that it hasessentially everything weneed, or at least I hope so.As sad as it is to say,I think it's time to pullthe motherboard out andupgrade it with somethingjust a little bit more modern.The first thing we canremove is our modem,which I don't think we'll be needingany dial-up anytime soon.So with that, we have our motherboard.Damn, things have come a long way.Oh, front panel.This is gonna lookhilarious with a 2080 TI.This old system, and our i7 onthis tiny little motherboard.That looks a little interesting,but we will make it work.The important thing is that it doesmount up to our current spots.Look at that.Is this actually going to work?Did I decide not to do a terrible idea?So, with our processor installed,our cooler on here, ourIntel Optane memory,as well as our RAM.We're ready to see if this actually fits,although it should be fine.So with that, a big chunk of our buildis actually already ready.We have the motherboard, the core i7,pretty much everything weneed for the main components.Now we need to figure out howto put in our graphics card,our hard drive, our power supply.This is not a crazy,high-end unit or anything,but it should give us enough power,and importantly, it is semi-modular,which should be helpful becausecables might be a littletricky in this case.All right, three power supply screwsshould be enough to keep that in place.I do see a problem in that the backdoesn't quite match the front,but as soon as we put the side panel on,I don't think anyonewill be able to notice.Excellent, all right.Now, we've made some progress.So that looks pretty close,we still need to installthe hard drive, but I actuallythink it's safe to say now,this is going to work.Now, where are we going to put this?I believe that's a 3.5" drive bay.Oh, yeah.No problem, right like that.So with this, the ultimate sleeper PC,hopefully is ready to go.Fingers crossed.Oh, oh.'kay, I see fans spinning,graphics card spinning,it's making noises.'kay.Not a great sign.We'll be right back after a quickBIOS update of our motherboard.(mellow house music)So, after a little bit of updating,and downloading, and installing,the ultimate sleeper PC lives.And I can't tell you howhappy I am with this build.I mean, just look at it.I will admit, I may have slightlymisplaced the core i7 sticker.So to run you guys through the build,inside we've got proper components.We've got that core i79700k, full eight coresover clockable, the whole deal.We also have an Nvidia RTX 2080 TI,and that's all inside this chassis,which will be a little bit of a surprisefor most people, I expect.Oh, yeah.So we even got the case speaker to work.So, it's wired up to the motherboard here,so if you ever have a problemwith your super cool PC,you'll get some helpful beeps,just like 2001 intended.The crazy part of this build is thateverything works exactlylike you would expect.The power button works,that speaker works,the LEDs work for the hard drive.I mean the only thing that we don't havefully up and running is the CD drive,because I don't have anadapter to make it work.But I mean, I'm reallysurprised what we wereable to find in just a few hours,and actually make it work.The fact that we're gettingthis kind of performanceout of a PC that lookslike this, is awesome.I mean, look, we're maxingout our 1080P monitorat 185 frames per second, and that's fullultra settings and everything.It's so smooth.I love the idea that we were able to buildsomething that from theoutside looks so old-school,and so retro but on the inside, has allthe power to game, allthe power to stream.We can video edit, Imean, there's literallyalmost nothing we can't do with this PC.It has the power for pretty muchanything we throw at it, but the looksfrom straight out of 2001 (laughs)Ah!No.So that my friends, is theultimate sleeper gaming PC.We've got all theperformance and all the niceconveniences of a modern system,but as soon as we slide the side panel onfrom the outside, no one needs to knowthis is not a windows XP 2001 gaming boxthat has been sitting in someone'sgrandma's basement for 20 years.Anyway, huge shout-outto Intel for sponsoringthis crazy project.If you guys want, check out the core i7,or some of the other partsI included in this build.The links will be in the description.- Hey Austin,will you put that 92 millimeterfan that you didn't addin in the description?- Cooling's important, kids.