Many of us still remember those ivory towers that sat on our desks, whose classic beige slowly aged into a deep brown thanks to ultraviolet rays and the bromine in the plastic. Reddit user "Tylinol" kept one of those towers for years, and a couple of weeks ago decided to make some modifications to install modern hardware inside. The result is rustic, effective, and absolutely fascinating.
Anything can serve as a computer case with enough courage. However, the beige and white towers with the green LED at the front hold a special place in our memories because we basically grew up with them. The introduction of the ATX specification and greater aesthetic demands turned those cases into permanent residents of recycling centers and landfills, but they haven't disappeared completely. In fact, it's quite common to find online projects that bring these beasts back to life with complex paint jobs or precision laser cuts. What we have here today is much simpler, but no less interesting.
The Serendipity Project
Reddit user "Tylinol" rescued this 386 computer when one of his neighbors was about to throw it away. The neighbor used the term Serendipity to describe the situation, and Tylinol used that word as the project name in his honor. The original system lasted for several years until the great Tennessee flood of 2010 claimed it. Completely covered in rust, the case received a general cleaning, the necessary cuts to install a modern ATX motherboard, and most interestingly: a temperature controller based on Arduino hardware, connected to the front LED. As for powering on, that task was handled by the Reset button for compatibility reasons (the old power switch isn't a momentary button but a switch that connects directly to the AT power supply).
Inside the Build
The computer features an Intel Core i5-6500 (4C/4T, 3.2 GHz), 8 GB of DDR4 memory, a Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 motherboard, an EVGA Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card, a solid-state drive, a Vantec Tornado fan, and an EVGA Supernova G2 power supply. A trained eye probably already noticed that Tylinol decided to keep some of the rust on the case. Personally, I would have applied the "sanding and converter diplomacy" to every mark, but I suppose a little "patina" isn't bad.
