What many people miss is that when you raise the case a little bit by adding higher feet you can pretty much remove the entire bottom of the case to get some massive airflow going. The problem of proper exhaust still remains but to pull air in this is a great way.

As a former auto tech and hot rod enthusiast of 32 years who now modifies PC's, thanks for the great tips here. A blower card is a good idea and generally can be found for lower cost too.  A Dremel is a must have for serious mods. Modifying the old PC cases is like, imo, transplanting a fuel injected 5.0 engine into like a Ford Granada.  Stealthy and unassuming. I have a few old machines that I'm going to be updating with modern hardware with help from this channel. One is a Dell GX 520 but it has a reverse motherboard layout so that one may be a bigger challenge, then the Dell Dimension 3000 I also have. I recently acquired a $20 thrift store HP Elite 800 G1 and turned it into a modest gaming rig, I7-4790. 16GB Ram, Evga GTX 1060 6GB, added a front 120mm fan (needed a fan extension cable) and painted the front cover blue. I'm having a blast in this hobby and channels like this are a great resource thank you.

As a small correction. Even a lot of modern cases, some would argue most of them, have utterly garbage airflow. While it might be slightly better than some older cases, many modern ones do it just as badly. From dust filters that kill static pressure to glass front pannels that choke off the fans. You'd be surprised at just how bad these cases are for your thermals.

For front airflow you can get vents with built in fans that go in the cd drive bays. Some were made for cooling hdds. They come in beige so they'll still match these old cases fine.

Hello sir! Thank you for the video! It has helped me gain more insight on how to give my sleeper the last budge to be completed!
Great explanation on how to give the case an proper airflow and how to give the panels extra ventilation! 🙏🏽 Have a great day

these are pretty good advices i didn't heard anywhere. thanks for your work i appreciate :)

I'm building one soon!!

Nice vid bro building a Sleeper PC when I found a Old PC Case

I built my sleeper out of a gateway 2000 full tower from 1997. I'm an older guy with a lot of tools and a career in the trades. I'd never attempt this sort of thing without at least some basic fabrication skills, but y'all do you.  I didn't build it necessarily to be a "sleeper", I just actually like the way computers from that era look. I knew I needed a new computer and I didn't want a modern case mucking up my vibe so I spent almost the same amount of money and like 15 hours of my limited time on earth making this thing work. To me it's totally worth it because there's a Pentium Pro sticker on my computer. Your milage may vary.

When there's no exhaust or intake on the case I use an 80mm holesaw so I can put some fans in there. The result looks very good

I used to work at a factory with CNC and lathes. I wonder if you walked into one and asked what they would charge you to put a bunch of those professional looking air holes in a case for you what they'd say. I regret never getting one of the guys to do it for me back when I worked there, but this was back when there wasn't really sleeper builds. It would've just been considered a cobbled together PC or something.

I have the same case you use first.. and it's real no fake sleeper

So I’m building my first pc and in an effort to budget I’m using a relatively old case (2013 gateway dx4870) I know it’s not retro or even close to retro but your guides have been the closest thing I can find to a clear and well worded way of describing what might one consider building a sleeper. I’m here asking if using my case (I can provide a link to a Newegg listing that shows the specs of the pc including pics of the case) is a good idea. I’m not that handy so I want to avoid crazy adjustments that’ll require tools I don’t have any experience using. I’m only really worried about thermals and airflow in the case. I’m only slightly worried about dimensions but I think I have everything considered correctly. I’m not worried about noise levels (having a first edition ps4 changes your perspective lol) so I don’t mind putting extra louder fans if it means I don’t have to spend more than I would on a different case. I want to know if I’m okay for using my current planned parts and some preintalled parts and if it’s even worth it to use my case over buying a new one. I can link a pc part picker list if you need more info and that newegg listing if you can’t find anything on the pc model I described.

I am working on a solution for this issue myself. I have an In-Win V508 series case. It shipped with single 3-pin 90mm exhaust fan and a top mounted PSU which actually sits in an 'attic' with the 2 5.25 bays. Originally, this case or it's immediate predecessor appears to have had one of those plastic cages for a front intake fan, but then InWin punched a hole through the bottom of the mounting area for a USB header. The interior of the case does have perforations for airflow, and the plastic front panel includes a series of wide slots here as well.

Although the 92mm attachment holes are blocked by this USB header, there are holes that look like they allow direct attachment of an 80mm fan. However, these holes are slightly undersized and don't accept standard fan screws. Before drilling or hacking anything, I am going to try a set of silicone rubber fan mounting 'nails' or whatever they are called. I already have an 80mm 3-pin fan salvaged from a damaged case to use here.

If these work, then I have a really cool 'sleeper' build with very little modding.

I can’t wait to build my sleeper from a 10 year old compaq I’m currently running windows10 on lol but I’m going to turn that old case into a micro atxvery soon I hope 😊

I have a used 800watt power supply with a 140mm fan that i used as a upper exhaust fan my sleeper PC is made from parts me and my brother upgraded from

blower cards are really better for older cases.  I have an older ATX case from 2005 and the airflow wasn't designed for newer updraft cards, so temps are a little higher than I'd like.

I still have my old Dell PC, same model that you show at 4:44 but with 2 optical drives instead of 1. Still working, was thinking on building a sleeper PC from it, but could it be better to leave it as it is, working?

Hi there, What type of paint do you use for the inside metal?

I have a old acer case that is about 14 years old and it has space for 3 maybe 4 fans if you include the cpu fan but im assuming the third fan area is just for the cone cpu fans