There was a “faulty motherboard and CPU” sitting around the lab, not needed for research (was going to be disposed of), so I got permission from my supervisor and took it.
Added a power supply and memory — and it booted into BIOS. Bought a HDD and installed the OS. (Originally an eMachines machine, so the recovery CD worked fine.)
It ran normally, so I decided to actually use it.
But buying a regular case felt boring and unnecessary, so I went to a home center, bought a storage box, modified it, and turned it into the PC enclosure.
The transparent box to the right of the monitor is the PC itself.
What do you think of this DIY PC? It has character, right?
The CD tray opens properly too. Yes.
Specs:
Celeron 2.3 GHz
Memory: 512 MB (DDR-PC3200)
HDD: 120 GB
CD-ROM/RW
Total cost: ¥16,000.
Not bad at all.
The audio and USB are a bit flaky though… well, it was flagged as defective, so that tracks.