Introduction
Kudos to Daz, the judges, and the sponsors for once again giving us a sandbox to play in, and for promoting our addiction. Errr, hobby. Last year I modded a case from 2007, but for this year's competition I thought I'd go back a few more decades! My project will be a custom water cooled i7-8086k in an original IBM PC case. Since IBM is known as "Big Blue" and the build will be under water, and the PC used the first x86 CPU, I'm calling it "x86: Blue Water".
I am semi-retired, but somehow never seem to have enough time for everything that I want to do (I blame my wife for retiring and being home all the time)! I still tinker with some software ideas and of course I love modding, and have been building systems for fun for a long time. I am a big fan of MacGyver. By that I mean that I'll be improvising, recycling, working by hand without fancy software and high end automated tools, and making the best of what I have on a limited budget. So I'll be competing in the old school category vs unlimited open LOL. Good luck everyone, and have fun!
Some Background
In 1981 the first IBM PC was introduced. It utilized an 8086 processor with an 8 bit external data bus (this variant was called the 8088). And of course the 8086 was the origin of the x86 instruction set architecture.
In the mid 80's I bought a IBM PC clone with an 8088-2 (8 Mhz FTW! 20 meg HDD woot!), after having had a TI-99/4 and a Commodore 64. Those were the only complete computers that I ever bought (after that it was strictly incremental upgrades or custom builds for me!).
In the mid 90's, I rescued a 1981 IBM PC (model 5150) that my brother's office was throwing out. I sat on it for quite a while, but then I started to get the urge to do a modern custom build in it. Since I really didn't want to sacrifice a working piece of history, I resisted. To make sure I wouldn't succumb to temptation, I sold it off a few years ago. But the itch remained!
In 2018, Intel released the i7-8086k to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 8086 processor. Off and on since then I had been looking for a damaged/non-functional IBM PC that I wouldn't feel guilty about modding! Earlier this year, I found one on ebay. It is a 5160 model, the PC XT, released in 1983, with the same beige box appearance as the original.
Parts
I'll edit the parts list as I go. So far I have a handful of parts and some idea of what I want to do. I haven't begun yet, will have to acquire a few more things and flesh out my design. Hopefully I won't run out of time like last year! *****EDIT**** D'oh!
Components
i7-8086k CPU
Asus Strix Z370-G micro ATX mobo
Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB DDR4-3000 C15 RAM
Crucial P1 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD
Corsair AX860i power supply
EVGA GTX 1080Ti
Cooling
XSPC Dual Bay Reservoir
Liang D5 Strong pump
EK Supremacy EVO CPU block
Heatkiller IV GPU block
EK Cryofuel concentrate - Navy Blue
Swiftech MCR140-QP rad
XSPC EX240 rad
Materials
IBM 5160 (non functional) case
Fractal Design Define Mini C case (to be sacrificed for parts!)
Assorted sheet metal, some aluminum flat bar
Acrylic door knobs for feet!
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