Zenith 5-S-29 radio case mod explained in excellent, water-cooled detail
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 8th 2010 8:10AM
posted February 8th 2010 8:10AM
posted February 8th 2010 8:10AM
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"Losing gamers to consoles and casual users to laptops, it's left only with a loyal band of enthusiasts, but what a gorgeous bunch they are."
Off-topic.
IMO, somebody got to make an analog of that -
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/commenting-on-engadget-a-humans-guide/ - but for Engadget editors.
Something along the "how not to start flame war" lines... That of course if you really really want informative comments.
@Dummy00001 I find it hilarious that there is no flame war right now.
Shut yer yap sonny.
Wooden cases give me wood.
@inimicus
and splinters.
That's very cool but you'd think they could have done a better job at measuring the holes before drilling...that power supply sure looks crooked...
@dand
I see what you're seeing but I think that the appearance of crookedness is an illusion caused by the lighting, the camera angle, and even the woodgrain. A careful examination of the larger image in the linked article leads me to conclude that it's pretty straight.
@dand I also think that the power supply mount looks poorly done compared to the rest of the work that went into building this. He should go back and build an internal frame to hold the power supply, making the external plate unnecessary.
@CityZen Dude it looks much better in some of the other photographs. I originally thought the same thing.
Schwing! :D
(and desktops are very much alive outside of the pretender starbucks snobs busy taking up entire tables trying to look important, thank you.)
A "desktop" PC in the living room should neither be seen nor heard.
Never mind all of these dressed up ATX cases. How about we finally get a PC form factor that's not underdone but can still fit into the average AV cabinet? Something the size and shape of an S2 Tivo case could accomodate a lot of interesting stuff without the need to be encased in wooden camoflage.
@jedi And those certainly exist, and of all form factors from nettop, to shoebox, to ultra slim, to some that have the same form and finish as your audio receiver (with or without touchscreen displays up front), but certainly thats all a personal preference as beauty is in the eye of the beholder... just like how some dudes like their women thick or slim and loud or quiet or not even women at all.... :D
Otherwise the intentionally gaudy neon lit up extreme airflow clear sideglass "badical" cases housing quad-crossfire and overclocked thermaltake ultra extreme cooling towers wouldn't sell. =)
I actually have all three, a bigass lit up gaming rig with tri-crossfire 4870s and a quadcore @ 3.8Ghz, a silent half-height weaker core2duo 4TB HTPC and the weakest little supertiny Dell Zino HD... oh and a hidden headless tiny HP home server.
That is gorgeous.
... and no joke. It looks terrific!
I have to say I prefer this over steam punk.
Yeah steampunk's a bit too overdone these days, This meanwhile would look right at home in a 1950's radio cabinet, with a thick CRT for a screen
sad that the original radio he destroyed is probably worth more than the PC he built...
@Nicnac
If you read the source article you'll see that he built the case himself... an in cut and stained the wood. The knobs and dial are all replica parts.
*as in
@Nicnac Radios aren't worth much anyways. That one would have been worth about $50-70 if you bought it out of a shop and about 30-40 if you tried to sell it yourself.
The only ones that sell for the big bucks are obviously the collector ones.
@Nicnac I've seen dozens of them at consignment shops (indoor antiques mall!!!) for $8-$50 depending on age and condition. I picked up a lovely 1951 radio for $20 and gutted it for PC internals.
Very nice. Would be nice to have on the summerhouse. Then LG:s oldstyle TV as monitor.
I guess the mobo is using intel stock heatsink cooler since that psu won't provide adequate clearance for aftermarket ones. Can't overclock it.
@Lowest Ranks
Why guess when the cooling solution is clearly indicated in the text?
"He's managed to fit an entire water cooling setup inside, while leaving no detail undocumented in a thorough, pic-heavy walkthrough of the project."
@Lowest Ranks Water cooled
I guess I am in the minority here. I appreciate the work that went into it, and it is fine piece of mod-work. But I don't care for the look.
Really, machines like this should be relegated to the den or office with a proper (wired) network connecting them to low profile machines in the living room. However, many residences still aren't properly wired and a machine like this is a little more appropriate than a big black ugly cooler master. It may not suit everyone but it beats most of the alternatives.
Would be cool if the dial in the front were a CPU temp indicator or something.
His woodworking is beautiful. So many kudos for this piece of art.
I'm taking a differnet approach; building my son a middle-of-the-road PC into the casing from a 1951 Philips BX610A tube radio. 17" widescreen monitor replacing the speaker grille, Athlon64 X2 5600 processor, 3GB DDR2, Radeon 4650 video card, DVD burner.
I should have it done in a couple of weeks; plenty of time before I have to pack it up my BYOC spot at PAX East. :)
This is nice work. I see the comments about power supply mounting, but its in the rear and barely noticeable at that. I wish I would have thought of this, then I wouldn't have all those damn blue LEDs on my build.
I love antique electronics even though it have modern tech in their. Still say looks really good.
Too bad they didn't turn that center ornament on the front into a slot-loading DVD drive.
A lot of interesting comments.
Thank you for the complements and criticisms as well.
The power supply is straight. Your eyes are getting thrown off by the angle and the curved edge.
I probably should have made a way to mount the PSU internally, but by using an external piece, it allowed me to have the opening a bit larger than the PSU to accomodate another PSU should I change at a later date since PSUs vary a bit in size. I agree though that an internal mount would probably have looked better.
An original radio case of this model is hundreds of dollars as it is a collector's item, and an original 5-S-29 would not have fit the dimensions I needed for the cooling I wanted. I liked the look of the radio, so I built the case modeled after it.
As for the comment about the "encased in wooden camouflage," I say to each his own. My comp sits next to our oak roll top desk and makes a nice addition to our living room. My wife is very pleased with it, and when it all comes down to it, that's what really counts.