Idea for your next build? Someone stuffed a gaming PC inside an old Sony Trinitron CRT monitor
In the earlier days of PC gaming, before flat screens became the norm, bulky CRT monitors were all we had. Now you can fit an entire gaming PC, including the display, inside of one—like a modern version of the original iMac.
This nostalgic creation comes from PC modder János Kerekes, who hollowed out an old Sony Trinitron CRT monitor and used it to house a water-cooled gaming PC with a 24-inch display.
János told Custom PC that the build was a request from a friend who owns a company that sells monitors, and wanted him to turn an old CRT monitor into a retro all-in-one PC.
The specs on the Oazis ROG aren't going to blow you away (these components were chosen because of their size, not performance), but what impresses me is that the modder managed not only to find the space to build out a Mini-ITX gaming rig inside of a Sony Trinitron, but also managed to install water-cooling blocks with custom hard tubing.
Perhaps even more impressive is getting a 24-inch LCD to sit flush on the CRT's monitor frame. There are two power supplies inside the case to power both the PC and the display.
János added air slits around the PC for better airflow and neat red/black ROG accents around the monitor. The added windows around CRT were cut out so you could see the components. Speaking of which, János had to custom-build the mounts for all the components, including water-cooling.
He went with hard tubing to "create a harmonious arrangement between the tubes and the hardware."
Here is what's inside the Oazis ROG:
- CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K
- Case: Sony GDM-FW900
- GPU: Asus R9 Nano
- Storage: 240GB Samsung SSD
- Memory: Kingston 16GB HyperX Predator DDR4 2666MHz
- Motherboard: Asus Maximus VIII Impact
- PSU: BitFenix Fury Gold 750W
- Cooling: EK-FB Asus M8i , EK-FC R9 Nano, EK-XRES 100 DDC 3.2 pump res combo, EK-CoolStream PE 240, EK hard tubing, EK hard tubing fittings
The radiator and PSU mounts were custom-made from aluminum sheets. Since CRTs were front-heavy because of the glass, there had to be a consideration of weight distribution, or you risk having the monitor tip over.
As you can imagine, the hardest part of the build, according to János, was gutting the 50kg monitor, which he admitted took "a little bit of brute force," and integrating the Asus display's control panel inside of the Sony monitor's control panel.
He said he was "working on this project for a month with no days off." Dedication.