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- A Redditor found an unrepairable old CRT monitor in e-waste
- They decided to recycle it by using the monitor as a case for their PC build
- The resulting rig is built around a Ryzen 7600X CPU plus an RX 6900 XT GPU, uses a laptop panel for the front screen, and runs Cyberpunk 2077 smoothly
If left-field DIY with PCs is your bag, then you'll like a new project that has popped up on Reddit, which consists of a full rig jammed inside an old monitor.
Wccftech spotted this intriguingly different PC build, whereby the innards of the rig have been put together inside a hefty old CRT monitor, as shown off by Redditor 'Discipline_Great'.
The Redditor explains that the monitor was discovered in local e-waste, but it was shattered, and the internal components were "partly burned beyond repair", so about the only usable thing was the chassis.
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So, why not turn that into a PC? The Redditor did exactly that, using an AMD Ryzen 7600X processor plus a Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card, alongside 16GB of DDR5 RAM in an MSI B650 Gaming Plus motherboard.
The cooling is provided by six 120mm fans, and the display itself at the front is a 17.3-inch laptop panel (offering a 1440p resolution and 165Hz refresh rate).
Analysis: a novel anti-theft deterrent indeed
Some of the fellow inhabitants of Reddit wonder why on earth the original poster has done this, to which the obvious answer is: why not? It's a fun project, and one that harks back to the days when all-in-one PCs actually looked like this (rather than flat panels), such as the original iMac (from the previous century, of course).
The creator has also tried to make it look the part in terms of nostalgia, with the PC running Nobara Linux (a gaming-focused spin on the Fedora distro) using a Windows XP-like theme for more of a retro appearance.
Replying to one of the 'but why?' comments, the maker observes: "No one would steal it, and it's something different." I guess looking like a relic from the past, thieves probably wouldn't bother with the PC (and I expect any burglar would think twice about their back health when first setting eyes on this lump of a computer, too — until they picked it up).
To be fair, some of the criticisms on Reddit about the cooling are valid — looking to the longer-term, there needs to be more thought about the airflow, and the internal layout is a little clunky and untidy overall. But hey, have you tried to fit a motherboard and a full set of PC components inside a monitor chassis? I'm guessing it's far from easy.
As for the gaming chops of this defiantly squat, retro PC build, we're told that it can run Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p ultra with ray tracing (on medium) at around 90 to 100 frames per second. Not shabby at all.
➡️ Read our full guide to the best graphics card
1. Best overall:
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
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