The bottom one has a late 90's/early 2000's look so I'd say the first one for a 486 and the second one for the pentium ^^

Frankly, I don't see a whole lot of difference: both look fairly "Pentium" to me, both don't have a turbo LED. So maybe the internal layout would be the deciding factor. The P166 seems to have a lot more going on (SCSI, Voodoo, etc), so maybe I'd put it in a bigger case.

Well. The difference is that the MidiTower has a keylock and it has room for an extra 5.25 inch drive and an extra 3.5 inch internal drive above the psu. The Midi tower is a bit more grey than the more beige/white BabyAT tower. Other than that, they are the same internally.

jheronimus wrote:

Frankly, I don't see a whole lot of difference: both look fairly "Pentium" to me, both don't have a turbo LED. So maybe the internal layout would be the deciding factor. The P166 seems to have a lot more going on (SCSI, Voodoo, etc), so maybe I'd put it in a bigger case.

The MidiTower, has a yellow turbo led and a turbo button. Though none of them has a 2 or 3 digit number-led for displaying the frequency. As the Pentium board does not have turbo button-feature, I lean towards keeping the dx2-80 in the MidiTower and build the Pentium166 in the small BabyAT tower. On the other hand, the Midi tower provides better space for air circulation. I am thinking on this as a choice between a working turbo button or better cooling.

The top case looks a bit older and judging from the parts you intent to use, thermal management doesn't seem like it will be decisive here. You could also opt to use the PSU with the most airflow for your Pentium 1 rig. Or do both.
The larger size of AT cases don't seem like they matter that much when it comes to thermal management, the space above the PSU and at the height of the top optical drive is a bit like dead space when it comes to air circulation.

Personally I'd be tempted to use the top case for the 486 and the bottom one for the Pentium.

Do any of these 2 cases have a front fan place thingy?

Tetrium wrote:

Do any of these 2 cases have a front fan place thingy?

Nope. None of them has it.

brostenen wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

Do any of these 2 cases have a front fan place thingy?

Nope. None of them has it.

In that case it shouldn't matter as much, as both have equally "good" air circulation 😜
You can let other factors be decisive 😀

I think I have decided. I want to keep the dx2-80 the way it is.
Really apreciate the input I got from you all. Thanks.

yw 😀