The first computer I built I used an antec 900, which was a good case for the time but lacking in a lot of modern design elementd. The antec 900 V2 had a lot of improvement including a black painted interior instead of powder blue it shipped with. I saw it come out, and decided I could do all of that by myself. I punched some holes in the motherboard tray with a metal file for cable routing and a spray painted the inside black with spray paint. It looked like shit. I had no idea what I was doing, But goddamn it was "mine" 🤣.

Yes, some people painted the cases of their 386/486 PCs way back in the 90s.

I've got a photo of such a PC that I've seen in a magazine.
It was a professional paint job, though.

Originally, the Commodore users had a case modding fetish, I believe. 😉

Edit: Here are two photos from said magazine.
Attached because of historic relevance. 😀

Yes, I painted my Inwin A500 case in the year 2000 with car paint in a black/green color scheme. It was quite satisfying back in the day to have a distinct pc case when you went to LAN parties and such.

I repainted some side panels just a few weeks ago. Id advise against painting over beige plastic, it kinda ruins it.

1I see a beige case
2And I want it painted black...

Seriously, I like beige. It is nostalgic to me .

That being said, I have seen some beautifully well done case paint jobs, mostly online and some abjectly horrible ones, mostly in pawn shops. What the difference in technique is, I do not know .

Then again, I have seen cars painted with rollers and even brushes... so some people clearly don't care, even for vehicles .

No. But I knew people in the 90s who tried. It was usually people who didn't want to invest in a case for a new build, so they usually painted their yellow 8088 or 286 cases jet black. I remember seeing a couple of IBM XT cases painted like that too.
Then there was this one jerk who painted a nice Enlight 386 case "fire engine red". It was pretty darn ugly.

Personally, I would only paint the metal top case to restore the original shine. It seems like it's too easy to scratch the paint off plastic.

Warlord wrote on 2021-08-08, 14:25:

I repainted some side panels just a few weeks ago. Id advise against painting over beige plastic, it kinda ruins it.

Ruined how exactly? I am planning to paint the plastic front as well to cover up a fracture at the top. Want to know if that's still a good idea.

I haven't but like most things there are good and bad examples. In the end it's really up to the owner of the system thinks wrt painting their systems.. Who really gives a flying fuck what others think about their systems.

It's a personal computer after all....😉

Yoghoo wrote on 2021-08-08, 17:15:

Warlord wrote on 2021-08-08, 14:25:

I repainted some side panels just a few weeks ago. Id advise against painting over beige plastic, it kinda ruins it.

Ruined how exactly? I am planning to paint the plastic front as well to cover up a fracture at the top. Want to know if that's still a good idea.

I think you just have to be careful when painting it. Just make sure you prep it and clean it properly and the temperature is right and to use clear coat and you'd probably be fine.

You could also use paint for the metal and plasti-dip for the plastic if you're worried about messing the plastic up and not being able to go back. Color matching might be a bit difficult though.

In ca. 2002 when case modding took off, I had the side and top panel of my beige box cut with a laser cutter (a friend's dad had access to one at work). I then painted both of them black and threw in two blue cold cathode tubes. I can dig out photos some time, but I even still have that case. Of course I had a custom water cooling system, too ... In retrospect I still think it looked really cool!
Most of my friends did something similar. My brother cut a big window in his side panel and then spay painted the whole case in bright orange.

During early 00s I got my white case (an old sturdy case, probably from the Pentium 2 era) painted by an acquaintance who is a mechanic.
Satin black in the outside, matte black inside.
It ended up looking very professional .

NTG2001 wrote on 2021-08-09, 06:01:

Yoghoo wrote on 2021-08-08, 17:15:

Warlord wrote on 2021-08-08, 14:25:

I repainted some side panels just a few weeks ago. Id advise against painting over beige plastic, it kinda ruins it.

Ruined how exactly? I am planning to paint the plastic front as well to cover up a fracture at the top. Want to know if that's still a good idea.

I think you just have to be careful when painting it. Just make sure you prep it and clean it properly and the temperature is right and to use clear coat and you'd probably be fine.

You could also use paint for the metal and plasti-dip for the plastic if you're worried about messing the plastic up and not being able to go back. Color matching might be a bit difficult though.

Depends on your repair skill. I had a case with a fracture on the left side of the bezel and on the top and I fix them so good using ABS slurry and wet sand that you cant tell there was ever a crack there. Then I retro brighted and It looked great.

See here. ABS plastic repair

PS it only works with ABS plastic.
If your case is ABS plastic you need to be aware some ingredients in some paints will melt your plastic.

haha I sure did.

Turned some beige boxes red and black.

I had plans for painting one of my Addtronics 7890A in some nice color but never got any longer than sanding the paint of. It got a quite nice rust/bare metal look now almost 20 years later 😀

I saw an ad for a free Addtronics 7896A a few days ago with a very period correct modding and really nice custom paintwork on the sides. To bad it was three hours away from me or I would have picked it up the same day. I really hope another entusiast gets it and keeps it as it is.

Warlord wrote on 2021-08-09, 15:00:

Depends on your repair skill. I had a case with a fracture on the left side of the bezel and on the top and I fix them so good […]
Show full quote

NTG2001 wrote on 2021-08-09, 06:01:

Yoghoo wrote on 2021-08-08, 17:15:

Ruined how exactly? I am planning to paint the plastic front as well to cover up a fracture at the top. Want to know if that's still a good idea.

I think you just have to be careful when painting it. Just make sure you prep it and clean it properly and the temperature is right and to use clear coat and you'd probably be fine.

You could also use paint for the metal and plasti-dip for the plastic if you're worried about messing the plastic up and not being able to go back. Color matching might be a bit difficult though.

Depends on your repair skill. I had a case with a fracture on the left side of the bezel and on the top and I fix them so good using ABS slurry and wet sand that you cant tell there was ever a crack there. Then I retro brighted and It looked great.

See here. ABS plastic repair

PS it only works with ABS plastic.
If your case is ABS plastic you need to be aware some ingredients in some paints will melt your plastic.

Thanks for that. Totally forgot about that acetone solution with ABS as I am mostly printing PLA and PETG with my 3D printer. Will try it soon!

I did .. Results .. I'll let ya'll decide 🤣

Cable management - not so much 😁

[Edit:] It held an ABIT BD7-II with a Northwood, so color scheme wasn't random 😀

Blue and yellow is definitely an interesting combination. Can't say I'm much of a fan though. The paint doesn't look very even, probably would've looked better with a more even spray.

NTG2001 wrote on 2021-08-11, 17:34:

Blue and yellow is definitely an interesting combination. Can't say I'm much of a fan though. The paint doesn't look very even, probably would've looked better with a more even spray.

It's not yellow, it's orange 😀 like Pentium 4 logos ..

But yeah, coverage of the blue spray is bad, but I probably didn't have to an extra coat 🤣

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-08-11, 18:11:

NTG2001 wrote on 2021-08-11, 17:34:

Blue and yellow is definitely an interesting combination. Can't say I'm much of a fan though. The paint doesn't look very even, probably would've looked better with a more even spray.

It's not yellow, it's orange :) like Pentium 4 logos ..

But yeah, coverage of the blue spray is bad, but I probably didn't have to an extra coat :lol:

Didn't realize my eyes were that bad lol, but I see the orange now. If I was going for a P4 themed paint scheme I'd probably make orange the primary color and blue the secondary. Seems more natural to me that way. But hey, maybe that's just me being biased from riding sun faded Honda dirt bikes from the 80s when I was a kid.