For the first time in an about a year since i moved into new apartment, i had day to organize some stuff a little.
I have one full room for all electronics related (Every Dexter must have their Laboratory at home, don't they?) and i have a full cellar box just for electronics as well. So i had now the first iteration to organize lesser needed stuff into cellar and more frequently needed stuff into my lab.

I have too much stuff... I only want my 3 retro machines that i already have, a "testbench" with pentium 2 or 3 and all kinds of ISA sound cards. Everything else i have just needs some more time to put together and sell to someone who is missing exactly what i have. I wonder, when i'm going to have that time?

I think the hardest thing you will find is trying to locate a good home for the cases. They are expensive to ship and it can be difficult to find someone locally on the classifieds. You may have better luck shipping them if they are already "pre-built" but individual parts are easier to store and easier to sell.

Despite having a large collection, I try very hard to keep things tidy and avoid anything too large.

I live in a small apartment so collecting cases and CRTs is not possible. Or at least unrealistic for me.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-10, 05:28:

I got a VA 503+ sitting in the box waiting for a modded K6-2+, still haven't got a nice case for it yet. […]
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BitWrangler wrote on 2022-03-10, 05:02:

Nice, if you figure out how to save out the PCR file or whatever, I'd be interested. I have an M571 that's gonna get one of those K6-2+ modded to 3+ annnnd it could use the help. (Not my fastest super 7 btw)

I got a VA 503+ sitting in the box waiting for a modded K6-2+, still haven't got a nice case for it yet.

Im thinking of something like this

s-l1600.jpg

Only issue I have is .. well finding a place for something this dang big 😁

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 10:06:

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it. […]
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I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it.

The fact that the one you've picked out has two 2.5" bays is very attractive. You can put dual floppies or a floppy and a card reader.

vintage-gateway-2000-p5-133-gaming_1_b22c3ecb1f017c643f30daa603765ce3.jpg

vintage-gateway-2000-gaming-computer_1_bbd48d7605d8bd46196f0bd17a36756c.jpg

The trick is to buy two, stand them 6ft apart, put an old door on top, ta-daaa, extra desk/bench 🤣 ... Doesn't do anything for floor space problems though 🙁

I have a couple of behemoths of this ilk. Got them in early oughts when ppl just wanted rid of them. At that time too, there was a dearth of cheaper used ATX or cheap new ATX, so one of them got ATX io hole hacked out of it. Then it got an A7V, XP 1700 and GF2, but never ran that much. The other one is still AT... think it needs the larger format AT supply to fill it's hole up.

Possibly if the P2B dual board is got working, the A7V might find itself dispossessed. Can't think of what to do with the other though, K6-X system don't seem quite right. Maybe I could revive the retro-tweener server/disk array plan, with an AT BX board I have (PC Partner) .. I had/have a mid tower with a P2-99 (ZX) halfass set up like that, but it hasn't been powered in a while, so probably needs going through.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 10:06:

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it. […]
Show full quote

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it.

The fact that the one you've picked out has two 2.5" bays is very attractive. You can put dual floppies or a floppy and a card reader.

vintage-gateway-2000-p5-133-gaming_1_b22c3ecb1f017c643f30daa603765ce3.jpg

vintage-gateway-2000-gaming-computer_1_bbd48d7605d8bd46196f0bd17a36756c.jpg

Me too. I've got a weak spot for big towers. I have 2 atm, both are in storage since I have no space to actually put them anywhere. One is an AOpen tower (sorry, no pic) and the other a no-name brand but its my favorite and I got it NOS about 2 years ago or so. It has a massive 200W AT PSU in it! Unfortunately, no 2.5" drive bay but I can use a 5.25" to 2.5" drive bay adapter for that (sorry, bad photo, odd angle etc).

Over recent months, an oldschool aluminium Lian Li full tower case kept being put up for cheap sale near me. It pained me to watch the $1 auction lapse over and over, knowing that I wanted it, but also being equally certain it'd be an ongoing inconvenience forever. I don't mind when my PC Part inconveniences are RAM sized, soundcard sized, or even motherboard sized, but giant shipping container/aircraft hangar -sized full tower cases are a tough one when your available space is already compromised by decades of PC detritus.

I'd have not been able to resist regardless, if not for the fact they'd ruined the side panels with an awful window mod.

I used to have a case where the side panels was one huge piece of sheet metal that wapped around the top and down both sides. It was the most annoying thing ever to open up. And if you messed up on sliding it back on then one of the panels would bow out.

This case also had a very large protruding push button that was of the "instant-off" variety. So it I happened to bump it then the thing would shut off in an instant. As much as I love the look and feel of ginormouse toggle switches, soft power is a gift.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 21:11:

I used to have a case where the side panels was one huge piece of sheet metal that wapped around the top and down both sides. It was the most annoying thing ever to open up. And if you messed up on sliding it back on then one of the panels would bow out.

That's most cases prior to '95 , can't quite remember the year most cases switched.

Maybe an ATX thing, since that puts most of your connections off to the left side, whereas they were kinda in a center zone all coming from cards before, making it less snaggy to get a full wraparound case top off vs having them near an edge... Anyway, can't think that I've got any ATX with a wraparound, apart from a desktop format one, and an ITX, all sidepanel type.

Some HP Pavilions of ~the late 90's are wrap-overs. That smoky grey plastic top thing - world's most overcapitalized disc holder, aka We Designed A Computer To Hold Your Five CDROM Discs - merely sits atop a pedestrian beige top+sides piece.

An Acer OEM machine I have from around 2000, a Celeron in the 700-800Mhz area, is also a wrap-over case. An ugly one, with a massive Acer logo dominating the front, rendering it pretty much crap for re-use! 😀

The Duron I remember building around 2000 - done on a small budget - also needed to have a cheap wrap case, because to have side panels or motherboard trays was not part of the lowest price offerings at that time, I recall.

Wrap over type cover, on early Aopen HX45 case. Still in use using Haswell i5 family computer.

Putting on and off is not a problem.

Cheers,

Some are a lot worse than others, in practice. Some slot on nicely. Some fight you the entire way, being determined that at least one tab should remain unlatched.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 10:06:

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it. […]
Show full quote

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it.

The fact that the one you've picked out has two 2.5" bays is very attractive. You can put dual floppies or a floppy and a card reader.

vintage-gateway-2000-p5-133-gaming_1_b22c3ecb1f017c643f30daa603765ce3.jpg

vintage-gateway-2000-gaming-computer_1_bbd48d7605d8bd46196f0bd17a36756c.jpg

I used to have one of these

Unfortunately a few years ago, I accidently broke the front of the case and it was damaged beyond repair so I ended up getting rid of the case.

I regret it.

This was back when case molds had really character. Now everything is either black or RGB. Gross.

Bring back beige!

I was looking at modern cases and every single one I found was just awful.

I honestly don't ever see me replacing the Corsair 760T my 5950x rig is in.

ODwilly wrote on 2022-03-11, 03:29:

I was looking at modern cases and every single one I found was just awful.

Need to go on change.org and make a petition to chassis manufacturers... "Pull your collective fingers out yer duffs, and make some friggin' normal cases again, it's hard enough finding decent vintage ones without modern computer builders going for them out of pure desperation." 🤣

ODwilly wrote on 2022-03-11, 03:29:

I was looking at modern cases and every single one I found was just awful.

I like the Fractal Meshify cases, mostly because they have amazing airflow which is all important with modern CPUs and GPUs being heat pumps, it does mean you need a more often cleaning routine for them due to the extra airflow.

I also still have my HAF 932 Advanced with the three 200mm fans in it ..that thing even today still beats most cases and I would use it but its limited in what rads you can shove into it and it doesnt have USB 3.1.

Got me looking again now...

Yeah, there's some choices around, don't have to have something that looks like a Borg cube... you can get a Borg sphere instead... https://www.performance-pcs.com/chassis/water … ed-edition.html

Heh, but there's choices in Uber-nice https://www.performance-pcs.com/chassis/midto … ult40138-d.html

and choices in Uber-cheap https://www.performance-pcs.com/chassis/midto … tx-6066-c9.html
That wouldn't be bad for whacking Socket A thru AM2 into, or 478, 775, or N (Where N is the random number intel pulled out their butt for given year) .. PSU may even work. (Ooopsie, sorry for the tease, it's out of stock.)

I don't know this place by the way, they seem to have a pretty good selection though.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-03-11, 04:13:

Got me looking again now... […]
Show full quote

Got me looking again now...

Yeah, there's some choices around, don't have to have something that looks like a Borg cube... you can get a Borg sphere instead... https://www.performance-pcs.com/chassis/water … ed-edition.html

Heh, but there's choices in Uber-nice https://www.performance-pcs.com/chassis/midto … ult40138-d.html

and choices in Uber-cheap https://www.performance-pcs.com/chassis/midto … tx-6066-c9.html
That wouldn't be bad for whacking Socket A thru AM2 into, or 478, 775, or N (Where N is the random number intel pulled out their butt for given year) .. PSU may even work. (Ooopsie, sorry for the tease, it's out of stock.)

I don't know this place by the way, they seem to have a pretty good selection though.

I mean they are great options for older builds that still require 5.25 bays, new machines dont have much use for such bays.

I do like the second one you posted tho, its very slick looking, the first option is for places where you have zero dust in the air .. like a lab or something, looks very nice but has zero practicality for a normal person.

Last case is .. well .. it reminds me of a super tacky P4 machine, you know the machine . .it hides out at the back of lan parties and looks like $2 dollar trash but goes like the stink and makes every one jealous .. oh and it usually has Fluro green lighting.

Finally got myself a hands on a machine with OEM wallpaper etc. backed up some Time computers wallpaper. would like to backup the logo in the my computer details part but have to figure that out