brostenen wrote:

I am not into straight era correct cases. I just feel that cases from before 2000 are the best for P-III and down.
Especially the thick heavy ATX cases, made from steel, and not the light flimsy aluminium cases.

My favorite case aming many retro and newer is the Elan Vital T10 so yes I agree on huge heavy durable ATX towers being the best for pre-P4. Hard to find in good consition or new though.

Out of curiosity what modern cases are there that look like they are from the late 90s or early 2000s?

Ha, I recognise the case in the start post, I have sold a few hundred of those back in the day. Those floppy tabs would break even when new. You might use one of these: but they're probably just as hard to get as another old case.

I personally prefer the look of an old case, but I have been lucky enough to collect more than a few over the years. If you don have access, a modern case is just as functional. Probably even more functional, because some old cases are just horrible to work on. All those ATX tower cases with the PSU vertical right next to the PSU for example.

Phil's 486 VLB system is gorgeous!

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Love that black CRT, goes really well.

That photo was taken about a year ago. The CRT since died, but lives on in this photo.

I use industrial cases as they are sturdy, flexibles, look period correct even if they're sometines from the 00's. The only rule I have is not to use cases with a floppy drive "overlay" like yours, because IMO it doesn't look good at all (I prefer straight surfaces, not rounded ones) and tend to break (like in your case).

clueless1 wrote:

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Love that black CRT, goes really well.

That photo was taken about a year ago. The CRT since died, but lives on in this photo.

Did you get rid of it? Could well just be the LOPT gone, could be quite fixable.

sketchus wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Love that black CRT, goes really well.

That photo was taken about a year ago. The CRT since died, but lives on in this photo.

Did you get rid of it? Could well just be the LOPT gone, could be quite fixable.

Yeah, dumpster. 🤣. I have quite a few CRTs and this one wasn't one I used regularly anyway, so I needed to make room.

I don't think it's bad to put retro system in modern case. In the first it is the practical result.

My favorite case is LIAN LI A71F. It has a lot of space at its bottom to plug ISA riser in the lowest ISA slot with ISA cards mounted below vertically.

After ordering two new atx cases the other day I stumbled across a beige P3 era tower case that really resembles the Elan Vital T10 but isn't, and bought it.. This is the last time I swear.

What about modern hardware in old cases?

I never used a fancy case with a windows, LEDs, etc, as too much bling gets on my nerves, but to show off my retro builds I would make an exception.

personally I only use new cases 😒 one of the biggest problems I faced was the front USB ports not having a connection to the older mainboards but I installed a PC USB controller that bypassed that and now I looooove my vintage PC 😀

To me a big part of this whole retro hardware movement is to rediscover things we have lost in the name of progress - programs that no longer work, functions and IO that has been lost, thing like that. I do think case design and aesthetic IS part of that, but definitely not the entire picture. If you use a modern case you're still getting a huge chunk of that retro experience.

Heck I remember back in the late 90s people would often just hide the noisy tower on the floor anyway. There's also tons of perfectly good old PCs that end up in e-waste because they have generic ugly cases - why not put those components to some use in a nice modern case instead? I think it's a great way to preserve the past by keeping it in relevant looking hardware.