I have the same problem, which is why my 286 is still sitting naked on my desk. I probably will go the ATX way. not really lit up, but with windowed case, so i can see all my nice vintage hardware. That is at least some upside of this mess...

Hamby wrote:

I've been looking around, and have had a hard time finding AT cases for my AT class motherboards. Most of the ones I find on eb […]
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I've been looking around, and have had a hard time finding AT cases for my AT class motherboards.
Most of the ones I find on ebay are $75-$100+, usually w/o a PSU, and then with another ~$50 for shipping. This puts them in the same range as vintage, (often non-working) 386 systems.

I've considered buying an ATX case and modifying it, but they start out at about the same price range, and don't have a retro look (though I am a bit tickled at the idea of a lit-up coolermaster tower case with all the fancies, housing a 286....)

Anyone know of a source for relatively inexpensive AT desktop style cases?

Lucky you.
You obviously live in the US.

Since I most likely would need to get something shipped from the US, you can imagine shipping costs more than the case itself.

Your best bet is to be patient and just find a complete "vintage" computer. I found a PMMX233 rig in a baby AT case (turbo display and all) and ended up paying around $85 after shipping for the whole thing on ebay. That's what became my 486, and if I ever feel less lazy I could sell the socket 7 board and some of the extraneous things (scsi enclosure, dual pcmcia card reader, etc) it contained and recover most if not all of the expense.

I agree with BeginnerGuy - that's the only way I was able to find an AT case, they're otherwise just not sold. It's pretty sad but I think the scrappers that sell off parts mostly just throw away the motherboards and cases, creating an artificial scarcity.

Eventually I gave in and bought a whole Pentium MMX system for £70 just to get the case I wanted. I have yet to sell anything though, the pentium motherboard might get used at some point 😊

That's just ebay though, maybe flea markets are better? Or befriend someone that works in an electronic waste center

ewaste around here gets scavenged by the ebay flippers before my alarm clock even goes off 😜. Funny you also bought a pentium machine. I think that's the last bastion of "affordable" AT hardware. Mine came with a nice AT/ATX board too, I'd love to put it to use but I'm out of room 😁.

AT era hardware is just becoming scarce. I tossed my cases and boards in the 90s and just kept small containers of CPUs, RAM, sound cards, and some misc like an idiot. Your average Joe Schmo 1994-1996 internet adopter also bought things like Gateway 2000s rather than generic AT cases with turbo displays.

The lack of cases has me contemplating about ditching some of my AT boards as the cost to build them into complete systems is just too much but ultimately converting ATX cases is the only acceptable option cost wise. Still annoyed with the need to buy adapters and misc stuff.

Those scrappers ultimately are costing people like ourselves a lot of money through unnecessary scarcity.

Try looking on Amibay. I have bought 8, 4 each from two sellers. There are a few left at a decent price (I paid around 130€ shipped internationally for the last 4).

AT cases are still relatively easy to find if you ask around locally, I've accumulated quite a surplus and need to start building systems into them... eBay prices are ridiculous.

Of course, I'm in the US where there is still a lot of hardware "in the wild," so European markets may vary.

I've sold about 50:50 US:EU. Still have around 10 to 15 left but need to decide if I want to sell them. As it's getting very hard to find any more around here and in the end I'll need some for my own builds when I get to it 🤣

It took me a very, very, VERY long time to find an AT case for my childhood 486 rebuild, but admittedly I was making an already-difficult task even more difficult by looking for a single specific style of AT case, as opposed to settling on "any case will do as long as it's AT". In the end I was able to find one, but just like many others have already stated may be necessary, I ended up having to buy a complete K6-233 system and strip it to get the case I wanted. So, more likely than not, buying a complete system will be the only reasonable way to find an AT case at a semi-decent price, depending on your budget and personal definition of what a "semi-decent price" is, unless you just happen to be lucky and live someplace where old computers are still ubiquitous enough to find in the trash or for local sale (I'm apparently not). 😜

Luckily, the motherboard from that K6 system is an AT/ATX combo board, so I was able to just shove those parts into a generic spare ATX case I had on hand and set it up as an NT4 box for me to play around with. Now if only I could find a proper AT blanking plate to cover the gaping port hole on the back of it. 🤣

AT cases in general can still be found locally if you put out feelers for very old machines. Desktop AT are hard to find and might need some repainting if you do find them. NOS are very hard to find and are pretty much all on ebay. If you want specific designs then it will get costly.

Early ATX cases had AT style mounting and I/O plates as an option ( at least they are beige). AT power supplies can still be purchased.

I try not to keep extra cases around because I end up stuffing something into them anyway then I have less room in the basement. Sometimes you just have to gut something and reuse a case.

For my Pentium 1 build, I ended up taking the ATX route when it came to its case, since my motherboard is one of those AT/ATX combo boards I thought it would be a good idea for reducing the cost. I was lucky enough to find a cheap beige ATX case with an included AT backplate on eBay last year.

Nowadays even beige ATX cases are hard to come by and most newer cases lack AT mounting holes, so depending on whether it must be beige or if you're willing to accept the idea of housing an old system in a new case, finding a case can be challenging regardless of your choice of motherboard form factor.

Short of taking chances with eBay, you can try putting up a wanted ad on Craigslist (or a similar site depending on your country), keeping an eye out at thrift stores and flea markets (depending on your state's e-waste policies), or finding one at a recycling center (again, depends on your state's e-waste policies).