To me the desktop non tower cases are the most striking. I never really saw why everything went.to towers. The larger ones look like space heaters or ozone generators to me.

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:35:

I never really saw why everything went.to towers. The larger ones look like space heaters or ozone generators to me.

Expandability and thermals I imagine.

You can fit a lot more inside a tower case than a desktop, along with better airflow options.

Perfect idea.
Until you realise how much it would cost to put some of those old cases back into production, and what the cost of purchase would be to the buyer.

I mean you aint talking about repurposing old server hardware, you are talking about a new production like of a bespoke item that has a very limited scope of customers.

If you talk somebody into it Ill have the 4th case down.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:40:

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:35:

I never really saw why everything went.to towers. The larger ones look like space heaters or ozone generators to me.

Expandability and thermals I imagine.

You can fit a lot more inside a tower case than a desktop, along with better airflow options.

I've seen some fairly large desktop cases. Granted there are limits. And many towers are quite small.

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:35:

To me the desktop non tower cases are the most striking. I never really saw why everything went.to towers. The larger ones look like space heaters or ozone generators to me.

The switch to LCD monitors might have contributed to it. A desktop case would double as a stand for your monitor. When monitors got smaller and lighter, you could stick them on top of something less robust.

weedeewee wrote on 2023-09-23, 14:17:

HanSolo wrote on 2023-09-23, 13:36:

PcBytes wrote on 2023-09-23, 13:32:

Or... they could be done similar to the transitional era of the AT-ATX cases.
Y'know, the ones where you had the PSU mounted above the CPU.

Well, then a similar AT case could be built even smaller 😀

You must be having baby AT in mind, since AT isn't that small.

That's correct. I only ever had Baby-AT boards, so Full-size AT is somewhat exotic to me 😀

aries-mu wrote on 2023-09-23, 16:45:

I mean, yes they are not full-towers, but still mid/mini-towers. Are you sure that ATX mobos won't fit in those?

Those small towers only have room for a Baby-AT board which is about as long as Micro ATX. You can see it on the backside when the hole for the keyboard connector sits directly below the PSU. The ATX backplate would be where the PSU is.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-09-24, 00:21:

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:35:

To me the desktop non tower cases are the most striking. I never really saw why everything went.to towers. The larger ones look like space heaters or ozone generators to me.

The switch to LCD monitors might have contributed to it. A desktop case would double as a stand for your monitor. When monitors got smaller and lighter, you could stick them on top of something less robust.

The desktop case was the norm in the 80s into the 90s, it was then the tower shape took over.
Until then the desktop shape did indeed double up as a place to set down your monitor, thus saving a lot of space, the astetic of the tower took over though. Im not quite sure why, I think it was because it was seen as more modern than the desktop case was.
The switch from desktop to tower case happened long before the LCD monitor was even an idea.

My first tower was a 486, my monitor stand were speakers. Maintenance and upgrades are much easier without a monitor on it 😀

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-09-23, 19:33:

But that's a fantasy scenario that ignores the realities of manufacturing, logistics, and supply and demand. It's akin to asking me if I'd buy a Ferrari if it was available for the price of a Honda.

A Ferrari? Man, I'm talking about a very simple case, just a retro plastic bezel in the front, and then everything inside the most simple and cheap possible structure. How can we compare it to a Ferrari case when there are cases with all the possible decorations and kinkles and trinkets around for up to even 500 dollars or more?
I'd tell industry: just get the simplest ATX case's frame of that size and throw a retro plastic bezel in front of it.

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 20:42:

So no I wouldn't pay anymore them 30 usd or so for a beige case. I miss some of my old cases for sure.

Come on man! Forget everything I said.
We're on Vogons Old Hardware. Have we ever been able to find an old case on the retro market for that price?

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2023-09-23, 20:46:

In the early 2010's, Asian companies were offering reproductions of the older desktop case designs from the 80's/90's PC market. I saw a bunch of them on Newegg, way back when.

😳 😳 😳 OH MY GOSH GOODNESS!!! Why didn't I notice that earlier?????
Were they IDENTICAL to any of the above???

carlostex wrote on 2023-09-23, 21:35:

Isn’t 3D printing an option?

Indeed!!!

darry wrote on 2023-09-23, 21:59:

To me, the most realistic scenario would be to adapt an existing ATX model case to hold an AT board and design 3D-printable front bezels to mimic iconic AT ones in a way that fits on chassis of the ATX case. A bit ot crinkle finish beige paint on the sides and it's done.

😳 😳 😳 ↑ ↑ ↑ Dude!!!!! YES!!!!! Thanks!

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:05:

And if my opinion means much, some of those cases pictured aren't necessarily all that. Beauty in the eye of the beholder. I found a Cyrix based pc somewhere, on the road probably, and it was plainer then any of the above. Loved that piece of crap. Don't know why exactly. It was free, it worked right up to the point when it stpped. It was tiny and cutesome. Wouldn't mind findimg another 1. I mentioned it was free?

Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The question is: how many beholders?

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:10:

The idea isnt that far off from reality...
https://www.checkmate1500plus.com/

Oh my gosh! Thank you for showing me this!!! Worth following!!!!

igna78 wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:21:

I love the old cases, desktop, middle-tower and tower. I love the MHz display in the front of the case. And YES, I’ll pay for a modern-old case!

Yes!!! We're on the same page brother! 😀

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:27:

Just a question to all . How are the tower forms called in your country? […]
Show full quote

Just a question to all .
How are the tower forms called in your country?

I know them as Mini Tower, Midi (or Mid) Tower and Big tower.
Here (in germany) Mini has 2 5 1/4 bays , mid 3 or 4 and big 5+.

For me a PC can and should be as big as possible 😁

I think only the steel used in one of my big tower cases would cost like 300 Euros today 😁

In Italy they were called:

Minitower (very very rarely "mini torre")
Mid- or Midi-tower (never heard of an Italian equivalent)
Tower or Torre almost equally

Oh wait wait! Actually, now you just opened a deep-lost drawer in my mind! What have you just made me remember! Sometimes (in case of some very big towers, puns unintended), we used to call them "big tower", but only in English. I am not aware of a corresponding Italian word. I mean, literally, the translation would be "torre grande", but it was absolutely never used.

elszgensa wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:32:

That fourth one is a beauty. Not too large, what's there is chock full of functionality, tasteful color scheme with no unnecessary black bits, my god it even has a watermark. And a proper power switch! I've come to hate the ATX "idiot button" with a passion... Machine's hung again, and you gotta sit there and keep the fucker pressed for what feels like an eternity just to switch it off. If the remake cases were to integrate a bit of circuitry to emulate that even with an ATX PSU then that'd be a massive plus for me.
The other ones, eh, nothing special. Might buy if the price is right. The main thing with newly minted old cases would be less brittle plastic. And no scuff marks - but then again a small amount of battle scars can be attractive too.

Yes, it is a beauty is it? 😳
Yes, those modern buttons are kind of annoying sometimes.

kant explain wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:35:

To me the desktop non tower cases are the most striking. I never really saw why everything went.to towers. The larger ones look like space heaters or ozone generators to me.

Well, that's entirely up to everyone's tastes.
To me, I guess my fascination for tower and midtower resides in one thing: for the first few years of my computer passion, when I was a kid, I had a desktop 286 and I SOOOOOOOOO craved a 386 (486 was pure dream-hope), browsing those computer magazines... usually, the midtower and tower ones (or any kind of vertical one) were the most powerful and with higher specs... so, I pumped my desires' muscles into desiring strongly, every day, for years, one of those. When I switched to a 486, that one was a (thin) desktop too (Compaq Prolinea 4/33), so, again, I was beyond happy and hyped, but still that little 'plus' was missing... and I kept desiring and desiring... it wasn't until a few years that I got my first Pentium 60 and it was a midtower... But I guess all those years craving and desiring a vertical PC must have solidified the passion for those.

Plus of course what Shponglefan says below, which are good points ↓↓↓ (mine are just modern retronostalgia emotional points. His are real pragmatic points!)

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-09-23, 22:40:

Expandability and thermals I imagine.
You can fit a lot more inside a tower case than a desktop, along with better airflow options.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-09-24, 00:04:

Perfect idea. Until you realise how much it would cost to put some of those old cases back into production, and what the cost of […]
Show full quote

Perfect idea.
Until you realise how much it would cost to put some of those old cases back into production, and what the cost of purchase would be to the buyer.
I mean you aint talking about repurposing old server hardware, you are talking about a new production like of a bespoke item that has a very limited scope of customers.
If you talk somebody into it Ill have the 4th case down.

Ahahaha let's hope brother! 😀

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-09-24, 00:21:

The switch to LCD monitors might have contributed to it. A desktop case would double as a stand for your monitor. When monitors got smaller and lighter, you could stick them on top of something less robust.

Mmmm... that too!

HanSolo wrote on 2023-09-24, 00:33:

Those small towers only have room for a Baby-AT board which is about as long as Micro ATX. You can see it on the backside when the hole for the keyboard connector sits directly below the PSU. The ATX backplate would be where the PSU is.

Oh I didn't know that! Thanks guys!

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:11:

The desktop case was the norm in the 80s into the 90s, it was then the tower shape took over.
Until then the desktop shape did indeed double up as a place to set down your monitor, thus saving a lot of space, the astetic of the tower took over though. Im not quite sure why, I think it was because it was seen as more modern than the desktop case was.

That, and power! More "modern" and "more powerful". At least, that's what it suggested to me every time I saw one.
And it kind of felt this way, while I had a 286 and was craving for more:

The mid/mini-towers 'felt' like powerful 386s.
The towers 'felt' like awesome fantastically powerful 486s.
At least that was the perfect combination and feeling for me as a kid (and now too 😁 ).

leileilol wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:24:

My first tower was a 486, my monitor stand were speakers. Maintenance and upgrades are much easier without a monitor on it 😀

Indeed!

I dunno if I'm in the minority, but I'd love to see professionally made 'Mini Retro PC Cases' for Raspberry Pi or some x86 SBCs, so you can make a 'The MS DOS PC Mini' or what have you, while it looks like any number of popular formfactors like 'Generic mid 90s tower' or 'IBM 5150' or 'Late 90s Compaq' and so on.

Fujoshi-hime wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:45:

I dunno if I'm in the minority, but I'd love to see professionally made 'Mini Retro PC Cases' for Raspberry Pi or some x86 SBCs, so you can make a 'The MS DOS PC Mini' or what have you, while it looks like any number of popular formfactors like 'Generic mid 90s tower' or 'IBM 5150' or 'Late 90s Compaq' and so on.

oh wow! Wooow brother!

Personally, in terms of passion, I'm not at all into mini PCs. But I see your point and I can imagine the market trend, definitely! That would be super cool!

Something similar to the mini Nintendo NES remake that Nintendo made a few years ago, identical to the original old one, but much smaller.... Right?

I am a simple man. I would be perfectly happy with something like the Thermaltake V100 if it came in beige. A slightly more retro inspired plastic molded faceplate would be a nice bonus. I don't need to necessarily go back to the days of terrible airflow, no cable management and awkward build interiors. I mostly just want the color beige back, and that would get me 75% of the way to what I want.

It's mind boggling to me that there is not a single case manufacturer that offers anything in the color beige. Literally every color under the sun except that.

Namrok wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:55:

I am a simple man. I would be perfectly happy with something like the Thermaltake V100 if it came in beige. A slightly more retro inspired plastic molded faceplate would be a nice bonus. I don't need to necessarily go back to the days of terrible airflow, no cable management and awkward build interiors. I mostly just want the color beige back, and that would get me 75% of the way to what I want.

It's mind boggling to me that there is not a single case manufacturer that offers anything in the color beige. Literally every color under the sun except that.

Indeed! That's incredible!!!!

aries-mu wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:49:

oh wow! Wooow brother!

Personally, in terms of passion, I'm not at all into mini PCs. But I see your point and I can imagine the market trend, definitely! That would be super cool!

Something similar to the mini Nintendo NES remake that Nintendo made a few years ago, identical to the original old one, but much smaller.... Right?

Nintendo, Sega and even Sony have done 'Minis', all of which are basically slightly custom ARM boards prepackaged with software and licensed ROMs. Another company has done similar with the C64 and Amiga 500. That said I'd argue that the built in keyboard is pretty integral to the C64 or A500 experience, so a 'Mini' there is a biiit silly?

There's also no shortage of game console cases for the Pi formfactor such as this: https://retroflag.com/SUPERPi-CASE-U.html

Not 3D printed, that's professional injection moulded plastic in mass production. I'd love to see something similar in a series of common PC cases from the major brands and common generics. I'd probs be more interested in something that can fit n x86 SBC rather than a Pi or other ARM board, since PC emulation would just work a lot better on a native x86 board. Heck you don't even need a lot of power in an x86 SBC to basically boot directly into Linux and straight to DOSBox or some front end interface for game selection.

I wonder if you've seen Evercase: http://www.evercase.co.uk/index.php?route=pro … gory&path=63_89
There is also wiretap's 3D printed case but it is not 100% there yet either: [Project] 386/486/SBC 3D Printed Retro Case

I personally have not bought an Evercase to avoid the cost of bringing in a case from the UK. But they have a few beige cases. I am not sure if they are all new-old-stock from a warehouse or if they have some solution to the "small run" issue that has been discussed here. I know I have seen the ECE4252 or something very similar at VCF East, and it was so old it was yellowed, so that points in the direction of NOS.

One thing is that since ATX cases with drive bays are not long for this world, it will soon not just be Baby AT retro people but ATX and MicroATX who either want drive bays, or want a less "loud" design than giant RGB transparent display case, well who have to deal with this issue. And for that reason while I would personally prefer something specifically designed to fit a Baby AT, I think a "univeral" baby AT+full ATX is the better solution, even though it will be taller than necessary for Baby AT.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2023-09-24, 02:00:

I wonder if you've seen Evercase: http://www.evercase.co.uk/index.php?route=pro … gory&path=63_89 There is also wiretap's 3D pri […]
Show full quote

I wonder if you've seen Evercase: http://www.evercase.co.uk/index.php?route=pro … gory&path=63_89
There is also wiretap's 3D printed case but it is not 100% there yet either: [Project] 386/486/SBC 3D Printed Retro Case

I personally have not bought an Evercase to avoid the cost of bringing in a case from the UK. But they have a few beige cases. I am not sure if they are all new-old-stock from a warehouse or if they have some solution to the "small run" issue that has been discussed here. I know I have seen the ECE4252 or something very similar at VCF East, and it was so old it was yellowed, so that points in the direction of NOS.

One thing is that since ATX cases with drive bays are not long for this world, it will soon not just be Baby AT retro people but ATX and MicroATX who either want drive bays, or want a less "loud" design than giant RGB transparent display case, well who have to deal with this issue. And for that reason while I would personally prefer something specifically designed to fit a Baby AT, I think a "univeral" baby AT+full ATX is the better solution, even though it will be taller than necessary for Baby AT.

I'd check that site again. They have far less beige ATX cases than they used to. I strongly suspect I bought the last of one of them, because after they processed my order, they took down it's entry. And yes, I just sucked it up and had it shipped from the UK. Because getting a horizontal beige ATX style case was just proving that difficult. I don't think ebay was actually any cheaper, for worse quality to boot, and locally there was nada in 3 years of constantly checking.

aries-mu wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:40:

A Ferrari? Man, I'm talking about a very simple case, just a retro plastic bezel in the front, and then everything inside the most simple and cheap possible structure. How can we compare it to a Ferrari case when there are cases with all the possible decorations and kinkles and trinkets around for up to even 500 dollars or more?
I'd tell industry: just get the simplest ATX case's frame of that size and throw a retro plastic bezel in front of it.

Probably a bad analogy on my part, since that wasn't quite what I meant. What I meant by the analogy was imaging a low volume production item at inexpensive prices of a high-volume production item. It's a fantasy.

Even a relatively simple case in low production volumes isn't going to be cheap.

Look at Checkmate cases as an example. Including shipping, you're looking at around $300 USD. And that's for a relatively basic desktop case.

Fujoshi-hime wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:59:

Nintendo, Sega and even Sony have done 'Minis', all of which are basically slightly custom ARM boards prepackaged with software […]
Show full quote

aries-mu wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:49:

oh wow! Wooow brother!

Personally, in terms of passion, I'm not at all into mini PCs. But I see your point and I can imagine the market trend, definitely! That would be super cool!

Something similar to the mini Nintendo NES remake that Nintendo made a few years ago, identical to the original old one, but much smaller.... Right?

Nintendo, Sega and even Sony have done 'Minis', all of which are basically slightly custom ARM boards prepackaged with software and licensed ROMs. Another company has done similar with the C64 and Amiga 500. That said I'd argue that the built in keyboard is pretty integral to the C64 or A500 experience, so a 'Mini' there is a biiit silly?

There's also no shortage of game console cases for the Pi formfactor such as this: https://retroflag.com/SUPERPi-CASE-U.html

Not 3D printed, that's professional injection moulded plastic in mass production. I'd love to see something similar in a series of common PC cases from the major brands and common generics. I'd probs be more interested in something that can fit n x86 SBC rather than a Pi or other ARM board, since PC emulation would just work a lot better on a native x86 board. Heck you don't even need a lot of power in an x86 SBC to basically boot directly into Linux and straight to DOSBox or some front end interface for game selection.

Speaking of mini stuff, there's a crapton of relatively powerful modern mini PC on Amazon around the 200$ mark. If any of these has a working IOMMU, an exposed PCIE bus and/or a TPM header, there might be everything needed to expand on of these with old PCI and /or ISA cards as an option.

PCI passthrough is unbelievably compatible. As an example, I have a DOS/Windows 98SE VM to which I have a PCIE IEEE1394 card passed through . Vintage DOS firewire drivers recognize the card and allow 100% functional use of an IEEE1394 enclosed external optical drive from DOS.

Namrok wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:55:

I am a simple man. I would be perfectly happy with something like the Thermaltake V100 if it came in beige. A slightly more retro inspired plastic molded faceplate would be a nice bonus. I don't need to necessarily go back to the days of terrible airflow, no cable management and awkward build interiors. I mostly just want the color beige back, and that would get me 75% of the way to what I want.

It's mind boggling to me that there is not a single case manufacturer that offers anything in the color beige. Literally every color under the sun except that.

Well bro, what he said here above and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXQordTlHHA[*]
https://www.icintracom.biz/case-industriale-p … -4he-beige.html
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811153018

hope this helps

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-09-24, 02:09:

Probably a bad analogy on my part, since that wasn't quite what I meant. What I meant by the analogy was imaging a low volume production item at inexpensive prices of a high-volume production item. It's a fantasy.

Even a relatively simple case in low production volumes isn't going to be cheap.

Look at Checkmate cases as an example. Including shipping, you're looking at around $300 USD. And that's for a relatively basic desktop case.

I understand now. Well, still, I'd push industry to re-purpose pre-existing case frames, which they are already building, just modifying the front bezel, and the rear end somehow... Instead of making a new one from scratch.

darry wrote on 2023-09-24, 02:10:

Speaking of mini stuff, there's a crapton of relatively powerful modern mini PC on Amazon around the 200$ mark. If any of these has a working IOMMU, an exposed PCIE bus and/or a TPM header, there might be everything needed to expand on of these with old PCI and /or ISA cards as an option.

PCI passthrough is unbelievably compatible. As an example, I have a DOS/Windows 98SE VM to which I have a PCIE IEEE1394 card passed through . Vintage DOS firewire drivers recognize the card and allow 100% functional use of an IEEE1394 enclosed external optical drive from DOS.

Interesting... could you please share a little more details about what exactly is this? Thanks

Fujoshi-hime wrote on 2023-09-24, 01:59:

Not 3D printed, that's professional injection moulded plastic in mass production. I'd love to see something similar in a series of common PC cases from the major brands and common generics. I'd probs be more interested in something that can fit n x86 SBC rather than a Pi or other ARM board, since PC emulation would just work a lot better on a native x86 board. Heck you don't even need a lot of power in an x86 SBC to basically boot directly into Linux and straight to DOSBox or some front end interface for game selection.

There was a vaporware about it before...

it's a 5150-themed sbc that showed obvious DOSBox use (an earlier version prior to 44khz defaults) and native linux source ports (leading to false hope of being a PC emulation king), but it had an odd ambition to have games distributed on floppy-shaped SD cards as a gimmick because that's "retro" or something.