Never know there was such a trend.

Could be because folk are replacing their psus for something newer.

for me 'sleeper' just means re-using the case. perfectly sensible option but I also understand the fashion of it, how it might be fun to have something understated.

I asked here for general tips and there are some cool ideas in that thread ( any tips for using old cases with new(ish) hardware? ), i think modifying the cases is fine generally too

so on the whole i like it, but more for case re-use than especially for fashion - although I'd agree that I generally don't like the look of those overlit LED everywhere cases

I think it's silly to put modern hardware that consumes much more power into an old case with no room for big fans.

I posted my sleeper PC in the thread Gerry linked, it was based on an IBM PS/2 model 95. I'm kind of torn on the ethics. I gutted the case about 15 years ago, I believe I sold off the components but I'm not sure anymore, maybe nobody wanted to buy the motherboard? The system worked fine and was relatively rare, so it's shame I basically destroyed it. On the other hand, especially at the time it was an undesirable system, not just because retro computing wasn't as big, but also because it was a very difficult to upgrade machine and not much use past the novelty of running OS/2. I believe it took proprietary memory, I didn't have an IDE controller for it, no clean way to mount an optical drive, and sounds cards were unobtanium.

Nowadays with a Snark Barker installed it would be a viable retro gaming machine but still note of the more difficult ways to get a 66MHz 486 going.

Oetker wrote on 2021-05-19, 16:58:

I posted my sleeper PC in the thread Gerry linked, it was based on an IBM PS/2 model 95. I'm kind of torn on the ethics. I gutted the case about 15 years ago, I believe I sold off the components but I'm not sure anymore, maybe nobody wanted to buy the motherboard? The system worked fine and was relatively rare, so it's shame I basically destroyed it. On the other hand, especially at the time it was an undesirable system, not just because retro computing wasn't as big, but also because it was a very difficult to upgrade machine and not much use past the novelty of running OS/2. I believe it took proprietary memory, I didn't have an IDE controller for it, no clean way to mount an optical drive, and sounds cards were unobtanium.

Nowadays with a Snark Barker installed it would be a viable retro gaming machine but still note of the more difficult ways to get a 66MHz 486 going.

Well my dad threw away an original IBM personal computer, an Amiga 500, a socket 7 build, a slot 1 build, voodoo 1, voodoo 2 card, a SB 64 gols card.. and maybe 40 boxed games from ca 1995, quite sad.

He threw out all the computers but I think they still have bags of mouldy clothes on their attic..

If I was building a new PC, I might use an old case just so I can have drive bays. Or so it can be housed in something that feels as substantial as the money I spent, instead of a plastic piece of junk.

However I never had a window case. I could actually go for one of those on a retro PC.

vad4r wrote on 2021-05-19, 16:44:

I think it's silly to put modern hardware that consumes much more power into an old case with no room for big fans.

I had to get a blower style Radeon HD 6850 for my 'Over Powered Windows XP Build' in an eMachine case, cause otherwise it was an easy bake oven. 🙁

vad4r wrote on 2021-05-19, 16:44:

I think it's silly to put modern hardware that consumes much more power into an old case with no room for big fans.

For a gaming system with a huge GPU sure. If you just wanted to use an old metal case you liked with a modern 65W or so CPU with built in video cooling would not be an issue.

I think it might be possible to build a high wattage in an old pc but it might very well be noisy because of the need for high rpm fans and lack of sound isolation.

I love my fractal design case for my modern gaming rig. I would get an other for a retro rig but nowadays they have no external drive bays..

Never intended for my main PC to be a sleeper, but why buy a new mATX case for a 65W AMD Ryzen APU based computer. And the PSU is good quality, but "only" 350W.

I'm guessing cases don't make it to sites like ebay due to shipping, Much easier to part out and find boxes for smaller bits of hardware.
I see cases or complete PC's on local classifieds fairly often, just about always post beige era though.

As for sleeper builds as a whole. I think its a shame modding AT cases as they are in short supply as it is for actual AT systems, But I get the appeal and its still better then simply been thrown out which I suspect would have been their alternate fate.
ATX cases, I'm more ok with but I also go the other way and unless the original case is part of the deal, I'll get a modern cases with their better cooling for a build.