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PC tower cases by year

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Reply 20 of 219, by shamino

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shamino wrote:
arncht wrote:
In Win IW-A500 I found some web pages from September of 1998. […]
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In Win IW-A500
I found some web pages from September of 1998.

A relative bought one of these a long time ago from a friend's family. It had a 440LX motherboard with a P2-233MHz in it. It was apparently built by a shop - it has a shop sticker on the front.
Nowadays I have it, so I checked and it looks like an exact match.

I just looked at the 440LX motherboard that came with my copy of this case. I found a few date codes, the latest was 9807 on the PCB itself. So at least my copy of the case was probably sold in 1998.

Reply 21 of 219, by arncht

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83m8JuGm.jpg
"Silvester" ca 1999

  • very late AT case with low cost Celeron 366 config

first post updated!

Last edited by arncht on 2018-05-23, 08:46. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 22 of 219, by CkRtech

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I hope to one day find the desktop case that was used for my 286 from 1990/1991. That is definitely going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Nice thread, btw.

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Reply 23 of 219, by arncht

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CkRtech wrote:

I hope to one day find the desktop case that was used for my 286 from 1990/1991. That is definitely going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Nice thread, btw.

find a photo, maybe we should create a "wanted" marking for those desirable cases.

ps: done for my first case 😀

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Reply 24 of 219, by ATauenis

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0_59aae_f467e1e9_-1-L.jpg
This baby-AT case I have seen in two versions, this (2 5,25", 2+1 3,5" sections) and larger [1, 2] (3 5,25", 3+1 3,5" sections). I have in my collection two small such cases and one larger. All of them are bundled with identical 200W Linkworld OEM PSUs (very poorly made).

The first small case (on the photo) was used in a 1997 build from Russian company Formoza: Lucky Star 5I-VX1F, ceramic Pentium MMX-200 @ 166 MHz (I don't know why the CPU was underclocked), 2x32 MB PC66 SDRAM, 3dfx Banshee 16MB, SB AWE64 Gold, other parts (HDD, CD-ROM and FDD) were already lost when the PC had been found by me. Now the VX-motherboard is replaced with a LS 5MVP3, as it is better than the 5I-VX1F.
The second small case is a original build from 1998 (built by Formoza too): LS 5VP3, PPGA MMX-200, 32 MB SDRAM, SiS 6326 4MB AGP, ES1868, Fujitsu 3GB HDD with Win95 OSR2.1, SyncMaster 550s and serial Genius EasyMouse.
The larger similar case (with a "crystal" label on photos) is a custom build from approx. 1998: LS 5I-TX2A, PPGA MMX-200, 32MB SDRAM, Matrox Mystique, SB AWE64, 3 GB Fujitsu HDD (the original OS was probably DOS 6.22).

Other my OEM cases I haven't shoot, I'll made photos and descriptions later.

2×Soviet ZX-Speccy, 1×MacIIsi, 1×086, 1×286, 2×386DX, 1×386SX, 2×486, 1×P54C, 7×P55C, 6×Slot1, 4×S370, 1×SlotA, 2×S462, ∞×Modern.

Reply 25 of 219, by arncht

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ATauenis wrote:
The first small case (on the photo) was used in a 1997 build from Russian company Formoza: Lucky Star 5I-VX1F, ceramic Pentium M […]
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The first small case (on the photo) was used in a 1997 build from Russian company Formoza: Lucky Star 5I-VX1F, ceramic Pentium MMX-200 @ 166 MHz (I don't know why the CPU was underclocked), 2x32 MB PC66 SDRAM, 3dfx Banshee 16MB, SB AWE64 Gold, other parts (HDD, CD-ROM and FDD) were already lost when the PC had been found by me. Now the VX-motherboard is replaced with a LS 5MVP3, as it is better than the 5I-VX1F.
The second small case is a original build from 1998 (built by Formoza too): LS 5VP3, PPGA MMX-200, 32 MB SDRAM, SiS 6326 4MB AGP, ES1868, Fujitsu 3GB HDD with Win95 OSR2.1, SyncMaster 550s and serial Genius EasyMouse.
The larger similar case (with a "crystal" label on photos) is a custom build from approx. 1998: LS 5I-TX2A, PPGA MMX-200, 32MB SDRAM, Matrox Mystique, SB AWE64, 3 GB Fujitsu HDD (the original OS was probably DOS 6.22).

Other my OEM cases I haven't shoot, I'll made photos and descriptions later.

nice photos, added 😀

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Reply 26 of 219, by arncht

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"Norman" ca 1996 (maybe from 1994)

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July of 1996 - PC Mag 6x86 advertisement

Last edited by arncht on 2018-06-15, 06:04. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 28 of 219, by DankEngihn

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Deer?? case (it came with an L&C branded PSU, which was dead out of the box) from around 1999 - 2000

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Reply 29 of 219, by appiah4

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Anyone know or have a good guess as to what year these two cases are from?

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Reply 30 of 219, by JidaiGeki

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appiah4 wrote:

Anyone know or have a good guess as to what year these two cases are from?

Top one would be 95/96 - there's an eBay listing here in Oz (loath to post a link) for a 5x86 system in that very case. Build looks original. PSU serial number and motherboard BIOS suggest 1996:

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So around that era, probably 1995 at the earliest.

Case sitting below it is P4 era going by the sticker? Early 2000s?

Reply 31 of 219, by PcBytes

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I'd say that black case might be a P4 era, early 2000s, made by K-Mouse/KMEX

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Reply 32 of 219, by ATauenis

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A very old AT case from 1988 (or 87).
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It have "Beltron Turbo/AT" label on front and a 286-10/640KB/EGA/20MB MFM system inside. The 3.5" FDD is added later (and the hole for it were manually cuted for hand-made mechanical adapter).
Probably the case is a Taiwanese or German clone of IBM PC/AT case (the PC is equipped with BASF HDD, german Cherry keyboard and was imported into Russia from West Germany in yearly 90's).

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Plastic ATX case from approx. 2000.
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It was originally used for a CLR Infinity PT-15A personal computer (P3-1000/i815/256MB/Radeon DDR/2x30GB via FastTrak 100/Win2000). But through the years it was rebuilt many times, and now the case hosts a Athlon-650(Pluto)/256MB/Savage4 computer. The case uses "sled" (oops, I don't know how it is called in English, and have used Google Translate here 😀 ) for 3,5 and 5,25 sections. Anything such as CD-ROM, or FDD/HDD may be installed only with the "sleds" (they are visible on detailed photo). The case looks similar to Apple Macintosh cases, both have plastic external case (decorative) and a internal metal case. The external case is locks via 2 screws and 1 latch.

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Codegen (?) ATX case from 2002.
P3272998.1529310574.jpg P3272988.1529310684.jpg P3272993.1529310735.jpg
It was used in a 2002 build with GA-6OXT/Celeron-1300/U series X 20GB/MX440/Lan+modem/WinME. I had found in the trash in 2011 with blown capacitors. Now inside it is placed a MSI Pro266 motherboard with Celeron-1000A @ 1333 MHz, 768 MB DDR, GeForce 4 MX440, USB 2.0, DVD-RW and two HDDs (that Seagate U-S-X 20GB and a 6.4 GB WD with Windows XP SP3).

2×Soviet ZX-Speccy, 1×MacIIsi, 1×086, 1×286, 2×386DX, 1×386SX, 2×486, 1×P54C, 7×P55C, 6×Slot1, 4×S370, 1×SlotA, 2×S462, ∞×Modern.

Reply 33 of 219, by appiah4

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PcBytes wrote:

I'd say that black case might be a P4 era, early 2000s, made by K-Mouse/KMEX

I was planning on using that for transferring my K6 build to a more era-correct looking, rounded, front door style case, but the peg for the floppy drive seems to have gone missing, which is a real shame.. It was a very likeable small case that seemed more fitting than the system than its current Elan Vital T10 housing.

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Reply 34 of 219, by BSA Starfire

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Here's a 386 DX 25 from 1991 with a typical bonnet prop case from the era, this is an unmolested original build. Only thing changed is the VGA to replace the Trident 8900B for a WD 90C30.

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 35 of 219, by BSA Starfire

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This case has a date of 1996 on the delivery sticker and housed 486 DX 100 according to that(got it empty). It's an enlight case and very nice build quality. Not sure if the sticker on back is the original build or a later upgrade to the DX4, the badge is DTK. Current has a 386 SX 33 that seems more in keeping for the age and look of the case.

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 37 of 219, by BSA Starfire

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Your probably right, but as it came empty and I was looking for a home for the 386 SX it's all good 😀

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 38 of 219, by stonesoup

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arncht wrote:
https://i.imgur.com/dG7FbMYm.jpg "Norman" ca 1996 (maybe from 1994) […]
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dG7FbMYm.jpg
"Norman" ca 1996 (maybe from 1994)

  • That was originally a budget 486 configuration from 1996, but I friend of mine had a DX2-66 config with similar case from 1994. The difference, it had a black inside and the manufacturing quality looked less cheap. So the case is from ca 1994-1996.
  • I think those started appearing in 1996 or so, and were somewhat common in low-end builds until the end of the 90s.
  • July of 1996 - PC Mag 6x86 advertisement

I had the same exact one although mine was a Pentium 90 mhz with 8 Mb of ram and a 420 MB HDD. Been looking for this case for ages. Do you happen to own/sell this case? I would be very much interested.

Reply 39 of 219, by arncht

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It is my case, actually with a dx4 rig. Until i did not find a more authentic look case, i keep it.

When did you buy your computer? The 8m and the 420 was average in 1994, the p90 topnotch.

My little retro computer world
Overdoze of the demoscene