dkarguth wrote:

Here's my 286 case. https://i.imgur.com/8aI6yEAl.jpg […]
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Here's my 286 case.

I'm in love. 😲

brostenen wrote:

I know. I was building computers for a living, from around October of 2003 to around April 2006. The company that I worked for, mostly used Codegen cases. The models 3307 and so on. They were absolutely crap, and as much as I hate piano black with glossy finish, I would rather have a Antec Sonata II case. It did not help eighter, that I had to build 12 to 15 computers each day in those Codegen cases. And do all the phone support single handed, answer all email support single handed untill lunch and finally it was demanded of me to repair at least two computers each day. Work time was 9am to 5pm. I kind of saw my share of cheap flimsy cases during that time.

Yeah "cheap" is the key word there - every PC shop around used really bad cases back then and guess who had to go around all my friends and friends of those friends as well as family to fix their crappy PCs filled with even crappier components? *points at me*.

There was this certain really crappy brand I saw appear a lot in the early 2000's - Tybotech. I had no idea what it was but the stuff was terrible (mice, keyboards but also power supplies, sound cards, etc.) and often only really badly working drivers. In 2005 while finding a job as graphic designer, I came across this company who actually was the source of Tybotech. What they did was import really shitty Chinese crap and then give it completely new packaging. Suffice to say I thanked for the job and warned everyone with a PC built with Tybotech parts to replace their PSUs IMMEDIATELY.

Reminds me of the Packard Bell 486 era, and e-Machines a few years after that. Flakiest most unreliable hardware and complete crap for drivers... People would ask me, "What kind of computer should I get?" I would always say, "It's not really that important. AST, Gateway, IBM, Micron, custom built... whatever has what you want for a reasonable price. Just don't get a Packard Bell." Then a week later, "Hey come help me set up my new computer! I can't get the modem / sound card / whatever to work." Sure enough....

The Dutch were notorious for crappy hardware ... Packard Bell and Thrust being two infamous examples. I don't understand how Trust became so widespread. The best thing I bought from Trust, was a colour handscanner - and that thing broke after two years (the light inside died) and I had tons of driver issues.

brostenen wrote:

red_avatar wrote:

Good to hear it's sturdy at least. But during that period, they made such horrible looking cases and a lot of them used silver or other colours where they sprayed the colour on black or white plastic and the coating would quickly rub off so all the edges were the wrong colour. You had the same problem with those typical Antec cases where the silver fronts had black edges after a while and it looked so nasty and beaten which is a shame because I actually liked those cases.

I know. I was building computers for a living, from around October of 2003 to around April 2006. The company that I worked for, mostly used Codegen cases. The models 3307 and so on. They were absolutely crap, and as much as I hate piano black with glossy finish, I would rather have a Antec Sonata II case. It did not help eighter, that I had to build 12 to 15 computers each day in those Codegen cases. And do all the phone support single handed, answer all email support single handed untill lunch and finally it was demanded of me to repair at least two computers each day. Work time was 9am to 5pm. I kind of saw my share of cheap flimsy cases during that time.

In 2001/2002 I built about 100 (probably more) systems in Codegen cases. The company I worked for imported them themselves. They/we picked horrible purple and green colors for them. We sold a lot of them. Kind of a shame, we used quality components mostly, but would skimp on the case/PSU.

I still have scars on my fingers from those days.

Six months ago I decided to rebuild my childhood PC (or a close approximation). I have most of the parts, and finally found a case I like:

I love the look of it. Even though it's very typical early 90s (maybe even late 80s), it looks futuristic somehow. Words cannot describe how satisfying flipping that red switch is. I also love the "Pro Series" badge, it feels very premium, my guess is it held a very expensive system. I'd love to find out more about the background of it, system integrator who sold it, where it was sold, etc. but alas it's near impossible to find that information. If anyone here has seen this case before, I'd very much appreciate anything you can share.

Qbcd wrote:

Six months ago I decided to rebuild my childhood PC (or a close approximation). I have most of the parts, and finally found a case I like:
...

That's a very nice case. Looks well cleaned too! If you browse old computing magazines on archive.org (BYTE, PC Magazine etc.) you might be able to find old adverts or articles where that same model of case was used.

I'm also posting two tower cases I've restored last year. I like them both but I have a preference for the first one as I had a similar one back in the day. I've now used it for a DX2-66 build.

Here are a few of the cases I use:

Old pic, now it contains a more fitting Plextor CD-Writer drive.

**WOW** what a collection! An interesting range of cases too, thanks for sharing.

🤣 - I love the case with built speakers and power meters. hahaha Ah, the 90s.... crazy times.

Guys, could you please limit the size of your photos to a reasonable resolution, these last few cases can't fit on my large 4K display at 100% scaling, some are larger than the actual cases. 😁 😁

found a full tower AT/ATX case on ebay.

Ok, that case is begging to house a beefed up Amiga..

Anybody know what circa the LCD mhz displays were prevalent? Where they standard? In the late 80s early 90s I don't remember anybody having a computer with LCD display megahertz on it. All my friends had OEM computers but I had a beige box generic 386dx 40 that didn't have megahertz display either.

pico1180 wrote:

Anybody know what circa the LCD mhz displays were prevalent? Where they standard? In the late 80s early 90s I don't remember anybody having a computer with LCD display megahertz on it. All my friends had OEM computers but I had a beige box generic 386dx 40 that didn't have megahertz display either.

They started appearing around the 286/386 PCs and started to become less and less common as motherboards lost Turbo functionality in the Socket 7 period, then fizzled out in the early Pentium II/Celeron era as ATX took over.

Is 2005 retro enough?

This is an Abee case I bought when I was stationed in Japan. It is upside-down full ATX, but closer to a mATX in size. Bottom PCI slot is blocked by the PSU, so an ISA board would be a bad choice for this case. Currently housing my Tualatin rig.

seanneko wrote:

badmojo wrote:

http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g330/rjheard/286/IMG_4465_zps3ccacd4d.jpg […]
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My first computer was in this exact case. Even the 5.25" floppy drive looks the same - somehow I remember the shape of the LED and lever. It must have come with the case. I'd love to buy another one some day, but as you say, finding a specific model is just a matter of time and luck.

I have exactly this 5,25" floppy for sale in case you still want it...

KT Technology was also my first PC in this exact case! Also this guy has it in his collection: http://ru.pc-history.com/wp-content/uploads/K … ogy_286-12S.jpg (I still have both Cannon floppy drives).

Some (most) of my retro cases I have or had during last 12 months or so... I just enjoy cleaning them, making them look as fresh as possible (without painting them). So I sold most of them or want to sell currently...

Enlight ATX case - houses my Slot A 1 GHz Orion Core Athlon build...

The second one in the background is my 286-20 MHz Harris build also visible in this photo. You can also see my apexim 386-DX40 build and Philips P3348 SX (very cool PC 😀 ).

This one I bought recently, it has P200MMX on HX motherboard. I plan to build a Voodoo 1 setup in it. I don't know much about this PC yet.

This one found new owner at VOGONS recently...

Those two I bought recently from some guys cellar... both look much better now and I'm going to keep them both.

Another recent finds.

This one was looking brand new (almost), I had really hard time to part ways with but I just don't have enough room...

PC I bought from my workplace few years ago (found new owner last year)

Highscreens... I hate those.