Not era correct, but for dual builds I like cases with plenty of airflow.
I like the Antec 300, good airflow and loads of drive bays, perfect for a SCSI RAID just like in the day 😀
https://www.pccasegear.com/products/19733/ant … undred-two-case

I have my Socket A system in a Cooler Master Mystique. It's a little late for Socket A, but close enough for me.

chinny22 wrote on 2024-02-19, 01:03:

Not era correct, but for dual builds I like cases with plenty of airflow.
I like the Antec 300, good airflow and loads of drive bays, perfect for a SCSI RAID just like in the day 😀
https://www.pccasegear.com/products/19733/ant … undred-two-case

Antec (along with Fractal) are excellent cases when it comes to air flow. That three hundred two case has a classic design as well, which really helps. But may be a tad bit too modern.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-02-19, 01:36:

I have my Socket A system in a Cooler Master Mystique. It's a little late for Socket A, but close enough for me.

That Cooler Master Mystique is classic. Looks like it was around about 2006, maybe 2007? That is pretty close and I love the oh so very much early 2000's vibe. There are a couple on eBay right now but they are just under $200.

My friend’s started life in a reused Lian Li mid tower—probably something along the lines of a PC-60—though it was upgraded to a full tower sometime later. It definitely struggled with heat during long renders. I’m pretty sure he moved it to a V2000 but that wouldn’t have been something that was available during the MPs release.

Beyond the motherboard fitting into the case (EATX compatibility is a bit of a mixed bag), the only thing that actually matters is airflow. once that is taken care of, the only thing else of any consideration is your own personal aesthetics. I like modern cases with nice big windows. The whole damn point is to showcase the hardware.

luckybob wrote on 2024-02-21, 00:50:

the only thing that actually matters is airflow.

+1

Socket A CPUs don't vary much in power consumption between idle and load states. As such, they tend to throw out quite a bit of heat, regardless of CPU load. So for two of them, I definitely suggest a case with lots of airflow - at least 1x 120 mm exhaust fan and good intake airflow.

I've seen plenty of low-end builds with Duron / low-clock Athlons back in the day stuffed in a beige case with no rear exhaust fan or with only a single 80 mm exhaust fan or with two of them but terrible air intake. Despite many of these being low-end and thus usually lower power consumption, the result was still almost always systems that ran miserably hot.

So in short, anything socket A needs good airflow. (Not that Pentium 4 doesn't. 😁 )

luckybob wrote on 2024-02-21, 00:50:

The whole damn point is to showcase the hardware.

The question is, to whom? 😉
PCs aren't what they used to be, now that most people have moved onto a "smart" phone. As such, I've come to the sad realization that no one has really looked into any of my builds in the last 15+ years... or pretty much since LAN parties died. Only way anyone sees my builds is when I take pictures of them and post them on the internet. So getting a windowed case just for that has become pointless to me. Most systems these days, I just slap together without any regards to aesthetics and call it a day. As long as they work and cool well, I don't bother any further. Cable management? -Forget it! Just shove the excess wires out of the way and put the cover on... if the case even has one. 🤣 (Most of my PCs are/were dumpster / trash can finds.)

I built my dual Athlon MP 2800 system in a Thermaltake Xaser II case back when the processors and case were new. It used a Gigabyte GA7DPXDWP server/workstation board (1x AGP 4x, 2x 66MHz/64bit PCI-X + 3x 33MHz/32bit PCI). I think at the time I used a Ti 4600 and then subsequently an FX 5600. There would have been a gigabit ethernet (Broadcom at the time, IIRC) and a 3Ware RAID controller in the two PCI-X slots. It was my main Linux workstation for a good few years - I think I ended up maxing out the RAM at 4GB and limping the system through to the C2Q era (it was replaced with a Q6600).

I had the windowed version of the case, in black and silver. You could also get it in black with red highlights. I think there were some 'special' versions all in red, orange etc.

I believe I still have both; the case was used subsequently for a C2Q system... but the board and processors was taken out and put in storage - where both now still reside. As previous posters have said - the MP era Athlons didn't have anything like speedstep or enhanced halt states, so they ran warm. The Xaser II had two 80mm intakes on the front, one side-mounted 80mm exhaust, and two 80mm exhausts at the rear. It was/is a very heavy case.

I have overclocked Athlon XP build in Antec Super Lanboy. It has 120mm front and rear fans + 120mm psu fan. Silver aluminum case with a window is what the coolest looking 2000s builds did. I have removed riveted hard drive cage so the case fits EATX motherboards too now.

megatron-uk wrote on 2024-03-02, 15:43:

I built my dual Athlon MP 2800 system in a Thermaltake Xaser II case back when the processors and case were new. The Xaser II had two 80mm intakes on the front, one side-mounted 80mm exhaust, and two 80mm exhausts at the rear. It was/is a very heavy case.

These always looked awesome.

Dans Data is a good place to look at for transmillennial case reviews... such as... http://www.dansdata.com/cgcase.htm

edit: but yeah almost exactly 25 years ago, good ventilation was hard to come by and mods like this were common for everyone whose heatdumping requirements were a couple of years ahead of the case industry http://www.dansdata.com/hx45fan.htm