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90's computer case?

I dont know where you live but if you have some kind of custom computer shop or a place that stores old computer cases that have been turned in for recycling they might sell you something for little or nothing. Sometimes custom computer builders may take in a lot of old computers when they build new computers. Probably a lot of people may keep junk in their garage or sell old computers on ebay.

Maybe try other places like community colleges who may sell old computers once a year or go dumpster diving. Maybe a lot of folks buy new computers in January and get rid of the old junk. Locally we have what we call Technology turn-in days where they throw old computers and TV's away Maybe check that out in your area.
 
My garage. Seriously though on the off chance you are in the DC area I would love to get rid of them.
 
Just out of curiosity are you looking for a desktop or tower? Believe it or not vintage cases are hard to come by. I hang out on www.vogons.org and a lot of guys over there always get excited when they score a nice vintage case.

Anyway, like has already been mentioned ebay or craigslist is a good start. You can also check out amibay or VCFs forsale sections.
 
PingSpike said:
Is that an AT case? Weird placement of the keyboard port if so. The thing is a real monster.

I think I threw out all my 90s cases. Down to my early 2000s.
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Good question. It reminds me of my full tower from 1998. I don't miss that case. Full of sharp edges, etc. And 0 airflow!
 
My Antec 900 feels like a relic. Been putting builds into this case on and off since 2007.Seeing that steel construction and the weight sure makes it feel and look dated. But no one can argue about it not having good airflow and its still being sold and it gets updates.This latest one make me look like a idiot though. I had a H81 i5 set up in here and i rushed the build and it flew pass me that the case only has usb 3.0 up front but the harness had a piggy tail where you could also hook up to usb 2.0 on the motherboard. I went digging up behind my case for those usb ports ALL THE TIME right till i dumped my I5 8400 build in there and saw what they did on the usb 3.0 cable.

Good thing about the Antec 900 is the potential hernia anyone could get lifting it if they tried to steal it.
 
Older cases were an abysmal mass of sharp aluminium edges and misaligned mounts, plus what @DrMrLordX said. Wipe your nostalgia haze out of your glasses and realize vintage cases have nothing good to offer.
 
DrMrLordX said:
Good question. It reminds me of my full tower from 1998. I don't miss that case. Full of sharp edges, etc. And 0 airflow!
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God they were awful back then. Combined with everything using those god forsaken p4 molex connectors and there was maybe a 50% chance an upgrade resulted in bloody knuckles.
 
I saw a couple of LTT videos where Linus and crew mods these old cases to put a modern setup in. I love the idea, but would never do it in practice.
 
i have a good amount of old cases. just threw one in the trash few weeks ago with nice hardware inside 😉 i think it was a 478 box with a dvdrom 😉 hope someone recycled it somehow. not that the OP even will be reading this thread but if you are in cali i for sure would sell / give one away. (not even sure why i still have them! cosmos big ass case, few antec 1200 (yea i know they are not from the 90's ) some coolermasters, few matx antec cases too.
 
The Chenbro(?) Dragon case, had the arched grill, came in all sorts of neon colors. That was high end stuff.

I have a P180 that I debated about replacing but it hardly seems worth it to spend $100+ on something similar that only gives me modern front USB that I could easily achieve with a USB hub.
 
Funny enough, a few months ago I found an old IBM Aptiva - in mint condition - on a curb in my neighbourhood.

I took it home, for the simple pleasure of taking it apart and having a closer look at it.

I was surprised to discover that 1) it's a really good fit for micro-ATX systems, particularly if you don't need a lot of cooling; 2) it's really well-made, and 3) it's quite tiny, even by current standards.
 
80mm case fans are no fun. Even back then when Power usage was much lower than current usage it was near impossible to make a system that wasn't loud.
 
sandorski said:
80mm case fans are no fun. Even back then when Power usage was much lower than current usage it was near impossible to make a system that wasn't loud.
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You have to go back a loooong ways for that to be true. The 1GHz Thunderbird Athlon in my first homebuilt PC used (god, was that 20 years ago now?) as much power (~48w) as the 3570k in my current system. (~45w at full load, according to the Intel Power Gadget.)

I think we just accepted louder PCs as a matter of course.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
You have to go back a loooong ways for that to be true. The 1GHz Thunderbird Athlon in my first homebuilt PC used (god, was that 20 years ago now?) as much power (~48w) as the 3570k in my current system. (~45w at full load, according to the Intel Power Gadget.)

I think we just accepted louder PCs as a matter of course.
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You also have to remember that a lot of those early heatsinks were quite bad. People around here used to go crazy over the Scythe Ninja with its awesome 90mm fan. The HSF I put on my 1.4 GHz Tbird was pretty lame. It ran hot as a sonofagun due to that lame heatsink and the relatively poor application of chalky white TIM I had on the die. At least I didn't crack the die. In any case, coping with 40-60W or more of heat output was harder back then, and it often involved small, noisy fans. Today, you can cool a 45W CPU with a near-silent HSF in a nearly-silent case.
 
DrMrLordX said:
You also have to remember that a lot of those early heatsinks were quite bad. People around here used to go crazy over the Scythe Ninja with its awesome 90mm fan.
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Scythe Ninja is 120.

Source: I have one sitting within arm's length
66e1579296535c9f00325722405bbb20.jpg
 
Hmm, I thought the original Ninja had 90mm. Might have been the Ninja mini. Oh well. It was very popular around here for a long time, regardless.
 
debian0001 said:
Hello,

I want to find a vintage style computer case... looking for a beige color... any leads on where to look?
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I am sure you are aware that these old AT cases are not going to have any modern front panel I/O connectors. Many have the old school USB connectors with individual pins instead of being a block.
 
DrMrLordX said:
eBay? Also I hope you know those cases usually have terrible airflow.

edit: https://www.amazon.com/Beige-Full-Computer-Tower-Case/dp/B00PKZV8LA

lulz
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Woah look at all those bays. I seriously would have been drooling over that back in the early 2000's lol.

One thing to keep in mind with 90's cases is things may not line up the same way like motherboard screw holes and PSU. I'm pretty sure I recall a point where there was a change to the ATX standard, but maybe I'm thinking of something else.

My first computer build used a beige case, though newer gen, 2000's era. I kinda regret not keeping it. Would be kinda nostalgic to fire up that machine again.
 
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