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Recommend a nice small ATX Case for old systems?

M

Madhattan

Member
Hello everybody. This is my first post. Ive been viewing this site for years, but never
entered the forums until today.
I was hoping someone could guide me with a lil project that im starting.
Lately I have been building systems for friends and family. They have all referred me
to others and now I am building around three to four systems a week for "clients"
I do this in my spare time for fun.
I take little pay for this, but what I do get is the majority of old systems that these people
are leaving behind.
My house is now filled with eight older computers. Mostly Socket A and older P4s(400FSB)
I dont really want to throw these computers out. But they are heavy and beige and bulky.
Is there a nice looking, small, ATX case that I can buy multiples of and house these computers in while I figure out what to do with them?
Im really looking for the smallest possible case that can house a full size board, 1agp card, one HD and one DVD drive.
 
Sory, I forgot. Welcome to the AT fourms.

There are a couple of cases that have moved the PSU to the front and get the height number down to about 14.5". I know one model is called the NJA (just search on that under cases on newegg and you'll find it along with several called Ninja. With my oldtimer's syndrome, I've already forgotten the name of the other - oh yes, I remember now, it was an nMedia brand case (a div. of Enermax). Also look at Ever Case - their cases are about as short as can be done with a standard case configuragion. There is an Inwin that has the PSU oriented vertically so it's wider, but gets down to the NJA height.

This just in: The Chenming 300 series are about 16" tall ditto the Aspire X-Sonic and some of the Apex models. geeks.com is another place to look.

If you need REALLY cheap, try http://www.dumpinggoods.com

.bh.
 
The Antec 1650(B) is a nice little case. Not the smallest; not the cheapest, but pretty small and cheap and with a decent PSU and cooling for the money. It can be used for making some "serious" systems (not storage servers though -- no dedicated drive cooling). Another problem is that the fan moves a fair bit of air, and although it's not loud compared to the old standards (unless you're comparing it to a cool & quiet PII), it's louder than it needs to be. A fan swap or resistor will fix this easily, but that adds a bit to the cost / inconvenience.

 
The mentioned antec is the smallest conventional Atx case that I know of, if not the most attractive. This is a lot better looking, and only slightly larger-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811108020

Also in beige... beige drives look like hell in black boxes...

The Spire Blackfins and Silverfins have covers over the optical bays to hide beige drives, no power supplies, no fans, either, if you want to reuse your old stuff, save some money-

http://www.directron.com/sp102s.html

Nothing spectacular, not junque, either...



 
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