Vintage & Retro PC Case Finds Thread
- Thread starter mnpctech
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I stumbled upon this old advertisement for local Used Computer Shop, "The Box Shop" in Bloomington, Minnesota. Thats the owner, James.
In 2002, James wrote, co-directed and starred in a commercial for cable TV. The commercial featured James in a hardhat pushing around a wheelbarrow full of computer equipment while proclaiming “At The Box Shop, we specialize in QUALITY COMPUTERS at DIRT CHEAP PRICES – with a WARRANTY on EVERYTHING!” This commercial aired on late night TV in the Twin Cities for several years on both cable channels and WCCO. It wasn’t uncommon for complete strangers to recognize James in passing.
My buddy says he's got the actual cable TV commercial on an old hard drive. I would stop by during my lunch breaks and see what was updated to Jame's inventory. He had direct pipeline to Wholesalers who bought PC's in bulk from corporations going out of business or updating their desktops.
In 2002, James wrote, co-directed and starred in a commercial for cable TV. The commercial featured James in a hardhat pushing around a wheelbarrow full of computer equipment while proclaiming “At The Box Shop, we specialize in QUALITY COMPUTERS at DIRT CHEAP PRICES – with a WARRANTY on EVERYTHING!” This commercial aired on late night TV in the Twin Cities for several years on both cable channels and WCCO. It wasn’t uncommon for complete strangers to recognize James in passing.
My buddy says he's got the actual cable TV commercial on an old hard drive. I would stop by during my lunch breaks and see what was updated to Jame's inventory. He had direct pipeline to Wholesalers who bought PC's in bulk from corporations going out of business or updating their desktops.
This little lovely started life as a 286 back in 1990. Later upgrades included a 386DX, then a P133, then a P233 (I think).
Check out the that Baby-AT power supply! None of that ATX stuff here, folks. At least, not without some modifications. And yes, it still has the top/side panel. It is behind the chassis in the far right photo. Yes, that's a Travan tape drive in there.
For years now I've been planning on doing a sleeper build. Hopefully soon I'll get around to it.
The black chassis to the right is a whole 'nother story.
Check out the that Baby-AT power supply! None of that ATX stuff here, folks. At least, not without some modifications. And yes, it still has the top/side panel. It is behind the chassis in the far right photo. Yes, that's a Travan tape drive in there.
For years now I've been planning on doing a sleeper build. Hopefully soon I'll get around to it.
The black chassis to the right is a whole 'nother story.
Finally got my CoolerMaster HAF 922 Red Edition today 
Bought it nearly two months ago for £20, but me being a very bad case of me, somehow took two months to get it shipped back to me. The seller wouldn't ship, but was happy for me to post them the packaging, drop it in and let me arrange collection for the journey here.
I couldn't be happier with it. Well, almost. It had a weird kind of almost cement-like dust that just stuck even when you sponged it down repeatedly with warm soapy water. It had the predictable decade+'s worth of dust inside too.
But this really is a nice case, I love the red and black styling and - whilst modern cases are even better, they're not so by much. I wonder when vertical mount slots in cases became a thing... I think this is the oldest case I've seen with one.
I'll post a few pics tomorrow.
Bought it nearly two months ago for £20, but me being a very bad case of me, somehow took two months to get it shipped back to me. The seller wouldn't ship, but was happy for me to post them the packaging, drop it in and let me arrange collection for the journey here.I couldn't be happier with it. Well, almost. It had a weird kind of almost cement-like dust that just stuck even when you sponged it down repeatedly with warm soapy water. It had the predictable decade+'s worth of dust inside too.
But this really is a nice case, I love the red and black styling and - whilst modern cases are even better, they're not so by much. I wonder when vertical mount slots in cases became a thing... I think this is the oldest case I've seen with one.
I'll post a few pics tomorrow.
Heh, I still have a HAF922 Red sitting on my shelf. Think it's got an old P4 with RDRAM in it...
I particularly like the tower with the teal triangle and contrasting panel behind it, really captures a certain aesthetic note from the era.
Yeah, that's my favourite too. A 486 DX2 66, with a cool Mhz display so you know the turbo button is on.
So what would be considered a vintage PC case these days? Would a 20 year old case be thought of such? Or PreATX cases like a IBM AT?
General rule in Retro PC Community, Beige = Vintage.
How many years before something is considered "Vintage" has been debated by Antique dealers, but 20+ years is most common via articles on Google. There's 20+ year old PC's in Black & Silver cases, but Beige is most sought after by people.
I think I used it for about 2 years. Shortly after Be Inc went under, I went over to Mandrake Linux. Linux has sure came a long way since then.Not for terribly long I'd imagine!
Impressive! I wasn't sure there were enough usable applications for it to be productive for that long
My recent pickup of vintage atx cases from e-recycler, I'm cleaning, fixing, modding them for resale inventory.. (inwin q500 gone already)
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I think I found my support group in this thread, I have a thing for high end well designed cases...
I'm going to set up a BlueSCSI to install OS/2 on this... eventually. It's one big boi. Hopefully people here will like this since they seemd to like my Lian Li video.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZeSaMBnZw
If I was going retro I'd lean towards revisiting the real excesses of the 80's.
Imagine manspreading in front of this palatial workstation (this was a package, not separate furniture)
Imagine manspreading in front of this palatial workstation (this was a package, not separate furniture)
The RARE Asus vento case aka "BIG NOSE" has 3 listings on Ebay, https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=asus+vento&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2322090.m570.l1313
There's a red one of those for sale in Japan right now too. Both at a reasonable price considering. Thank god I can't afford them, because I've no space for them either
I want this. So, so badly. It just makes me happy to look at, and would save a lot of the trouble of modifying a retro case to better fit modern components.
arstechnica.com
April Fools’ joke results in Japanese firm making a beige ’80s throwback PC case
You can fit lots of modern hardware inside—and prop your monitor on top.
arstechnica.com
I came here to post the same thing, saw it on Gamer's Nexus. I love it, I want it.
I like it but I kind of feel like it could have gone a bit harder into the weirdness of those old cases. That feels like a super bland version of what you got back then. Like, even in '87 that would have been a very uninteresting case. If they're going to bother to do that, they should push it a bit harder.I want this. So, so badly. It just makes me happy to look at, and would save a lot of the trouble of modifying a retro case to better fit modern components.
April Fools’ joke results in Japanese firm making a beige ’80s throwback PC case
You can fit lots of modern hardware inside—and prop your monitor on top.
I definitely agree with you. I also still prefer the tower form factor over the desktop. Nobody really wants a monitor on top of a PC case any more, right? right? Anyway, I'm sure the chinese will spot the market opportunity and flood the West with fake retro cases soon enough, and no doubt fake copies of actual cases.
Man, I hate RGB hell, but I do not miss those beige boxes at all.
Or AT power supplies...
Or AT power supplies...
Yeah, looking back at some actual old cases, they had a decent amount of contrasting parts. Beige outer skin with dark grey or black/charcoal panel across the front or on the disk drives etc. Inset lighter grey in a dark grey shell, etc. Even the all beige ones had a variation of beige across the different parts, sometimes due to age or sun exposure or just variations in the manufacturers etc. It's not just an all off-white exterior.
Remember Corsair's April Fools Day Hoax in 2013 announcing beige edition 900D. Response was overwhelming positive from people wanting the real thing.
I looked on Newegg and Fractal Design's Define case with wood vertical bars was #1 seller. The Pendelum is swinging back from RGB Fish Bowl to Minimalism. All the beige cases I picked up last year have sold. The only hurdle in selling more is that have to be modified for better cooling, but one of the new case manufacturers will start seeing $$$$ in Beige.
I looked on Newegg and Fractal Design's Define case with wood vertical bars was #1 seller. The Pendelum is swinging back from RGB Fish Bowl to Minimalism. All the beige cases I picked up last year have sold. The only hurdle in selling more is that have to be modified for better cooling, but one of the new case manufacturers will start seeing $$$$ in Beige.
orionquest
Ars Praefectus
Oh fuzz... if a HAF 922 is vintage, I guess my HAF 912 (Red) is as well... damit. BTW I also have a 690 II Advance. Both of these are in use for my daily drivers.Finally got my CoolerMaster HAF 922 Red Edition today
I couldn't be happier with it. Well, almost. It had a weird kind of almost cement-like dust that just stuck even when you sponged it down repeatedly with warm soapy water. It had the predictable decade+'s worth of dust inside too.
But this really is a nice case, I love the red and black styling and - whilst modern cases are even better, they're not so by much. I wonder when vertical mount slots in cases became a thing... I think this is the oldest case I've seen with one.
I'll post a few pics tomorrow.
I knew I shouldn't have dipped into this thread.
Well, that's a really good looking case in that picture even if it is fake.
I would not mind a bit of a retro theme to my next PC as long as the case is designed for effective cooling and easy use etc. They can skip all the windows and stuff, I don't need any RGB or to see the inside of the computer doing nothing.I don't think I want a plain beige monolith though, I would want some kind of 70s theme brown, orange, and red highlight scheme. A bit of 'go faster stripes' or something, with some matching color highlight on the switches and USB ports. A computer that goes well with this sensibility:
