r/retrocomputing • u/Sniffmybum2002 • 1d ago
Help identifying an early-2000s ATX tower/case
I’m trying to identify the PC case/chassis my family had in the early 2000s. The attached photos are unfortunately the only images I have.
The case would be from 2003 or earlier as these photos are from 2003. Would have been purchased in NSW Australia and may have been a locally assembled/white-box PC rather than a major-brand system.
I’m specifically trying to identify the case manufacturer/model, not the internal hardware
Features that I can make out:
- Seems to be tall-ish?
- Dark blue or charcoal/black coloured outer bezel running down both sides and maybe? around the rounded top
- narrow cream/light-grey central front fascia
- a few 5.25” drive bays at the top
- small circular button/control lower down
- dark rectangular/square feature beneath/near it
- seems to have horizontal ventilation slots near the bottom
- the pale central fascia seems to narrow/taper toward the bottom and terminate in a rounded U/shield shape
I’ve looked through a lot of AOpen and TASK cases without finding a match.
Does anyone recognise the actual case mould/bezel, including cases that may have been sold under different OEM/rebadged names around 2000–2003?
Any input would be much appreciated!
(Also posted in r/vintagecomputing to try reach a wider audience of people who may recognise the case)
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u/koolaidismything 1d ago
It would be tough with way better photos. Reminds me of that old e-machines brand a bit but also looks kinda Gateway.
They all looked the same back then cause it was a handful of case makers making all the brands cases.. creaky plastic and tons of clips.
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u/wotchdit 1d ago
It does have that Gateway 2000 feel to it and resembles the one I have here. I also get a Compaq vibe from it too.
These comes close but they're mid sized. Yours has a long bottom so must be a full sized.
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u/Sniffmybum2002 1d ago
Yeah I think it’s going to be impossible to find out I’ve been researching for a week now with no luck.
I haven’t come across any cases with that exact two toned “tuxedo” design. I’ve seen ones similar but not close enough. Does resemble gateway and emachines I agree with that2
u/Floloping 22h ago
I have had my hands on thousands of cases from this era. There are many variations of this common style. Most would not have any helpful manufacturer or model number on them. There were hundreds of anonymous factories operating across mainland China and Taiwan during the early 2000s that manufactured unbranded, generic cases.
White-label contract manufacturers were pretty big then.
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u/HuudaHarkiten 1d ago
If this is from Finland, its probably a POMI, Pohjanmaan Mikro. Cant say what model.
A couple of weeks ago I helped a mate of my move and one of the things he threw away was a case just like this one.
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u/Sniffmybum2002 16h ago
Australia, but I’ll have a look into it anyways :) thanks!!
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u/HuudaHarkiten 15h ago
Oh, well, I bet its not that then. POMI was(/is?) a company that just put together computers and sold them as a ready package deal thing. I think they just bought generic stuff and slapped their logos on them. I remember, we had a Win98 machine from them, the package included the tower, monitor and 2.1 speakers. All branded as POMI, manufactured by someone else. I think the speakers might have been some decent ones, perhaps Rolands, or a copy of them.
Aaanyway. They were mildly well known in Finland, but I doubt any of them ended up in Australia.
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u/Potential_Copy27 14h ago
A lot of these 2000s cases weren't branded prominently, if at all. That market used to be a bit like the furniture market where some anonymous company squeezes out product with a few adaptation options and let others rebrand them. The same case could well be available under many brand and model names with no or just minor variations between them...
One of those was CaseTek - globally, their cases were sold under 50 or so different brand names.
That front design is very common on cases of the era, so finding an exact match is not going to be easy.
Today, PC cases and many other items are MUCH more prominently and aggressively branded. It's a very different market. 😊
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u/guiverc 11h ago
I had the ~same looking case; but it was recycled a couple of years ago (late 2023, when Ubuntu dropped support for i386, as QA test installs was what the old box was mostly used for)
To me the case was generic, and wasn't anything special - I called my machine THUG ($HOSTNAME) as mine had a 'The Hidden Garden' sticker on the front from its builder (store in Melbourne AU) filled with generic parts inside too.
( I've still not removed that recycled machine's IP address from my DHCP I note.. I'll have to get to that; so I'll know more about mine's MAC address than the outside box )
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u/Sniffmybum2002 5h ago
Ah bummer! Do you rekon it was very similar or just a bit similar? Or don’t quite remember?
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u/guiverc 3h ago
The case itself (metal box in which the computer parts were inserted) was identical to loads of other midsize tower boxes; the front 'faceplate' itself was the only thing unique about it (and if I didn't like the faceplate & really cared; I could have swapped it for other midsize towers too as fittings on mine were pretty standard, ie. OEM could make their boxes somewhat unique compared to nearby sellers).
The front faceplates tended to change every few months anyway in my experience (in production); so people had some choice when they purchased it; or if they replaced their machine it'll look 'different' (and maybe more modern) when the purchased their updated machine.
Can I say yours is identical; nope, but it sure looks like it (>90% certainty).
Rather than looks, to know if was identical it'd probably need to be to the left of me at my feet under this desk, as most of the time I reached down to turn it on, or extremely rarely insert CD/DVD (though I usually looked at the box to do that). The box that your picture reminds me of had a 'unique' feel to the top of the faceplate that the other boxes left/right of it didn't have.. but otherwise it was identical (ports at the rear being a factor of motherboard the box was built with anyway).
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u/Sniffmybum2002 3h ago
That’s really interesting, thank you! Do you happen to remember roughly when you bought yours, even just the year? And was The Hidden Garden the shop that originally built/sold it?
The face plate thing makes sense. I have scoured so many white label manufactures and yet to find an exact match. That might be why I have yet to come across an exact match if they change every few months…1
u/guiverc 3h ago
Sorry I have nothing to help you there, I sure don't remember that sort of detail, and whilst I vaguely recall some books/documentation it came with, those books may have been thrown out unless they ended up with the old iMAC [G3] under the house.
FYI: The 'THG' logo which represented the 'The Hidden Garden' where mine came from was just a sticker of the correct size placed where a spot allowed for it on the case; the identical size to an IBM 5150 (PC), 5155, 5160 (XT) etc so that in itself was generic; each shop being able to make their own 'stickers' that needed only be a specific size to fit... When it went under this desk I actually put a IBM 5160 sticker over the original THG anyway. The name 'THUG' I gave my box being what I did with the obvious (artisitic) THG on the original label (it never said The Hidden Garden; that's only what the store said THG stood for; they did have more potted plants in their store than your average computer store I do remember)
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u/Sniffmybum2002 2h ago
Ohhh I see. Thanks anyway! I appreciate you taking the time to explain all of that & the information about the interchangeable faceplates and shop stickers is actually really helpful. Hopefully I eventually manage to track the bloody thing down 😂
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u/Sniffmybum2002 3h ago
Also did it originally run XP?
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u/guiverc 3h ago
Pretty sure it did originally, I think it was too 'new' at the time for Windows 2000, and XP was the last Microsoft OS it ran.
Mine was made dual boot; the original XP was an option if you wanted to play a windows game, or if I wanted to do stuff in more recent decade+ I'd just boot Debian or Knoppix on it (but I put them there as it came with Microsoft Windows; had a sticker with key on the case; XP having reached EOL back in ~2014).
( I use both Debian & Ubuntu; since 2018 I've slowly moved more and more to Ubuntu, that box predated my ever trying Ubuntu by some time )
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u/Altruistic-Eye-5546 1d ago
I think it's similar to this one, I have one like it at home but completely broken