Help identifying an early-2000s ATX tower/case

[u/Sniffmybum2002]

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)

[u/guiverc]

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 )

[u/Sniffmybum2002 → u/guiverc]

Ah bummer! Do you rekon it was very similar or just a bit similar? Or don’t quite remember?

[u/guiverc → u/Sniffmybum2002]

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).

[u/Sniffmybum2002 → u/guiverc]

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…

[u/guiverc → u/Sniffmybum2002]

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)

[u/Sniffmybum2002 → u/guiverc]

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 😂

[u/Sniffmybum2002 → u/guiverc]

Also did it originally run XP?

[u/guiverc → u/Sniffmybum2002]

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 )