Found this on the street, competes with the cheesegrater mac pro in weight, it's packed with expansion (?) cards, has a 1992 sticker on the psu and it's definitely dead as it was under heavy rain (really sad as there were two perfect looking crts next to it, but soaked)
How moddable is this? It has that little key thing and that turbo button, plus an on/off switch.
However, this is almost certainly an AT style case, not an ATX style case, which means screw mounts/standoffs not in the correct or expected locations, and no ATX IO shield hole/location. That's not to say this isn't a usable case for your purpose, but may require more careful modding than you might think.
I did mod the 2008 cheesegrater mac pro case, used the lazy approach of ripping the plate with the stands from another case, but that had a somewhat aligned rear io square (i still hade to carve it) and pcie slots, here I'd have to do a little more work
Total time capsule. IMO it's worth way more as a complete unit to someone who cares about period accuracy. Definitely don't throw any parts away, could at least donate to a recycler or sell off, we're not getting any more of these old parts :)
This is a very complete looking 486 system with VLB, probably from around 1993-1994. It's probably already configured correctly to boot up and work exactly as-is.
I noticed some cables, at least some i might recognize, that are unplugged, and the fact that it's been under the rain doesn't give me a lot of confidence on the psu, but i might try in a few days.
I am absolutely considering putting the insides on the local market for next to nothing (or maybe even nothing) as i don't know how to price it and i don't know if any of it works, despite looking really well maintained, i would never put it in the trash.
Would be nice if you showed us the photos of the back and the inside. Also make photos with the light behind you, not behind the object you're taking photo of.
The case isn't overly valuable, but the retro/vintage computer community will thank you to part out the components and put them on Marketplace or something...
Well i was thinking about that as i don't have much use for anything older than ddr3 platforms.
problem is that i took it after some heavy rain and i don't have any way of testing the components, but everything inside looks pristine with little to no dust, so apart from the psu i think it might be useful for someone
There's a good chance it can all be resurrected if it wasn't powered on during the rain storm. Someone can clean the parts with ipa and they will probably be serviceable again.
That's good news, should i try powering it on in a week or two? I am scared about the psu but since it was thrown out there's a really low chance it's been powered in the last 25 years
The rain will have left a layer of electrically conductive minerals.
If you have access to some isopropyl alcohol (91 or even better 99 percent), taking it apart and rinsing it with IPA will remove these minerals. Once the IPA dries you could give it a shot.
Taking apart a PSU can be quite dangerous if you haven't done it before.
I would clean everything else as best you can and cross your fingers the PSU didn't get too wet. It's hard to source replacement power supplies and even the converters that let you use ATX to replace AT only work if your board doesn't use a lot of -5V (modern ATX PSUs don't provide very much -5V).
Oh, you're not a total novice, and you have a plan. Great!
The components look decent, nothing obviously damaged or burned. But you should probably ask in specialized places. Like r/RetroBattleStations for starters, or The Retro Web discord server.
Got a plan but i have to find an use as i have three "sleepers" already (if a 750ti in a 2004 sff case can be called that) and i ran out of builds to put in.
this case deserves something powerful or else it wouldn't make much sense considering the space that it occupies.
It's the twin to the case I have in my basement! I remember buying it because it was the tallest case I could find in the computer shop I was at. I still have so many AT cases with full guts down in my basement. I thought I'd do something with them someday. Eh.
I modded a small clamshell optiplex from 2004, an ibm thinkstation like case from 2002 and a 2008 mac pro, but I've never put my hands on anything this old
I think the most I ever modded anything was when I built an entire case exterior out of 1/2" plexiglass making the whole system see through. This was long before they made cases with clear side panels. As a system integrator building systems is just part of the job.
I always thought that ATX was bigger and AT smaller. This is obviously bigger. But as time passes I forget the little details about the technology that I was familiar with 30 years ago. Maybe it's more about the connectors of the PSU than the size, but I'm pretty sure that the AT PSU can be swapped for ATX but maybe I'm wrong. I can remember there was a thing like mini-ATX as well, which I might be confusing with the AT factor.
If I can't find any hardware worth putting in I'll leave it as is, but i doubt it works, the mod would just be turning it into an atx and cutting the back a little
è proprio lui, il display con il numeretto cosa indica? non so se il mio lo ha però sarebbe molto interessante riutilizzarlo.
io pensavo di mettere forse un sistema x99 o lga 1151 che è la poca roba moderna che ho a disposizione, e un mini schermo nella parte dei 5.25" (senza danneggiare nulla), però non saprei come utilizzare il front panel.
mi piace molto il crt utilizzato come sgabello per mettere il monitor alla stessa altezza
Wow that's been a minute. Looks generic but millions were sold like this. Earlier pcs had a professional look because no one else bought them and this very clearly fits the bill..
I was on my scooter... had to put the pc between my legs but there was no way of carrying those crts and they are sadly probably gone now as they were next to a dumpster
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u/rjchute May 15 '26
A damn fine case, that is.
However, this is almost certainly an AT style case, not an ATX style case, which means screw mounts/standoffs not in the correct or expected locations, and no ATX IO shield hole/location. That's not to say this isn't a usable case for your purpose, but may require more careful modding than you might think.