Your Personal Case Evolution

[Lanx]

I just threw out the first case I ever bought for a pc, some no name baby at case for my pentium200 (cyrix clone, prolly with a whack pr rating) and thought about this. "first case"

The second case i bought from that tiny baby at case all the way to a super micro 750a server. This thing was a 2 footer (maybe more idk), well this was about the time when case mod was taking off w/ blow holes on the top and just cutting out holes everywhere. "big moddable case phase"

Then i got the antec 1080, the case that basically everyone (chieftec) copied and was even repurposed by alienware (they just put more plastic on it). I just wanted a cooler looking case and got tired of my immovable case (this server was pure steel), so thus came the "cool case phase"

Then i realized i'm not getting any younger and my case was just super loud so came the purchase of the antec sonota for the "quiet case phase"

i bought a few nexus cases cuz they were 10bucks after rebate (i think that was the brand) so i was modding these a bit for fun. (taping up holes putting in rubber grommets everywhere, suspending the drives by bungee cords) "light (weight) modding case"

Then i wanted everything to fit in a smaller area so i searched for a nmedia n60(i think) which was basically one of the first htpc cases that accepted a full atx mb and regular atx ps too (not the proprietary ones). "tiny htpc case"

the nmedia htpc case was cool, but not cool enough so then i decided to get my first lian li, the tiny ao5. "aluminum case"

Got tired of the cramped a05 so when i saw a great deal on a rebranded lian li v2000 (i think from new egg) nabbed that and current case "big aluminum case"

I believe i went from humongous to smaller then smaller then lighter and aluminum light to just big again and light.

next evolution probably will be "cooler looking aluminum case" (basically a aluminium version of a corsair 800D)

 

[vsboxerboy]

I guess I'm pretty new at this having owned mostly old hand me down dells for the longest of times. The first PC I build myself was just 5 years ago and it was a Silverstone LC-10 HTPC case. From there I went to a Lian-Li v1000b and then onto my current p182.

I don't think I will upgrade from the p182 for a long, long time. The size and quietness are fantastic and I really love the subdued look.

 

[stupoop]

Generic Chinese Case with cheapo lights etc
Modded Dell case
Antec Veris Fusion Black
Lian Li v1200b
Lian Li A05b

 

[NKDietrich]

Let see, the first case that I can actually remember the name of was my old Inwin Q500 back in early 1999.

After that it went something like:

Lian Li PC-60
Antec/Chieftec Dragon style case.
Antec P180
Lian Li PC-A70
CM Storm Sniper

Next up is a Corsair 600T.

 

[kencheeto]

Dell Dimension 8200
Dell Dimension 8300
Antec P180
Antec 900
Lian Li A05
Silverstone SG03
Silverstone FT01
Silverstone SG06
Lian Li T7
.. and now some Rosewill matx case

 

[jhaze84]

I upgrade my case much less often than any other component. In the past 10 years, I have only had 4 cases. I am buying nicer and more expensive cases each time around, though, lol.

Up until 2003: Some generic beige ATX case.
2003-2007: Antec PLUSVIEW1000AMG. A copy of that oh-so-common Chieftec SOHO case that everyone has owned at some point.
2007-2010: Antec P182 SE
2010-Present: Silverstone FT02

 

[Zepher]

Started out with a mid tower back in 94/95.
In 97, My server machine was built using a large full tower case with 8 or 10 5-1/4 drive bays and a large door on the front and my other machine was installed into a wide mini tower, was an Antec.

Server case was sold to a friend in 2000 who was going to build an editing machine and needed space to install a bunch of drives.

went through a handful of mid tower cases for the main machine and eventually got a server cube in 2003 which I still use now.

Antec case I had was used as my HTPC back in 2001 and was retired in 06 or 07 when the Antec 300 came out. used the Antec 300 for awhile as my HTPC and then built a new HTPC around a Silverstone Sugo case.

Now I had other machines over the years that I built or bought, and used for awhile, then sold, that were used as secondary machines or file servers

 

[FaRKle0079]

1997-2001: Beige box with the "Turbo" button for a Pentium 133MHz
2001-2003: Another old beige box
2003-2007: Antec Sonata
2007-2009: Laptop
2009-2010: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme
2010-Present: Silverstone FT02

So far I can't find anything that even comes close to the FT02. If I decide to get more into the world of watercooling though I may have to change...

 

[therapy]

From top left to bottom right:
1) Mac SE - got it after our school upgraded the computer lab and we could buy them cheap. Thanks mom & dad.
2) Lunchbox 386 PC. My dad got it from work for free. It had a monochrome screen you could change from amber to green with the push of a button.
3) Mac Performa 578 - mom and dad bought for christmas when I was 12. First color screen I had. I upgraded it with a 14.4 modem. Sweet.
4) Gateway Pentium 2 266 MHz (overclocked it to 300 MHz by just setting the BIOS setting to 300 - first overclock experience!)
5) Antec SX830 - First time I built a PC from scratch, though I'd upgraded the Gateway a few times by then. Bought in 99 I believe.
6) Antec P160 - Wanted something aluminum, this was the only thing in the store that I liked - had a really cheap and plasticky front panel though.
7) Cooler Master Praetorian - great case for it's day, but kind of loud and cooling wasn't as good as I'd hoped.
8) Silverstone TJ07 - great case, but was too big for my use at the time, and I got bored with it after a time.
9) Silverstone TJ09 - another great case, but too small inside for the external dimensions. Good GPU cooling though. Hard drives were noisy.
10) Corsair 800D - best case I've ever owned. I had the 700D for a while but I bought the 800D used from a friend (who bought another one that he had custom painted) and they are both awesome. So nice to use.