Mystery Case, can anyone ID it?

Mathos

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Jun 17, 2007
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Hey all, I've had this case for a loooong time, been through about 3 different system builds since I've had it, and a friend of mine had it before that. Trying to figure out what brand it is. Been thinking about modding it a bit, giving it a new color, and possibly reusing it. But if I knew what brand it was, it could possibly take some of the work out of it, if I could find newer parts with say side windows already in them. It has 2x 80mm rear exhaust fan spots, 2x 80mm front intake fans spots. One of the only issues I had, and would still have would be the lack of front or top USB/Firewire, and Audio ports.

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bobbknight

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Feb 7, 2006
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I looks like an old Enlight tower, but it could just be one of the generic towers that came out of Taiwan in the 90's
The one thing that is tugging at an old dormant brain cell is the purple plastic parts, I have seen that color used in cases, I just can't recall right now.
The removable 3.5" drive cages point to a higher end case.
Regardless, the best way to add a window is to buy a kit and cut out the metal your self. and for sound, FW, and USB get one of the 5.25" bay kits.
It's going to be hard to find case specific parts for that case.
 

Mathos

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Going by memory, I think it would most likely be an earlier version of that. I know he got it before the Side panel windows and all the different colors started to become the in thing. Thinking back, thats a loong time ago, I think I might remember him having a bit Antec case box sitting around for a while. Think he actually bought it in the late 90s, back when the P2's were out. I know the thing weighs a metric crap ton when it's fitted with a computer build. Use to have oh so much fun carrying this thing to Lan parties, was like a workout every time. Yeah, that'd be one of the mods, would be to put a spot either on the side panel, or some place else where a 120mm or 140mm fan could be mounted.
 


I believe only Antec had the purple fan holders (and still do). In either case (no pun intended), that case design was cloned a million times.
 

sailer

Splendid
The case looks like a Chieftec Dragon. I have one in black that came with the Alienware that I bought seven years ago. Mine came with a fan in the side panel, but that can be added easy enough. A great case, lots of room, tough as can be, and heavy. I still use the case with one of my business computers. There's a bunch of knock-offs of this case floating around. The 80mm fans are the only weak point, in my opinion. Of course, years ago, a 80mm fan was considered great.
 

bobwya

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May 21, 2005
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Oh dear I've come over all poorly... Oh god I think I'm going to spew... :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Quick... Just gaze at my Lian Li custom watercooled PC7077 case for a few seconds... Ah feeling better better already!!
:sol: :sol: :sol: :sol: :sol:

Bob
 

xringx

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Its a chief tech... I have the exact same case highly modded sitting in my garage. I still have the purple 80mm fan holders in a box even though I modded the case for 120mm and 140mm fans....

mine has a window..
 

Mathos

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I'd have to say it was an Antec SOHO case, it definitely looks like it. Plus the one pic I saw of the internal mobo tray has the QC stamp in the EXACT same spot, pretty much identical QC markings. That, coupled along with knowing how old it is, plus I know Doug sticks with certain brands. Not to mention it originally had an Antec True Power 385w PSU in it for the longest time. That PSU is still in use in the Athlon XP system I gave to friend.

Now the one that would really throw you a curve ball, would be trying to ID the mid tower case I had back when I had my Pentium MMX/Pentium2/Early Athlon Thunderbird build. That one I got around.....late 1995-early 1996. Internally the top part of the case looked almost exactly like the design that Lian Li still uses for it's mid tower cases, with the solid plate that swept back from the 5 1/4 drive bays to the back of the case. It only had one 3 1/2 in drive bay rack, that could fit the FDD and 3 HDD's. That was removable, and screwed on to a spot on the bottom of the larger drive bay rack. Had an exhaust fan mount behind where the cpu would be for 80/90mm fan, and a front intake fan spot that was the same size.

Externally it really resembled the PC-7plus classic series cases that they currently make. As far as the external drive bay, buttons, and indicator leds go it was exactly the same. The front vent for the intake fan was in the same spot as well, only difference being instead of being holes, it had horizontal slits. Plus that part of the front bezel was removable, and covered up a nylon mesh filter thing that went over the front intake port. Didn't have any front USB/Audio ports though, since that was before USB really started to catch on. Only major difference externally between it and their pc-7 series would be that the case shell was a single piece design instead of having 3 separate panels like most modern cases do. I kinda wish I still had it, might try and see if the person I gave it to still has it sitting around somewhere. That'd be another one that I think would be interesting to try and mod.
 

aziraphale

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Nope; the chieftecs were also purple. If I wasn't that lazy I'd include a pic...
 

xringx

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or maybe it who ever made it sold it to Asus and Chieftech.... Its a crazy world