I love the sheer audacity of the “grandma’s house” design of this PC case and also hate everything about it. It’s a mixed set of emotions.

@Tadfafty

3 ай бұрын

Dang, I prefer it to any other PC case out there myself.

@sjosto

3 ай бұрын

I'm so approved I'm drinking my disapproval.

I wish more case makers would branch out into different aesthetics like this. I'd love to see more cases that aren't so Gamer.

@tylerdean980

3 ай бұрын

I wish there were modern beige cases

@classic_jam

3 ай бұрын

I went with that Fractal Design north for that reason.

@sarcasticmcspastic8073

3 ай бұрын

As a gamer/streamer; I want less gamery cases myself RGB is cool and all but that's not what I'm here for

@zackkertzman7709

3 ай бұрын

@@tylerdean980 that's the "all white" aesthetic in another 15 years

@stevethepocket

3 ай бұрын

@@tylerdean980 The ATX standard hasn't changed a whole lot over the years. You could probably find an actual vintage PC that doesn't work and repurpose its case for a new build; you'd just have to be mindful not to get parts that require a whole refrigerator worth of cooling components.

This case was for model of fake "vintage" radios with CD player that is still sold today. The top is on hinges and hides a turntable. If you google "All-in-One Vintage-Style Turntable" you'll find them. The PC maker adapted the case to put a computer in it. That's why there are unused speaker grills.

@dans8287

3 ай бұрын

I worked on the "cd player" in one of these because the belt that drives the tray perished and wouldn't open. this was actually an IDE cd-rom drive that had a controller that was completely encased in a metal shield with all of the cd functions built in and connected to the drive with an IDE cable. The audio output from the cd went to the amp board. Internally it was extremely, to be nice "built to a cost" . It was one of those crosley branded things. I was impressed with how much hot glue they used in it . kinda looked like it was infested by spiders. lol

@dogecode386

3 ай бұрын

@@dans8287Never knew that, but I always thought the cd tray opened a lot like a standard PC drive. Guess if I ever need a replacement IDE CD drive I know where to look.

@MishraArtificer

3 ай бұрын

I want to put LED speakers in those grilles, and leave them flickering between orange and yellow, to make it look like vacuum tubes powering up...that would be awesome.

@DissertatingMedieval

3 ай бұрын

@@dans8287 My folks bought me that for Christmas the year I was talking about putting a PC in a old radio. It did not survive my now-spouse and I's move for grad school -- it wasn't worth the trip.

@TommyAgramonSeth

3 ай бұрын

I think the "unused" speaker grills provide the system with some airflow for the single rear fan

I can't emphasize this enough: "Better" Help *SELLS YOUR INFORMATION TO TARGETTED AD BUYERS*.

@queens.dee.223

3 ай бұрын

This. And if you look up reviews of BH as I just did, you get content that contains sponsored links to the service: The "reviews" I saw on Healthline, Forbes, and Verywell all had sponsored links on the "reviews" pages. I'm not saying you can't get good help on BH, but lots of therapists today do telehealth, including ones covered by insurance. And they aren't harvesting your mental health data to sell to advertisers.

@acerIOstream

3 ай бұрын

And doesn't help anyone. He really needs to drop this sponsor, like, yesterday.

@ameddayr

3 ай бұрын

hear hear

@denissuh

3 ай бұрын

and also underpays their employees

@polocatfan

3 ай бұрын

​@@acerIOstreamhe's been told to already on a previous video and has seemingly ignored it sadly. what an asshole.

My brother bought that case and built it for my mothers christmas present. He still regurlerly upgrades that computer every year to keep it competent. I always loved the look of that case and seeing it here is kinda sureal

@ActionRetro

3 ай бұрын

Amazing!

@TheCanadianJET

3 ай бұрын

Your brother was so lucky, I'd love to find one of these cases for myself

3 ай бұрын

What was your mom's reaction?

Love the vid, hate that you took the BetterHelp sponsorship again.

I unironically love that case - it's just the right kind of weird for me. I'll also never get over KZreadrs censoring the application of thermal compound.

@GaugePlays1980

3 ай бұрын

Is that a point of internet pile-ons if someone "doesn't do it right"? I cant question sentence correctly today.

@resneptacle

3 ай бұрын

​@@GaugePlays1980Yup, because there will always be someone complaining about wrong application or wrong amount of paste on the internet!

@AUTOMATIC_SMART_ANNOUNCEMENT_S

3 ай бұрын

Especially if it’s still obvious how it’s being applied. You can clearly see he applies it in an X

@jasongalloway4645

3 ай бұрын

Indeed that case is actually pretty dope in my opinion....I know it was intended as a htpc case and I totally could see it serving in that role

@edwardallenthree

3 ай бұрын

​@@AUTOMATIC_SMART_ANNOUNCEMENT_Sexactly. We all know that it should be applied in the shape of either a pentagon, a pentagram, or the Greek letter omega. Any other shape offends the gods.

Man, I want a modernized version of it that have most of the functionality yet retains it's classic look, with some goodies like USB 3.0 or a thunderbolt port, or even a OLED Front Panel...

@justin6581

3 ай бұрын

This is why we have 5.25 bays

@JohnSmith-xq1pz

3 ай бұрын

I'd go full LGR and put something old school in it. Perhaps my own WoodGrain 486 build?

@SproutyPottedPlant

3 ай бұрын

How about a modern DAB+ Internet radio?

@DouglasWalrath

3 ай бұрын

@@justin6581 but we don't anymore! most cases got rid of them

@absalomdraconis

3 ай бұрын

Buy some plywood, a saw, drill, maybe some 1*1, some sheet steel, and maybe some anti-EMI paint for the inside, and get to working. Buy plywood because the first will be bad, save the fancier woods for the second version.

Some of us never stopped with the HTPC thing... I'm watching this on mine, and I'm currently building its successor.

@hyperturbotechnomike

3 ай бұрын

Same here. Silverstone still makes new HTPC cases and torrent never stopped working.

@oktoberfests4107

3 ай бұрын

same, gd04 user here, this case is damn best

@paulstubbs7678

3 ай бұрын

I've also kind of gone down that path, I was going to build one in an old VHS recorder case, as the tape door looked the perfect place for an optical drive, but I ended up with a Acer micro PC that does not look out of place in my HiFi/TV cabinet.

@DissertatingMedieval

3 ай бұрын

@@hyperturbotechnomike Any recommendation for a Silverstone case? I have inherited a lot of AV equipment -- enough to have a dedicated 70's vintage setup and a modern home theater. I only tend to use the stuff I already have for listening to music even though I have a fairly nice set of speakers for 5.1 surround. I was thinking it might be neat to have my next desktop be an HTPC and put it alongside the vintage stuff and use that as my daily music driver, then see if my spouse wants a setup of her own. The equipment is my late father's so I don't want to sell any of it, so I'm thinking of uses.

@deanchur

3 ай бұрын

I wanted to gut an old amplifier case and put a PC in it; that wouldn't be too hard itself, but I also wanted the front buttons and dot matrix display to still work and be operable, and I definitely don't have the skills for that. Maybe just start with the power button and learn my way up from there.

That's definitely based off the case for one of those crappy Crossley all-in-one record players plus cassette and CD combo units. It looks like they did minimal alterations to the exterior, you can see where the cassette would load on the side (the cutout was turned into what looks like a carrying handle) and the DVD drive is where the CD player is on the combo unit. The power button on the front is where the volume knob would go.

DankPods: “Can you believe no one bought this?” ActionRetro: “Can you believe somebody bought this?”

"It's really wood!" sounds like something written either in the ad or on the no doubt hideous box I'd put fans behind those speaker grills

@thomase13

3 ай бұрын

I think that's what was there originally

I daily drive this case. Its had 3 different builds in it over the years.

What a fun case design. I'd take this over the endless variations of "glass panel on black box with angled things" we have with modern cases. I noticed at the 8:00 mark it looks like you mounted the case fan with the intake side facing out. Did you end up keeping it like that?

I didn't buy this in 2009, but if I had the money and saw it I damn well would have.

@ActionRetro

3 ай бұрын

Honestly same

I bought this case and it housed my system for many years (an FX8350). Eventually sold it to a friend who was doing a full retro style gaming room. I kept the fan from this case though, as it was an RGB. To this day that fan is still running strong.

I built an HTPC in a NES. It was amazing until the capacitor plagued caps all died.

@AlejandroRodolfoMendez

3 ай бұрын

You can replace the caps, don't trow it, it's like candies in value.

The 2000s was a wild west of excess and pc chaos. What a time to be alive. I build my 1st pc with a amd 64 3500+ the thermaltake case I used I can't find. Things we're iterated on so quickly. Everything was a flash in the pan

I actually liked most of the old HTPC-type cases, and I like this one too, although if I'm being honest, I'd probably use that case to house my NAS... And perhaps throw in an internet radio setup with an LED display to make it look and work like a radio ;) Great video!

@MishraArtificer

3 ай бұрын

I'd do it! Looks like if you made a custom rack setup for them, you could probably fit a disgusting number of SSDs in there...or do you still use spinning rust?

You've convinced me! I'll take 10,000 cases for my SuperPC reselling conglomerate !

@minty_Joe

3 ай бұрын

Nice cameo, Steve! Academy Award Winning shenanigans!

I saw that case in a computer magazine back in the day. It inspired me to build my own. It is stained wood and copper in the art Deco style. It was my Linux server. With different components, I still use it to this day.

@MishraArtificer

3 ай бұрын

Oooooh...I want to see it. Did you post photos anywhere?

I would have left the speaker holes empty so the openings can act as intakes for the rear exhaust fan.

@seanelydon

3 ай бұрын

I did this, they act like mini air filters.

I approve your method of mounting the speakers. The grills in the front of the case are probably meant for ventilation.

@SuperDavidEF

3 ай бұрын

Yeah. I was thinking those are definitely ventilation grills made to LOOK like speaker grills, and not just "fake speaker grills" for no reason than aesthetics.

This looks like it really needs to go on top of an old wood framed TV from the 70s/80s

When I was 15 I was given one of these! Holy sh!t talk about nostalgia! Surprisingly, mine had Debian 8 installed on it, had 4 GB of shiny nice ram, and a Core 2 duo! Man, I wish I had of kept it! Please restore it!!! Keep it! Mine was in perfect condition until my grubby hands got to explore the hardware with porteus Linux v3.0 and a USB and virtualbox! Rip my wooden HTPC 2009-2015

man i love the crazy htpc cases from the 2000s, i bought the thermaltake mozart a couple years ago, its nothing special by appearance but just the sheer SIZE of it is what i love

@executor32

3 ай бұрын

So big that you could put a whole second Mini-ITX computer in it, which could be connected to an optional pop-out LCD touchscreen that mounted in the top 7-inch drive bay. That's probably extremely difficult to find these days, but it's the same size as a single-DIN car radio so I'm sure there's some possibilities there.

@arutezza

3 ай бұрын

@@executor32 ive caught a couple of the monitors coming up for sale on ebay but theyve been as much as what i paid for the case sadly, i might rig up a pop up din for it eventually

Like a good rug, or wood HTPC case, @Mac84 really ties the room together

Fully convinced you did the X pattern with thermal paste on purpose, just to annoy people who yell about too much paste, and I'm fully on board with it. Love the case btw!

I in fact owned that case. By 2009 I was 10 years into a career of building systems, repairing systems and corporate networking. I love that the case was wood. I loved that it looked like furniture and was not a grey/black box . I would say I used it for maybe 4 years before going with a quieter case.

I love the synergy of the old with the new. As someone who grew up in the day of console televisions, this hits the mark!

LGR: presenting the Megaluminum Monster for your pleasures Action Retro: 1930s RADIO GAMING COMPUTER

Id have personally gone for a negative pressure setup with that rear fan and gotten a better CPU cooler like a noctua U9, D9 or something similar. The GPU choking for air in that corner would concern me if you planned on using this long term and at max load. You'd also have some intake filtering through that cloth behind the speaker grills. Actually had to fix a PC once that was set up like that, filtered front but intake from the back. It overheated because the filters were clogged from the inside

I still have mine, it has survived multiple new builds, and still adorns my tv cabinet as my media center XD

Nicely done! Glad you could bring it back to life with modern components.

I really want to see a second part to this now. It's calling for a working LCD and front mounted volume controls. Also needs a DVD... Oh... No... 🤔🤔🤔... an 8track player and cut out and install a turntable on the top! 😛

Given the retro style case and steam os, maybe a steampunk UI theme would be fitting

For speakers, I'd have take a pair of regular widerange drivers, screwed them to the speaker grills, and wired them to a small amp board ^^

It would be amazing if you paired this with one of those Philco pedestal TVs as a monitor, or maybe a modern lookalike!

@eDoc2020

3 ай бұрын

No, a Predicta's too modern. A 1940s tabletop TV (like I coincidentally have) would be a better match.

So glad you did this video. I'd seen this case on Newegg years ago. As an admirer of antique electronics in wooden cases, it seemed interesting, if not oversized. I see it actually doubles as a stylish TV stand!

Hi, it's me, I'm the one who bought it. It's beautiful and I somehow managed not to ruin it. It lives in a box now, waiting for the day I bring it back out. I did not get the optional LCD panel at the time. I asked the company if I could order one directly from them years ago, and they said they might have a few, but then they stopped replying to my ticket.

i laughed my arse off at the pixelated heat-conducting paste. nicely done! 🙂

This PC Case really screams 'Think Different'. Love it.

Back in early 2000 I dreamt of some fine wooden keyboard/mouse/monitor kit! Gosh, that was gorgeous...!

Cool! My uncle had a similar looking machine, made to read a vinyl, store it into a hdd, then burn it on a cd. A nice addition to this project would be to connect the DVD drive, with a usb-to-ide adapter, or similar.

Laughs nervously at line about computers in the living room while hiding his PC behind the TV...

I have that case from an old build - it's not bad for the novelty factor, it's definitely a conversation starter.

I actually like that case a lot

Some old motherboards require the cmos battery to boot. The old computer I have has an internal speaker to tell you if it has an error while booting and even that doesn't work without it.

Dude, i bought one of those back circa 2004. We got some in at my work, Hastings Entertainment.

The speaker areas being fake makes sense, considering that certain types of speakers had magnets that people worried would erase data.

Congrats almost @ 100k subs!

I absolutely love that case. My Patreon dollars at work.

That's a prettyish case. I'd personally go for a slightly lighter wood matching my actual record/CD player, but it's nice to see a media PC case in something more interesting than stage-hand black.

I love random old stuff like this. I always wanted to build one in an old HDDVD player case.

sadly the company that owns nmedia is no longer in business and finding the lcd module they used seems to be impossible

i still use my HTPC - bit more modern tho. a 5800x/3080ti/64gb ram/dual custom loop hard tube in P4 thermaltake open air. custom bespoke wiring. sprayed mopar white with pearl clear. wall mounted via tv bracket w/swivel. full rgb. two 50" 4K in portrait along side a samsung Q85T 75 120hz/10bit center monitor. all on full motion wall mount. 4KW of amplifiers, 11 chanell Atmos processing, 4 ceiling speakers, floor standing 6 surround cabinets. single 21" sub below monitor in 6th order 36 cubic foot enclosure on 2500W mono block. all dsp tuned. couch in center but on coasters to slide out of the way. making room for my 25x30 foot Vavle Index play area.

I built one of these HTPCs back in the day - complete with DVD Drive, IR Receiver, TV Tuner card and MythTV for recording TV shows OTA. I even had a cool looking case with VU meters on the front.

This seriously looks like one of the retro stereos filled with cheap junk, not cheap and sound awful that are sold on Amazon and other places.

That was a fun project to watch. Good episode.

I'd like to see a 1980s wooden TV replica PC case. That would rock. Thanks for the upload.

Using the "world's worst Steam Deck" industrial PC as your main gaming PC is probably the most Action Retro thing I could imagine

I wish they still made silly things like that. Looks cool. Now you just got to get the display on the front working ;)

HTPCs felt slightly like the future to me, but I had a little box that plugged into my TV and could stream media over my network, from my home server hidden away in the study. I didn't run Ethernet cables, I used my home's existing power cables to transmit Ethernet signals (Homeplug). *That* felt like the future to me.

Two things: 1. I would suggest placing intake fans behind the speaker grilles for increased cooling, and 2. you could have replaced the IDE dvd with a sata unit for full function

Subscribed! Thanks for this fascinating and fun channel. 👋🙂👍

I remember this. I really wanted to make a steampunk PC from a old radio cabinet and this really tickled my fancy. But the front panel just looked a bit too cheap plastic for what I was looking to do.

I turned my "server" into an HTPC, and I gotta say this is about 100x better than the Chromecast I was using before. Sitting comfortably on the couch and watching way too many youtube videos on a big TV is great. It's way nicer being able to use tabs and just pause a video to finish later and it just *stays there*. That case is rad. I love that it has an XD picture card reader.

I would be really cool to see some media center related distros, that keep the dream of the ultimate HTPC alive!

As someone who collects old stereos I love this!

Fracking Fantastic

These speaker holes are great for fans. Nice case

That’s still my HTPC case, complete with display panel, although I had to buy the panel separately as an add on when I bought the case because no body sold it as a package

I love everything about this. Tempts me to build a dedicated Fallout "steamdeck"

I've wanted that case for years and have never been able to find one new or used anywhere.

The metallic effect on the panel suggests that there might be some mileage in a fireplace PC!

Amount of monocles expected: at least 1. Amount of monocles: 0.

@MishraArtificer

3 ай бұрын

...I was expecting more Fallout references, given the theme of the case, but now I'm disappointed by the lack of monocles. Dammit.

Should've gone with the brown and beige Noctua coolers and fans. Love to see something so different either way

that 7700x sweltering under that thang eh

I still have that same case! When I built mine I bought the add-on display for the front. IIRC it displayed system resource usage by default. At the time I was running Windows Media Center and I think it displayed what was currently playing or being recorded

Bring back the very best PC design trend of the late 90s and early 00's: Lian Li's classic brushed aluminium cases... or the Coolermaster competitor that I can't remember the model number. Nowadays everything is black but brushed aluminium was better than black. As for this thing... throw it on the fire.

@eDoc2020

3 ай бұрын

Back when I was looking at PC cases for sale around 2014 the PC-60 Plus was still for sale and would've been my first choice if not for the cost. A couple years later I picked up an older PC-60 (non-Plus) and I love it. The only shortcoming is the 80mm fans are too noisy when pushing any decent amount of air so a modern gaming build would be a no-go. The Plus version removes a front 3.5" bay but has 120mm fans instead, a good tradeoff IMO.

I remember HTPC , they were cool , I planned to get one of them , especially the rectangular one with a handle to carry it

This case looks like what an average gen z kid would think a pc from 2009 looked like lmao

@BelladonnaPup

3 ай бұрын

The oldest gen z are hitting 27, gen alpha is hitting 14.

A woodgrain home media PC? Someone get LGR in here.

Been building and modding PC's since 1995. Just got done redoing my desktop, yesterday I delivered a New AMD system I built to my older Niece. White case 240mm AIO. She loved it. All my laptops run Linux. My desktop and Gaming rig dual boot. Got 2 full AMD builds I put back in the boxes they are future replacements. Good prices right now.

i bought this same case when it first came out and used it os a media center PC, but as i got older my taste in cases got better and i acually kept that case until about 3 years ago as an emergency backup case, but never used it so finally i tossed it out.

That thing could be the start of a really cool steam-punk PC.

This would have been a great case for that PC I made for my late grandpa mostly for browsing, emails, and KZread.

90k subscribers later and we you're at 100k subscribers!! congrats :)

8:49 Flip the metal case upsidedown. Remount the drive. Use standoffs as shims. For myself I'm trying to mount a cup holder from an AUDI A6 C5 98-05 A4 98-02 in the drive slot.

I love sleeper cases. I love the idea of HTPC to this day.

You have to upgrade that dummy display for a functioning one.

Hopefully that card works out for you, I saw a lot of complaints about the power color fighter model having a lot of overheating issues.

There was a whole generation of desktop stereo systems that were built in that form factor, and I have to wonder if they used the same basic plans for this case, or if the case plans go repurposed for the stereos.

why worsehelp? why do youtubers never research sponsors?

Love the case, but I wish it actually had more 5.25 expansion slots on the front as I've a media hub I'd love to use on that as well as replacing the DVD drive with a Blu-Ray drive for an upgrade.

Does Chimera make the Proton setup any more reliable? I've spent _so many_ hours trying to get Cyberpunk 2077 working reliably on Linux and I eventually gave up on it. I'd been using a Debian dev box but would definitely consider dual booting Chimera if it'd help.

Wow, I absolutely love this! As a vintage audio enthusiast nerd, it's right up my alley :D Yeah, it's cheesy, but still cool. Would be nice to do something with the display in it, maybe showing uptime, temperature monitoring, fan rpm, something. This is a really cool build, and now I want such a case, but found none for sale on eBay... meh, I guess it's such a rarity 'cause no-one bought it... it wouldn't fit into my woodgrain computer desk anyway (by size).

@Tadfafty

3 ай бұрын

Same here, it's a nice looking computer case.

As much as it's horrifying to think that 2009 was now fifteen years ago already, you do have to appreciate that literally everything just lined up with the screw holes already in the case. Compare and contrast to the work required to get random hardware from much more than a decade previously to fit together, which basically requires a subscription for Dremel bits, 3D printer filament and epoxy.

wonder if that speaker grill reused as fan grill allng with beefy new gaming hardware could be a cool sleeper builds

I bought one and built one for a bud. He wanted a PC for his home theater setup and I used this, figured instead of trying to make the computer tiny, or make it hidden in a Cabinet, make it a center piece! It had a core 2 Quad, 4GB of ram, windows 7, and and HD 5670. It was a great box for streaming from Netflix, playing DVDs, and even a bit of gaming I made it around 2012 or so, the parts were a bit older but still fine for the time on a budget.