Dr Arboreal's Case Hoarding Therapy Group

Arboreal

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Silver Supporter
Oct 11, 2015
805
803
Having just read @fleetfeather's case disposal advert in the marketplace and the reply from @Kmpkt, I thought I'd post here about case hoarding.

My name is Arboreal and I overbuy PC cases, there I've said it!
You will be pleased to hear that you're not alone here or in the PC community generally.
We were having a similar conversation over on Bit-Tech a couple of weeks ago, when one of my friends there was admitting as much.

So I have a problem with SFF cases [I can 'give up any time' though...], but the majority of them are in use:
Silverstone SG05 - family PC
Silverstone SG06 - daughter's PC
Silverstone TJ08-E - son's PC
Silverstone TJ08 - sold with a gaming PC in for a friend - a disposal!
NCase M1 - Photo workstation and LAN PC - daily driver

Parvum prototype ITX case customised - retired from LAN duty, and replaced by
Silverstone SG13 - retired from LAN duty in favour of the M1
Phanteks Evolv ITX #The Shame - given to me by friend who was moving house it's buried in the attic...

Join me and share your case acquisition and keeping stories, you'll be amongst friends and not judged*

*Unless you're regularly buying dodgy SFF cases and can't kick the habit:p
 

Solo

King of Cable Management
Nov 18, 2017
855
1,422
I literally only have one case at any given time and lose money each time I decide to rebuild my system which is more often than necessary. So I have a problem, but it has to do with my obsession with clean slates.
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,582
Well, I have the same issue.

I have:

2 Cases I designed and had protocase manufacture

An S4M

mini-box m350

another mini box case with an lcd on the front

some Chinese aluminum cases.

and a thermaltake core v1. #TheShame

edit: only the core v1 is currently in use.
 

thewizzard1

Airflow Optimizer
Jan 27, 2017
333
248
I have a pile of sub-par ITX cases with "1u" style power supplies - I don't know why I continue keeping and collecting them, but they are rarely used. I have a spare system in one, my router housed in another (pfsense and Pentium embedded), and 2 'freebie' systems in yet more, and a pile as of yet unused.
 

Arboreal

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Silver Supporter
Oct 11, 2015
805
803
So, the penitents appear to share their burden and seek absolution

I literally only have one case at any given time and lose money each time I decide to rebuild my system which is more often than necessary. So I have a problem, but it has to do with my obsession with clean slates.

Young Solo welcome; your affliction is a different one, but painful nevertheless. I believe you belong to the Order of Tabula Rasa.

Well, I have the same issue.

I have:

2 Cases I designed and had protocase manufacture

An S4M

mini-box m350

another mini box case with an lcd on the front

some Chinese aluminum cases.

and a thermaltake core v1. #TheShame

edit: only the core v1 is currently in use.

Welcome, brother the Squirrel gene is strong with you, I feel you attraction to the collection urge.

I have a pile of sub-par ITX cases with "1u" style power supplies - I don't know why I continue keeping and collecting them, but they are rarely used. I have a spare system in one, my router housed in another (pfsense and Pentium embedded), and 2 'freebie' systems in yet more, and a pile as of yet unused.

The lure of freebie systems that have no immediate use...the Inner Magpie is at work there brother. I know little of the ways of 'U' servers and rackage, I fear.
I would suggest you confer with 'Father' @confusis, for his predilections stray into that domain in the crossover of SFF and Serverness
 
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Aux

Cable-Tie Ninja
Dec 5, 2018
179
155
I have many cases lying around the house, a grand total of fifteen cases

new pc for proto build in - Lian Li pc A51 i7 8086 win 10
I will be moving this to
my self designed case which is currently on my desk waiting for the above. . .

current main - Lian Li pc Q36 i7 6700 win 7
last main - Lian Li pc 7FNB i7 960 win 7
- Lian Li pc A04 Pentium 4 win xp
- Lian Li pc A04 Pentium 3 win 98
- unknown A open? AMD win 7
- Dell dimension 3000 Pentium 4 win xp
- IBM D2G Pentium 3 win 98

All of the above still work, kept working for the games . .

Server case (unused) - Lian Li pc C60

then we come to the junk yard of four cases I cannot identify, but I have started stripping them down to scrap. I keep promising to throw them out, but they are still here.. . . two were win 98, one was 2000, and one was xp

I also have an Elonex from 94 - 466VL which I think was win 3.2 . .. . dead
There was another case, but I managed to throw it away, but I still have the parts in a box . .. somewhere

Lian Li is still my favourite manufacturer . .

Do I win a prize?
 
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Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,582
So, the penitents appear to share their burden and seek absolution



Young Solo welcome; your affliction is a different one, but painful nevertheless. I believe you belong to the Order of Tabula Rasa.



Welcome, brother the Squirrel gene is strong with you, I feel you attraction to the collection urge.



The lure of freebie systems that have no immediate use...the Inner Magpie is at work there brother. I know little of the ways of 'U' servers and rackage, I fear.
I would suggest you confer with Father Confusis, for his predilections stray into that domain in the crossover of SFF and Serverness

Father Confusis, Lord of SFF Serverness.

Help us in this time of need!

Free me from my rackmount cage, and take me to that land of quiet fans!
 
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Arboreal

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Silver Supporter
Oct 11, 2015
805
803
I have many cases lying around the house,a grand total of fifteen cases

new pc for proto build in a - Lian Li pc A51 i7 8086 win 10 will be moving this to
my self designed case which is currently on my desk waiting for the above. . .

current main - Lian Li pc Q36 i7 6700 win 7
last main - Lian Li pc 7FNB i7 960 win 7
- Lian Li pc A04 Pentium 4 win xp
- Lian Li pc A04 Pentium 3 win 98
- unknown A open? AMD win 7
- Dell dimension 3000 Pentium 4 win xp
- IBM D2G Pentium 3 win 98

All of the above still work, kept working for the games . .

Server case (unused) - Lian Li pc C60

then we come to the junk yard of four cases I cannot identify, but I have started stripping them down to scrap. I keep promising to throw them out, but they are still here.. . . two were win 98, one was 2000, and one was xp

I also have an Elonex from 94 - 466VL which I think was win 3.2 . .. . dead
There was another case, but I managed to throw it away, but I still have the parts in a box . .. somewhere

Lian Li is still my favourite manufacturer . .

Do I win a prize?

Thank goodness the clinic opened before you were overtaken with an avalanche of caseage, brother.XD

A definite patient for the clinic; with that case history you have earned a free therapy session.
Your downfall I see, is the unmagnetic attraction of Lian Li's aluminium wonders; with them making up nearly half of your horde.

As an M1 owner, I can appreciate the quality of their manufacture, and in fact I did own, and yet sold a Lian Li PCQ 07 in my early ITX days.

Maybe you could start with getting rid of something from the junk yard to get you into the habit of disposing of the most abjectly unrequired case...there are 4 to choose from, and further opportunities to cleanse yourself and refine your collecting.
 
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Dstrm

Chassis Packer
Feb 8, 2019
15
11
Sitting in my basement collecting dust;
Silverstone TJ07 ( started converting into a MurderBox )
Silverstone FT02
Silverstone GD08
Silverstone PS07
Silverstone SG05
NCASE M1
InWin Chopin


Currently using;
Thermaltake Core WP100


I went from pretty damn big at the beginning, slowly sized down to about as small as possible, then went full retard.

Thinking about adding a second pedestal to the Core WP100 for the top.

* This not counting the 2 or 3 Chieftec/Antex SX1000 cases from yesteryear that are still stuffed in a corner somewhere.
 

Aux

Cable-Tie Ninja
Dec 5, 2018
179
155
I have to admit to finding another five cases hidden in my server cabinet . . . . making 20 cases altogether

Damn . ..
 
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Thehack

Spatial Philosopher
Creator
Mar 6, 2016
2,800
3,650
J-hackcompany.com
I have a few. Buying CPU cooler is my bigger problem. Here are the ones I currently own:

1. K39 (need to sell this off)
2. S4M (currently the PC)
3. Dancase A4
4. SG13
5. 2 extra Pure cases not for sale at the moment. Super rare edition matte black and matte white. :eek:
6. Original Pure prototype

Coolers:
1. LP53
2. C7
3. AR06
4. NH-L9a
5. NH-L12 (OG)
6. T318
7. AR05
8. IS-40X
9. Various AMD stock coolers
 

Aux

Cable-Tie Ninja
Dec 5, 2018
179
155
I have a few. Buying CPU cooler is my bigger problem. Here are the ones I currently own:

Coolers:
1. LP53
2. C7
3. AR06
4. NH-L9a
5. NH-L12 (OG)
6. T318
7. AR05
8. IS-40X
9. Various AMD stock coolers

mmm, dont get me started on my cpu coolers, including watercooling blocks .. and gpu watercooling blocks
 

glow

Trash Compacter
Feb 5, 2019
48
19
I used to just sell off old cases and builds. Even the massive EATX towers with wheels (I remember that one cost me $75 to ship years ago).

I somewhat stopped doing that, for no real reason.

Still have (inactive)
1 Silverstone SG06 <-- Wonderful case back in its heyday. Didn't have the best airflow (partly due to its flawed 120mm front fan mount), as was endemic of early cases of that time,
1 Silverstone FT03 <-- A great idea, but with some minor space efficiency and accessibility quibbles.
1 Silverstone FT03 mini <-- They didn't learn a single thing from the SG05 and FT03. Last Silverstone product I purchased.

Recently pressed these back into service:
1 Ncase M1 V5 <-- It's a bit large, but very flexible and extensible. it's slightly large size is completely offset by it's incredible component density and space efficiency, IMO.
1 M350 (that was inactive for years) <-- It's not a great case, but with M.2 finally in full swing, I have finally found a use for it, along with my PicoPSU.

Current computer is in the:
1 DAN A4 SFX v4



Many, many, many sold. These include Silverstone SG05/06/02 cases, along with a beautiful, red, aluminum Lian Li mATX cube, countless mATX/ATX/EATX Antec and CM cases (including the P180 mini, my first case).

In the end, I am still thankful to Silverstone's SG02 (first "SFF" case in my possession) for bringing me to the SG05 (and to mITX).

While I do not find DAN's A4 SFX perfect, I do very much appreciate its extreme, unwavering focus to its core principles.

I think I will find a use for the SG06 eventually, but the FT03 and FT03 mini will eventually have to go. Shame, since I really love the vertical case concept.
 

Damascus

Master of Cramming
Feb 27, 2018
550
387
I have a pile of sub-par ITX cases with "1u" style power supplies - I don't know why I continue keeping and collecting them, but they are rarely used. I have a spare system in one, my router housed in another (pfsense and Pentium embedded), and 2 'freebie' systems in yet more, and a pile as of yet unused.
What cases? I've got a nice flex-ATX/1U psu that need a home
 

boingk

Caliper Novice
Feb 10, 2019
32
17
Active:
  1. Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Shift ITX - great component support in a very small footprint... if not volume.
  2. Inwin BQ656 - lovely little 3.3L Ryzen APU box with slim ODD. Perfect HTPC.
Inactive:
  1. Thermaltake Core V1 - i3 6100 / GTX 670
  2. Origin M-ATX (17L) - 2200G / GTX960
  3. Dell Optiplex 9010 SFF - A8 APU
  4. Random old huge ATX monster - Athlon / GTX670
I tend to cycle through components and cases a fair bit, if something is a bargain I buy, refurbish, and resell.
 

xcrco

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Apr 16, 2017
111
84
wow I'm glad Im not alone this is the pic of my clutter



not to mention 3 more itx cases that have purchased for the couple of months

I have the

Dan case.V3
several Custom mod cases 4.2L
Custom mod 3.9L ( nfc like- I think prototype only one
Custom mod 1.2L its on my.imgur
x2 SG13
kolink rocket
Node 202
lian li pc q b21 black modded
the new and prototype of lone L5 not opened
china's ZS4DC smaller version not opened
deskmini 110 not opened.


so It is becoming a problem. heres my dillema
Whenever I find a good workable case (based on thermals, acoustic.etc) I always think is I have to go smaller. I did purchased the deskmini 1060 before thinking it will end my adventure but dissapointed with the noise.

so here I am still looking for the proper case to come along though Im currently using the rocket as the main system.

in time I will update the pics those are the only ones not being used.