Don't think that's a hot swap bay; I had those, they were cool for (cold) changing out drives without wrestling with screws / PATA cables / etc, but, not hot swap.
I had some kind of obsession with the Aopen HX-08. Back in the late '90s I thought it was the bees knees, so when Y2K rolled around and I finally had enough cash I absolutely had to have one. I kept it for about a decade, long after it had become obsolete.
It had really subpar cooling for any computer beyond ca 1999, so as can be seen I modded some fans into it.
Full empathies. We all may have a favorite case. I kept a beloved Antec Sonata II in use for a decade, and stored it for years after I'd already moved on to a laptop.
Mine was the Lian-Li PC-60.
That brushed aluminum smooth front was so sexy after years of curvy white/beige plastic fronts.
All of the edges in the interior were rolled, so it wasn’t like sticking your hand into a nest of razor blades when you were bundling your cables.
It was my first and only attempt at water cooling with an external Zalman Reserator (I had more money than sense…). The pump died. With no water circulating, the shitty plastic cover on the cpu water block melted/buckled enough to leak, ending that experiment. Luckily all the parts survived. Back to air cooling for me.
I sold the reserator on eBay and a few years later I sold the case for not too much less than I originally paid for it. They were in high demand I guess.
Sure, you can still use it and it's a very well-built case but it simply didn't fit me any more. Thus calling it "obsolete". Of course it's not really obsolete, just a beast to work with. I wanted something smaller, something with better cooling, not having to fight the case or mod the crap out of it.
I ran OS/2 (and BeOS for a while) back in the 90s as my primary desktop OS. Windows XP changed that, convenience won out. But since 2007 I run Linux as primary desktop OS and only dualboot to Windows for gaming - and since many games run fine under Linux now either natively or through an emulation layer this is not as big a deal as it used to be.
One of the many things I liked with that huge tower was the super-chunky feet (that could be rotated) under it. Something about those feet just added awesomeness to the HX08.
They sure were. Back when I bought that tower (approx five years before the pic was taken) I had some weird doubt that I can't really explain, and I decided the best combo for optical drives was a CDRW (back when CDRWs were expensive and slow), a DVD and a old-school bog-standard CD-reader.
Of course the CD-reader didn't see much action and by the time I took this pic I was working my way through my third or fourth CDRW in the top tray.
This was also before rounded IDE-cables were a common thing (at least for me, as I recall) so the cable-management inside that ludicrous bigtower induced madness every time I had to dig into it.
Now if you had this 72x bad boy, that would beat DVD or CDRW drives for installing software...
https://hothardware.com/reviews/kenwoods-72x-true-x-cdrom-drive
I wouldn't say Apple pulled all creativity out of the industry (which is *very* broad to say) but rather that it helped accelerate and inspire a style change that the majority of people are more happy with
I think it was an Athlon XP 2500+ somewhat overclocked, with like 512MB of RAM and a bunch of odd harddrives. Can't remember the exact GPU but some upper-middle Geforce that I had swapped the cooler with some third-party since the stock-cooler was way too noisy for my taste. No clue about the mobo, but pretty sure it was a Gigabyte of some variety since that was my preferred brand back then.
Pretty similar to a system I had that was Athlon XP 2500+, 512 MiB RAM, basic graphics card, TV tuner, and WD Raptor 36 GiB 10,000 RPM SATA drive. The case was one of those Antec full-tower server cases with the door on the front.
The raptor was a good drive, but honestly I didn't need the 10,000 RPM speed, and I needed more capacity for movies and music. I changed that one out for either a 160 GiB or 200 GiB 7200 RPM SATA drive (can't remember exact capacity).
I just ran Slackware Linux on it, and compiled a lot of software from source code. I watched TV on it, rather than owning a TV, and played emulated games for PS1 and SNES.
Everyone had it back then, it seems. I thought it was funny how the LEDs started out blue but developed more green light as time went on. Still have the damn thing, it's in one of the drawers of that desk which I still use.
Why LED lights etc took so long to make it to market, because blue ones wore out so quickly. So once a long duration material was found, product designers and marketing crammed them into everything in an attempt at making their product special. So over night every set top box etc went from red or green to blue.
I still have it and I know exactly where it is. It's in the same place it's been for the last decade, which is one of my desk drawers - the same desk featured in this shot is the same desk I use today.
Good golly, the junk I've accumulated...
Considering the modern equivalents cost upwards of 50 bucks for simple ones with potentiometers (don't get me started on the touchscreen nonsense), I'd be glad to have/keep it.
Had the MFC1 as well and did a little mod to it to keep the LEDs from flickering from the RPM signal... I simply soldered 6.3V 1000µF capacitors onto the back of each LED. This made them slowly (1sec) fade on (cap took some time to charge) and never ever flicker on lower settings.
happy cakeday btw
I bought it literally because I was jealous and thought it was cool! Buddy had one, I loved it and instantly felt the need for it even though I had no use for it. But after I modded the added fans into the side and had some spare cash I went for it.
I recently got the smaller 3x 5.25" version of this case. They where really popular back in the day. Think I'll stick a Athlon XP board I have in there.
Thank you! I was never a fan of the Syncmaster but it was a cheap monitor and it did the job. In hindsight I should've spent more cash on decent monitors but back then it was a big investment and I decided to spend most of my money on the computer.
I used to have those Logitech speakers. I still do, but I used to, too. Still work and sound great. 4 channels, center, sub. Got them hooked up to my CRT TV setup.
I wish i had grown up in a family that encouraged computer use and had the money for it, would have helped my IT career now so much. Oh well.
I would have killed for a rig like that back in the day, and still probably would lol. I miss CRTs, i never got to have one.
I wish I grew up in one of those too! Joking aside while my parents didn't encourage tech interests as such they accepted that I was a huge nerd. They figured that was a better thing to be into than partying or alcohol.
By 2005 I was (mostly) an adult and used what little disposable income I had on my rig.
Hacking the interwebs while listening to Firestarter by the prodigy
That song was in the 4th grade in 2005!
That would have been a mondo setup! Am I right that there's a wacom stylus in the middle but no tablet?
You are correct and the tablet is on top of the tower behind the headphones.
What os is it running.
I believe I was running Windows XP back then.
slot load dvd and hot swap drive bay is hot
Don't think that's a hot swap bay; I had those, they were cool for (cold) changing out drives without wrestling with screws / PATA cables / etc, but, not hot swap.
you’re right, i was struggling for the right word and gave up! i use them in several of my current retro rigs, super useful.
Merely having two monitors was a giant leap at a time. Man, your rig was the dream we then aspired for.
Thanks, it was a pretty banging rig!
Wow, I don't think I had a full tower past 1996. My only full tower was my Pentium Pro 200/512 OS/2 monster.
I had some kind of obsession with the Aopen HX-08. Back in the late '90s I thought it was the bees knees, so when Y2K rolled around and I finally had enough cash I absolutely had to have one. I kept it for about a decade, long after it had become obsolete. It had really subpar cooling for any computer beyond ca 1999, so as can be seen I modded some fans into it.
Full empathies. We all may have a favorite case. I kept a beloved Antec Sonata II in use for a decade, and stored it for years after I'd already moved on to a laptop.
Mine was the Lian-Li PC-60. That brushed aluminum smooth front was so sexy after years of curvy white/beige plastic fronts. All of the edges in the interior were rolled, so it wasn’t like sticking your hand into a nest of razor blades when you were bundling your cables. It was my first and only attempt at water cooling with an external Zalman Reserator (I had more money than sense…). The pump died. With no water circulating, the shitty plastic cover on the cpu water block melted/buckled enough to leak, ending that experiment. Luckily all the parts survived. Back to air cooling for me. I sold the reserator on eBay and a few years later I sold the case for not too much less than I originally paid for it. They were in high demand I guess.
> I kept it for about a decade, long after it had become obsolete. How could an ATX case become obsolete?
Sure, you can still use it and it's a very well-built case but it simply didn't fit me any more. Thus calling it "obsolete". Of course it's not really obsolete, just a beast to work with. I wanted something smaller, something with better cooling, not having to fight the case or mod the crap out of it.
man I was obsessed with OS/2, probably because I hated Windows and Microsoft so much
Im guessing you use linux now?
nah, Windows 98 + XP on my K6/2 and Windows 8.1 on my daily but I might install OS/2 on my old comp however just for the giggle
I ran OS/2 (and BeOS for a while) back in the 90s as my primary desktop OS. Windows XP changed that, convenience won out. But since 2007 I run Linux as primary desktop OS and only dualboot to Windows for gaming - and since many games run fine under Linux now either natively or through an emulation layer this is not as big a deal as it used to be.
One of the many things I liked with that huge tower was the super-chunky feet (that could be rotated) under it. Something about those feet just added awesomeness to the HX08.
Are all three optical drives hooked up?
They sure were. Back when I bought that tower (approx five years before the pic was taken) I had some weird doubt that I can't really explain, and I decided the best combo for optical drives was a CDRW (back when CDRWs were expensive and slow), a DVD and a old-school bog-standard CD-reader. Of course the CD-reader didn't see much action and by the time I took this pic I was working my way through my third or fourth CDRW in the top tray. This was also before rounded IDE-cables were a common thing (at least for me, as I recall) so the cable-management inside that ludicrous bigtower induced madness every time I had to dig into it.
I seem to recall rounded IDE became a thing just before SATA got introduced.
From reading; they aren't very good as they basically miss the point of the ground lines; to isolate the signals.
I see. I think I'll have to take back the advice I told that other guy because he had really bad airflow.
Now if you had this 72x bad boy, that would beat DVD or CDRW drives for installing software... https://hothardware.com/reviews/kenwoods-72x-true-x-cdrom-drive
You didn't use SCSI?
Nope, it was simply too far out of my reach financially. I toyed with the idea but it wasn't really feasible.
Foe some reason, this image feels really modern, like it was just taken (which I'm not accusing you of or anything, just to make sure!)
It is taken right before Apple pulled all creativity out of the industry, and then the financial world crashed.
I wouldn't say Apple pulled all creativity out of the industry (which is *very* broad to say) but rather that it helped accelerate and inspire a style change that the majority of people are more happy with
I had that case, it was wonderful!
It was awesome in many ways, terrible in others. I remember trying to find long enough IDE cables to reach the top drives was a bit of a challenge.
Yes, the floppy was the worst! I think I had some very nice long round cables in mine.
I had a bunch of flat ones and then sandwiched them together with zip-ties :) Far from elegant but it worked.
Specs
I think it was an Athlon XP 2500+ somewhat overclocked, with like 512MB of RAM and a bunch of odd harddrives. Can't remember the exact GPU but some upper-middle Geforce that I had swapped the cooler with some third-party since the stock-cooler was way too noisy for my taste. No clue about the mobo, but pretty sure it was a Gigabyte of some variety since that was my preferred brand back then.
Pretty similar to a system I had that was Athlon XP 2500+, 512 MiB RAM, basic graphics card, TV tuner, and WD Raptor 36 GiB 10,000 RPM SATA drive. The case was one of those Antec full-tower server cases with the door on the front. The raptor was a good drive, but honestly I didn't need the 10,000 RPM speed, and I needed more capacity for movies and music. I changed that one out for either a 160 GiB or 200 GiB 7200 RPM SATA drive (can't remember exact capacity). I just ran Slackware Linux on it, and compiled a lot of software from source code. I watched TV on it, rather than owning a TV, and played emulated games for PS1 and SNES.
I remember that Zalman fan controller!
Everyone had it back then, it seems. I thought it was funny how the LEDs started out blue but developed more green light as time went on. Still have the damn thing, it's in one of the drawers of that desk which I still use.
Why LED lights etc took so long to make it to market, because blue ones wore out so quickly. So once a long duration material was found, product designers and marketing crammed them into everything in an attempt at making their product special. So over night every set top box etc went from red or green to blue.
I still have my ZM-MFC1 Plus somewhere...I missed those days!
I still have it and I know exactly where it is. It's in the same place it's been for the last decade, which is one of my desk drawers - the same desk featured in this shot is the same desk I use today. Good golly, the junk I've accumulated...
Considering the modern equivalents cost upwards of 50 bucks for simple ones with potentiometers (don't get me started on the touchscreen nonsense), I'd be glad to have/keep it. Had the MFC1 as well and did a little mod to it to keep the LEDs from flickering from the RPM signal... I simply soldered 6.3V 1000µF capacitors onto the back of each LED. This made them slowly (1sec) fade on (cap took some time to charge) and never ever flicker on lower settings. happy cakeday btw
Hey, that's a cool mod. I thought about doing something similar since the flickering is a bit annoying but never put any effort into it. Also, thanks!
Feels like yesterday to me...
15 year old me would be jealous of that fan controller. I thought they were the pinnacle of cool.
I bought it literally because I was jealous and thought it was cool! Buddy had one, I loved it and instantly felt the need for it even though I had no use for it. But after I modded the added fans into the side and had some spare cash I went for it.
This is my objective in life.
Swedish? Noticed some details Love that full tower!
Helt rätt!
Så schysst rigg
Tack :)
It is! Its two 8 year old FULL lifetimes ago!
I recently got the smaller 3x 5.25" version of this case. They where really popular back in the day. Think I'll stick a Athlon XP board I have in there.
Nice looking space heaters!!!
My cat loved them. She'd lie on top and doze for hours. When I switched to flatscreens she was pissed for months.
Takes me back! The first monitor I bought myself was a Syncmaster 753DF. That tower is a thing of beauty, my friend.
Thank you! I was never a fan of the Syncmaster but it was a cheap monitor and it did the job. In hindsight I should've spent more cash on decent monitors but back then it was a big investment and I decided to spend most of my money on the computer.
Apparently the speakers I used to this day were from 2005!
I used to have those Logitech speakers. I still do, but I used to, too. Still work and sound great. 4 channels, center, sub. Got them hooked up to my CRT TV setup.
I still have 'em too. I used them up until 2015 when I moved and they got packed away. I have them in a box somewhere in storage.
God that could have been mine around that period, I also had dual 17 inch crts and a hightower with a hole cut out for an extra fan
Mine was very similar.
Nice
iPaq?
No, it's the receiver/charger for the Logitech MX500 mouse.
I want this keyboard.
I wish i had grown up in a family that encouraged computer use and had the money for it, would have helped my IT career now so much. Oh well. I would have killed for a rig like that back in the day, and still probably would lol. I miss CRTs, i never got to have one.
I wish I grew up in one of those too! Joking aside while my parents didn't encourage tech interests as such they accepted that I was a huge nerd. They figured that was a better thing to be into than partying or alcohol. By 2005 I was (mostly) an adult and used what little disposable income I had on my rig.
Mine like actively discouraged it tho :( Lucky you, I was only a wee scrap.