I have an old Acrylic C3 case I have no clue what to do with

[Rob94hawk]

Got this case back in 2004 before all the hardware grew in size and got rearranged. Was my first build! It's been sitting in my closet for a long time.
I was going to build a gaming rig but there's no way a 3080 is going to fit into this thing. Plus the power supply spot is up top.
Thoughts? Or should I just sell it for cheap?

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

HTPC with an APU. If it were mine, I would custom loop it for looks.

 

[xtreemchaos]

get a smaller gpu, theres nothing wrong with the psu being at the top its a refreshing change nowa days the only prob will be cable routing but in a see through case the cables are allways on show.

 

[Toothless]

Why not do an APU build with an NVME as the only storage? Route the power cables cleanly and bam, nice little HTPC as stated above.

 

[ir_cow]

I had that case, the acrylic cracked within a month and fell apart completely within a year. When you are young and don't know better, you buy crap like that.

 

[cvaldes]

I had that case, the acrylic cracked within a month and fell apart completely within a year. When you are young and don't know better, you buy crap like that.

Undoubtedly there were multiple manufacturers of acrylic cases. When manufactured and used correctly, acrylic can be used to create durable products for a wide variety of situations.

The OP's acrylic case appears to be in pretty decent condition for its vintage and it is clear that OP took care in storing it.

Unsurprisingly this case doesn't appear to be designed for great airflow characteristics -- not ideal for the higher thermal output of today's PC components. Worse, acrylic isn't a good conductor of heat.

Personally I would sell this. Extra holes drilled into the case could provide more ventilation but I'm not sure if an aesthetically pleasing result can be obtained using ordinary hand tools. Thus, one might have to take this case to someone who specializes in acrylic.

There are more color options today in PC components so OP wouldn't be stuck with a big black PSU with long black power cables. There are plenty of creative options available with today's LED lighting products, a genre that didn't exist in 2004.

For sure, it will take time and money to bring this case into the world of DIY computing in 2022. It's up to OP to decide whether or not it's worth it with a strong understanding of what the expected final aesthetics would be.

 

[shovenose]

Rather intriguing. How much would you want for it?