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AT Cases

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wanderfalke66

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
4
Hello all, looking to acquire an AT case for a machine I'm building and they're rather difficult to come by in decent/inexpensive condition. I hope that someone can either oblige or point me toward a place you can get em empty, yes, I know there are some up on Ebay but I'd prefer to not have to spend what I would on a new case for an old AT one.

Thanks
 
Good luck not spending a fortune on an AT case. Seems like most people that have them for sale think their made of gold, and then shipping is outrageous as well. Try www.ramplus.com. They have some new old stock for OK prices but nothing to write home about. I bought in bulk about 5 years ago several AT desktop and tower cases, but i have plans for all of them. Good luck. If you find more than you need somewhere, let me know as I am always looking as well.

Uncle

p.s.

I have modded some ATX cases to work with AT motherboards. I had nothing better to do at the time.
 
I actually bought a brand new case a couple of years back (and by new I mean still in production, not new old stock) that's both AT and ATX compatible. All you have to do to fit an AT motherboard is fit the right IO plate on and remove the power switch that the case comes with so you can install the one that's attached to your AT power supply. I'll have to see if I can still find it for sale anywhere. Of course if you don't have an AT power supply, that would still be a problem, since it doesn't come with one.


EDIT: Eh, I guess I must've gotten mine about when they stopped making them, as I can't find any trace of them now.

EDIT 2: Oh wait, I found it. Yeah, it's not available anymore now. Also, I was mistaken: It won't handle a full AT board, just a Baby AT.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AV110
 
Last edited:
uncleseth said:
Try www.ramplus.com. They have some new old stock for OK prices but nothing to write home about.
Click to expand...

I have a 386dx40 motherboard with no home, so I decided to check out the above. Stuff is on sale, so I got a mid-tower with power supply for $50 and $25 shipping -- not too shabby. They have a slim model for $25 with power supply and riser card, so if you have a need for a slim desktop that can provide 3 ISA slots, that's pretty good for NOS.
 
I'd check your local recycle center for a pre-PIII PC of some description and see if you can get it cheap - you might get it cheaper if you remove the board, since recyclers like the guts of 386-Pentium PCs for the gold content.
 
Thanks for the replies, folks! I'm checking out that ramplus site, going to buy one of their cases with an AT PSU installed as soon as I can.

I also don't have any idea where the nearest recycling center is, given this is semi-rural Wisconsin and municipal recycling is done very small scale...there aren't places near me where you can deliver items such as that like there were back in Maryland. I keep checking St. Vinny's and other thrift stores to see if there are any ancient machines people donate but that's always hit or miss. There are the usual small scale "computer stores" around here run by idiots who think knowing how to wipe an HDD makes them an IT savant and they've all been bewildered by an "AT Form Factor".

I've considered moving my current rig up to a larger case to make room for all the HDDs I have to simply get em out of storage and into a healthier environment but I'm not certain I'd be able to drill new holes with enough accuracy to seat the board. I have a very nice mobo I got off Ebay, I have to check to see if it has the backplate with it or not. Wish I hadn't lost the previous machine I had to a fire.
 
I've run across several of those, and while I'm not at all averse to getting one of the seriously old school lopsided ones, I will be paying less for the new Thor case for my modern machine.

What I wouldn't give for a MicroCenter here. Had one two blocks away in MD...got so spoiled.
 
LOL looks like my flip top XT/Turbo front facia I got given last year. I guess the "IBM" badge is worth it though :)
 

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Hello wanderfalke,

Not sure if you're still looking, hope I'm not posting on too old a thread.....:D

I've got a nice full-height Tower case that can take a full-AT sized motherboard. 3 5-1/4" bays, 2 ext 3-1/2", 3 internal 3-1/2" bays, removable 3-1/2" bay carrier, LED MHZ display. I can take a pic if you're interested.

Also have the bottom half of a genuine IBM AT case I found years ago, unfortunately I just couldn't find the cover! :( still has the power supply installed. Looking at that eBay auction in your thread I'm kicking myself for not looking harder lol!

Finally I've got a complete Intel 302 386-25Mhz Full-AT Desktop computer, made and built by Intel! Built like a tank, I can stand on the thing, working perfectly. It's got a 766mb full-height SCSI drive installed in it. I wouldn't want to rip the board out just for the case though, if nothing else just talking about an interesting PC I have.

Cheers!

Bellarmine
 
How do those slim desktop AT cases with riser cards work for a board that has the normal ISA slots where the cards are positioned vertically?
Can you put those riser cards in any ISA slot, even on those type of boards?

Or does it have to be a board that accepts the riser cards by default?
 
offensive_Jerk said:
How do those slim desktop AT cases with riser cards work for a board that has the normal ISA slots where the cards are positioned vertically?
Can you put those riser cards in any ISA slot, even on those type of boards?

Or does it have to be a board that accepts the riser cards by default?
Click to expand...

Its the position of the case slots (horizontal) and the fact that the mobo has only a few slots to accommodate the riser card. You could get creative and cobble a rig together I suppose (round peg/square hole scenario).
 
offensive_Jerk said:
How do those slim desktop AT cases with riser cards work for a board that has the normal ISA slots where the cards are positioned vertically?
Can you put those riser cards in any ISA slot, even on those type of boards?

Or does it have to be a board that accepts the riser cards by default?
Click to expand...

It depends on whether the case was designed for standard "Baby AT" motherboards or for a proprietary motherboard. There were some generic aftermarket slimline cases that took a standard Baby AT motherboard and included a riser card for the ISA slots. In that case only one ISA slot on the motherboard will actually be used (for the riser card), and the rest will be unusable unless you can find a small ISA card which doesn't need a backplate.

However there were also many proprietary slimline cases which do not accept standard Baby AT motherboards. The easy way to tell is if the case was designed to include serial, parallel, video, etc. ports on the motherboard. If it does, a standard Baby AT motherboard most likely won't work in it.
 
vwestlife said:
It depends on whether the case was designed for standard "Baby AT" motherboards or for a proprietary motherboard. There were some generic aftermarket slimline cases that took a standard Baby AT motherboard and included a riser card for the ISA slots. In that case only one ISA slot on the motherboard will actually be used (for the riser card), and the rest will be unusable unless you can find a small ISA card which doesn't need a backplate.

However there were also many proprietary slimline cases which do not accept standard Baby AT motherboards. The easy way to tell is if the case was designed to include serial, parallel, video, etc. ports on the motherboard. If it does, a standard Baby AT motherboard most likely won't work in it.
Click to expand...

Specifically, I was talking about this one http://www.ramplus.com/thsldeatca20.html

Sadly, the good ones all seem to be sold out. So, that one will work with AT and Baby AT. I never knew you could just stick a riser card in a ISA slot, I always thought the riser cards were proprietary to the system.
 
Just to throw a little salt on the wound of whoever is still looking for AT cases. I just picked up 3 brand new Aopen BG45 cases and 1 brand new Aopen BG95 case from an online seller. Each for my 286, 386, and 486 with the BG95 left over. I don't have a use yet for the BG95 but I couldn't just let it get away. I can't say what I paid for them as one day a might have to sell a few. He wanted gold but I reduced him down to between bronze and silver. Still too much but what the heck. I do admit he was a very nice guy and made me a great deal so kudos to him if he ever sees this. What a rare find I believe. One of these days I'll post some pictures of them in use.

Thanks
 
i had a tower-type AT case, but it was ugly-ass and had some rust inside, so i took everything out of it and put in another horizontal AT case i have here, much better :)

About the riser cards...when i took apart my PB 20CD, i noticed the connectors and it looked like a PCI slot, with another connector that look like 2 PCI slots put together. others i've seem look like AGP-lookalike contacts on the riser card.
 
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