2d ago

[Solved] Do you recognize this PC case?

I am searching for the case of my first PC and can't find it. It's cursed, as if it never existed. The render is a recreation from memory, so it may slightly vary to the real thing, but I am sure I got the basic shapes and proportion right.

What I remember

hp system
was bought in a bundle (?) with an hp printer and a dell monitor
bought in Germany around 2006
ran windows vista
mid tower (probably atx or micro-atx)
one disk drive
recessed i/o with SD-Card reader
air intake at the front bottom (at least that's what I think it was in hindsight)

There are many hp cases of the mid 2000s that match the design language, but they are all different to my case. If you recognize it, let alone have any information on it, let me know :)

Edit: Thank you all for your guesses! I'll try to respond to you all, but I feel bad for responding "nope, sadly not it" to most of your suggestions. But you gave me some ideas what to check out next, hopefully it will help me identify the case after all :)

Edit 2: picture time :D -- it's just a different angle

Edit 3: randomblock1 found it. It's a Hyricane PCK01978. I formerly would like to issue an apology for claiming it was hp. xD Thank you all again for your help :3

46 comments

You sure it's HP? The circle in the front makes me think of Dell
- Definitely giving Dell.
  
  Dell was my first thought as well
- 90%, but I'll check dells lineup out, thank you :)

Hp Pavilion?
- Or this one maybe, the only model I can find is t746.fr but I'm pretty sure this case design was available in other European countries.
- Pavillions like these come increadibly close, they have the silver front, the nice swoop up top, but I checked their entire lineup of the time and none matched. I am beginning to think that the case was some weird one off thing.

It sure looks like a Dell XPS to me. Those old XPS cases were nonstandard so it was very hard to upgrade the parts later on.
eMachines had cases that look like that too back in 2006
- Some look similar, but they're not it
  
  You sure it's not this?

Dell Dimension 2400 or a descendant of that?
https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/dimension-2400/resources/manuals
That was THE computer to have in college when I went.
- There are some Dimension models that come quite close, but no, that's not it.

Found this, looks pretty close
- YOU FOUND IT!!! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU FIND IT?!
  
  I reverse image searched the picture you attached and found a review for the system :D It's a Hyricane PCK01978. Thank you so much!
  
  Reverse image search. Some guy posted this on Reddit a year ago

Looks a lot like mine which is the oldest remaining part of my PC. There's no branding whatsoever on it.
- That's remarkably close, but sadly not it

It looks a lot like the eMachine cases you’d find all over cyber cafes and business centers in Europe in that era.
Edit: sample
- Lol! I remember owning this keyboard. It was not the one my PC came with, but funny still :D
  
  I love how loudly media-centric those keyboards were, even the silver domed buttons center top the size a hood ornament lol, that 00s media PC era definitely had a vibe.

Do you remember where you bought this PC?
- Sadly no

I know it's super low resolution, but the Acer B300 desktop I found on their website in the Wayback Machine looks really close to your render.

https://web.archive.org/web/20030625223227/http://www.global.acer.com/products/desktop/index.htm
I can't seem to find any other images of it though.
- Oh snap, I found the user manual and it has a much better image

Not an answer but another idea for jogging your memory. I don't know what PC magazines were popular in Germany, uhh well ever, but it's not too hard to find archived copies of popular magazines here in the US from that time.
Here is a random copy of PC Magazine from some month in 2006.I didn't see any PCs that matched your rendering, but there was an Acer Aspire that I had completely forgotten about.
https://vintageapple.org/pcworld/pdf/PC_World_0606_June_2006.pdf

- These aren't the droids we're looking for. Move along.

That is a dell looks like those 2005ish towers that still had xp standard
Probably an Inspiron

Yeah I remember that case. That's Kevin.
- Oh yeah Kevin! What a legend. Do you know what he's up to these days?
  
  All these years later I hear he's alone and quite empty inside. Sad fate for such a champ.

HP Pavilion a1023c?

Quick question, you said air intake at the front bottom. Is that what the black oval at the bottom of your render is? Or is the black bar USB ports?
- yup, it's supposed to be the intake xD

If it's not a Dell it's an HP Compaq. HP bought Compaq and used the name for branding for a while. It would have been one of the last Compaq branded towers.

It reminds me of a Compaq we had around then. HP had bought Compaq at the time and used the brand on some of their low-end PCs. I don’t know if they were sold in Germany under that name, but it might be another angle to pursue.
- It looks somewhat similar to my Compaq Presario that I got in like 2000/2001

Reminds me of an emachine.
Here's a ET1161-07 from 2009:

This is as close as I could get within the data given.
Duckduckgo leaves something to be desired, but figured I'd try
- Thanks for trying :) but no, it's not the one

46 comments