Ever wondered whatever happened to all the PC tower cases from the 80s and 90s? While many inevitably ended up in junk shops and landfills, turns out some of them now live a second life as grow boxes for indoor farmers and basement gardeners in the form of the Server Farm.
Made by Thinkleek, it’s a fully-enclosed hydroponics grow box built inside an old-school desktop case. We’re guessing the idea is to use the case to keep the mini-garden’s existence under wraps, although we doubt you’ll be fooling folks keeping this under your Artifox Desk, since there’s no way anyone’s still using a PC with a 3.5-inch disk drive slot in front (other than George RR Martin, anyway). You could, however, successfully hide your hobby if you keep even a bunch of these in the attic, basement, or a closet, since they merely look like relics of past computing days that you haven’t quite gotten around to throwing away.
Slide off the side wall of the Server Farm to reveal a low-maintenance hydroponics garden for growing any type of plant that can fit inside its boxy frame measuring 8.1 x 26.5 x 19 inches (d x h x w). Like any proper grow box, it comes with fully-automated lighting (three 6500 CFL grow lights and three flowering full spectrum lights) and hydroponics systems, so you only need to check on the plants occasionally to ensure everything is going fine. Features include wall-to-wall light reflection panels, integrated cooling and ventilation systems, a six-quart water reservoir, a pair of net pots, two 80mm fans, and all the tools you need to get started (pre-installed germinating helpers, stones, red clay rocks, and more). It even comes with a lock and key, so people can’t just discover your PC case and take a quick peek at the hardware.
The Server Farm is available now, priced at $695.