I am guilty as much as anyone of riding my hardware pretty hard and for far too long but you're just moving into silly mode. Case entry alone would make a prudent upgrade.
What do you mean by case entry? I've replaced the case on my primary workstation twice; literally none of the original machine remains now. The current case is a nice big zero-tool-entry type with six drive bays and room for usually-large hardware like CPU coolers and video cards. I think I ended up selling the original case on eBay.
I don't do it out of some "hacker ideal" - I do it because it's cost-effective, and because I get a lot of pleasure out of building my own rigs. It just so happens that that ends up leaving me with machines that are patched together, well-worn, and well-loved.
