The Best Case Mods From 2010 82
arcticstoat writes "Who says PC modding is dead? UK tech site bit-tech has rounded up the best case mods of the year, showcasing an incredible amount of innovation, skill and craftsmanship. From a PC made of concrete to a replica of a Cray-1 chassis to an Art Deco style wooden radio, these are just amazing pieces of work."
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There were plenty of case modders in the 90s, it's just that back then case modding tended to be more about adapting the case to functionality than art. Examples include people who soldered on homemade IDE controllers to their A500 motherboards, cut the case open and glued on another smaller plastic box for the hard drive. Or overclockers who added fans (since a lot of cases back then weren't really overclocking friendly).
Not to mention crazy stuff like the A3000 I saw that overheated unless it had a 90mm f
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It's great that people enjoy creating or being around art, but it is important to be aware of the functional aspects of case design. Besides providing for ventilation, cases also should act as Faraday cages to contain R.F. electromagnetic radiation which could interfere with a great variety of services. Some mods are bad from a functional standpoint.
Unless internal electronics is already fully sheilded, like with the original colorful iMac, cases are normally metal or are treated with foil, screening, or
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Sorry mods, but that troll wasn't "Informative". Modding was alive and well in the 90s.
Perhaps, but the OP broadly had a point- it wasn't as prominent back in the 90s as it was (say) in the early-2000s. Actually, I'd say that that the phenomenon peaked more recently than that- even in the early 2000s I thought that my computer would look quite interesting if you could see the insides all the time. Having come up with that idea independently (though it was a somewhat obvious one) and it seeming interesting and original at the time, it's likely that the off-the-shelf windows-and-cold-cathod-lig
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Heh... the /web/ "wasn't as prominent back in the 90s as it was (say) in the early-2000s."
Yeah, but it was my observation and *I've* been on the web since '94. So there :-P
That disagreement aside, by roughly 2005 you could buy a PC in a black aluminum case with a clear side panel at the local bigbox here in Canada. So for me that was the final tombstone of the original scene; the original creative thrust had long peaked.
No contradiction here, it sounds like we were talking about different things. You had the true original scene in mind, whereas I was discussing the point where it was most prominent in the mainstream, the point at which it became cliched- around five years ago, as you suggest.
Re:Pc Modding IS dead. (Score:4, Insightful)
...It's just not cost effective anymore...
Case modding is a *hobby*, it was never "cost effective". Perhaps you're thinking about building a work box from parts verse some commodity brand X box (or even a Dell)?
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This may be a stretch for some of the more rigid engineering folks, but try to think of it as a functional *art form* and a *conversation piece* to have in the home office. These are not production units. Each is probably a unique custom one of a kind build. (Personally, I think the GTC is amazing.)
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Functional art form, but the functionality becomes irrelevant over time. By the time the case is finished the contents are obsolete.
To the key to modding is to build it big and roomy.
Something like that Philco case, where you could probably stuff several generations of motherboards, power supplies, and back planes into the same case over many years, to extend its functional life. It would be a shame to get it finished only to find it so customized to specific components that you had to start over.
The inte
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I agree. Most of the designs appear to have upgrades in mind. Also, consider that
- It's unnecessary to update cabling.
- The 3.5" drive bay is still around after these many years.
- Motherboard form factor and power supply sizes are standard.
It's a pretty safe bet you case can be around for years. When it finally is not longer useful, I'm sure the creator would be ready with 2.0.
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I'll put forth that Dell suffered because they sucked. They used to be great. I swore by them in the 90's. Then they got greedy, started putting cheap crap in the boxes and scaled back customer service to where you couldn't get a warranty fix unless you practically got the Mafia involved.
I'll also say the same thing I say about the ricermobiles: As long as it's not dangerous, and you like it, do it and be happy. And unlike the ricers who do stupid shit like cutting their springs so that their handling goes
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"while other companies like Dell or Sun just suffered for no reason but not being appetising."
Yeah, I know, reading is hard.
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(1) The weight you gave of 353,430t / 4 =88357.5t which probably refers to the RM
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good.. you go drive your electric go-cart, while the rest of us performance nuts will stick to our 600hp big iron.. Try upgrading/overclocking/configuring that laptop-on-a-stand and you'll see why some people still prefer the larger form factors. stock OEM machines from apple/dell et al come with shitty stripped down hardware to fatten bottom lines. they really aren't worth the price charged for them.
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I keep my tower monsters in the home office and out of site.
No one wants to see them. Not even the resident geek.
There is some value to PC cases that aren't butt ugly and scream cheap Chinese factory.
Most likely your "big iron" is mostly empty space.
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I keep my tower monsters in the home office and out of site.
personal choice, that's fine. I prefer to keep mine a bit more accessible. It depends on your needs. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone's needs are met by devices that cater to the neo-mainframe era 'cloud' fetish.
No one wants to see them. Not even the resident geek.
argumentum ad populum.
There is some value to PC cases that aren't butt ugly and scream cheap Chinese factory.
big case is not necessarily a 'cheap chinese factory' product. In fact, it's the big OEM products that scream 'cheap chinese factory' in an effort to save money. They use flimsy plastic and fake 'metal' shells on their 'premium' products that don't really fit togeth
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He has a bit of a point. Back in the days when ATX first came out, it was normal for a PC to have 8 expansion slots. These days, how many expansion cards do you have in a typical high-end desktop system? 1: the video card. Most self-built PCs probably use more expansion slots for add-on ports (like USB/Firewire ports with cables going to the motherboard) than for actual cards. At the very most, you might want two PCIe x 16 slots, one PCIe x 1 slot, and one old-fashioned PCI slot in a system these days,
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The base for each of your points is 'most people'. Big machines were never mainstream. They're built by people who need/want extra power/flexibility. USB/1394 et al do not have the bandwidth or low latencies of on-board buses. Physics determines that. I've got several different boards in my system that cannot be duplicated by a sleek $50 plastic USB box. Extra drive bays are always welcome to me because I'm almost always running out of space. I agree that 5.25 bays are less needed now, but there are plent
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You have several different boards that need higher bandwidth than USB 3.0? Where'd you get a motherboard for that? It's hard to even find a motherboard with more than, say, 5 slots now, and PCI slots are already on the way out in favor of PCIe. Pretty soon, there won't be any PCI slot motherboards available, just like ISA slot boards are completely gone now and have been for some time.
I'm not even talking about "most people": "most people" don't have ANY cards in their system, because they have integrate
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We get it. Your e-penis is bigger than anyone else's. Revel in the glory!
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I somewhat agree with the parent post, though not entirely. I don't want a mac mini, I want to be able to upgrade my computer and have a powerful video card, possibility for water cooling and overclocking, room to work with, etc. But some of the cases for "modders" that are coming out today are just obscene. I build computers all the time, and my best work is done in a plain black mid tower case. I feel like a clean empty computer case that's also a powerhouse is an impressive feat. Sure your full tower mon
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I build computers all the time, and my best work is done in a plain black mid tower case. I feel like a clean empty computer case that's also a powerhouse is an impressive feat.
this is essentially my position as well. You can build a huge tower with the stuff you want minus useless bling.
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good.. you go drive your electric go-cart, while the rest of us performance nuts will stick to our 600hp big iron
Dude, talk about delusions of grandeur if you think that any PC owned by a performance hobbyist is likely to qualify as "Big Iron" [wikipedia.org] in *any* sense of the word.
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More like the style of my post was to mirror the illusions posted by its parent.
Who says PC modding is dead? [weasel words] (Score:2)
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Mineral Oil (Score:1)
Really liked the oil cooled case. Oil cooling always intrigued me. Would be fun to try someday.
The Cray 1 was classic.
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The thing that makes me curious about the mineral oil is what happens when the oil gets warm? How is the heat dumped? I get the impression that after a while that case would be less efficient than normal forced-air.
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If you checked out the full article there's a link to the builder's blog. He runs the oil through a radiator. His temps looked pretty good
The point. (Score:1)
Re:The point. (Score:4, Interesting)
You know, I used to think that too, but the last time I built a machine I bought a CoolerMaster Storm at MicroCenter that was marked down because it was scuffed. Man, having a nice case really made every part of the build more pleasant. It's not a crazy-expensive case to begin with, but it's really well made and it has a nice sturdy handle on top and a great canted panel on the top-front with eSata and USB and audio. It's easy to clean the dustbunnies out without having to take everything apart and open the case, too, which is great. There's lots of room inside and except for one audio jack connector that I would have like to be a little longer, it was well thought out with the builder in mind. You don't need tools to do stuff and there are no sharp edges to cut up your hands.
I plan on figuring the extra few bucks that a decent case costs into all of my future builds.
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This, this, and this.
Plus in general airflow in the cheap cases just sucks, and so you have to put a bunch of high-rpm noisy fans in there just to keep it barely cool. Contrast that with the Armor that my machine is in (and it's the 3rd build I've done in the same case). I've got a few large fans in there. It's quieter than the ceiling fan. And I *never* overheat. Also, I mentioned that this was the 3rd computer I've put in this case for a reason: That means instead of spending $50 per case for crappy case
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"I personally never saw the point. My own computers always have the cheapest case I can get, so I can spend the savings on better bits to go inside the case."
Mmm. Enlight flashbacks from 1989!
I fondly remember bleeding from the sharp sheet metal until I got smart and deburred 'em with a file tang.
My idea of the perfect case mod (Score:5, Interesting)
I am sick and tired of gamer-looking cases, loud fans (even my Antec Sonatas are louder than I'd like), and uber-bright blue LEDs. To me the ultimate case mod would involve:
I like running certain cables under the motherboard, so I beg to differ with the folks above who hate it. I have a better idea to make everybody happy though: instead of the motherboard mount being a flat plate, why not make a chassis with a steel or forged aluminum spaceframe, and as far as EMF rejection/ground plane/etc. are concerned, the stamped steel or aluminum chassis will handle shielding? That way, the back/bottom side of the motherboard remains accessible which allows for easy servicing in the event you do want to run cables under the board, and CPU heatsinks will be much, much easier to swap. This would hold doubly true for servers; make a sort of a space subframe assembly which can be removed to service systems more easily.It would be kind of like some of Inwin's and Enlight's from the '90s, but with sturdier and more open construction to make the back side of the heatsink mounts fully acccessible.
The case should not intrude on my bedroom, living room, or any other room any more than a box of tissues. In other words, while it doesn't have to win Martha Stewart's approval, let's try to make it so it will be right at home regardless of decor, kind of like a set top box. I don't want to notice the case at all; all I want is enough space inside to house the components, enough quiet airflow to keep it cool, indicator lights to be very dim, and easy access to a DVD or Blu-Ray drive. It should be nondescript so the only time I notice it is if I need to insert a disc. As an HTPC it should be quiet and fit well into a living room, and as a productivity PC in my bedroom, it should be quiet and not have bright search lights for power or HDD activity indicators. Don't get me wrong - blue LEDs are cool. I love blue LEDs. However, like the old blink tag years ago, and HDR in photography, blue LEDs are everywhere now, are over-used and mis-used in so many ways that I don't care to see another one for quite a while.
I don't want to even think about the chassis until it's time to insert an optical disc, or to service the unit. Otherwise, the case should be unnoticeable.
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And it's a good look for you. Now if you'd only tweeze that eyebrow...
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Take a look at Corsair 700D case.
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And what a beautiful case it is. Providing your power supply cables are long enough, it's got all the right routes for extremely clean cable layout, which makes good airflow even easier to achieve, and visually, it's wonderfully subtle. I just wish I could afford one :P
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Power LEDs should be dimmable. Auto-dimmable would be ideal.
Here you go. [merl.com] That paper describes how to use an LED as both a light sensor and an LED. You could hack that together with a microcontroller and your existing case LEDs in an afternoon.
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> Congrats. For better or for worse, you just reinvented the Mac Mini. ...or the low profile PCs that some of us had YEARS earlier.
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If you swap the front fan for a non-LED one, the Sword-M is pretty much what you're looking for, including under-mobo cable management.
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> Sounds like you want a Mac Pro.
A Mac Pro is still a "monster tower" and is as much out of place outside the office as a generic beige full tower case.
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My perfect case would be an easy to open since I have multiple physical disabilities (can't even use a screwdriver due to strength and grasp problems). I have to get other people to open and close my case for me, but not only that but to clean and add/remove hardwares. I currently use an Antec P180 ATX case which works well as long as I don't use the cover's screws. Easy to slide on and off.
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Sure, that'd be great for a silent PC type market. But ultimately, it's boring. Sure, the purpose of your case is to be boring, and not attention grabbing, but then why would you try to show it off as a case mod? If you're showing it off, generally you want it to grab attention - not divert it.
It's like rocking up to AutoSalon in a near-stock Yaris, with an even softer muffler, and more fuel efficiency. Sure, great to live with and all that, but not really something anyone would want to see over a 500HP GTR
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Believe it or not, "because it's awesome" _is_ a valid reason to do something. These people are creating art, and they happen to be building high-end computers into it. Get your collective heads out of your collective asses and revel in the beauty of well constructed and beautiful pieces of functional art. DIY is something that our consumerist society is rapidly losing its grip on, and any evidence to the contrary should be welcomed, not decried.
I agree (Score:1)
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Case Modding is still interesting... (Score:4, Interesting)
Case modding is still interesting to those still interested. The times have changed due to demand. Back when case modding was widespread, it was mainly because your computer case came in two or three options: Beige, Tan, or Ugly.
Nowadays, you can buy an aesthetically-interesting molded plastic case, for $40. Hell, they practically shove the clear plexi windows and LEDs down your throat. I had to go out of my way to get a full-featured case with good quality, but still a nondescript black-box appearance. (The CoolerMaster Centurion series [newegg.com] are good for this. Nice, light, cool semi-mesh build, without stupid side windows and crap.)
Case modding has become less of a hardcore-computer-geek past time, and more of an artist-who-likes-computers-too concentration. Look at some of the hardware specs of the systems these cases were built around; they're lackluster, old tech. Nowadays you can build a quad-core AMD AM3 3Ghz setup, with 16GB DDR3-1333 RAM, SATA III, USB 3.0, a 1TB WD:Black drive at 7200rpm and 64MB cache, and an Antec 640watt PSU - all for $525 from Newegg.com, shipped. One would think they could at least come up to par on these hardware specs, if they have the time and money to spend on the external pretties.
I mean, there's even this kickass antique-lookalike case from Red Wood [newegg.com] for the people that want something Steampunk. It's $120 on Newegg, but can be purchased new from other online retailers for $89. I have a hard time convincing myself it's even worth the 2 hours to mod up cases for water cooling purposes anymore.
So, in tl;dr summary: Case modding isn't really about the geeks anymore. It's about the artists who like tech.
RF interference (Score:2)
What about RF interference?
If the case is not metal, you will be polluting the spectrum.
None the less, pretty cool stuff!
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The way the law works on interference, it is up to YOU to keep interference out of your systems. Of course you can't knowingly and willingly interfere with other systems, but by no means do you have to design your device to not interfere. Interference is inevitable and the rules and regulations take that in to account.
But that being said, you'll notice that most builders used shielded cables or at the very least they have twisted them. The cabling is where your leakage will be anyway, and is the one spot yo
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You are wrong.
Part 15 says:
1) Your device MAY NOT cause harmful interference.
2) Your device must ACCEPT any interference received, including that which may cause undesired operation.
Soft Porn (Score:2)
Let's face it (Score:3)
From time to time we may churn out well designed software, but nobody in the
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Most of these "best" cases are far FAR from "fine industrial design".
Some are genuinely interesting though.
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We're just not conceived to be designers and we could just well have a go at astrology or at table arrangement.
You know, I had just finished arranging my new glass-top furniture last night and reflecting on my work and the night sky, I realized you were going to say just that.