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The Best Case Mods From 2010
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."
It's just not cost effective anymore.
...they want their story back.
...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)?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
...they want their decade relevancy back.
No one modded cases in the 90s, except those with Packard Bell systems having no choice to mod their case to upgrade their machiens.
Get your history right, you little 'pedia reading, nostalgia pretending coward!
But still, case modding is up there with car ricing. It's ironic the computer enthusiasts have a similar interest in sportscars and ricing too. and ugly implants in slutty blondes.
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.)
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I hate those large honking cases. For me the most beautiful PC cases are those that you can tuck away under or behind the monitor, something like the iMac Mini. I think it's time to ditch the ATX form factor for micro-ATX and the micro-ATX for micro-ITX. With smaller motherboards we go smaller PC cases, small enough to put a PC into a toaster, a speaker or into the monitor itself (yeah, some companies are already doing this but we're talking about the hobbyist crowd).
It's just not repetitive anymore.
http://gbl08ma.com
So, who does say it? Point at them.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
You see this stuff on Hack A Day from time to time. If this is your sort of thing I'd recommend reading it.
There vwill always be a reason to build a chassis to fit the form of the consoles next to it. Is a shame modding went further than rebuilding chassis that were discontinued manufacturing, just to retain the capability: not an illogical expense to fit van era, but actual logical improvements to assure the computing ability is uninterupted. Everyone laughs at the Mr Coffee Pot computer, the many XBox-like chassis, the ones with excessive neon lights or iintentionally disfigured EMF shielding, but it went wrong when many made a living off of that kind of activity rather than assemble a brand and style of computer as was before x86 systems. Everything has just been the vsame thing repackaged with more expensive junk that changed so often that it always looked like car mechanics snuck into the PC service industry to see how much they can fleece the owner. Waterblocks, Peltier TEC's, rounded cables, LCD RS232 status indicators, and disco balls and laser light effects just started advertising XP as the first Duplo operating system to go full retatd while other companies like Dell or Sun just suffered for no reason but not being appetising.
(1) The weight you gave of 353,430t / 4 =88357.5t which probably refers to the RMS ship, perhaps in a fully laden configuration.
I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
From the looks of the close ups, I'd say none.
Really liked the oil cooled case. Oil cooling always intrigued me. Would be fun to try someday.
The Cray 1 was classic.
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.
"It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes." Douglas Adams
weighs/displaces 83,673 gross tons
She is old and wrinkly but I wouldn't call her gross.
--
I'd do her - Michael Fagan 1981
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 internal structural elements have to be easily reconfigurable.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
RMS Queen Elizabeth
*cough* GNU/Queen Elizabeth.
What the hell is wrong with you people? Case modding certainly isn't cost effective, nor does it stick to its roots, but in my mind that doesn't matter. What matters is that ordinary everyday people are looking at modern PC cases, thinking "That's not cool enough, I can make it better", and then _doing it._ Several of those entries are first or second time builds, done by people who've never even considered this kind of thing before.
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.
You should turn signatures off.
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 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 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.
There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
What about RF interference?
If the case is not metal, you will be polluting the spectrum.
None the less, pretty cool stuff!
Bram Stolk http://stolk.org/tlctc/
A bunch of cases that I'd kill for, and no way to buy any of them. That's like nerd soft porn. It's just a tease!
I thought this one was quite brilliant: the Macintosh SE/Arm.
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.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
No matter how much you want to make your PC different, it's still the same Windows when you use it.
Let's face it. Here we do not enjoy the company of fine industrial designers.
/. crowd will either wear interesting spectacles or smoke stylish pipes. This is one of the few certainties in life. We're just not conceived to be designers and we could just well have a go at astrology or at table arrangement.
From time to time we may churn out well designed software, but nobody in the
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Couldn't agree with you more. 100% well said.
You can't totally kill big cases. You can replace all but one of the ATX cases with mini-ITX or whatever, but in the end, you still need to have the disk array somewhere.
Money is no object?