These new Modders are amazing ...

Seriously .. Back when i started modding, even your experienced modders didnt do as good of a job as some of the new modders out there today. I know some of this is due to the amazing amount of guides and products out there and the fact that as modding grows it is attracting some very skilled people that even on their first try, pull off some amazing things. It is really nice to see how much the community has grown over the years ..

So to any new modders reading this ... Please continue to surprise me! :)

Your right, I see mods so intricate that when I find out the creator is a teenager Im shocked and in disbelief. I also attribute the fact to the vast amount of guides and the great community forums that these kids turn to for help. Hopefully we'll be able to ignite the imaginations of a few more young modders here.

It's the natural progression of the community. People get better with practice. They also see things that haven't been done before, i.e., making a diarama out of a case, and want the same thing. (Not a literal copy)

As long as there are people making quality mods, there will be people trying to improve what's out there.

Until I saw Mashie's stuff, I had no interest in modding computers. Then, with a little more searching, I found Paul's old site, and then was hooked, and I believe, like some modders, I didn't want to just cut a hole here, and put a light there.

My current project, is taking a real long time to complete, however, it's going to be something no one has seen or done before. Not every aspect is 'original' and inspired by other mods out there, but that's what modding is about, I think.

So where did y'all get started with modding? What inspired that first modification?

well i didnt mod anything, but i am planning on in the summer. the reason i want to mod is i want to have my own unique case. millions of people have same cases and i dont want to be like million other people.

I started modding back ummm .. sometime around 99 .. I still dont really remember exactly why. But my first mod was really just to show people that that something more than a basic window could be cut in the side of a case. I picked Lain (anime character) since I liked the show. Looking at the case now, eeww ... Funny how that is. Now I have seen better cutouts done by new modders :) I have thought about going back and doing a LAIN II case, but I have so many other ideas I want to do.

I have a habit of not actually finishing cases. My last project got sidetracked so many times, that it ended up getting too far away from the original design and the overall flow of the case just didnt work for me. At some point I may go back to it and figure it out. I am still happy with one of the cutouts I made for it. Maybe I will find someplace else to use it.

I agree.

I myself, only 15, have been captivated by those mods I saw early on. Yoshi's Box, Hive (it's a cool chieftec mod), and many others. It's just incredible what people can do given the right amount of innovation and things that cut stuff. I don't think modding will ever come out of the underground. That's not modding. However, I think that we will see sort of a leveling-off in intensity of stuff you can do and ideas you can try, not to say there's not more out there. Of course there is. However, ideas will start to run thin, so long as people don't use their imaginations.

7

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Originally Posted by Seven

However, ideas will start to run thin, so long as people don't use their imaginations.

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I am in the middle of the design on my GFs case .. I am also working on the design of my new case and keep running into dead ends. Mainly because of the themes I keep coming up with have either a) been done too many times already b) too twisted and my GF would kill me since my PC is in a "common area" of the house c) just not really want I want.

Well, it's great seeing what new innovations folks come up with. The amount of man hours put into some of these cases just boggles my mind to no end, but everybody needs a hobby. Truthfully, I could only see myself getting serious with the case modding (i.e. more than just a fan cut out in the left side and a cold cathode on the inside) if I were able to have a true workshop. Certainly doesn't have to be anything of rocket scientist caliber, but I've run into many a situation where I had the tools, but had zero space to try anything new. Do most of you stick to this purely for the enjoyment of it all, or is this actually a side gig for making a little cash?

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Originally Posted by Darth Baby

So where did y'all get started with modding? What inspired that first modification?

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In a word: Heat

Or maybe airflow would be a better first word.

At least some of you have seen how much heat 4 stacked hard drives generates.

So I modded 6 case fans into a full tower, meant for only 2
I've done a few "usefull" mods (by usefull i mean non-aesthetic, purely functional mods for airflow)
And now.... well you'll see, soon enough (time is still an issue)
Hopefully some of you will like my work

-Grendel

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Originally Posted by Darth Baby

So where did y'all get started with modding? What inspired that first modification?

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I saw the coolermaster atcs 200 and fell in love :D It had to have a window, its been a downhill run into addiction ever since :D

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Originally Posted by Darth Baby

So where did y'all get started with modding? What inspired that first modification?

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Well, that depends upon which projcet you consider my *first* mod. See, there is this system I was trying to overclock and I was searching the web about it and came across some people talking about heat issues, so I cut a blowhole in the top. Then I stumbled across Virtual Hideout and saw some cases with windows, and I cut one of those. I even went to Radio Shack and bought some LEDs to try and light it and made a little "remote" that could turn the lights on and off. This was on 2000, and was my first attempt at a mod.

My first real mod, one that was planned (somewhat) and have a theme was BlackDeath. I did this the summer of 2001. It was an Antec SX-1030B case that I went with a whole death & skulls theme. I started out with somethng functional, but putting a USB port on the side of the front bezel using a FrontX kit. Then I moved on to carving a skull out of the door and lighting it red with blue lights in he bottom half of the bezel. Then came the rest of the case with a big window on the side panel, top window, blow holes, red and green lights, skull and scrossbone appliques and fan grills... the whole thing. When I posted it on Virtual Hideout's Cool Case Gallery is when GruntmaN saw it and told me about his new site, GruntvillE. The rest of my modding career is documented over there.

Somewhere along the line at GruntvillE is when I first ran into Crimson and mashie and was completely blown away by their work. It was almost enough to make me stop modding 'cause there was no way I was ever going to build stuff at their level. Luckily it didn't. and I even got to meet them, along with scopEDog to hang out in NYC for an afternoon. Oh, and if mashie ever challenges you to a game of air hockey, run. :D

I started with painting my old P1 (133mhz). Didnt like the color of the case Beige (Over done and black is getting there as well). Made 99.5 % of all of the mistakes on it. (Paint chipped and the beige showed its ugly face again).

Next mod was to put a window in a case (Still have that as my mail server) but never finished painting the case because I rushed the window panel paint job and spidered web the paint.

Now that I started Visiting the Forums and seeing some of the others out there. I take my time because I know there are others out there doing it as well. Plus I dont want my computers to look like Homer Simpson did them :D .

Heat as well. Around 2003.
My first 2 mods involved an old telco server's 9 inch fans and a fresh coat of spraypaint. Well, the painting job sucks and I'm still planning on fixing it, just have to have the time. The fans had to be rewired to molex, but that's not too hard.

Now I have a 16 inch fan out of the top of an old rack and I'm planning on doing a duct system on one of my next 2 or 3 mods.

My next mod was a homemade window in my fileserver and one 9" fan mounted into it. Works like a charm. Also rigged up an 18 wheeler light into molex as a lightsource. It's ghetto, but by god I made it by hand and didn't buy it from some store.