 HL2 Box - Side View |
 Hl2 Box - Top Flipped Open |
 HL2 Box - Rear |
A Brief History of Modding.
About five years ago, give or take, some creative, but bored computer dudes were sitting around talking shop when a freak accident with an innocent and unassuming Dremel tool left a gaping hole in the side of an equally innocent and unassuming PC. The cutout showed off the Geek Stud innards of a high performance box. (Prolly a 266 MHz speed DEMON.)
It also added some much needed air-flow to cool things down from another PC "movement" of the [H]ard Core...Over Clocking. It also let in a lot of things besides air, like cheetos crumbs, dust and cat hair. Being the bright bunch we are somebody added a Plexiglas window and a few extra fans. And a few more fans. As clock speeds went up so did the number of fans. Right about then the wonderful world of LAN gaming was also really starting to take off. Everything was in place for an underground revolution in computing. Pimped PC's...God Boxes...Modding was born.
What followed was a sort of engineering seesaw of problem/innovation/new problem. All those windows were great but it was dark and scary in there and small children and little old ladies would slink away in fear...besides nobody could see your latest swag. The solution...LIGHTS. Now everybody could see your stuff but couldn't talk about it because of the roar of twenty something fans doing an impersonation of an F-18 Hornet taking off...from an Aircraft Carrier...in a Hurricane.
The Solution? Fan control via a baybus. One outstanding Modder went the extra mile and built one and SHARED the plans and how to know how with the rest of us. His reward was fellowship. He didn't make a dime from his little invention...even when his design was knocked off and sold by a few big companies. He posted tons of how to guides and tips on his site for the good of our developing little community. Because of him I have always shared anything I learned with others and tried to help "the little ones". He knows who he is and what he did...and so do we. In addition to establishing the Creed of community we still follow to this day, Cliff and his BayBus made it clear that there was a market for "Mod stuff" and slowly but surly products began to arrive.
A window just riveted into your case was tacky. Solution...window gaskets. Lugging the things around was a pain. Solution...handles. White light sucks and it generates heat. Solution...Neon, then Cold Cathode and Led's and all the variations we have today. As Overclocks got bigger and badder thanks to sites like [H]ardOCP so did the heat. Solution...extreme air cooling, then water cooling and Thermo Electric peltier and the big daddy, Vapor faze change cooling. LAN gaming morphed into LAN Parties and then into "gatherings of mammoth proportions" with Professional Cyber Athletes and big prize money. ( I remember my friend, LAN gaming Clan mate, and modding buddy Victor sending me a Link from [H] with the text "Dude...there giving away a CAR!!! Dallas here we come. )
Cases went from painted and tweaked "Beige boxes" to brushed and or anodized aluminum. Windows got bigger and started appearing all over the case. Some are now completely clear Plexiglas marvels of light and visibility. Windows got Appliqués and then Laser etchings. All those windows made the tired old green or gold standard PCB's of Motherboards and video cards look kind of drab. So we got boards in black, then red which brings us to now and a rainbow of choices. Most Board manufactures have taken a sort of color identity. A blue motherboard? Prolly Gigabyte. Red? MSI. Sam e plain old gold that isn't plain anymore? ASUS. Flat cables looked ugly and blocked airflow. We rounded them by hand, then we got pre-rounded cables. Now they come in colors, are UV reactive, glow in the dark and as amazing as it sounds...still move data "to and fro".
Now when I look back at my first modded box, or go through some of the old postings at Virtual-Hideout.net I almost feel nostalgic. Today it is harder than ever to build out a righteous rig that qualifies as "Pimp ". But I still feel just as excited about the "next project" as I ever have. With all the wonderful products available from so many quality companies, the sponsorship and modding competitions from Companies Like CompUSA, the creative possibilities are truly limitless. GO BUILD SOMTHING. Then go strut it with some buds. Feel the pride in saying " Yea, I built it myself, and I'm going to spend the next 12 hours or so using it to school your LAMMA loving self in the finer points of fragging."
Modders Mantra: You should see my NEXT box!
So you wanna be a Pimp?
Modding isn't what it used to be. In order to stand out from the crowd today it has to be "special"...which contrary to what I just said, is how it has always been. What follows is a little primer in case design that I hope will help you avoid some of the common mistakes...
The error I see most in first timers and old hands alike is what I call a lack of vision. They add a fan that is blue. They paint the case red ( Their Moms/GF/cats favorite color ). Then add some fir inside ( fake fur...it's more PC ). Some red neon's. Then they can't find LED case feet in anything but blue so the use blue case feet. Hmmm...needs something. Cow spots. It's still not right. Paint it green...with flames. You get the point I hope.
My Wife is an Interior decorator < Editors note...we prefer the term Interior DESIGNER. > and she suffers from the same thing when dealing with new clients. They show up with a stack of home decorating Magazines full of little post it note page holders and proceed to show her picture after picture of "rooms they like". Things that don't go together. Things that wouldn't look right in a trailer. The polite word decorators use to describe this condition is "eclectic". My wife can even smile when she says it. How she deals with it also applies to our modding effort. She goes back through the pictures and asks what it is EXACTLY that the person likes about the room. Invariable it is not always the room itself they like, but, some furnishing or wall color...or the view from the windows.
Designers use this process to narrow down and define design goals. In our case, pun intended, what you need to do is go to a site like Virtual-Hideout.net and spend a few hours in the Cool Case Gallery and distill your wants into something that works. In addition to seeing what doesn't work you can't help but find some inspiration.
I tend to start with a theme like the HL2 box. I then run different ideas through a mental filter seeing how each component fits with the theme. Case Modding can be broken down into different sections. Cooling, Lights, Windows etc.. When the theme/idea starts to firm up I then sit down with a CAD program ( pencil and paper works fine too ) and lay it all out. I have clear goals in mind. What follows is a run through using the HL2 box as an example.
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HL2 Box - Side View |
Hl2 Box - Top Flipped Open |
HL2 Box - Rear |
Theme: Half Life 2
Box Name: HL2
Primary box material: Alum and Plex.
Major color: Orange .
CPU cooling: H2o
Lighting: Yes.
I really do make a little list like that. For me these are RULES. A rule only gets broken with good reason. I then make a less formal list of things I want to try and incorporate. These are less stringent. Here are my actual scratch notes:
Provisions for H2o system maintenance. High point for filling and low point for draining. Without tubing if I can. Multiple light effects. Like UV only mode. Sound activation mode. Theme or "drama" light mode etc.. Mirrored case bottom so it reflects the top of the video card. Avoid the same of a case with a Half Life logo window cut-out and fans in the usual locations. Pay a little tribute to the original Half Life but avoid Counter Strike...HL only. I would like to try and incorporate some bent or curved Plex.
There is more in my notes but you get the idea. I then do a rough sketch...Really a LOT of little sketches till something starts to happen. Don't force it. For me, when I am on the right track it seems to all just flow together. I start my components selection first. The motherboard is selected for performance AND looks. In this case I chose the ABIT IC7 MAX 3 I have been lusting after. It is black and I felt it worked with my theme. I also looked at a silver board from Soyo, but I wanted to polish the case to a mirror finish so I thought too much silver perhaps. I did find an orange tinted board but it was not a good performer.
Next I chose the ASUS Radeon 9800XT because it was a neat orange and an awesome over clocker. I don't like to clutter the box up too much inside so I elected to use the onboard 6 channel sound. I then get the measurements from the Manufactures site and use CAD to start drawing plans to see how it should all go together. By now I can start thinking about my cable runs etc.. As the shape developed I had to abandon the mirror on the bottom of the case because my CD/DVD drive and pump needed to go on there. I really dislike that the more attractive side of your video card is hidden. So I decided to mount my Mobo upside down and make my window on the right.
As it happens that worked better with the HL2 logo also. As the drawings took shape it became apparent that I wasn't going to be able to hack a case into what I needed. The deadline for the contest I was entering was 20 days away and I was going to loose 6 days getting married. I took a long look at fabricating a custom Alum enclosure. I just couldn't resist. It was looking like a winner to me.
I know how hot the Raptor drives can get and wanted to incorporate some cooling. Might as well cool the north bridge and VPU too. I then started drawing up plans for the HD H2o cooler. The problem was that I was going to be doing a window mod on the drives ( what kind of idiot cracks open a BRAND NEW pair of Raptors? ) and what's the point if you cant see them right? Because of the sketches I could niggle things about a bit and the result was the Hard drive cooler being integrated with a reservoir. I think the results speak for themselves.
I try and source all my assorted parts before I start so I limit the surprises down the road. I couldn't find any 120 mm fan grills that I felt worked so I drew it up on the plans and cut it from the case itself. If I had just whacked a big hole up there I would have been forced to use something that wasn't just right. The message here is simple...plan ahead. When I thought I had a finished plan I put it away for a day, then looked at it with a "realistic" eye. I honestly felt that there was just too much there to get done in 14 days. So I simplified it by removing six or seven things that were too time consuming, required special order parts or just had too high a level of complexity. Better to do less with a higher standard of execution.
A few last little points. As a rule design by committee never works. Your never going to be able to please everyone in the group so please yourself. Trying to please everyone is why we got beige boxes in the first place. Simple really is better so know your own limitations...push them, but know them. I am an old guy so I have a shop full of tools that I know how to use safely ( no an eye patch isn't cool ) but there are still things I just cant do for lack of the proper tool.
An Example:
For this example were going to do a Harley Davidson PC. To stay with the whole "Bad Boy Biker" thing we should choose a Black or silver Motherboard. For a video card the only real choices right now (Sadly) is red for the most part. ATI and the Radeon rule the roost...but I think there is a blue one out there. Hmmm...Black and Blue...could be a little theme within a theme there.
After I make my component choices I start my CAD sketches ( or pencil doodles ). Lots of cool Iconoclastic images associated with bikes. I see a round Reservoir with round polished Alum covers in the shape of a motorcycle sprocket....off to the web looking for images of a sprocket...found a good one and I think it would work...be cool as fan grill covers too. Nobody is marketing any though...I can cut my own...or find a real one that would work. MORE RESEARCH. While I am surfing I come across some cool images that might be cool as a case wrap...and I could include a little slogan "Black and Blue". Now were cooking.
I am thinking about water cooling and some UV action in blue to compliment the Black and Blue theme. By now that is the name of this rig...I mean ride. I could back the sprocket over the reservoir with Plex so you can see the UV fluid through the openings. Also did a little research on chrome plating...too pricey...time to bust out the polishing compound and polish some Aluminum. While I am at it I see a front facing blowhole up top shaped like a motor cycle headlight. I price some head lights...doable...but I asked a friend about cutting chrome plated metal and he said it would flake off. The more I think about it the less I like it...where does it stop? Wind screen? Turn signals? Exhaust pipes? I decide to pass...except on the exhaust pipes...
I am talking the box over with the wife and she says a magic word. "Black Leather". OK two words. Hmmm...fringe....By now I am drawing. I have a firm set of rules like Black and silver, water cooled, blue lights etc. and some less firm items like fringe and or Black leather, a Black and Blue logo case window, maybe a heat pipe style radiator to look like exhaust pipes etc..
Before I cut or buy ANYTHING I am going to source everything, make some FIRM choices about the major subsections like case, cooling, components, lights etc.and I am ALWAYS thinking about my wire routes...then it's time to kick start that baby.
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