Case Modding For Dummies
What Is Case Modding?
Case modding is the act of customizing or modifying the appearance of your computer’s case. You’ve seen the pictures everywhere of the people with those crazy computer cases. In fact you might know someone who has modded their computer case. If you’re reading this blog then you do know someone who has modded their PC case. A case mod is the finished product of case modding, so case modding is the action of modifying your case and a case mod is the modded case itself after it’s been modded.
Example Case Mods
Here are some of the most well-known case mods:
A coffee maker case mod.
The infamous NESPC Case Mod.
Why Would Someone Mod Their Computer Case?
A long, long time ago when computers were just beginning to go mainstream they were mass-produced in dull beige boxes. These beige boxes were not very appealing, and were even considered tacky by some. They all looked relatively the same and left very little to your imagination. To put up with these beige boxes people began modifying their computer cases, or building their own from scratch. Case modding became more acceptable as the Apple iMac was released, because its unique design was nothing like the previous beige boxes.
When prices of computer parts began to fall, case modding increased dramatically as a 3rd part market for computer cases and accessories developed. Now case modding can be done for a relatively cheap price and components and accessories for case mods can be found in common computer stores.
Case mods are a good way exhibit your artistic prowess in the computer field. Case modding has very much turned into a form of art for some. There are competitions for case modding and prizes, it can be very profitable if you are a successful modder. Plus it’s lots of fun being able to say you made that wicked awesome case, or you turned you computer case into a coffee pot.
The Different Flavors Of Case Mods
Not every case mod has to be outrageously ingenious to be a case mod. Simple case mods include adding a fan, or drilling in a hole for a new fan, putting in a plastic window so you can see inside, adding neon lights to make it look pretty, or even painting the outside of the case.
Some modders mod their keyboards and mice as well to match their case mods, and even hardcore space savers install their speakers into their cases as a way to save space and increase portability.
Hardcore modders and overclockers use cooling mods to add phase change cooling, liquid nitrogen cooling, or extreme water cooling mods to their cases. These mods are rarely long-term and are quite expensive and time consuming to pull off. I’d be surprised if someone could keep a liquid nitrogen cooling system in place for more than an hour.
Other modders build their entire case from scratch, like WMD Part II, something that I’ve attempted a few times with some crude materials. It’s not hard to produce all the material you need for a case mod, but it’s hard and expensive to produce a completely custom quality case mod.
Courtesy of Laughing Squid
DIY Case Mods
On one rainy afternoon try making your own case mod. If you want you can simply use a pre-existing case and change something about it on the inside or the outside, preferably the outside, because then people can notice it. Add in a new case fan or install a window. If you have the handy skills make your own case mod out of whatever you have laying around. If you just moved use some cardboard boxes, or if you live out in the woods make a case mod out of wood. It doesn’t matter what you use, but what does matter is the sense of pride you get out of it for creating your very own case, or doing your own case mod.
Tell me about your case mods that you’ve created, and stay tuned for our next post where I highlight a couple of the simple case mods that I have done, and discuss with more details on what you need to make a complete case mod. This won’t be a set of directions, but more a set of guidelines to help you.
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