Is real case modding dead?

[gr1mey]

still going here, but then again I am mostly still using cases from back in the day; still obsessed with cooler master atcs cases and making them work with huge power hungry heat producing modern components can be a challenge, but at least the quality of the materials is there in the first place

 

[Mr_Orange]

TBH modern cases do the things that needed to be modded as default now and look good out of the box. Look at the first couple of pages of the pinned thread, the brand new cases were ugly as sin and benefited from modding. That was only in 2014 go back a bit further and it's even worse. Now it's more a case of picking the case that does what you want (glass side panels, painted inside, rgb, cooling etc). Off the shelf lighting and water cooling are now good out of the box so why mod it and make it worse? At that point what's left to mod?

 

[Avathar77]

I remember when I had the TJ07

 

[Defy Belief]

Ah, reminds me of some good times, some of my old builds don't work photo wise, but loved this mod https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/i-watercooled-a-microwave.18892990/#post-33756844

 

[Dashik]

I'd say yes. Plenty of flexible cases around now that manufactureres are catering to the self build community.

 

[im4gine3]

i'm on the fence.. maybe overall it is dead, but with a bit of creativity and a dremel.. anything is possible..

 

[robj20]

How could I forget spray painting optical drive bezels black and silver too!

Or stealthing them by attaching the blank bay covers.

 

[robj20]

Ah, reminds me of some good times, some of my old builds don't work photo wise, but loved this mod https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/i-watercooled-a-microwave.18892990/#post-33756844

I was expecting something properly modded. Disappointed.

I'd say the good old days were using car rads, pond pumps and my first proper blocks from Danger Den.
You really had to put the effort in to getting it all working.

 

[Hewligan]

I don’t think it died completely, but it is definitely less prevalent. I did a few: started with an Alienware R10 or R11, modded for water cooling setup with a radiator in the foot and the top. Was still totally choked for airflow. Then i moved onto a DeepCool CL500 which i modded to hang a 1080 radiator off the back panel, with air pass throughs dremelled. I also bought a mod someone else made - fitting a CPU/GPU loop into a tiny case, since sold on. I followed Revoccases who made single slot coolers for A2000 to make a tiny 1L dedicated GPU build (now you can basically buy this off the shelf), and of course the Petricor Skyreach 4 Mini insanity which has seen him fit a 4090 with internal loop into a <5L case. I guess it lives on more on the small form factor side, but even there it is definitely fading.

 

[DHR]

I don’t think it died completely, but it is definitely less prevalent. I did a few: started with an Alienware R10 or R11, modded for water cooling setup with a radiator in the foot and the top. Was still totally choked for airflow. Then i moved onto a DeepCool CL500 which i modded to hang a 1080 radiator off the back panel, with air pass throughs dremelled. I also bought a mod someone else made - fitting a CPU/GPU loop into a tiny case, since sold on. I followed Revoccases who made single slot coolers for A2000 to make a tiny 1L dedicated GPU build (now you can basically buy this off the shelf), and of course the Petricor Skyreach 4 Mini insanity which has seen him fit a 4090 with internal loop into a <5L case. I guess it lives on more on the small form factor side, but even there it is definitely fading.

Yeah I think there will always be people customizing and innovating, but never the scene that it once was, do miss it I can't lie

 

[krisboats]

There was something special in a was-beige-now-silver rattle canned case that had the side panel dremelled out to fit a window, some cold cathodes fitted inside and some blue led/clear plastic fans screwed into the window. Sticker bombed on one side for good measure

Cases now have so much in terms of options though theres just no need.

 

[Rroff]

Gordyhand rings a bell

I remember the early days of people dremelling windows into cases, etc. The first real mod I saw was a quake team member at I99 literally having a very small domestic radiator bolted to the side of his case for home made watercooling.

Reminds me of one of the first LANs I was at and someone turned up with a full custom phase change cooling setup and had an AWE64 soundcard with phono outputs to a massive amp and Stax headphones LOL.

 

[Slogan]

It definitely does seem to have been on the decline from where it was back in the day. I think greater choice and general innovation in the case market has negated a lot of the need for modding.

It could be argued that the creative element of case modding has sort of evolved into the 3D printing space. A lot of really clever creations for existing cases and even people making entire cases from scratch.

 

[w3bbo]

Pretty much everything can be bought off the shelf now. Gone are the days of psu cable braiding, spraying internals etc. Cutting in acrylic side panels etc. The difference between a good AIO wc unit vs custom is negligable. Sellers have caught on to aesthetic value, killing creativity.

That said, some off the shelf new builds really are stunning....but hardly nodded in the truest sense.

 

[wildman]

Can I just add some love for the Globalwin 802 case that many of us cut holes in to fit side fans.

this. I remeber taking a tank cutter to the sides and roof, and there was a geeser on here on OCUK forums that used to build fan controllers using the drivebay covers from the 802. I remember getting one with 6 switches and a red and blue led above and below each switch so you have either full speed or half speed on each fan.

 

[Bubo]

this. I remeber taking a tank cutter to the sides and roof, and there was a geeser on here on OCUK forums that used to build fan controllers using the drivebay covers from the 802. I remember getting one with 6 switches and a red and blue led above and below each switch so you have either full speed or half speed on each fan.

I remember the days when blue LED's were that rare that they were the ultimate status symbol of being a true modder. Infact, you weren't allowed to just say "blue", it had to be "bloooooooo!!"

 

[Drumroll]

I remember the days when blue LED's were that rare that they were the ultimate status symbol of being a true modder. Infact, you weren't allowed to just say "blue", it had to be "bloooooooo!!"

Exactly. Choosing between Blue, Red or Green LED fans. Later Corsair with the fans that allowed swapping a ring around the fan, etc.
As others mentioned, pretty much everything can be bought, except for some rare things. Most modding now is for ITX or other small formats, to overcome space limitations. Apart from that, just people looking for a truly unique system, usually a theme, but not the cutting the case to fit radiators, fans or even removing the bars from the PCI area to install a vertical mount.

 

[Mr Evil]

TBH modern cases [...] look good out of the box

Most cases are terribly boring plain black or white.

Pretty much everything can be bought off the shelf now.

There are still plenty of things that you can't buy. For instance I've never seen a commerical 5.25" drive bay monitor like this:

And by that I mean a general-purpose HDMI/DP monitor that you can see the desktop on, not a special-purpose display that just does temps and stuff.

 

[w3bbo]

Most cases are terribly boring plain black or white.


There are still plenty of things that you can't buy. For instance I've never seen a commerical 5.25" drive bay monitor like this:

And by that I mean a general-purpose HDMI/DP monitor that you can see the desktop on, not a special-purpose display that just does temps and stuff.

True enough but then even most of the items to build this will be off the shelf stuff no? I've bought a screen for my nv9 but I wouldn't class it as a 'mod' per say. It's not like the old days where you had to get out the drill, dremmel and spray cans. Just my opinion.

 

[Mr Evil]

True enough but then even most of the items to build this will be off the shelf stuff no? I've bought a screen for my nv9 but I wouldn't class it as a 'mod' per say. It's not like the old days where you had to get out the drill, dremmel and spray cans. Just my opinion.

A dremel and drill is exactly how that was done. Bare LCD panels don't come with frames like that, nor control panels that happen to fit exactly in a 3.5" drive bay (the one with the gold buttons). No spray paint, just a bit of permanent marker around the edges to hide where it was cut, although I did spray the case itself many years ago.

Anyway, you're not going to be able to make something like that by just plugging existing parts together - at least a minimal amount of DIY is necessary.