Case Modding, One Man’s Journey and Thoughts

I can say that I have been around since the beginning of case modding. I may not have been the first, but I think I would in the top 20, maybe even the 10. As I go into my old man speech please bare with me… I have seen computer case modding go from adding a fan or two to try and cool down those “hotter than hell” CPU’s (Remember the one from Intel that got nicknamed “The Hot Potato”) to things that do not even resemble a PC, plus everything in between. Some may know my handle Americanfreak and others have no idea who I am which really don’t care. I have never been into the modding scene to make a name for myself or to try and beat everyone else or make money off the hobby because I enjoy what I do as a hobby. Could I have gotten everything I just described? Probably and I have even got some of it without it being my main focus. “But you run a website about case modding, do products reviews, run contests and you DO have ads on the site, so you must be making money.” And the answer to all of those questions is Yes. The whole site is meant to be a way to help inform people about case modding and products. The more people know the more they will get an interest in hobby. The ads pay for running the website, items we may need to do better product reviews and pays for our annual treks to QuakeCon (for the modding contest for you) and to CES (for product reviews for you). Any income from the ads goes right back into the site. All the staff members are not paid and do what they do for the site because they want to and want to help others learn about the stuff they know. That is enough about the site and me so let’s get onto the real topic of the article.

I have always said that modding is a form of self expression artistic release. You should always mod for you and not what others like. I am sure that you have all seen a post or two or a dozen where someone will rip on someone about the way they did this or that or ” I would have painted it green, because yellow looks stupid”. Really? Who freaking cares what color it is! If he like the color green then let it be, but tossing in your two cent worth about you hating the color green means nothing. Again my thoughts are no matter how much or little you mod or how much money or how little money you spend on creating your mod, it is your mod. If someone takes a case and paints it red slaps on a humming bird sticker then it awesome because they created what THEY wanted, not you or what someone else would have. For instance I have been told many times that I need to a water cooling mod… uh OK but I really don’t need water cooling and well I kind of don’t see the need to beside the fact that it looks cooler than it really works. And while we are at it what the hell it up with all this micro sleeving? The whole idea of sleeving is to minimize the amount of cables showing not to show more. “But it shows your dedication to creating a case mod and making it look good.” To that I say “To each his own” and it goes back to what I just stated in the paragraph above… Mod for yourself and no one else.