So I went to Fry's today....

E

EPS Sniper

Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2000
Messages
609
....and I got kinda depressed. I went to their 'hardware' section and saw so many different led fans, cathodes, windows-all premade. It just kind of seems depressing that the stuff that was once new and underground and was never heard of has become so commercialized. Every loser I see there who probably doesn't have a clue about how these mods came flaunts this stuff as though they made something unique themselves. Not to mention that it's starting to make computers look like toys. Don't get me wrong, I like a nice window and cathode or two, but now there are lights in the middle of the fan that spin around and lights in the corners of the fan that alternate flashing. It all seems too gaudy...but then again I guess that's how hardcore car people felt with the invasion of the 'fast and furious' generation.

Anyways, sorry for the rant. I think I'm gonna put some plain black fans with standard chrome grills back on-now this seems to be something original.
 
They got that stuff at Best Buy too. I was in there getting some blank CDs. I turned the corner and about fainted. Window kits, Cathods, Lighted Fans, LIGHTED CABLES!?!?

Hay think of it this way. The cheap mods are easy to spot.

A good deal of us put countless hours, untold bottles of soda drank and shed a good deal of blood to get moding to this point. I do almost feel proud that it's kinda going main stream.

Look at it this way, with moding going main stream perhaps the supplies will be easyer to come by. AND LOWER IN PRICE!!!.
 
True, true, albeit I don't really mind some premod products. Rounded cables are really handy and some other stuff can be really good to have as well, but its the crappy knockoffs that get to me.

It can also be a good thing. Some people don't have the time or skill to mod, and some people just need supplies that are local. Maybe I'm pissed cause I hate Fry's....
 
its all about what you care about. Ill admit that i have a premod window and cathodes, but i made my rheobus myself. Everyone decides for themselves what they believe is good or bad, easy or hard. On a side note, why doesnt anyone get flamed for a pre-mod rheobus? They seem to be excepted, while pre-mod windows are the devil.
 
Modding isn't about going to best buy and buying lights and crap to put in your computer, just like buying a sound card to put in your computer isn't modding. MODIFYING something that is not made to be put in a computer in order to put it in your computer is modding. The only good I see coming out of this is that all these morons will start buying this flashy shit and it will become so gaudy and cliche that the real modders will step up and do more hardcore stuff and keep the scene going. I appreciate people being interested, but it seems like the people buying shit at best buy are in it for the wrong reasons.
 
maybe windows are considered easy to do, while rheobuses aren't. i'd pick up a do it yourself-type rheobus (where you drill the faceplate and bolt up everything yourself) but I always run my fans at full speed anyway.
 
Originally posted by kremerace
its all about what you care about. Ill admit that i have a premod window and cathodes, but i made my rheobus myself. Everyone decides for themselves what they believe is good or bad, easy or hard. On a side note, why doesnt anyone get flamed for a pre-mod rheobus? They seem to be excepted, while pre-mod windows are the devil.
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I suppose the rheobuses have gotten to the "blackbox" stage where they are considered a component in a bigger system. I'm not sure how I feel about this. There just isn't as much personalization you can do with a baybus as opposed to with a window. And with a baybus, you still have to put it in and wire it up yourself, whereas with a windowed case it came like that from the factory.
 
I didn't build my own fanbus (that Vantec was just so attractive...) but I did make my own window...

...out of scratch-proof, reinforced, blue-tinted, glass.

Cheaper then plexi too.

I saw a DIY window mod kit being installed once... it was so effortless, yet looked fairly good. It was a window, after all. Isn't that what modding is? Customizing your computer. It doesn't look like the next computer. How much more to it is there?
 
I don't mind it as much. I mean from someone who only a year ago got into the computer stuff, it was nice to have some things to take baby steps with. I mean I have matured and I am doing actual modding now. For example I bought a pre-mod case with a window already done.

But having that step made it easier to get into it all. I mean my mods now are simple anyway, like wiring some LED's and putting in a CD drive window up top, but I had something to start with.

I guess the difference between me and some of the other guys that just by the commercial stuff...

Is that they buy it thinking they are the shit. I knew my stuff sucked and that I put no work into it, it was just more for my own enjoyment. I mean I have graduated from that stuff now. But it was a good stepping stone.

It's those damn TT cases that bug me to high hell.
 
Hell I'll do you one better I remember when we used Neon lights from car kits before CCFLs.;) I use to compute in the snow uphill both ways damnit you young kids. with your Gigabytes When i was a kid we had Misquito bytes
 
When I did my last case(Bliss Unleashed) I was a little wary of the people who would just go out and buy premodded stuff. At one time I thought why don't they do it themselves?

No I Know why. I'm building a second system right now and when it came to get a case I bought a premod. WHY? I just don't have the time! Working 12 days on and 2 off, I just don't have the time, PERIOD. I spent 10 months on Bliss and way too much money. I didn't want to go down that road again.

I am trying to put some personal touches on the premodded case I have. I don't care if I were to be flamed about having a premod, I have nothing to prove. I did it all once:)

So I can understand why some people buy premodded stuff. It's personal preference and sometimes it comes down to skill, time and money.

Hell, I didn't have BUILD my OWN house to be proud of it.

Take care guys


DDK
 
IMO its not the fact if a fan baybus is handmade or bought, or if a window is done from a kit or scratch.

If you had to do any of the work its was modded.

Now what does get me are the people that are all :eek: over a case with a window preinstalled and then proceed to show it off like its a golden turd.

Don't brag unless you have personally done some kind of work with the case.
 
Most of it is not whether you have a premod or not, I know plenty of people who have them and I'm ok with that, it's the people who come to the Cool Cases forum and post a pic of a TT xaser that they put new LED fans in and say "L00|< @7 mY 1337 M0dd3d C@53 d00dzz" and act like it was a wonderful mod to do that.

I think the whole whing with the fanbus vs window is that most people do not have the proper equipment and knowledge to build a good fanbus, to do it right you need electronics knowledge, solding equipment, ect. Plus, if done wrong there is the, however small, chance of shorting your PSU, or having a failure of some kind. Your computer will not short out and die if you screw up cutting your window, it may look ugly, but that can be fixed, bigger window than planned, new case side, and the options go on.
 
I've found that it has become increasingly difficult to buy a case that has no pre mods done to it. At the bery least computers are now coming with a fan in the side, usefull but not where I want it to be. The all out premods just piss me off though. Its like its there so all these people can buy on and go "Look at my seet computer that I put absolutly no creative effort into.":mad: REMEMBER: EVERYTIME YOU BUY PREMOD GOD KILLS ANOTHER DOMO, THINK OF THE DOMO'S
 
I lub frys...

just picked up 2 AMD 2200xp mobo for only 65 bux each..

BAM!

1 game server + another lan pc ;)

also, picked up a wheel for pc for 20 bux... fun fun fun :)

it doesn't get any more real when playing with NFSU

:)

but yea.. fry bitches piss me off, they put 3 color LED in the computer and were showing it off in the center of the whole freaking section
 
Fry's is the suck.

I have never had a good experiance in there.

The last time I was there I had people asking me for advise on mobos and vid cards, and I don't even work there.

I will never shop at Fry's again no matter what deal they have.
 
Something that's easy to do like a window is nice for a premod, but it's easy to spot.

I thought about putting a window in my case when I got a new case, but I think it looks much more badass without a window. Things like windows are just...too common. Plus, they're only good if the hardware is nice and there's something inside to see.

And fans... The case I have now has a fan in the side, but it's a little too high to do any real cooling for my gfx card. It would be better for my airflow for it to pull the air out, but since it's too high, I have it blowing in. And as for LEDs in fans, well, the only reason mine are LEDs is because they were the only ones I could find that were uber-quiet[and when I planned to use eight of them, I wanted it as quiet as possible.] LED fans are ok, it doesn't bother me as much as people using ultra frickin' bright leds for simple stuff.

I guess windows aren't that bad, so long as there is something to look at, like badass hardware, or at least reflective paint on the hardware.
 
I'm just getting into computer modding, i'm 15 and have had my OWN computer for about 6 months, I built it. WHen I was ordering the parts, I didnt know much about modding, so I got a premod case (and a pretty nice one-kingwin kt-436-s) It came with 3 windows. I have since (in about this order) installed rounded cables, led fans, two blue and two uv ccfls, and a pcmods rheobus. I messed up one drive cover, but it's all part of the learning experiance. I now have a water cooling system (not a kit, danger den blocks and all the good stuff), which I think is my first real mod, because it took me a lot to get it working and I cut a hole in the top of my case for my 120mm radiator to sit on top of. As soon as I can, I will post pics, it's actually pretty cool. Although I'm a relative newcomer, I'm just as pissed as the rest of you. Cathodes at compusa?!?!? Not even very good ones. Hopefully, this will pass. It's kinda sad. We'll see. I Will be around to.

also, what is fry's?
 
It's a comp store similar to Compusa and BestBuy.

The cathode on the bottom of my comp is from Compusa and its worked fine for me. It's bright enough for what I wanted, a slight underglow to my computer.
 
I wanna do a cool mod, but I lack power tools.
I admit I have a premod, I don't care (i wanna do some real mods though) someday...maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday...
 
I'll take a plain black case with no windows, no blow holes. silent cooling with a power and hdd activity light. To me that is what a case should look like. I take the money that would have been spent on pointless things like a window and get more ram or a better cpu. I use my computer for games, music, movies, work, etc, etc. Not so I can stare at the case.
 
uhhh guys...your forgetting something...WERE THE GEEKS HERE! The public is horribly cramped to the point where they are so lazy, its going to become normal to get a window and a cathode...but heres the thing..thats ALL they are gonna get...we...
allready we are making custom cut windows to look like dragons, flames, anything and many other designs with cathodes to shine through it all. We will always be one step ahead, and i dont think comp cases are gonna come premoded with custom paint jobs & highly custom & skilled window jobs.
 
Originally posted by battleangel3222
uhhh guys...your forgetting something...WERE THE GEEKS HERE! The public is horribly cramped to the point where they are so lazy, its going to become normal to get a window and a cathode...but heres the thing..thats ALL they are gonna get...we...
allready we are making custom cut windows to look like dragons, flames, anything and many other designs with cathodes to shine through it all. We will always be one step ahead, and i dont think comp cases are gonna come premoded with custom paint jobs & highly custom & skilled window jobs.
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Still its getting harder and harder to find a stock case that has any potential. I wish case makers would go back to producing basic cases that we can hack up.
 
Originally posted by jpnelson83
Still its getting harder and harder to find a stock case that has any potential. I wish case makers would go back to producing basic cases that we can hack up.
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thats what Enlight, InWin, and YY are for, among others

there are a lot of cases out there both new and old that still have modding potential...

and just becuase they have a pre-mod window or something dosent mean you cant mod it

anyway, this has all been changing for a long time, peoples standards have changed, and the old has been left in the dust..

im sure that today the UT case (if any of you kiddies remember it) would be considered total crap, but back in the day it was nothing short of amazing

changing the LED in optical mice was a big deal, a rheo bus was complicated and daunting for most...

modding was more of an underground thing, but like everything with public appeal, companies step in, see $$$ and start makin stuff

on the bright side it makes a lot of supplies very cheap... but it also kinda cheapens the art... and making a truly nice mod takes a lot of work
 
So I went to Fry's today...

Being a regular "Exchange" customer, found those today. I need some bright LEDs:D



LEDgrill.jpg
 
My favorite thing to see... led lit fans that you plug into your usb and sit it on your desk... yes :rolleyes:
 
I don't have proper tools to mod, but I use whatever I can to do cut my window and blowhole. Its not the best looking case, but hell, I did it myself. I AM SICK OF LOOKING AT PREMODS AND PEOPLE WHO THINK ITS COOL TO HAVE MODDED CASE BY ANOTHER PEOPLE!!

I prefer plain beige case with no windows, blowholes and plain front bezel. My case only got a side window, top blowhole, plain black fans, blue ccfl, clean witing no rheobus, no switches, no LEDs. I like clean cases

I remember the good old days when more blowhoes=cool. you make the 12v/7v switch with fanbus..

here is my case and you'll know what I mean

zx.jpg
 
I guess its just evolution that modding has become commercialized. I believe the next phase would be truly silent computers (0-10dba even under load, even you too damn Hard drive) OR completely custom cases. As for the latter, itd be hard to commericalize that. :)
 
i was recently thinking about this subject when i stopped by a local surplus store. i hadn't been there in a while and thought i'd stop in after getting into modding again. i used to go in there to buy leds, switches, other items to mod with. but when i went in there lately, man, premod cases, rounded cables, led fans, custom grills, el wire, cathodes, window kits etc... i was shocked and a little upset, not because they had all this stuff, but that it looked so cheap and tacky that i know i would do a better job myself using raw materials. of all places for mod stuff to be, it shows up in a surplus store in canada, i never thought modding would come to canada until the US had finished with it, it was a shocker.
 
Originally posted by Tt Ownage
also how can you hate frys when they hook you up with some quality stuff for cheap?

newfriends.jpg
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FYI I've never heard anything good about ECS motherboards. In my opinion you should just ebay the two motherboards and keep the procs and buy some good MB's.
 
lol it doesnt' really matter for me really..

it's not like i expect this mobo to run like my asus :p

i m not overclocking or anyhing

one of them wil be a dedicated cs server and the other will be just another computer in the house :D
 
I had someone here on the forums accuse me of just doing a premod before.

I started out my first with completely modding a VCR case to accept a computer. Granted, it wasn't an original idea, but it was one hell of a project.

My second mod was Tennyoko v.2. Lian-Li PC-75B(With the window.). Someone said, "Where are the mods?" Well, the idea was that I was going to make a nice looking case. I put some LED fans in to give it some light, no big deal. The main focus was wire management and that is still getting tweaked here and there. I have done a few modifications to the case, two of them original.

My third mod was the Monster Case for a contest. Four days to paint and modify a case. I completely painted a black and red theme on the case, cut a custom(Non-kit) window, cut out spots for fans since the case had none, and completely wired all the lights in the case by hand.

Why did I buy a premade Window? Because I liked the look of how it was already made and I wasn't confident cutting a window out of a $231 case. I was more than willing with the Monster case since it was a plain beige case that I practically got for free.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that people buy on their modding abilities. If people just buy all the flashy stuff and not work on any hand made mods, they will never get any real ability.
 
This is funny...
There were times when most of people here couldn't have possibly installed a computer at all without some professional help. (I am talking back in PC/AT time frame or even 386).
Instead of just plugging in hardware and installing software, I remember having to figure out mapping of DMA/IRQ/Memory, switch the dip (or jumper), investigate the current configuration, installing the software, etc to get something working.
(or even soldering Sound card components in PCB board to make one because there was only 1 vendor at the time for Apple II :p... think it was ad-lib knock off... before sound blasters time)
Does this make most of people who put parts in their computer NOOB? (Which I presume half the people here at least) Not anymore.
Just get on with the time. Find something that where others haven't caught on as trend, etc... :)
 
man so many people are all elitish. i personally am glad to see fry's sell all that stuff. just means it's easier for me to access and cheaper cost products in the end. and who knows? maybe somebody who buys a premod will get spurned into wanting to do some modding to that premod and then start modding on their own?

i'm one of those. i bought a premod case for the window and all that jazz then i said "mmmm what can i do to this?" hell, the premod is what got me to start coming to this site. and now i wanna do all sortsa of my own mods to my premod. am i wrong for that somehow?
 
As a complete n00b I'm more impressed with good wire management than LEDs and windows and such--though some of you have put together some incredibly beautiful looking mods. Anything designed for improving functionality has always been my favorite thing to see, cable management, creative watercooling, airflow etc.

I think if I had a bunch of lights on my PC it would annoy me to no end (and what's with the sound activated lights? Ugh.)
 
Originally posted by EPS Sniper
Every loser I see there who probably doesn't have a clue about how these mods came flaunts this stuff as though they made something unique themselves.
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Losers ? I'm curious what makes you so high an mighty when walking into a Fry's over any other customer ? Just because 4 years ago you cut a hole in your side panel, doesn't make you > anyone else who wants to pickup modding now-a-days ... Secondly what did you expect to happen ? Its only a matter of time before things catch on, and go a bit more mainstream. Go cut a hole in your case, and stick your head in it ... leave the talking to us, because its obvious you dont know how to do it.
 
Wow you must know everything. Will you come hold my hand while I turn my PC on?:rolleyes:
 
I started doing my own windows after trying a kit once. I couldn't get the gasket to work right and after that time, I used the dremel to cut my own holes. Got my acrylic from Lowe's and started cutting that myself. I don't mind turning car neon kits into PC-ready ones, but it's cheaper to go to one of the PC shops in town (not even BB) and buy the kit.

What I really am picky about is wire management. It's fun to work with different cases to get the wires out of the way, or at least covered to look nice.
 
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