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Modding Why do you Mod?

Discussion in 'Modding' started by aeidau, 5 Apr 2010.

  1. aeidau

    aeidau Industrial Designer

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    Why do you mod?

    I have been a watching people modding on here for a while and have witnessed dozens of people's amazing dedication to their builds not just in monetary components but in planning, detail, effort but the sheer amount of hours and even months people have spent building their ideal PC.

    You may be asking why I am talking about this firstly it is to ask for your help and secondly is to thank you and encourage you to seek out your dreams as I am doing so now (becoming an Industrial Designer).

    The help I seek is in a form of an essay I have to compile that is due in two weeks (edit now one week). My idea was to ask members on various forums how they feel about modding and why they do it. (case/pc/liquid cooling modding in particular).

    I will also like to invite the members of the modding community that I feel have made a difference to my perception of the experience those people are Craig Brugger, Coolmiester, RealRedRaider, Charles, Nils, p0Pe, Bill Owen, Oldnewboy, (and sorry if I have missed anyone please feel free to suggest someone you know they don't have to be on this forum.)

    But I also want your opinion too.

    My aim is to find out why these people mod and why you do it too.

    And finally I am thanking you for your support, suggestions, builds, information and experience. We as a community would not be able to survive and get support/sponsoring from large companies without you. And I encourage you to fulfill your ideal builds whether it is your first or your twentieth please continue to dream, plan, buy, measure, measure again and then measure again and cut once. :p Because without you many might have not been inspired to mod in the first place.

    Thank you :D

    Yours Sincerely,

    Kieran



    P.S.
    Any spelling & punctuation errors or if it can be reworded better or better structured please quote me in a PM and show your suggestion.

    Feel free to tell my why you enjoy modding whether it be just looking at peoples builds or modding your own things.

    And any people you feel have made a big difference please tell me and I'll make sure to ask them.


    Here are some responses from people I first asked on Real Red Raider.com and The Mod Brothers.com to see if my Idea would work.

    Red Raider Tech Thread
    The Mod Brothers Thread

    And here's what Mach had to say over on The Mod Brothers Forums


    Feel free to tell my why you enjoy modding whether it be just looking at peoples builds or modding your own things.

    And any people you feel have made a big difference please tell me and I'll make sure to ask them.


    Cheers Kieran :D
     
    mvagusta likes this.
  2. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    i haven't really had a chance to mod anything yet
    but that's cuz i just got interested into PCs in the last year
    i built my first almost a year and a half ago
    so yeah

    but none-the-less ive started on my true first mod
    and i guess it all starts because ive been drawing and creatively expressing myself since i could hold a pencil
    my grandma gave me some paper and some crayons and i would just go at it
    and now all of my artistic influences are trickling their way through a dremel and starting to take shape on a PCs case
    creating something with your own hands has a meaning all of its own
    it could be something as simple as putting a pc together for the first time
    or taking a dremel to a $300 PC case
    when you find yourself calling you crazy
    then your on the right path
    its the uncharted
    the yet-to-be-done
    the individual in all of us that can manifest itself in a pc
    or to convey a creative message to the rest of the community
    everyone will read that message differently
    most are inspired by it
    others are awe struck
    some are still going 'huh?'
    but in the end if you like it
    and it works
    its all that matters

    there are some ideas out there that are just absolute brilliance
    yet they manifest themselves as less then appealing to the rest of the world
    there might be several factors that influence that image
    and they can be a whole range of things
    (the most obvious that i can see is the $ )
    but what the community should take away with them is the idea
    and maybe someone can improve upon the idea

    its the modders that truly think outside the box and look for a new, and possibly even better
    way of doing things that attracts me to this................ realm
    to do things your way and to prove a concept is always a win in my book
    so to answer your question

    i mod because i like to change everything and make it my own, because i bought it
     
  3. stonedsurd

    stonedsurd Is a cackling Yuletide Belgian

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    It's like craigbru said - the high when you stand back and look at something you've made is unbeatable.

    Sometimes you just have a lot of ideas and the acting on them, turning them into reality is wonderful.
     
  4. Andersen1337

    Andersen1337 What's a Dremel?

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    Couldn't agree more with you disturbed13.
     
  5. Xtrafresh

    Xtrafresh It never hurts to help

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    I guess the main addiction to modding lies in the high that Craig described. I really like how he describes it. Let's call it 'Craig's High' from now on and see if we can repeat it into the dictionary :D

    To me, there's an extra element in it. I'm not a guy for destinations, i'm a guy for travelling, especially if a challenge is involved. I like the idea of coming up with something impossible and just willing it into the realm of possibility. I don't get Craig's High when i finally take a step back from the finished product, but on the EXACT moment that i make the first testfit work. That moment that i realize that i've not realised a change in a computer, but a much more fundamental change in the world. I've added something that did not exist before, and without me, it probably would never have existed. That's the spark of creation that i chase. To boldly go...
     
  6. craigbru

    craigbru Cramming big things in small boxes since 2006

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    Lol @ Craig's High... :D
     
  7. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    Not to take away from what any of the others have written thus far, but I feel it's slightly pointless for me to write this now as Craig has already so eloquently hit the nail on the head in a few short paragraphs as to why any of us create the systems that we do. It's clear that as far as modding goes, he and I are cut from the same cloth. I'll give this a bash anyway seeing as I've started!

    First of all, let me start by saying that I started modding about 6 years ago, and have not to this day created something which I can say has truly satisfied my creative drive. That doesn't mean that I feel defeated by all my previous work, it only means that I know I'm capable of bettering myself, and am willing to do whatever it takes to do so. What drives me to build modified PCs is probably the same thing that drives any other type of artist or designer to create something unique - I know that I can create something better than what's already out there, and what is already available from mass production companies. My company revolves around the word "bespoke" because that's the first thing that enters any modders mind when they first have an idea for a new system - it will be unique. Like no other. And for many of us, myself included, nothing is more important than achieving a level of uniqueness in a build that has never been seen before. You don't have to go very far on bit-tech to come across a project for which this is true. As well as offering a PC enthusiast the opportunity to create something that they can call their own, there is the chance to create something that has the same wow factor of any other bespoke production item, like a custom motorcycle or a hand built super car. What the term "bespoke PC" implies, though, is not only about how a PC looks but also about how it is built and how it performs. Using high tech materials as well as manufacturing processes and techniques that are not seen in mass PC production allows modders to create the highest build quality ever seen, and this is something that a lot of people are drawn to, no matter what type of product it is present in. We love cars that are well designed and well built. We are attracted to products that have build quality which is better than their competitors. This is why countless people love companies like Apple, because they offer products which are designed and manufactured to the highest of standards, standards which many of their competitors simply cannot match.

    Performance is something which is often overlooked when we think about modding. Lots of people would argue that the process of modding is only about what I have already described - exceptional aesthetics and build quality, however there would be no modding community without the high performance hardware that drives every bespoke computer that has ever been designed and built. Exceptional performance is the primary function of any PC that I have personally owned. I take pride in being able to say that mine is one of the most powerful personal computers in the world, and this alone sets it apart from any other mass produced computer that you could buy from public companies. An enclosure that gets as much attention in its design, manufacture and assembly as a mod project does, deserves a component specification that will do it justice and add to the wow factor that every modder strives to achieve. Hand picking the best, top of the range hardware and overclocking it to unlock its maximum potential is just another part of the equation that makes up a breathtaking mod. I get as much pleasure from this part of the process as I do seeing the modifications on a case take shape.

    I could go on and on about this for several pages, but I think what I've said already is enough. I'll finish by saying this: We're all engineers, designers, electricians, machinists or artists of some other form. Many of us are a combination of these things and many of us are even more. A PC modder is simply the result of any or all of these things being combined with an enthusiasm for computers. We, like our projects, are the result of multiple talents and abilities and for that, the rest of the world should be jealous... because we create what they cannot.

    [edit]

    I'm afraid I chose to leave out some slightly more personal material (about why exactly I mod, and my design process) from this post as it forms the basis of the introduction to my next mod project, which will be my biggest to date. Because you're writing an essay on this, I'd be happy to PM you a copy of that introduction if you think it would provide you with something more to put in the essay. Just let me know and I'll send you a copy.
     
    Last edited: 6 Apr 2010
  8. The_Beast

    The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ

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    1. At the end of the day I can step back and look at what I've gotten done
    2. Something to do other than watch TV and eat chips
    3. It gives you something one-off, something no one else has
    4. Sometimes manufacturers don't get a design just quite right


    + spray paint makes me feel all funny inside :hehe:
     
  9. Burnout21

    Burnout21 Mmmm biscuits

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    I don't ever set out to mod straight away, i am a product designer so the cases i purchase i purchase for a reason as they aesthetically please me. However in general these cases don't provide a perfect solution to my needs.

    I watercool mostly everything as i like my machines broader line inaudible, something air cooling can struggle with when a overclock is in place.

    Now i like to keep my cases stock looking as i know the designer has put a lot of effort into creating a beautiful case, so my mods are generally internal, unless the top or side panels need vents added to aid with cooling.

    When i was 16 i had a beige Antec Performance Plus, basically a chieftec dragon with out the door, a friend was binning his badly modded black chieftec dragon, and after 5 minutes of look at it, his perfectly fine plastic front panel would clip straight onto my case without modding. Giving me a Antec Dragon. A look with i love.

    [​IMG]

    I find this to be one of the best cases to have owned, however mine had a dark grey front and beige chassis, ewwww. So out came the spray paint and jigsaw..

    [​IMG]

    Aircooled and happy, the side panel window was from the other donor case.

    Next case was just before i went to uni, i wanted something cleaner and smaller, and oddly 2 years on the same friend was selling a lian li V1000b which was stock as he was moving to a shuttle. Perfect case for me! first thing i did after a year of ownership was to fit a top vent as a 8800GTS created so much hot air it cooked my NF4 motherboard, a mod of need.

    Then last year, i added more fan mounts and ended up with this

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Watercooled and happy, just the CPU on water at that time.

    Then a chap on here andrew8200 had an old school lian li PC-70 going for £10 but collection only, it took me a few months to decide on getting it as it was only 20 mile away from me. The case was in bad shape, but it is 10 years old now!

    Due to this age and condition it needed modding for general use, if interested follow the project log in my sig.

    I respect a designers solution in his or hers design of case, until it no longer fits my specification.
     
  10. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    what?!
    where?
    post it!!!!!
     
  11. Darkraven

    Darkraven What's a Dremel?

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    Could be a book wrote on this. Seems to bring up as many questions as answers.

    Why did Michelangelo paint or sculpt ? Why do people spend hours on sites like this sharing their experence, sometimes opening their souls and even sharing when things or ideas go bad ? Why do they go to lan parties and trade shows ? How do some of the modders here collect humor like a magnet ?

    It's all just part of the karma we put into the universe. The desire to create, to achieve, to express, to share and fellowship, to stand back and be proud of our accomplishments and share them without being pumped up about it.

    To be remembered for our work, a legacy of sorts. To be accepted and acknowledged by our piers. To be a part of instead of apart from and yet still be unique and in minority of elite computer lovers that dare to be different and push the envelopment.

    And what other media can offer so many different vinues for expression ? For art, for enginering, for craftsmanship, for style, for attention to detail and patience, and so on.

    Even creating a good log is a work of many talents, much less the many it generally takes to create a outstanding computer mod.

    Heck some people play golf, others may take valium, just to try and not kill their wives, co-workers and nosey neighbors. Maybe modding keeps some of us out of trouble as well.

    Maybe some of us are just guilty of being like crows and shiny stuff just catches our eye. Pages of polished copper, aluminum, nickel plated Danger Den goodies and so on. LOL, kinda
    :lol: my head sometimes.

    My 2 cents for the moment.
     
  12. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    that might just be one of the best posts yet
     
  13. Sushi Warrior

    Sushi Warrior What's a Dremel?

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    Well, I have a pretty simple answer...

    I have too much time, HATE almost all current case designs (or anything designs... nothing suits me), like tools too much, and would rather make a $70 case look like $200 with some time and effort.

    I wish I could mod more, I have a lot more ideas than computers to put in them or materials to build with....
     
  14. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    It's notwhere near ready to release yet. What you need to understand about me is I won't show anything until I feel it's ready to be shown. At the moment, it needs a lot more work but once I do post it, you'll know!
     
  15. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    im the same way
    so i understand what you mean
    and where your coming from
    the upside is that you dont have to put up with any hooligans while your trying to finish it
     
  16. Toasti0

    Toasti0 What's a Dremel?

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    I blame shows like pimp my ride.. No one wants basic
    boxy pc's if we all liked the boxy look everyone would still be
    driving 1985 honda civics.



    VS

    [​IMG]
     
  17. silverzombie342

    silverzombie342 I know the Dremel. I wish I had it.

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    Why do I mod? That ain't hard to answer, I just want my computer be unique, not just something that you can get by walking to store and paying a bunch of money. I couldn't imagine buying a case, I have to build it myself, so there won't be another like that:dremel:. And what I can't build myself, I will paint it:D. And I also get something else to do than sit in fron of the screen:thumb:.
     
  18. Elton

    Elton Officially a Whisky Nerd

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    I don't mod too much, but when i do, it's to add that extra functionality that was never in place. Most of the drive though comes from making things easier to use and the satisfaction that you've done it all yourself.

    For example the otherday my dad just made a table where you can fix 2 flat panel TVs at the same time, it's useful and also simple.
     
  19. d3m0n_edge

    d3m0n_edge Lost Is Your Soul

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    Because there's always something to be added/updated/tweaked. And also to be one step closer to the ideal/unique or perfect system that you've wanted.
     
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