Modding: History. Difficult way from the case to the flash drive

This is something that should be interesting to those who spend most of their free time at the computer. The same tuning, but not car, but computer.

Man has the tendency to transform reality, at least at the household level. For example, motorists cherish and decorate their cars, make some bells and whistles on them, bikers try to stand out with a painted helmet, and sometimes a whole suit.
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Changing the appearance of computers is called PC-modding, or simply modding (from the English word modify, to modify, transform), and the people who do this are called modders.

Have you ever wanted to do something with your own hands, something beautiful and incredible in its own way? Then modding is exactly what you were looking for. Moding is a change to the standard parts of your computer (mouse, keyboard player, DVD-Rom, etc.).

Modding is inextricably linked with Overclocking, and owes its birth to him.

Warning: PHOTO is indecent lot .

Cycle:
Part 1: Overclocking: Evolution overclocking .

Start

Most of the pictures are photos. Therefore, one format for all can not be.



The main rule of modding is: do not start doing anything if you cannot complete it without surgery.
Errors can cost a lot of money, you can screw up the monitor, or even the whole computer. The simplest modes are to replace the LEDs on the keyboard, mouse, system unit, etc. You can also add your own, well, in general, whatever you want, it will be. The pattern on the case is also modding.
Real modders do not stop at what has been accomplished, a successfully completed project is a reason to start a new project.


sad fate of the monitor

Short story

No one knows when it all began. No one also knows where this happened, and who did it for the first time. It is only known that it was very, very long time ago, when the cases were small and inconspicuous, and additional fans, and even more so, the regular places for these fans could be found only in the most expensive "half-server" cases, the processors were still increasing frequencies, and accordingly their dissipated thermal power grew, coolers drove the same hot air through radiators, and since nobody has yet canceled the laws of heat exchange, the processors definitely did not want to be cooled with such air. We had to do something. Many were busy with overclocking in those days, and we didn’t want to leave the PC covers aside.

And someone had the idea to cut a hole in some part of the body, and equip this hole with a fan, so that the air in the body was updated faster. The moment when this unknown person took a hacksaw in his hands, and can be considered the moment of birth of modding. Further, a person’s dedication to beauty and a desire to make things cooler than others worked.



In the years 98-99, the first modderskie sites appeared. In addition to modding manuals, galleries of converted cases (case gallery) were often located there, which raised the desire to make it cooler than its neighbor to a completely new, international level. The “world competition” of modders began ... From this time, modding abroad began to develop very quickly.

Now he is super popular there, many professionals and amateurs are still doing it. And also many competitions are held.



The history of modding in the CIS is much shorter. In October 2001, the PC.Pervertz site was created, the first moddersky site in Russian (later this name was replaced with a more serious ModLabs.net) and then other modding sites appeared, including MODDing COMmunity. Only after a few months of the site’s existence, people stopped coming there just to see the curiosities, and began to really engage in modding. The peak reached 2004, after which the modding began to go wild.

How many modding websites are on the Web right now is very hard to count, there are hundreds of them. In large "case gallery" the number of buildings reaches a thousand. Modders have even formed their own slang, quite extensive for such a narrow area of ​​activity. There are online stores selling accessories for modding, primarily the so-called kits, that is, various sets of "Do it yourself, but according to the scheme."

Of course, there are exclusive offers, but the set of basic modifications does not change. This is a window slotting kit (acrylic / plexiglass window, slotting stencil, rubber molding-sealer), neon backlight lamp inside the case, various cooler speed controls, monitoring systems, transparent fans (including those with built-in LEDs), grills (fan grills - fan grilles), high-brightness LEDs, text LCD-displays, round cables.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the chronology ends here.



What is modding? I think that if in the open spaces of the network you catch a dozen different and unfamiliar with each other people involved in this type of activity, then each of them will give their own definition of their occupation. By modding, you can even include the installation of case fans to their places of origin. But still, most modders believe that the main task of modding is to give your computer and its periphery a unique, unique look by ... and by anything - from simple painting and drawing faces on the wall of the case and ending with crossing the system unit with a food processor.
Well, maybe I bent about the combine, but a hybrid of a PC and a coffee maker, created by a craftsman from some developed capitalist country, is a rather well-known thing in the open spaces of the network.



Non-standard cooling systems, in general, can also be called modding. That is, modding is an occupation whose goal is to make the body, monitor and various peripherals as non-standard and beautiful as possible, different from the standard white ATX Miditower box or the same white brick, such as a printer, as well as actions to improve functionality of all the above devices.



But modding is by no means an exotic hobby of lonely enthusiasts who are ready to cut or paint something day and night. Now there are whole companies based on modders that work only for modders and only produce products for modding. About online communities of modders, who periodically organize offline lan-parties, which demonstrate who modifiable for the reporting period, I don’t even say - this is now the norm.



You can make your computer non-standard and beautiful, without even imagining how the dremel looks and how oil paint differs from gouache, and gouache from car paint. There would be money. But more about that later. Now let's take a closer look at the arsenal of modders, as well as the most typical techniques for giving your PC a non-standard look.

Computer cases, as we know, are usually painted gray or white, black, orange and blue, they are much less common. I think that there is no serial body with coloring in the colors of your favorite football team, or it will take a very long time to look for it. If you ask for a case painted in, for example, a zebra or a tiger in a regular computer store, you will be politely sent to somewhere else at best (the worst case is a car with flashing lights and orderlies). But "does not exist" for a real modder is not an obstacle, but rather an order akin to "Attack!" Does not exist - it means we will do it!

Now there are two branches - amateur and factory.

Directions in modding

First you need to figure out what genres and big fan groups now exist.

• postapokaliptika - the creation of computers, supposedly survived a nuclear war or another global catastrophe. Very common stylized game STALKER and Fallout universes:
  
  
  
  
• high tech and cyberpunk - the creation of ultra-modern buildings. In recent years, fashion has become popular, based on the films Tron and Tron: Heritage.
  
  
  
  
• Steampunk - stylization of electronic devices under the era of steam and Victorian England. It is made using wooden, leather and brass elements; This style is also characterized by numerous gears and copper tubes depicting the details of steam engines. This is probably the most popular modding.
  
  
  
  
• thematic modding - making a case based on the creativity of a musical group, a computer game, a book, etc.
  
  
  
  
• advertising - the creation of a mod using components of a particular company, which, as a rule, is a sponsor. At the same time, the company’s logo and its company colors are usually used up;
  
  
  
  
• embedding - installation of computer components in an unusual case (household appliance, piece of furniture, a toy or even a stuffed animal)
  
  
  
  
  
• HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) - the creation of a virtually silent computer for use as part of a home theater. It often uses passive cooling.
  
  
  
  
• Ghetto - intentionally inaccurate production of fashion using a variety of junk. However, sometimes it is just called so crudely crafted and ugly case-mode, even if its creator didn’t plan exactly the style of “ghetto-modding”
  
  
  
  

And what happens?

If the first were PC cases, then now modding is almost everything.

About the PC. What do they do with them?

Cut out the windows:



Repaint:



Airbrush:



Engrave



Pasted over with film:



Install water cooling systems (SVO) (Yes, this is modding):



Add air vents ("bloholov", English blowhole):



Braid ("rounding") power supply cables:



Backlight:



Installing carrying handles:



Adding indicators and regulators, Fanbus and reobus (fanbas and reobas):




Artificial aging:



Pyrography:



Change the shape of body panels:




These are just the main modes that make up the backbone. In fact, each modder chooses and comes up with something exclusive and original for himself. That is good modding, that it is simply impossible to meet two identical cases / components.



Modifications of power supplies are very popular. After the hull, this is probably the second element in the number of various mods. What can you do with it? Well, first of all, this is the “round” of wires described above, cutting through windows of various shapes and their illumination, replacing the fans inside the PSU with low-noise and beautiful ones, of course, painting. Look very nice, for example, completely made of transparent plastic.

Periphery

And the mouse and keyboard? These are things that are one of the most visible parts of a PC.



In this area, the number of modders is simply impossible to count. Countless variety of transformations. They change the appearance, shape, cut out the holes, change the diodes at the keyboards, repaint, stylize in all possible ways.

It is better to see once than to write the sea of ​​"water".







But the periphery is not limited to this. There are modding flash drives, speakers, monitors, and a lot more then. Mobile phones are also not an exception to the rule, laptops, game consoles, but the tablet movement is a new trend of the times.



So the story came to companies.

Firms, modding, gaming

At the same time, we are witnessing a constant increase in the quality of homemade mods and the arrival of serious companies to this market. Firms offer their services to those who do not want to redo their own or want to truly professional quality. These are mostly gamers. The most modest solution is the case, modified by the manufacturer, i.e. almost serial. But there were and there are giants in this area, although the companies have approached this enthusiastically.

Thermaltake Level 10

This company approached the modding of everything produced with a rather interesting approach. Under this series, a huge number of dissimilar PC devices. All the splendor appeared in 2009.

Under this series, cases, mice, keyboards, and various coolers are released. Modding these boxes exist, but not so many.

New round: “Razer. For gamers. By gamers. "

You can certainly remember the series Fatal1ty, Republic of Gamers, but really only Razer is still alive until now. This company has occupied its niche factory modding. Who would not like it but this is a new round of factory "beautiful pieces of iron." This is one of those companies that deserves a separate article. From 1998 to the present day, they have not lost their gloss. Although not in the case, but there are laptops.

Instead of an afterword

Modding is the same milestone in history as overclocking. They went in parallel, developing and acquiring new "followers" and enthusiasts.

Unlike Overclocking, Modding has great chances for development - both among enthusiasts and in company circles. The current modders, without knowing it themselves, buying mice from firms already fall into this world. The only pity is that it is the "purebred" modders themselves that are not so many among gamers. And there were quite a lot of cases with a normal appearance. Definitely only one thing - the number of modders is huge, there are plenty of beautiful mods too, the only pity is that the modding scene passes by the habr side. After all, the story of each modding is the story of life as a person who does it, and of the piece of iron itself.

Modify all the necessary!