Computers must always be in gray or black boxes. No! Even in the early days of home PCs, many people felt that their aesthetic perception was massively disturbed when they saw the boring housing. Soon their own craft developed in an attempt to design the PC individually: case modding.
Case modders see their PC as a kind of handbag, as their personal figurehead. Case modding is particularly widespread in the gamer scene, since it has always been the practice here to assemble PCs yourself from individual parts.
The beginnings of case modding
For example, there are specially designed C64 or Amiga computers as early as the 1980s. These are comparable to different color combinations of the Nintendo Switch. Case modders, on the other hand, screw and grind everything themselves.
But why do people spend thousands of hours of their free time designing a PC case according to their own wishes? For that we have to go back to the days of LAN parties. Back in the mid-1990s, gamers met in specially rented halls to play their favorite games with and against each other.
All computers are connected to each other via network cables, so-called Ethernet cables. There are already pure online games, but there is hardly enough bandwidth.
At such LAN parties, players with individually designed PC cases are appearing more and more frequently. Some computers are in an alien head, others in a repurposed microwave oven. The case modders designed and assembled every detail themselves in painstaking homework.
That draws attention. More and more PC owners want their own computer case to be the queen or king of modding at the next LAN party.
Also interesting: What does a good gaming PC have to be able to do?
It’s the inner values that count
In the beginning, case modders attach great importance to the loving design of the outside of the case. Gradually, the scene also takes care of the optical upgrading of the inner workings.
Incidentally, case modding is not just about presenting a particularly interesting or sophisticated case. After all, it’s still a computer. And this should also work, please.
That’s why the redesign and discreet placement of cables, cooling pipes and graphics cards is a particularly challenging task for the case modders. However, the computer industry is now helping with further technical developments. There are now extra cables, rubber grommets and covers for perfect cable management. Additional fixing options allow freer attachment of tubes for water cooling, graphics cards and drives.
The increasing clock frequency of processors is accompanied by heat. The higher the number of cycles, the more the temperature inside a PC rises. Simple fans for cooling are often no longer sufficient. Water cooling is suddenly becoming a good way to manage processor heat.
The hoses required for this can be wonderfully illuminated. There are now even special luminous liquids. Even watching it cool down is really fun. RGB lighting or so-called cold light cathodes also ensure an atmospheric lighting atmosphere in the deepest interior of the PC.
The case modding scene in Germany
There is also an active inventor scene in Germany. For more than 20 years, the most eager have even been competing at the German Casemod Championship. The 20th edition of the German Casemod Championship took place in Leipzig in April. Ali Abbas, who is well-known and popular in the scene, once again wins the championship title in the “CaseMods” category. His antique desk with an integrated computer falls into the category of works of art.
Caution: Radiation
To let the outside world see it, case modders replace one or more sides of the case with a tempered glass pane. The safety glass is tough, more scratch-resistant than previous Plexiglas variants and looks better. The transparent side walls have another disadvantage. Electromagnetic voltage can escape or enter unhindered. This is high-frequency radiation. In extreme cases, the rays interfere with other devices such as radio, TV or entire wireless networks – not to mention the physical effects.
From a purely legal point of view, every case modder becomes a computer manufacturer. The so-called EMC directive applies to these. This EU standard regulates the electromagnetic compatibility of computers, among other things. If you want to start as a case modder now, you should find out about it in advance.
Case modding for beginners
As with every trend, at some point the industry will also board the revenue-generating train. There’s a whole case modding industry now. There, beginners and advanced computer hobbyists will find everything a modding heart desires, from special lights and colorful cables to large-scale housing stickers.
Some PC manufacturers also offer specially prepared PC cases that can then be individually designed. Most of the time, the side walls have already been replaced by plexiglass.
But: If you seriously want to compete at the next German Casemod Championships, keep your hands off prefabricated individual parts. Real case modders make (almost) everything themselves. And now have fun screwing, grinding and sawing!