How To Select The Right Case

Case Modding - The Next Olympic Sport?

Although we don't think there is any real danger of seeing case modding in the Olympics, many people have really started to get into making fancy and sometimes less-than-functional modifications to their cases.

Putting your own special stamp on your case is something that isn't too hard to do. As a matter of fact, many companies now provide a wealth of gadgets for the budding case modification artist in you. These can range from custom fan grills to black lights, to plexiglass side panels, to fan buses... and the list goes on and on.

Custom case-painting has become very popular, and as a matter of fact, THG got into the act late last year with our very own customized THG PowerBox case. The THG PowerBox case was painted by Steve Horch of www.crazypaint.com .

Of course we can't pass up a chance to show off our customized THG PowerBox. John MacDonald of Austin, Texas was the lucky reader who became the owner of this one-of-a-kind THG-customized case.

Steve fell into painting computer cases by accident. Already a professional painter who specialized in painting cars and motorcycle parts, he wanted to customize his own computer. "I paint things all day and found it difficult to continue to look at my beige computer case." Steve put his skills to the test by painting his own customized case.

Much of the challenge of successful case painting comes is in the form of painting the things like the CD-ROM/ CDRW drives, which in fact require disassembly of the drive in order to gain access to the face plates of the drives. Of course, masking off the areas that you don't want to paint, as well as proper attention to the correct process of priming the area prior to painting are important as well.

Getting the right components in the right color can also be a challenge. Abi Singh at Pyrinex has had to go to the extreme by having Asus CDRW drives painted black for his customers. He told us that Asus does not sell the drive in black, so if you want it that way, you are left with very few options. Black components are so popular right now that dealers are sometimes left with little choice but to go to extremes.

You will always have folks who don't have the correct environment and experience to properly paint cases themselves and those folks who want professional results are going to be better off taking their case to a pro who has experience in case painting.

Other customizations, such as adding cut-outs in the side panels for plexiglass windows and fans, are also popular. If not done correctly, these case projects can lead to damage of another good case. The current trendis to purchase pre-modded and painted cases which can save the inexperienced user a lot of money and effort over the long haul.

Directron sent us a few things that you can use to modify and personalize your case.

Your case can be modified and painted to any specifications that you want and this kind of customization can lead to additional enjoyment of your computer for many years to come. There is no longer a reason why your computer has to look like all of the rest, and, best of all, if you are not very handy in doing such things, a great cottage industry has sprung up that will do it for you, if you are willing to pay for their services.