Hardware

Introduction

The performance end of computer hardware is certainly a prime consideration for gaming; high-end systems are fast, composed of the highest quality components, and devour other manufactured PCs for dinner. These customarily have the latest and greatest CPU, water-cooled and overclocked to the hilt, a top-of-the-line videocard capable of rendering polygons like a Pixar movies, a soundcard/speaker combo that rattle the walls, and a CD Writer that burns CDs faster than you can nuke a Hot Pocket.

Of course, many times this sort of behemoth is imprisoned in a standard beige case. It gets the job done, but it's similar to putting a Porsche Boxter engine in a 1977 Ford Pinto body. Enter the modding community, an enterprising lot of PC enthusiasts that dare to transform the functional into fun, revamping their Plain Jane components, and hacking, cutting and painting to fashion a PC that's not only fast, but also hot to look at. Whether it's installing a side-panel case window, airbrushing a front bezel, or changing a LED in an optical mouse, the hardcore modders motto is "leave no part stock."

PC hardware companies have taken notice of this small but growing society of modders, and have started to sell parts with factory-installed modifications. Chieftec offers their high quality cases with panel window options, Lian-Li, provides aluminum bezels for CD-ROM drives to match their aluminum cases, and even business-oriented Comp USA stocks Cold Cathode lights and colored fans in their inventory. Along the same line, Auravision has entered this specialty market with their EluminX, the keyboard with internal lighting to "illuminate" your PC experience.