5 Modern case mods

Over the last decade, spotting modded gaming cases at local LANs has become a regular occurrence. However, as gamers get older and start earning more, they start to take modding more seriously, and as a result companies are starting to provide more expensive, more serious modding accessories.

Gone are the days of a can of spray paint or brightly coloured CCFL tubes. Fan grills with the Quake III symbol are so old school, and custom thumbscrews are “retro”. With that said, here are 5 modern case mods that are a step up:

Cable sleeving

Cable sleeving it’s all in the name. You slide some woven sleeve over power supply cables, then hold each side of the sleeve in place with heatshrink that prevents the cable from fraying, or sliding off.

The range of colours and amount of cable found in a standard gaming PC means the only thing limit is your own creativity.

Cable sleeving

Sleeved LED case lighting

Right, sleeved cable lighting takes cable sleeving to the next level. Instead of sleeving power supply cables, you buy pre- sleeved lengths connected to a control unit, with strategically placed LED lights to brighten up your case.

These LEDs are directional lighting, and incorporating them into cable sleeve makes for a professional lighting job.

LED sleeved cable lighting

Mesh panels/Smoked Perspex

The amount of mesh found on modern day gaming cases is obscene – there, I said it. The good thing is most of you know what I’m talking about, so I don’t need to explain much beyond “look at the pretty picture below.” Mesh panels can be used to encase graphics cards, corner off cabling, or to wrap around water cooling pipes – once again only limited by your creativity.

Smoked Perspex is similar in that it can replace side panel windows and can be crafted to mount almost anything inside a PC. Below is a great use of Perspex in a mod done by Alain-S over at Bit Tech.

Project White by Alain-S

Switches

When you see the word military, do you experience a sudden urge to dress up in fatigues and go around shooting things? Well manufacturers understand this feeling, and so many now offer military rocker switches.

Normally used to fire missiles or activate a NOS boost, these rocker switchers are now available for PC modders everywhere.

Military rocker switch

Vinyl wrapping

The easiest, cheapest way to add some panache to your case is to cover it in some vinyl. Done right, the effect can be classy and elegant, all at the fraction of the cost of airbrushing or the real thing (the diamond motif vinyl below after importing is still cheaper than buying the real thing locally).

At the end of the day, merely slapping some of the above items into a PC doesn’t constitute an actual case mod. However, in conjunction with some hard work and creativity, they can help you create something truly unique.