The PC Modding/Upgrade Thread
Tell us about your rig.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 by VistArtXPosed | Discussion: PC Hardware
All of us here at WinCustomize enjoy making our desktops look like our own. But what about customizing & making our PC rigs our own? Like with fancy lights on the inside? Or custom decals on top of our notebooks?
It's hard to believe that a site like this doesn't have a PC Modding thread. The purpose of this thread is to list the computer you've bought/built, and if you've upgraded it over time. (Buying a new PC doesn't count as an upgrade.) I mean, working inside the case & adding/replacing parts. So in other words, this is a hardware geeks thread, more so than desktop customization.
So I'll start with my rig.
I bought an HP hpe-400f (a mid-range consumer Desktop PC) last November at a local electronics store. Everything came stock. No upgrades. Wasn't too terribly pleased with boot times, or "crapware" installed on the machine. And Hard Drive grinding is very annoying to me now.
Here are the upgrades i've made:
->Bought a 60GB Sata II SSD, an OCZ Vertex 2 and i'm using it as my Boot Drive.
->Installed a PCI-e Sound Card with 116db SNR ratio. (Most motherboards come ~85db)
->Installed a PCI-e SATA III Adapter to accomodate next-gen SATA III SSDs. (My Mobo doesn't come with SATA III ports)
->Replaced the stock fan with a Blue LED lit one (for aesthetics)
Soon i'll:
->Add a Green 12" Cold-Cathode to light up the inside of my rig (again for aesthetics)
->Install a PCI fan to cool my video & sound cards (it'll be placed between the two)
->Add a 2nd SSD; a 128GB SATA III 6.0Gbps drive (partially to ensure that my add-in card is REALLY 6.0Gbps, not just 3)
->Possibly remove my hard drive from it's bay. It's just a power-hungry, loud mechanical menace. I really don't need a whole TB of disk space anyway.
->Hopefully install 2 more Cold-Cathode lights on the inside-top part of the PC. (My PC has a removable top panel) But I might have to drill a hole near the edge to wire the molex cables through. Not sure yet if i'm gonna do it.
So yeah. I've upgraded my rig quite a bit so far, and i'm far from finished. I still want USB 3.0 (not found on my mobo), and more LED lights. A Lot more Lights.
If you guys want, post some pics of your rig to show to the rest of the community. I don't have all my LED/Cathode lights yet, so i'm gonna wait for now.
And here are some sites for PC Modding parts:
Xoxide: www.xoxide.com
Arctic Mod: www.arcticmod.com
Crazy PC: www.crazypc.com
And Amazon also has PC Modding gear as well.
Not it's time to REALLY make your PC your own, both inside and out! (Software, Hardware respectively)
 |
|
Page 4 of 4 | |
|
|---|
Reply #62 Friday, January 6, 2012 9:48 PM
I got my RAM today, and installed it successfully. Now I have 16GB. But for some reason, I can't make a RAM drive over 4GB. (And I bought the license for it to unlock capacities over 4GB) 4 gigs is the free version's limit. But the program states that I can go 15780MB.
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
|
|
Page 4 of 4 | |
|
|---|
Reply #61 Wednesday, January 4, 2012 11:46 AM
I just ordered 16GB of RAM (4x4GB) from Amazon for only $80! Since I found out about using System RAM as storage, I finally found a valid reason to upgrade to more RAM. I truthfully need only about 4GB for my system, but with this upgrade I can create a RAM Drive of about 10-12GB, so I can install larger programs such as MS Office & Photoshop Elements. So i'm maxing out my system with 16GB of RAM. Before knowing about the RAM Disk software, there wasn't a valid reason to upgrade.
Again, thank you MaximumPC. My subscription was not in vain. I can finally have the fastest PC on the block without spending a fortune. (Actually, I have already with the Vertex 3 but whatever).