market is rife with slightly older
parts, cases, fans and a whole load
of components can be found for
little to no outlay on places such as
eBay. Some subtle upgrades and
even investing in extra hardware
will help you build up a stock of
parts. One of the biggest issues I
had at the beginning, and still have
now, is trying to keep a system
dedicated for my own use, for office
tasks, editing photos, rendering
videos, and everything else that
goes with modding.
All builds start with a plan and
this can be based on a number
of factors, if there is a new case
coming out that fits perfectly with
a theme, that will to some extent
dictate the hardware. If there’s
an ATX motherboard you want to
use, that will be the total opposite,
dictating what cases are available.
Scratch builds, desk builds,
monster towers, they all start with
a plan, maybe even a few sketches
and then, a whole load of planning.
What matters most, more than
anything, is your attention to detail.
There are so many aspects tobuilding a PC, but the two areas
that tend to be scrutinized more
than anything else are custom
hard-line loops and custom cables.
Custom hard-line loops take
things that extra step, away from
a bolt-on AIO and where things can
truly start to get creative. As you
build more and more systems, you
get much more confident with the
process and start to see things that
you wouldn’t normally. Bulkhead
fittings to hide pumps out of sight,
interesting tube runs, dual loops,
coils, there are so many creative
options that bending hard-line
tubes brings. I won’t lie, it takes
time to perfect, something I am still
doing. Be prepared to bend four
runs to get the perfect one. There’s
a lot of waste to begin with, but
experience will soon play its part
as you get better.
Making custom cables is
another aspect that, with relatively
little cost, can make a build pop.
Time and patience are key to
producing either extensions or full
replacement kits for your builds.
Personally, I hate making my owncable sets so I would sooner support
someone in the community who
does this on the side and produces
results far better than I can. The
thing is, not one single modder can
do everything perfectly, everyone
has a weakness, and realizing your
own will help you. If it’s not making
cables, it will be something else,
let the community help you, it helps
them too, and by outsourcing small
elements you can also help to build
up relationships as well, which is
vital in the industry.BEING SOCIAL
Once you have a build under your
belt it’s time to share it with the
world. Setting up on Social MediaUse your
photography
skills to create
a new look.become a PC modder