- Joined
- Nov 16, 2002
- Location
- Neenah, WI
Anyone else miss the old days, before computer specific water cooling kits, phase change systems, and pre-modded cases?
So I was trying to figure out why I no longer have much motivation to do things like water cooling, phase change, or case modding. When I was in high school and even for a couple of years afterward, I did case mods frequently, I also built water cooling systems. Heck, I once built a water cooling system completely from parts I bought at Menards, custom copper cap waterblock with a pvc mount, coils of copper tubing for a radiator, a pond pump, and a car wash bucket for a res.
My case for most of this period of time was an old AT form factor server tower that I had converted to ATX and was in a constant “project state”. I used this case until about 3-4 years ago when I decided that I was going to rebuild it/finish it. I tore it apart, cutting out the AT form factor motherboard tray and removing most of the rear of the case with plans on using a removable motherboard tray from an ATX case and redoing the entire rear of the case with a solid sheet of aluminum.
I never did finish this, and to this day, the disassembled case sits in my basement, waiting patiently for me to ‘get around to’ finishing it. Unfortunately I don’t think that day will ever come. I have no motivation to do it, because since then, I bought a Lian Li V2000B. I cannot see a point in finishing my old project, because even if I did finish it, it wouldn’t have the room to support my current computer, and probably not any future computers (I run A LOT of hard drives and the v2000B doesn’t even have quite enough room for me to do water cooling the way I want to).
If I wanted a window in the past, I had to dremel a hole in the side of my case, cut Plexiglass to the correct size, mount it, etc. Now days, if I want one, I’ll just buy a panel with a window already in it. It looks better, is cheap, and requires little to no effort. Heck, every other case you can buy these days has a window in it stock. Plus the fact that since it’s so easy to get these mods, pretty much anyone can get them, so unless you’re Chuck Norris with fiberglass or metal working, there’s nothing to set you apart from little Johnny down the street who used his paper route money to buy a $40 case on newegg that has windows, blowholes, lights, etc.
I used to LOVE water cooling, it was a challenge. To find a radiator that would work (here’s lookin’ at you ’77 Bonneville heatercore), building a res, finding a pump that would work, etc. I also always wanted to build a crazy water cooling setup using an old refrigerator or to build a phase change system using an old A/C unit. At this time, I didn’t have the money for half of the stuff, so most of it was out of my reach. I usually just hobbled together whatever I could scrounge up. It used to be that building a water cooling system or phase change was kinda a status symbol, but now anyone with a bit of cash can buy one.
I remember reading about someone building a water cooling setup inside a mini-fridge, building a “rad box” that mounted to the bottom of his case and had all of the w/c components inside. Things like the bee-hive water block, home-made radiator shrouds for automotive heater cores and many more that I can’t remember off the top of my head and can’t seem to find [the articles] on the new overclockers.com website. Things like this were awesome but they’re worthless now since you can buy a waterblock off the shelf that kills a homemade one, or a Prometeia/Vapochill that will completely dominate a refridgerator build or a homemade phase change system using junkyard parts.
I now have the money to do just about anything I want to my computer, yet every time I consider doing something like water cooling, or phase change, or even case modding, I realize that I could just go out and buy something that would work better. Not only would it work better, it would save the headaches of building it myself, look better, and last longer. It’s pretty much pointless to build my own w/c setup from scratch.
So I consider buying the components to build a nice w/c setup. I look at the price tag and decide, hey, having water cooling isn’t worth the price. I’d rather sell my current cpu, use the cash from it as well as what I would spend on w/c and buy a processor that is as fast, or faster than what I could get out of my current one using w/c. Same thing goes with phase change.
I used to be happy when someone like Aqua Joe, Danger Den, etc. came out with a new radiator or waterblock. I always thought these things would do nothing but good for the community, but now I’m not so sure.
Have pre-fabbed, commercially available enthusiast hardware ruined some of the appeal and fun for the DIY crowd, or is it just me? Am I the only one who misses the old days a bit?
-Gary
So I was trying to figure out why I no longer have much motivation to do things like water cooling, phase change, or case modding. When I was in high school and even for a couple of years afterward, I did case mods frequently, I also built water cooling systems. Heck, I once built a water cooling system completely from parts I bought at Menards, custom copper cap waterblock with a pvc mount, coils of copper tubing for a radiator, a pond pump, and a car wash bucket for a res.
My case for most of this period of time was an old AT form factor server tower that I had converted to ATX and was in a constant “project state”. I used this case until about 3-4 years ago when I decided that I was going to rebuild it/finish it. I tore it apart, cutting out the AT form factor motherboard tray and removing most of the rear of the case with plans on using a removable motherboard tray from an ATX case and redoing the entire rear of the case with a solid sheet of aluminum.
I never did finish this, and to this day, the disassembled case sits in my basement, waiting patiently for me to ‘get around to’ finishing it. Unfortunately I don’t think that day will ever come. I have no motivation to do it, because since then, I bought a Lian Li V2000B. I cannot see a point in finishing my old project, because even if I did finish it, it wouldn’t have the room to support my current computer, and probably not any future computers (I run A LOT of hard drives and the v2000B doesn’t even have quite enough room for me to do water cooling the way I want to).
If I wanted a window in the past, I had to dremel a hole in the side of my case, cut Plexiglass to the correct size, mount it, etc. Now days, if I want one, I’ll just buy a panel with a window already in it. It looks better, is cheap, and requires little to no effort. Heck, every other case you can buy these days has a window in it stock. Plus the fact that since it’s so easy to get these mods, pretty much anyone can get them, so unless you’re Chuck Norris with fiberglass or metal working, there’s nothing to set you apart from little Johnny down the street who used his paper route money to buy a $40 case on newegg that has windows, blowholes, lights, etc.
I used to LOVE water cooling, it was a challenge. To find a radiator that would work (here’s lookin’ at you ’77 Bonneville heatercore), building a res, finding a pump that would work, etc. I also always wanted to build a crazy water cooling setup using an old refrigerator or to build a phase change system using an old A/C unit. At this time, I didn’t have the money for half of the stuff, so most of it was out of my reach. I usually just hobbled together whatever I could scrounge up. It used to be that building a water cooling system or phase change was kinda a status symbol, but now anyone with a bit of cash can buy one.
I remember reading about someone building a water cooling setup inside a mini-fridge, building a “rad box” that mounted to the bottom of his case and had all of the w/c components inside. Things like the bee-hive water block, home-made radiator shrouds for automotive heater cores and many more that I can’t remember off the top of my head and can’t seem to find [the articles] on the new overclockers.com website. Things like this were awesome but they’re worthless now since you can buy a waterblock off the shelf that kills a homemade one, or a Prometeia/Vapochill that will completely dominate a refridgerator build or a homemade phase change system using junkyard parts.
I now have the money to do just about anything I want to my computer, yet every time I consider doing something like water cooling, or phase change, or even case modding, I realize that I could just go out and buy something that would work better. Not only would it work better, it would save the headaches of building it myself, look better, and last longer. It’s pretty much pointless to build my own w/c setup from scratch.
So I consider buying the components to build a nice w/c setup. I look at the price tag and decide, hey, having water cooling isn’t worth the price. I’d rather sell my current cpu, use the cash from it as well as what I would spend on w/c and buy a processor that is as fast, or faster than what I could get out of my current one using w/c. Same thing goes with phase change.
I used to be happy when someone like Aqua Joe, Danger Den, etc. came out with a new radiator or waterblock. I always thought these things would do nothing but good for the community, but now I’m not so sure.
Have pre-fabbed, commercially available enthusiast hardware ruined some of the appeal and fun for the DIY crowd, or is it just me? Am I the only one who misses the old days a bit?
-Gary
