When we think of the cost of building a PC it’s often only the core components we consider. Which graphics card to get, or what motherboard to pair with your shiny new CPU. You know, all the essential stuff that you need a gaming PC up and running. Some, however, like going a bit above and beyond. They won’t be seen in a shirt and shorts, they want the full three-piece suit. PC’s souped with all sorts of cosmetics and accessories so everyone knows just how badass the hardware is inside.
Case mods are the most extreme example of this. Some avid PC builders make an absolute mockery of a stereotypical beige box, doing feats as far reaching as housing the entire PC inside a desk, or installing it inside an actual fish tank and cooling it with mineral oil.
Some of us like to keep things a little simpler, like a modest tempered glass side to a case so we can show off the internals. You can easily spend more making your PC look pimped out than you spend on the components themselves.
One of the more popular, and affordable, customization options is water cooling. It can get expensive if you go extreme with it, but at a relatively small cost you can get some funky water pipes flowing through your system, amped up even more with some custom lighting. It helps as well that water cooling isn’t just for looks - its primary benefit is of course keeping your system cooler, which will help with overclocking.
It’s not always about excess either. There’s a lot to be said for the minimalist build. Stripping a PC down to its barest essentials or the smallest possible case so it does precisely the opposite - not get attention. In some cases the PC can be pretty much invisible, housed within an ornament or even within the desk itself.
So how much do you prioritise customizing your PC above and beyond the necessities? How much are you willing to spend on it? And what’s your number one priority in a custom build?
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PC Specs
I don't know.. how do you categorize PC accessories?
I went from a 1500€ starting computer with a z87 Board and an i7 4790k 8GB DDR3 in a Cooler Master Silencio 550 all the way
to a z97 workstation-class motherboard, 32GB 2400 MHz with watercooling in a Corsair 750D case with a see-through sidepanel.
I didn't buy LEDs and crap like that, but I went from Air to flexible tubing all the way to hardline tubing just because it looked nicer (and gave me more overclocking headroom ofc).
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Too much
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I'm willing to spend "Whatever it takes" but I don't have that much money :p
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Most of the time I end up spending over GPUs, HDDs, RAMs and PSUs. I do suggest upgrading or building a new system and GPU separately. As the budget of two will surely be high which may make you compromise over critical hardware components. :)
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I like to have nice and cool looking stuff. I spent 115€ for my Razer Ornata Chroma, 90€ for Razer Naga Chroma, 80€ for my HyperX Cloud headset, so far I've spent 200€ for my custom built rack-like case which is capable of housing 2 ATX mobos (it's not yet ready...), I MUST have at least 2 displays all the time and I really like RGB stuff and creating builds with certain color combinations. Some may say it's pointless and I agree, but I like that my stuff looks dope :
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if peripherals count, I spend 15-60 euro on each of the peripherals(keyboard, mouse and headphones and mic/headphones with a mic).
Otherwise I have no interest in LEDs, fancy aquarium cases or whatever, If I did want a fancy case, I would make it myself.
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Nothing really. I prefer to buy something more powerfull than looks. If I had the money I would thou.
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I can't say I wouldn't do something custom in the future, with some inspiration and some free time, but, other than some dinosaur stickers, I haven't ever put anything extra into any of my builds. I admire the people who do though.
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Nothing usually beyond the essentials (case, motherboard, CPU, GPU, PSU, ram, cooler) which I tend to research before buying.
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i just did a a tally at pcpartpicker or something and i got up like 1800 bucks i was like ya that makes sense lol i havent upgraded since last year tho but im ggod for now wish i could save for a 1080 tho
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the definition of customize is a bit of an understatement because people do built their computers
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I am on my computer every single day and game on it. so I would spend whatever it needs to keep it how I want it
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Preach it brother!!!! i just bought a 100 dollare h100i v2 corsair water cooler when i already have a evo 212...ehh... i want one so who cares, am i right??
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Now i feel better for swapping out my Noctua NH-U12S that worked fine to keep my temps down. I swapped it for the Corsair H115i water cooler. The Corsair H115i does perform better though so it wasnt a total waste of money lol.
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I LOOOOOOVE LED. Can't get me enough LED.
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No, anything except essential hardware is a waste in my eyes.
I like clean, sleek looking builds. No LEDs, or fancy aesthetics... Call me boring if you want :)
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if that case explodes bye bye pc lol :(
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Sometimes if I have money to burn I'll buy something aesthetic... (AKA I basically never buy aesthetic things XD)
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I'm a cheapskate so, maybe around 5-10€
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I made custom PC desk, with cable routing and acoustics treatment, didn't even cost much :)
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Got any pictures?
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sure, in one of my blogs :)
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Looks awesome! I'd love to clean my cables like that but my computer is far from my monitors and I have difficulty with my cable lengths XD
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pics or it didn't happen scrub
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hmm The only custom thing I put on my pc was a sticker of "Don't Tread On Me" lol