Computer DIY Personality
There are two types of personalities to DIY PC builders; the pure gear-head, and the artistic gear-head.
PC building is akin to being any other type of builder of anything else, from construction to software. The benefit is two-fold. First, you usually save on cost, as you can buy parts at relatively base prices and not pay the extra bit that goes to the pros for building it for you. Second, you can be sure you're getting what you need and want, so long as your prudent in your purchase and planning.
The pure gear-head are highly technical, singularly focused on satisfying performance goals. The tamer of these will be satisfied merely with fulfilling a simple need - I will be using my PC for X, I will get parts Y and Z that best fulfill that need. The extremist of these pursue the maximum - performance at the pinnacle of what is feasible at the time. They go for the best CPU, the best GPU, the best memory... everything at the max.
To these utilitarian types, the only care about performance, the styling not even secondary. As such they look for cases to hold their PC parts that as basic as can be. No frills, no extra bits, they don't care about the case beyond its ability to contain the PC parts and help keep them cool.
This is where the artistic gear-heads differ. They too care about performance, but they don't discount style. In some cases they will forfeit a little on the performance side to attain better styling. For example, picking a different motherboard because of the color of the PCB, or different memory because of the style and color of the heat spreader. And when it comes to the case, that is where the artistic ones get into their complications.
For the artistic ones it's not enough to just keep the stuff cool, they have to look cool. They strive to reach beyond a minimalist's approach to case design and add things like creative venting style, LEDs, creative beveling, etc.
One of the more expensive and bolder expressions of both dynamics of the DIY builder is the computer table. Now, I'm not simply talking about the desk you sit the tower next to, or on top of, or under. I am speaking about a desk that you mount your PC components inside of.
Again, there are a couple expressions of this. The utilitarian ones are the rarer of the class. Like the minimalist's standard PC cases, these simply store the parts and offer some cooling. They are little more than metal boxes strapped to the underside of a table. The more artistic ones show off the contents, the top of the desk being glass or pelxiglass, LEDs lighting the inner chassis.
At the moment I am planning a retro-fit for a desk at home. I plan to add the space needed for micro-ATX system. I mostly plan to use the system as a NAS, but I may end up making it a Media Center PC. I have gone through several rounds of plans, three of which involve creating an entire desk, not just retrofitting one.
The plans for the retrofit, however, specifically use a desk I have whose top is one-third frosted glass. My current intent is to make the majority of the PC component area out of 1/8" and 1/2" plexi, even the motherboard tray. The only non-plexi parts right now will be the front I/O panel, which will be an aftermarket Lian-Li piece, and the 5.25" drive bays, which will be an aftermarket RAID cage with a backplane for easy swapping of devices in and out.
Style versus utility. There is no reason the two can't coexist. There need not be a contention between the two. A PC can be built to be both powerful and make an aesthetic statement. It can be minimalist in space and approach, but still have a little bit of artistic pop. That is the idea behind my project "Table Top". As I said, I'm still working out the details of the design and doing calculations on supplies and costs so I don't know for sure when I'll be able to move on it, but hopefully I can get somewhere by mid-summer. I'll be posting any progress I make here on my blog, so keep an eye out.
PC building is akin to being any other type of builder of anything else, from construction to software. The benefit is two-fold. First, you usually save on cost, as you can buy parts at relatively base prices and not pay the extra bit that goes to the pros for building it for you. Second, you can be sure you're getting what you need and want, so long as your prudent in your purchase and planning.
The pure gear-head are highly technical, singularly focused on satisfying performance goals. The tamer of these will be satisfied merely with fulfilling a simple need - I will be using my PC for X, I will get parts Y and Z that best fulfill that need. The extremist of these pursue the maximum - performance at the pinnacle of what is feasible at the time. They go for the best CPU, the best GPU, the best memory... everything at the max.
To these utilitarian types, the only care about performance, the styling not even secondary. As such they look for cases to hold their PC parts that as basic as can be. No frills, no extra bits, they don't care about the case beyond its ability to contain the PC parts and help keep them cool.
This is where the artistic gear-heads differ. They too care about performance, but they don't discount style. In some cases they will forfeit a little on the performance side to attain better styling. For example, picking a different motherboard because of the color of the PCB, or different memory because of the style and color of the heat spreader. And when it comes to the case, that is where the artistic ones get into their complications.
For the artistic ones it's not enough to just keep the stuff cool, they have to look cool. They strive to reach beyond a minimalist's approach to case design and add things like creative venting style, LEDs, creative beveling, etc.
One of the more expensive and bolder expressions of both dynamics of the DIY builder is the computer table. Now, I'm not simply talking about the desk you sit the tower next to, or on top of, or under. I am speaking about a desk that you mount your PC components inside of.
Again, there are a couple expressions of this. The utilitarian ones are the rarer of the class. Like the minimalist's standard PC cases, these simply store the parts and offer some cooling. They are little more than metal boxes strapped to the underside of a table. The more artistic ones show off the contents, the top of the desk being glass or pelxiglass, LEDs lighting the inner chassis.
At the moment I am planning a retro-fit for a desk at home. I plan to add the space needed for micro-ATX system. I mostly plan to use the system as a NAS, but I may end up making it a Media Center PC. I have gone through several rounds of plans, three of which involve creating an entire desk, not just retrofitting one.
The plans for the retrofit, however, specifically use a desk I have whose top is one-third frosted glass. My current intent is to make the majority of the PC component area out of 1/8" and 1/2" plexi, even the motherboard tray. The only non-plexi parts right now will be the front I/O panel, which will be an aftermarket Lian-Li piece, and the 5.25" drive bays, which will be an aftermarket RAID cage with a backplane for easy swapping of devices in and out.
Style versus utility. There is no reason the two can't coexist. There need not be a contention between the two. A PC can be built to be both powerful and make an aesthetic statement. It can be minimalist in space and approach, but still have a little bit of artistic pop. That is the idea behind my project "Table Top". As I said, I'm still working out the details of the design and doing calculations on supplies and costs so I don't know for sure when I'll be able to move on it, but hopefully I can get somewhere by mid-summer. I'll be posting any progress I make here on my blog, so keep an eye out.
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