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Added 16 Mar 05 Updated Today
Publisher Que
Publication Date 2004-12-31
Paperback - 320 Pages
ISBN 0789731924
Paul Capello owns and runs The Best Case Scenario, www.thebestcasescenario.com, a website devoted to extreme PC mods. In August 2003, one of Paul’s designs was named Maximum PC’s Rig of the Month. Paul has appeared on TechTV’s Screensavers and his work has been featured in Wired magazine.
Jon Phillips is Editorial Director at Future Network USA, which publishes a variety of technology magazines, including Maximum PC and MacAddict. He is the former Editor in Chief of Maximum PC and was a regular on the NextStep television show.
Tired of your non-descript, platinum-colored PC case? Want to show your individuality and make your friends green with envy? Interested in wringing out every ounce of performance that your timid PC can produce? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then The Maximum PC Guide to Extreme PC Mods is for you! We show you how to reach PC mod nirvana step-by-step, including choosing (or making) the perfect case, cutting custom windows, painting cases, turning everyday, ordinary objects into fully functional PCs, installing neon/cold cathode lighting, liquid cooling and more. Then, we show you how to drain every last drop of performance from your PC - from simple settings within your BIOS and Windows, to more fringe overclocking techniques. If you want to pimp out your rig, then this book is a must-have. No other book combines PC mods and overclocking into one, indispensable book. Best of all, this book was written by the two top voices in PC hardware technology - Maximum PC and Que!
- First, we show you to cook up your idea, spec it out, gather the tools for the job, prepare your workshop and complete your mod without injuring yourself or setting your workshop ablaze.
- For beginners, we’ll first show you how to choose the best off-the-shelf enclosures for "simple" modding projects, and later we’ll show you how you can let your imagination run wild, creating kick ass mods from the most unusual objects.
- Along the way, we show you - with hundreds of full-color photos - how to cut case windows, paint your rig at home, add trick fans, install dazzling interior lights, install custom cables, and how to mod your PC’s front-panel.
- Once you have all of the hardcore skills down, we dive into three mod projects, which show you, step-by-step, how to build a mod from an everyday, garden-variety PC case, to creating a mod from an object you found around the house or at the hardware store, to building a mod from scratch. Each of these projects is explained in fine detail, with full-color photos that show you exactly how to do it.
- We then attack more performance-oriented hardware hacking, such as installing exotic cooling, overclocking your CPU frequency, and tweaking your BIOS and video card settings.
- Throughout the book, we highlight some of the best mods from Maximum PC readers.
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But my favorite aspect of this book is Paul’s teachings of the proper mindset for a modder. Adventurous, inquisitive, creative, always looking for a new and/or better way to do things. He not only gives very practical advise about this mindset, but demonstrates it in the working projects he goes through in the book. It is refreshing to have the author show how he learns from his own work, instead of seeming to sit on a high throne from his 20+ years of experience.
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