I personally don't care to have the case modded out, especially if I'm going to have to pay for it. To me, what matters is on the inside (heh, so I guess it's true...). Seriously though, people can scoff at a boring grey case, but if you save 100 bucks on it and were able to put it towards a better graphics card...

Buy OEM parts, same fuckin things only no pretty box...

What you need are some racing stripes on your case. Everybody knows that racing stripes make your computer look sharp, and chicks love stuff that looks sharp.

yah, until you whip out your dick, isn't that right unreal?

I would personally recommend tiger direct or newegg.com.

we just built a fucking computer. weeehoooo. now we're building another one. weeeehoooo. total cost for 2 computers : $500. weeeehoooo. and the cases actually look pretty cool too.

Another thing you should put on your case is a spoiler and gold rims.

I decided that at first I am going to have a shitty sound card and video card because later i will buy a Radeon 9800 Pro and the Soundblaster Extigy with some bitchin' speakers.

I don't care what case I have, but eventually I would buy a better one. All that matters at first is that it has enough slots for drives, and isn't shaped like a schlong.

As for HD, a 30 gig would do me fine, but later on I know I would go with an 80 gig. I really don't need more than 40 though.

I'm going to Azzo Computers on friday to try and work out a deal, hopefully they will be able to do what I want. Or, I could order everything online and hope it ships in time. If I do that, I will be really pissed if I am missing one important part the day I need it, the lan party day.

Tiger direct has good prices BUT they overcharge on shipping... I reccommend http://www.outpost.com their owned by Fry's Electronic's and thats a local store here, fuckin rules, kinda like Incredible Universe if you've ever seen one (they went out when I was a wee lad)...

I ended up going with newegg.com. I ordered 538 dollars in stuff (including the 15 dollars on shipping) last thursday and I will order the 338 dollars (including shipping) of stuff left. I did this to save money on shipping, since I need everything by a certain date. With regular shipping and no rush processing, I get stuff estimated at thursday the next week. I only had enough money to get the first set of parts then, so I did that and reg. shipping. I will order the rest on rush processing and overnight shipping, giving me plenty of time to set it up and customize.

Stuff:
Chieftec Dragon Black server case with sidepanel
Athlon XP 2400
Abit nForce motherboard (with video, sound, and LAN)
512 pc2700 DDR from Crucial
40 gig 7200 rpm hd from western digital
16x dvdrom from liteon, black face
17 in black mitsubishi monitor
400 watt ps with lighted fan
Windows XP Home (because I am going legal)

I plan on getting the Radeon 9800 and Audigy 2 or Extigy later. Neo says 9800 is overkill. I say that's why I am getting it. Having a job when you're a kid rules.

I should mod out my case. I could invite all of my friends over and show them just how j33t I am because I added a cool window and a sweet red and black color scheme. Everyone will be impressed by the badass fin on the top that lowers wind resistance. My computer is 9 years old, but if I add a bunch of useless shit to the outside, no one could mistake me for anything but a connoisseur.

...Oh wait...

Some of us do useful things with our money. Morons.

Hey now. Come on, some people spend money on stupid things. I think if you do a job like graphic design, you could mod your case and it makes your environment more productive and creative. Or sometimes I get a crazy urge to take something apart and rebuild it. Granted, I don't even get the 2nd part done correctly, but I can see the fascination with modding. Also, the smartest thing to do if you have friends (unlike me). Mod your system, make it look l33to, then bring your friends over and when they see it, offer to do the same thing or whatever they want for cheap (really enough for you to pay for materials and still get some good money out of it...hehe).
I agree, its pretty ridiculous in some cases (no pun intended), but to each their own.

I like the mods like changing leds to cooler colors (I wanna change my green and orange ones to blue and bluish purple) and subtle stuff. I don't mind the window in there, but the sidepanel kicks ass. Yeah, goodbye ever having to unscrew the case, I can just slide a little handle thing and BANG! access. It got delivered today, and man I love it.

Most of the people who do mod have top of the line hardware inside their case even if not, why does it matter. Why do people mod their cars? Why do people renovate old houses, get cosmetic surgery? People some people have a sense of asthetics. They like things that are part of their life to be pleasing to look at. Who wants to stare at an institutional looking, bland, grey box all day? I know I wouldn't. Of course, some people don't have the money to make the choice. If I had the money I would mod-out my system like none other, not excessively though I would make sure to keep it tasteful.

People mod their cars even when they have shitty stuff inside. Note the 115hp Civic LEs with a wing. :x You need that down force when you're going 75mph in a front wheel drive car.