Modding dates back to the original black CPU
“Modding” — the art of modifying component hardware parts to look and function in a previously unintended way.
As the participants in TAITRA and CyberMedia’s COMPUTEX Modding Challenge — CyberMods competition note, modding has been around for ages, dating back to when fancy corporate-made CPUs and gadgets from Thermaltake, Asus and other industry leaders did not exist.
Ethan Cooper, a modder for Team Australia, said he got started by playing around with an old black CPU on his desk. The desire to customize and modify this CPU and other computer hardware was what led Cooper and his rivals from the other five teams into the world of modding.
Speaking at the opening of the contest, Fanny Chang, managing director of CyberMedia, said her company was hosting the modding challenge to “push the boundaries of computer modification to a new level and unite the modder community.”
Competitors hail from some of the biggest countries in the world of modding: Australia, China, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The challenge, which started Tuesday and ends Friday, gives every two-person team a total of 24 hours over four days to complete a build based on a specific theme.
This year, teams can choose from one of three themes: science fiction, movies and video games. In the afternoon of the first day, teams were off to a great start, having conceptualized what they wanted to make.
Many of these modders mod for a living: customizing hardware for clients, competing in these international competitions and more.
These modders said that there was nothing really that made a “good modder” because there was no “right build” in modding. DJ Madrid from Team Philippines said it was all about practicing and doing.
For spectators who want to try out modding for themselves, there is a series of modding workshops throughout the week.