Over the past ten years, OCmodshop has covered many different topics. We delivered how-to articles and guides on how to perform simple mods to your PC hardware, as well as in-depth hardware reviews. We’ve also brought you reviews on the latest PC video games and walkthroughs on some of the most popular ones. Once the Xbox 360 came out, we started reviewing console hardware and games, in addition to our normal news and reviews.
It’s really you who decide what we cover next, as we take note of the trends and what articles you read the most. While we get a lot of traffic from articles about heatsinks, cases, motherboards and other PC hardware, there are just some articles that just shoot past all of the others and really stand out. Listed here are the most popular OCmodshop articles from the past decade.
Honorable mentions
As we start our countdown, we have to show you some of the unusual articles that received a lot of attention, but just didn’t make the list.
- PAX Babe Galleries
- T-Shirts We Love To See
- Choosing the Right Graphics Tablet
- How to Repair your PSP’s LCD Screen
- How to Fix Your Hard Drive When Windows Won’t Boot
- Why PSP is better than the iPhone
18. Freezepop Interview (link)
Gaming history will fondly remember the few short years that “guitar” games dominated the market. Many of these games featured the synthpop band named Freezepop. This band was formed by Kasson Crooker, one of the team members of Harmonix, which produced the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, and as such was able to get his band’s music into these games.
After playing some of these games, I quickly became a fan of this relatively-unknown group, and I was honored to conduct an interview with the three original members while attending PAX 2008. This interview represents one of my fondest moments while running OCmodshop.
17. How Do Heatpipes Work? (link)
We love to take things apart and see how they work. Sometimes we even write about what we find out. Back in 2006, Heat Pipes were starting to become all the rage, as it was one of the most innovative ways to dissipate the heat from newer processors. Many heatsink makers just use sheer mass to get rid of a lot of heat, and processor makers are making their chips cooler all the time, but the heatpipe has allowed for some rather interesting designs. This informative article tells you how heatpipes work, the materials they’re made of, and the scientific principles behind them.
16. ECS Elitegroup GeForce 6100PM-M2 v20 Motherboard Review (link)
We’ve published quite a few motherboard articles over the years, but for some reason this one by Don is one of the most read. It is one of the shortest motherboard reviews we’ve published, and it’s not the most powerful mainboard you can buy. Perhaps we’ve hit onto something… most people want a good inexpensive board, and that’s what they’re searching for. Sure, everyone likes to read about the most powerful bit of PC kit that’s out there, but most people aren’t buying them… as an average stroll through any LAN party will tell you.
15. Halo 3 is a Go! (link)
This news item was originally published in February of 2006, and has generated a lot of buzz, partially because it ended up not being true. This was a news item that came across my desk from a source that I had little reason to question, so it was posted, because hey, it’s Halo for cryin’ out loud!
Well, we don’t know for sure that it WASN’T true, but in all likelihood Bungie is probably taking the extra 2 years to make improvements to the game. Several media outlets contacted me and interviewed me about the validity of this article.
I had come across a fanboy-generated DVD cover for the upcoming Halo 3 and posted it along with the article, because there weren’t many H3 screenshots at the time. This generated a lot of buzz, too, and OCmodshop’s #1 ripped image! There were many forum threads across the internet to discuss the validity of the image… what gave it away, that there’s a HUGE FREAKIN’ APPLE LOGO ON THE COVER?
14. Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (link)
The Xbox 360 controller is one of the most perfect gamepads on any platform. The original Xbox console bridged the gap between PC gamers and consoles, and the Xbox 360 controller for Windows sealed the deal. Not only does the gamepad work with the Xbox 360, but every Windows-based PC that uses XP or above will use it automatically.
We got a lot of interest with this review when it first debuted in 2005, and for good reason. It is one of the best gaming devices for the PC ever conceived, and we have an in-depth review… with gorgeous models!
13. Xbox 360 VGA Cable Review (link)
VGA cables were never a first-party Microsoft product, so the quality varied from different manufacturers and usually had to be mail-ordered. Microsoft realized their mistake and provided a VGA cable for the new Xbox 360 console. The cable supports standard and wide-screen monitor resolutions.
12. Fallout 3 Superguide (link)
Brad Russell has written a lot of game guides for OCmodshop, and many of them dominated our gaming articles nearly every time they were published. Although his Gears of War guide was a close second, this Fallout 3 Superguide is one of our most popular game guides we’ve ever published, and still receives quite a few reads.
11. Thermaltake DH102 Home Theater Case (link)
This beast of a home theater PC case was easily one of the most read. People just wanted to know more about a case with a built-in monitor and touch screen. Although this case could make your rig look like a $3000 Home Theater appliance, the layout and internal features just weren’t impressive or innovative. We gave this case a good review, but if the insides were as good as the front panel, then this would easily have been a perfect product. Still, it’s one of our most-read PC case reviews.
10. How to Etch a Printed Circuit Board (link)
This guide was written by our European journalist from the Netherlands, Daniel Pielage. He’s always tinkering around with the latest in PC and automotive gear, and he came up with the idea of printing a simple circuit for one of his projects. He shows you how to create your own printed circuit board for your own projects.
9. Build Your Own Watercooling Reservoir for $10 (link)
PC builders are concerned about controlling the heat in their rigs, because they tend to overclock them to all hell. Because of this, many hardcore PC builders turn to watercooling solutions because they are relatively quiet and are efficient at removing heat. The unfortunate side effect of watercooling equipment is that it’s expensive. Thanks to this guide, you can build one of your own watercooling reservoirs for the cost of a single Andrew Jackson.
8. Waiting in line for an Xbox 360 (link)
7. DIY Heatcore (link)
As we menioned in our number 9 article, hardcore PC builders just like to use watercooling equipment. While many people could build a watercooling reservoir with relatively little skill, many more were interested in how to create their own watercooling heatcore. Our own Rod Chedister (one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever had the privilege to know), shows you how to “roll your own” watercooling radiators for a lot less than it costs to buy one.
6. Girls Gift Guide for the Geek Guy 2005 (link)
2005 was a big change for OCmodshop. Although I have always been involved with OCMS from the beginning, 2005 is when I officially took over as the web producer and Managing Editor. I saw how we grabbed a whole new audience with our new Xbox 360 articles, so I was still trying to produce content that would bring in more traffic. Even though there is a lot of truth in this Gift Guide, it was a cheeky comedy piece rather than a serious gift guide, and we received a lot of backlash as a result. For some reason, people took offense to the tone of this article… but it did bring in a lot of traffic… so Mission Accomplished!
5. How to play WoW for free with WoWScape (link)
World of Warcraft and other MMOs are what really keep PC gaming popular. Since the PC platform is so tweakable, PC gamers are used to tweaking and hacking, and therefore don’t like to pay a monthly fee. Some groups have created publich WoW servers, where players can play for free. This article stirred up a lot of controversy, as there were many who were unhappy with their service, and this article became the sounding-board for every person who had a problem with WoWscape, and many more who defended it.
4. Logitech MX610 Laser Cordless Mouse Review (link)
We have written a lot of mouse reviews at OCmodshop, but for some reason this one received so many hits that it dominated our article stats for several months. Perhaps it was because it was because we took it apart and showed you the inside of the mouse. Perhaps it was the thoughtful award-winning in-depth journalism that OCmodshop is known for. Even though there have been more deserving computer rodents in our 10-year history, this one stands out as the most read.
3. Build Your Own Linux Firewall (link)
This project started out because we needed a good firewall for the OCMS servers. We previously had only one Windows-based server, and discovered many of the security flaws of having Active Directory on the same server as IIS. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on an appliance (and hundreds in yearly fees), we decided to build our own, and show you how to do the same in the process. This suite of how-to articles is still one of our top articles today.
2. How to enable 4GB of Memory in Vista (link)
When this article came out, equipping your PC’s motherboard with 4 gigabytes of memory was a relatively new idea for the average user. Sure, servers have been doing this for years, but the server market has been using Windows Server or Linux Servers, which either used 36-bit or true 64-bit memory addressing, which allowed them to access 4 gigabyte of memory. The average user was stuck with the 32-bit version of Windows Vista and crippled motherboard chipsets, and had to really work to get their PC to use all of their installed memory.
This article listed the things you could try to see all of your installed RAM, but they didn’t work for most people, as we found from all the hate-mail we received. We stated in this article that the true (and quickest) answer was to install a 64-bit flavor of Windows and get a newer chipset, a lot of people ignored this paragraph and instead chose to flood us with hate mail.
We started to notice a trend of how our articles that don’t directly address the problem and merely talk about it get the most hits. Perhaps we’ll write more stuff that doesn’t get anything done…
1. How to mod your Xbox controller as a PC gamepad (link)
For some reason, this guide is still OCmodshop’s most read article, and still gets quite a bit of traffic today. Back in 2003 when it was published, this was edgy stuff, but now doesn’t hold a lot of relevance, in my opinion. We still get a bunch of emails and comments asking for help, as they have tried this project and cannot get it to work. My short answer is to buy a cheap Xbox 360 controller and save yourself the headache. Every modern PC since Windows XP automatically recognizes it, it has a “home” button, and nearly every modern PC game automatically uses it.
For whatever reason, you guys still read this article, so you have my thanks!
Thank you guys so very much for supporting OCmodshop for this past decade. We are still ready, willing and able to bring you the best reviews, articles and guides on PC hardware and video games.