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Liquid-Cooled Tron Lightcycle Mod Looks Amazing

by - source: Tom's Hardware Forums

This awesome PC case mod looks good enough to ride, but it's a bit too small and doesn't really go anywhere.

On our very own Tom's Hardware forums, modder Brian Carter has created a PC resembling the awesomely-cool TRON lightcycle, The end-product is stunning to say the least, sporting the iconic blue striped lighting flushed against a reflective black finish. The mod isn't 100-percent identical on purpose, but TRON fans shouldn't care too much as it will still turn heads at any PC mod or nerdy sci-fi convention.

As seen here, Brian "Boddaker1" Carter used an EVGA X58 motherboard, an Intel i7 965 processor, two EVGA GTX 570 cards in SLI, Crucial SSDs, a Pioneer Slimline slot load DVD drive, a Cooler Master Silent Gold 850W power supply and a dual-bay reservoir by Primochill as the basis of this spectacular rig. Obviously most of the time was spent creating the actual lightcycle chassis itself using foam, acrylic, some plasti-paste, plastic tubing and other materials.

"It ended up being 40-inches long, but relatively short," he said. "As for the design, I didn't want to make a spot-on replica of the bike, so I went with my layered acrylic method, with just a few skinned areas around the wheels and top. This allows me to hide more components inside as well."

As Carter's forum post shows, the overall creation of the mod, from cutting the "filler" out of foam to hooking up Razer's TRON-themed mouse and keyboard in the end, stretched over a period of two months. The design started as a mockup drawn in Sketchup and originally called for fiberglass, but Carter decided to take the foam and plastic paste route to get the project completed in time for Cooler Master's case mod contest.

The actual power supply and other PC components weren't crammed into the "engine" until mid-May. A custom curved radiator for the single-loop liquid cooling system had to be created, but integrated perfectly into the overall design as a portion of the front wheel. "My goal was to make the radiator act as the front tire for the bike, and I think I achieved that look," he said.

To see how this custom PC case mod was created, head over to our forums here. Don't forget to vote for this mod in Cooler Master's competition here.

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inerax 05/25/2011 11:04 PM
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I want 1!

pcracer51 05/25/2011 11:09 PM
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Props to the builder for some great design and execution.

Drops to THG, your competition showcased this 2 weeks ago.
Seems more and more this place is just rewriting the same articles.

Assmar 05/25/2011 11:20 PM
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Put some speakers in those wheels and that'd be a banging boom box!

visa 05/25/2011 11:32 PM
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Instead of speakers, try setting those wheels as the bladeless Dyson fans. Water cooling for the hardware and a little cooling for the end user...

Pretty sweet mod though.

christop 05/26/2011 1:27 AM
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SWEEET!!!!!!

Flameout 05/26/2011 1:53 AM
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in this "case" it's what's on the outside that counts

eddieroolz 05/26/2011 3:12 AM
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Its one of our very own, eh? Kudos!

Anonymous 05/26/2011 8:56 AM
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niiiiiiice. very neat.

outlw6669 05/26/2011 9:56 AM
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Hey, awesome mod there!
Great that you documented every step of the creation as well.
I am sure this thread will come in useful for future modders.

Congrats on a sweet build!

wiyosaya 05/26/2011 3:28 PM
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Stop dreaming of the cycle and just by one. ;)

Burodsx 05/26/2011 3:32 PM
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That's awesome. Mods are just getting better and better. Hope this one was entered into a contest.

wunderkinder 05/26/2011 5:48 PM
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"It ended up being 40-inches long, but relatively short,"

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!!

fir_ser 05/26/2011 11:21 PM
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Cool case mod.

Wannabepro 10/08/2011 9:02 PM
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That looks pretty cool. I would love to have one on my desk.

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