Repairer brands customer’s gaming PC a ‘monstrosity’ — skin lacerating cable management technique provokes horror

A PC repair professional was sent in a system to fix that had some unusual, and possibly hazardous, modifications. Redditor and repair shop owner, elishalewisusaf, didn’t shy away from branding the stricken PC a “monstrosity.” Indeed, the PSU shroud looks like it was ripped open by a xenomorph, breaking through the perforated steel venting to protect its hive.

I own a tech repair business - and this monstrosity came in. I’m baffled from r/pcmasterrace

Commenters in the PCMR Reddit thread are largely puzzled as to ‘why’ such a heinous act has been carried out on this PC. The PSU shroud already featured a modestly sized cutout for cable routing, just below the xenomorph breach zone. Indeed, elishalewisusaf is also “baffled” by what they saw when this PC arrived in the repair shop.

The assembled social media-based PC building experts generally opine that the twisted metal surgery this PC has undergone, presumably by the owner, is user error, to put it politely. However, some are charitable enough to suggest the 8-pin cable from PSU to GPU may have been too short to take a more scenic route. That would mean it was an unusually short cable.

Elishalewisusaf has yet to update on what the customer-reported issue with the PC in the picture is. So, we don’t know if the twisted metal mess between the PSU zone and the rest of the PC actually caused a functional problem. It would not be surprising if some of the cabling we can’t see is damaged or shorting, due to metal shards or dust.

Once a proud PC system

Also in the image, we can see that this ailing PC once proudly brandished the Digital Storm marque. That firm claims to build PCs with “expert craftsmanship,” and is committed to “crafting the world’s most advanced gaming PCs.” It also offers lifetime support - so the PSU shroud-mangler should have reached for the phone before reaching for the bolt cutters, or whatever inappropriate tool did this damage.

We’d guess that the GPU pictured is an Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3060, possibly an RTX 4060. That means, if this PC originally shipped with the GPU, it was put together around four or fewer years ago. Dust buildup looks like a few years' worth, too.

Some Redditors can’t help but comment on the 256GB SATA drive we see mounted on the PSU shroud area. We’d like to think this is an old drive brought along from a prior PC, not the primary, as it lacks capacity and performance if the PC is meant for gaming duties in 2025.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!