Liquid-Cooled Tron Lightcycle Mod Looks Amazing
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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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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pcracer51 Props to the builder for some great design and execution.Reply
Drops to THG, your competition showcased this 2 weeks ago.
Seems more and more this place is just rewriting the same articles. -
visa 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...Reply
Pretty sweet mod though. -
outlw6669 Hey, awesome mod there!Reply
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!