Our Favorite Computex 2019 Case Mods: From Beer, to the Iron Throne and Pork Ramen
From Beer, to the Iron Throne and Pork Ramen
As we visited the many tech booths at Computex in Taipei this week, we didn’t stop to smell the roses; instead we paused to gawk at the coolest case mods. With nostalgic references, moments of zen, nods to athletes and enough RGB to satisfy the most gluttonous color addicts, here are the mods we loved the most.
It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere
A beer is always welcome, but a beer on a busy showfloor like Computex’s is like a gift from above. This mod from Taiwanese modder Karens XU, aka K Mod Studio, features an Intel Core i7-8700K, booth host G.Skill’s Trident Z Royal RGB RAM, MSI Meg Z390 Godlike motherboard, Zotac Gaming RTX 2080 AMP Extreme graphics, a Plextor M9PeGN 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD, Cooler Master’s MasterFan MF121R RGB and Bitspower water cooling. But more importantly, it was dispensing real cups of Heineken.
“Scorpio”
As a menacing scorpio myself, I couldn’t resist the poisonous lure of Suchao Modding Design’s Scorpio mod. Lurking around Colorful’s iGame booth, it had an i3-8350K, iGame GeForce RTX 2080 Vulcan X OC, Z390 Vulcan X and 8GB DDR4-3200 RAM, plus a 1TB Colorful SL500 SSD.
“Quasar”
We found this out-of-this-world md over at PSU vendor Seasonic’s modding showcase. The modder was inspired by popular science fiction, and boy does it show. Naturally, it uses a Seasonic power supply.
Steampunk Typewriter
The ASRock booth took us back to a simpler, clickier time with this retro-looking build. Coming from Mark’s Fabrication, components include the Trident Z Royal, ASRock’s Z390 Taichi motherboard and lots of vintage style.
Lotus Flower
Sometimes you need to get a little zen. And for tech geeks, that can require 3D printing your own lotus flower case and custom CPU cooler. Filipino modder Samca worked full force with T-Force, using its XCalibur RGB DDR4-3600 (8GB) memory, Delta R RGB SSD (250GB), plus EVGA’s H370 Stinger motherboard, RTX 2060 XC Gaming and Supernova 650 GM PSU and an i5-9500.
The Iron Throne
With HBO’s Game of Thrones officially over, who doesn’t want their own Iron Throne to cope? Bitspower had one at their booth from YJ Mod, who used an Intel CPU, Asus ROG Strix Z390-I Gaming board, OCPC X3treme Aura DDR4-3600 RAM and zero spoilers for this timely build.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Apex Legends Loot Tick
The Philippines' JPModified repped battle royale fans with this mod for G.Skill. Those who can find and destroy this Loot Tick will score an i7-8700K, ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming, RTX 2070 Founder’s Edition, Trident Z Royal RAM, G.Skill Ripjaws S3 SSD and Silverstone SX700-LPT PSU. But please don’t destroy JP’s mod; neither shipping it to Taipei (it took four different sections in one crate) nor 3D printing those feet were easy.
Olympic Stadium
Tokyo will host the Olympics in 2020, but in 2019, it’s Bitspower’s Computex booth that held the Olympics, mod that is. Ice Freeze’s gold medal-worthy build uses an i7-8700K, ROG Strix Z390-I Gaming, Klevv Cras X RGB DDR4-3466 and WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD (250GB).
War Machine
This PC looks like something you shouldn’t pick a fight with. The monstrosity is a mod of an Acer case, which modder Jengki Wmp filled with an i7-8700K, Acer motherboard, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, Plextor 512GB SSD and FSP Hydro G 850 W PSU and kept cool with Bitspower water cooling.
RGB Monster Truck
This monster truck better not enter any rallies because we’d just cry if it got covered in dirt. Instead, we found it safely at the iGame booth, rocking the vendor’s RTX 2080 Ti Vulcan X OC, Z390 Vulcan X, Vulcan U 3000 DDR4 RAM and an i9-9900K.
Scharon Harding has over a decade of experience reporting on technology with a special affinity for gaming peripherals (especially monitors), laptops, and virtual reality. Previously, she covered business technology, including hardware, software, cyber security, cloud, and other IT happenings, at Channelnomics, with bylines at CRN UK.