Homegrown Mod Manifesto: How To Build A UV PC

Final Thoughts

The biggest part of any project is being creative, and not being required to reinvent the wheel for initial ideas and concepts for mods is very helpful. This isn't rocket science, and we believe almost anyone with a little know-how could build the UV PC just by reading this article.

Is the UV PC perfect? No, and it was not designed to be. In fact, it is far from perfect, which may cause some of our regular readers to turn their noses up at this concept. In this article we have tried to present a starting point to show previously intimidated readers that it really isn't that hard to customize their computer case after all.

Are these true case mods in the traditional sense of the word? This would receive a resounding "no," as well. This article really presents more ways to dress up your PC and to make it unique more than anything else. There is always room for additional modifications as far and as wide as your creativity and wallet can take you.

After looking at the final product, there are a couple of things that we were puzzled by, including, (i) why do the Aerocool UV lighted fans put out that much light?; (ii) why don't UV lights put out more light?; (iii) why did DFI elect to use those bright red LEDs on its motherboard that create such a noticeable reflection in the PC?; (iv) Could we have achieved a better effect if we would have used more white in our design?; and (v) why is it that all UV reactive green colors are not the same hue? Will we solve these mysteries? Most likely not, but it gives us a lot of ideas about building and lighting another PC for future articles.

What about the cost of the THG UV PC? Well, we did go a little overboard in some areas. We estimate the overall cost of this system to be about $2,200 US with all of the specialized stuff that we added to this system. We could have shaved a lot off here and there in some of our component choices. Still, we wanted to create a system that was unique, yet functional, with a few bells and whistles that were "over the top."

For those who don't want to create this PC on their own, Kyle and his team over at www.aacdirect.com has already been selling their new "Black Ops" system that we saw at the Dayton LANFest, which features a UV reactive theme right out of the box. Available in a variety of configurations, this can be a great solution for those who like the look, but just don't have the time or patience to build a UV PC of their own.

We take our hats are off to DFI for providing the inspiration for the UV PC. It will be very interesting to see what DFI can do with its next generation motherboard to top the concept of making a PC UV reactive. Is the UV reactive look for you? Maybe or maybe not. One of the beauties of case customization is that it says as much about the person as it does about the time and effort involved. With all kinds of new products coming out and case modifications continuing to become a more mainstream concept, it is easier for the users to express their creativity with little investment in time and energy. Just remember that proper planning is required to achieve the results that you are seeking, and be prepared to hit a bump or two along the way. With practice and experimentation, you'll get the case you want.

We invite you to share your thoughts an UV PC creations with us in our THG Case modding forum. We look forward to seeing some of the ideas that you come up with.