The Computer History Museum is teasing the “Big Mac.” This is an almost comically large-scale rendition of the circa 1986 Macintosh Plus. However, in 2026 design terms, only the keyboard looks particularly oversized, as screens on all-in-ones nowadays totally dominate designs, with the ‘PC’ bits so small they don’t look much different to monitors.

Above you can see the “astonishingly large Macintosh Plus computer” recently acquired by the museum, based in Mountain View, California. The device was likely built for exhibition and demo purposes back in the day, when the Plus was a commercially available and desirable machine.

The Computer History Museum shies away from any kind of technical details regarding the Big Mac. For this tease,r it preferred to try and hook in the keyboard ASMR crowd, a surprisingly large niche of enthusiasts. A staffer from the museum, we presume, is videos click clacking on the scaled-up replica of the Apple Keyboard (M0110A). As you can see, this keyboard would be very compact, with just 58 keys, but at least it has arrow keys, which were absent from its predecessor, the M0110.

Apple’s Macintosh Plus launched with the same Motorola 68000 CPU as the original Mac, but buyers benefited from a default 1MB of RAM (expandable to 4MB with its 4x standard 30-pin SIMM slots), an 800KB 3.5-inch floppy drive, and a SCSI port for peripherals like HDDs and printers.

Though it appealed to graphic artists, largely due to the direction of its software library driven by the Mac’s pioneering GUI adoption, these machines (original and Plus) were built around a tiny 9-inch monochrome CRT with 512 x 342 pixels resolution. That’s why, even with the ‘Big Mac,’ the screen looks kinda small, while the keyboard is comically large in 2026.

The Macintosh Plus launched at $2,599 in 1986, for the configuration outlined above. That’s over $7,500 in 2026 money. Still, it was a workhorse fully supported by Apple System releases for a decade, with Mac OS 7.5.5 maintaining support for the little all-in-one when it was released in Sept 1996.

The Computer History Museum teases that more info on the Big Mac is coming next week. Its social media post tag suggests this computer will form part of its Apple at 50 celebrations, which kickoff in March.

Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of attempts by DIY modders and PC enthusiasts to shrink gaming PCs down to the size of traditional game consoles. This is often done with the goal of enjoying PC gaming on a large TV from the comfort of their couch. From custom small form factor builds to console-inspired enclosures, the idea of a living room-friendly PC isn’t exactly new. However, a modder on YouTube by the name of PhasedTech has taken this concept to a whole new level by cramming an entire desktop PC inside a svelte Xbox One S.

Now there have been similar projects in the past where modders have managed to install an entire PC inside the chassis of an old console. But, as pointed out in the video, most of them rely on an external power brick and / or integrated graphics. To make the project a bit more challenging, PhasedTech set out to use an internal power supply, a discrete graphics card, as well as an optical disc drive so the system could functionally mimic the original console. Additionally, the build avoids the use of glue, ensuring that all components are properly mounted and bolted in for a more professional finish. Lastly, only the rear and bottom of the chassis have been modified, with no changes allowed to the front, sides, or top panels.

Since the Xbox One S has a volume of approximately 4.4 liters, the parts chosen for the project had to be compact and consume relatively low power. For that reason, the hardware leans more towards a balanced console-like setup rather than a high-end gaming PC. The modder used a mini-ITX motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU cooled by a Noctua NH-L9i, along with 16GB of DDR4 ultra-low-profile memory. For storage, the system uses a standard NVMe SSD, a 250W flex PSU to provide power, and a low-profile single-slot Nvidia RTX 3050 to handle the graphics.

After separating the outer chassis from the core internals of the Xbox Series S, the modder began by laying out all the components to get a sense of where each part will go. They then shaved off some internal supports to make room for the hardware, followed by drilling a few holes to secure the power supply and motherboard using standoffs. Using a custom right-angle mount and screws, a USB Type-A extender cable is installed at the front of the console chassis.

For the optical disc drive, the modder soldered two wires to the drive’s eject switch, with the other ends connected to a micro switch. This micro switch is intended to be used with the original Xbox eject button, enabling the disc drive to be controlled using the console’s built-in button. After a quick test of the optical drive, all the power supply cables are installed, followed by preparation of the top half of the chassis.

By making use of two threaded mounting points and some plastic grooves inside the top chassis, the modder 3D-printed a two-part custom bracket to securely mount the disc drive, GPU riser cable, power button, and eject button in place. Notably a four-lane PCIe riser cable is used due to the limited internal space as opposed to a traditional 16-lane cable. Fortunately that does not impact the performance of the GPU used for the build. After installing the disc drive, power/eject buttons, GPU, and a bit of cabling, the top and bottom chassis are snapped back together, along with two custom 3D printed I/O shields for the rear.

The system boots into Windows without any issues, but due to the relatively low-end hardware, it is best suited for less resource-intensive and eSports titles. According to PhasedTech, games like Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 can push to 200 FPS at 1080p using medium settings, with temperatures reaching up to 80°C. While they haven’t offered any extended benchmark results, the project stands out for being able to balance performance, thermals, and functionality within the limited space of a console chassis, while preserving the original look and feel of the original Xbox One S.

A retro computer enthusiast has fitted a thermal printer into an ancient Apple Macintosh Plus. A short video clip shared on social media shows the mod is effective and, dare we say, practical. The otherwise redundant floppy drive in this Mac Mini brain transplanted desktop looks almost perfect for spewing forth coils of thermal copy paper.

The original Apple Macintosh has such iconic computing appeal that it is natural that enthusiasts repurpose the old chassis if or when the innards deteriorate beyond repair. But what do you make of the cutout where the floppy drive used to be?

The above perfectly valid answer is provided by Japanese pickle store manager and Mac enthusiast, Meinan, on X. Apparently, they were lucky enough to get this thermal printer in some kind of auction for ‘1 yen’, and were looking for a good way to make use of it. We don’t know how it is hooked up to the computer, but would guess it simply interfaces via USB, like printers have done for decades now.

Modern Mac Mini inside

A brief glance at the display of this Mac Plus, shows that it has been seriously ungraded in the processing department too. Gone is the low-res mono CRT, and a vibrant LCD display is fitted in the frame. Powering the modern mac OS system you see running is some version of the Mac Mini.

In some ways it is a shame that Meinan’s machine couldn’t be preserved in its original configuration, of course. But we don’t know what happened to this aged computer before its shell was reused. It seems to be a particularly interesting cross-generation sample. The shell mixes a Mac 128K facia, with a Plus 1Mb rear housing (and contents at one time) making it a possibly rare transition machine.

Overall, the thermal printer mod is a pretty interesting one. The project reminds us of the iMac G4 ‘lamp shade’ revitalization mod by Action Retro in 2024. Similarly, a Mac Mini was squeezed into the retro-shell in that project. Sadly, Action Retro didn’t reuse the vestigial optical drive during that mod, which seemed like a missed opportunity.

Microtransactions have been the bane of gamers ever since Oblivion's horse armor DLC in 2006. But as we approach the 20th anniversary of the predatory practice, some users may want to kick it old school and get back to the original microtransaction: paying one shiny quarter for every play session at the arcade. Enter YouTube hardware engineer Mr. Yeester (stylized mryeester), who shared a new project this weekend that integrates a coin acceptor into a gaming PC, replacing a standard power switch with an arcade machine-style pay-to-play assembly.

The project, posted to mryeester's YouTube channel, shows the process of assembling and programming the system so simply that many viewers with some technical proficiency can follow along and replicate the success at home.

Mr. Yeester is no stranger to Tom's Hardware's news desk, having previously received recognition for his attempt to turn a real, working Honda CR-V's throttle and steering wheel into a video game controller, as well as his 2022 research on thermal paste additives. Comparatively, Yeester's work on the coin-powered gaming PC is a much easier, simpler, and safer project that could easily inspire a slew of copycats, requiring only a decent hardware spend and some practice with cable crimpers.

The brunt of the project revolves around the coin acceptor itself. The coin acceptor used by mryeester is shockingly inexpensive, at only $23 on Amazon, as listed in the video description. Unlike more traditional coin slots found in change machines and arcade boxes that accept a wide range of local currency, this component works more like a comparator.

The chosen coin acceptor can be programmed by the owner to accept only a single specific denomination of currency, measuring the coin's size and thickness with phototransistors and infrared LEDs as it passes through. The coin slot prevents spoofing by incorrect but similarly shaped objects through magnetic coils trained to the magnetic disturbance displaced by the chosen denomination.

Beyond the coin acceptor itself, the project continues in a largely standard manner. The output from the coin slot, which sends a signal when the correct coin is detected, is sent to a 12V relay module, which in turn activates a small physical lever assembly. The relay and coin acceptor are both powered via an ATX 24-pin power supply, plugged into a power supply breakout module. The transfer board separates all the rails of a standard desktop PSU, providing easy access to a simple 12V power supply.

After a digital setup process of the coin acceptor, done by running U.S. quarters through the reader over a dozen times to train the sensors on the coin, the most difficult part of assembly is stripping some 28-gauge wire, connecting the coin acceptor to a relay and both modules to 12V power, and finally creating custom motherboard power button header cables with a crimping kit.

Once both the coin acceptor and the relay are configured to send out a long, slow signal burst when a coin is read, the signal can be picked up as a power-on/off switch by a standard PC motherboard header, and you're off to the races: you have a gaming PC ready to cost its users money for operation.

Mr. Yeester's Amazon shopping list, containing all the necessary components and tools for assembling the project, totals around $135 before tax and shipping. Yeester also quickly put the coin acceptor in a carved-out cardboard box for his final deployment, a quaint solution that a more aesthetics-oriented maker might improve on for a bit more coin.

While this DIY project itself is simple and fun, what it indicates about the state of video gaming and computing is anything but. As nearly every YouTube comment indicates, users and enthusiasts are increasingly frustrated with the record-high prices of RAM. These record-high prices, almost 200% more than they were mere months ago, are entirely thanks to the data center market, which is already buying up 70% of 2026's entire worldwide memory chip production. And of course, the games played on the expensive hardware aren't getting any cheaper either, as gamers are forced to battle even more ads for the privilege of playing, while the games industry at large continues to stumble.

Occasionally, curiosity or boredom may serve as the primary catalysts for inventive creations. If you have grown weary of turning on your PC with the standard power button, Reddit user veloci_official has suggested a more intricate yet impressive method. Recall the scenes from movies when the pilot is about to fly a fighter jet? The approach by veloci_official resembles that scenario.

I was bored, so this is how my PC turns on now from r/pcmasterrace

The invention, which the Redditor has dubbed a "PC button extension v2d," is precisely that—a front panel that functions like a power button but with a unique twist. Rather than simply pressing a button, the method employed by veloci_official entails flipping two switches, inserting a key to activate the "ignition," and subsequently pressing a button reminiscent of a missile launch button.

Veloci_official has published the instructions on GitHub, including a parts list with pricing for each component. The Redditor has also graciously supplied the resources needed to 3D print the panel. The device interfaces with the motherboard through standard front-panel connectors, specifically those designated for the power LED, hard-drive activity, and power switch.

The panel offers a comprehensive functionality beyond merely being a basic cable extension. For instance, veloci_official has incorporated a compact USB-C trigger board that activates the LEDs when the flip-up switch is toggled. The remaining process involves wiring the various buttons and switches to the corresponding front panel connectors on the motherboard.

The creator demonstrated use with a Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Gaming 9 motherboard; however, the panel is compatible with any motherboard, provided that the pin configurations are correctly aligned.

What's cool about the PC button extension v2d is that you have to adhere to the power-on procedure; otherwise, the system will not power on. For instance, the power button remains non-functional if the two flip-up switches and the key are not in the 'on' position.

External power buttons have been available for some time now; however, veloci_official's device offers a distinctive approach. If you are not a DIYer but still want something cool, you can always find these external power buttons on the market, such as this one that mimics a bomb launch button.

Someone has stripped down and modded one of the popular Steam Deck handhelds into a minimal form factor dubbed the Steam Brick. "No screen, no controller, and absolutely no sense," quips Crastinator-Pro on GitHub, "just a power button and a USB port." Yet, it still delivers all the portable functionality the GitHubber needs as the device was (and is) invariably connected to either a TV or AR glasses for Steam-based fun.

For some, like Crastinator-Pro, the Steam Deck is a bit hefty, even ungainly. They explain that the handheld was often left behind when packing a backpack, as it was just a little bit too bulky. We guess the 'brick' is also rather more rugged and immune to mistreatment.

Crastinator-Pro followed the iFixIt Steam Deck Repair Guides to strip down the handheld to its bare essentials without rendering it useless in the process. They first pleasingly confirmed that the Steam Deck wasn't averse to starting up without its standard-issue control array, battery, or even the screen. Next, the system was safely disassembled to become just a mainboard and fan.

Finding that a rigid metal frame was also part of the Steam Deck structure, Crastinator-Pro cut off a couple of its protrusions to make a perfect reinforcement for the Steam Brick. A few measurements and CAD drafting minutes later, and the GitHubber had managed to 3D print a brick shell to snugly accommodate the frame, mobo, and cooling.

The result was that the newly formed Steam Brick was "about a 3rd of the size of the Deck, and about 4 times smaller than the Deck’s OEM case," says Crastinator-Pro. "As a bonus, it’s also 24% lighter!" It can also be tossed in a bag without any case or screen protection, and the creator claims there is nothing to worry about.

Now, in use, the Steam Brick is powered on using a single button, then a dock can provide power and monitor/headset connectivity.

There are a couple of small wrinkles that affect the GitHub-shared plans, as they stand, though. Crastinator-Pro noted that they aren't able to access the BIOS, as that function requires holding down the '+' while powering up. That issue can be sidestepped using a terminal command to enter BIOS at the next boot, though.

Secondly, the Steam Brick power indicator light doesn't differentiate between the system being on or off. This doesn't sound like a very serious issue, as the system is also stripped of battery power, so once unplugged, it isn't going to be left running by accident.

YouTube creator Zack Freedman set out to build the most RGB PC ever, and while they used several off-the-shelf RGB parts, they also made some exciting mods to their computer. But the most fantastic part of the entire build is the mods they did to the Fractal Design North XL case — the last PC case you would think of if you're going full-blown RGB inside and out.

This RGB PC of RGB PCs is designed as the creator's workstation, so it's bound to have some choice parts as well. So, before we look at their custom mods, let's check out their spec sheet.

Zack could have chosen the more expensive MEG Z790 GODLIKE, where the only difference with the ACE is the included LCD screen to display PC metrics. However, it's not an LED screen, so he chose the latter instead and bought a 5-inch 1080p Full HD AMOLED display to replace the LCD in the GODLIKE version.

The YouTuber also chose the Core i9-13900K instead of the Core i9-13900KS or the 14th-gen Intel Core i9 chips for its stability. Hopefully, they've installed the BIOS patches that Intel released recently to prevent the elevated voltages from damaging the Core i9-13900K in the long run.

You might notice that not all the items Zack acquired have RGB, like the Toshiba X300 22 TB hard drive and the Fractal Design North XL. So, to fix that, they had to do a bit of custom modding.

First off, the Fractal Design's wooden front cover had to go. Zack attempted to disassemble it to add some RGB lights behind the wood, but it was so well-built that it was next to impossible. Instead, they built a new face with aluminum RGB channels, lined them up with RGB lights, and then covered it with ultra-thin red oak edge banding — the kind used by carpenters to hide plywood edges to make wooden furniture look like they're made from solid wood.

But what's more astounding is how Zack replaced the metal cover of their 22 TB hard drive. They replaced the metal plate protecting the hard drive with an acrylic cover and inserted RGB lights in between, allowing everyone to see the moving arm whenever the drive is reading or writing.

They also built a system monitoring display with the 5-inch AMOLED screen using a Mobro Pi dashboard on a 3D printed mount with, you guessed it, an RGB fan for cooling. They also wrapped all the cables on the motherboard that aren't the Lian Li Strimers with white split loom and rigged it with RGB lights to get the same effect.

You won't see any part of this PC build without RGB lights; even the PSU gets an RGB fan mod. Depending on your perspective, this build is a total feast for the eyes — or the ultimate headache. Zack Freedman spent a lot of time, effort, and money building this full RGB PC, and no matter what your stance is on lights in your desktop case, we salute them for this massive accomplishment of bringing light to every nook and cranny of this desktop PC.

There's always a lot of interesting stuff to see at the Computex trade show, but the case mods are always my favorites. Vendors such as Thermaltake, G. Skill, and ASRock invite the top modders to submit their greatest designs and then show them off to the world. 

This year's highlights included a coffee maker, a beer server, a variety of battle vehicles, and multiple gas station-themed cases. These are true works of art, made by dedicated craftspeople. Some of them barely look like the original chassis they are based upon, and others are more of a theming and building out of the aesthetic. Here are the most interesting and coolest case mods of Computex 2024.

Shell Gas Station on Thermaltake CTE C750

Thermaltake is a leader in case modding and, at its Computex booth, it showed off the finalists from its 2023 Thermaltake CaseMOD Invitational, all of which were based on its CTE C750 case. This gas station mod, my favorite of the Thermaltake mods, comes from French modder Wael Kadri. There's a great video about the case here.

Beer and Coffee Serving Cases

I really love these beer and coffee-dispensing cases from KM Studio. We saw them on display at G.Skill's booth.

Moving Mirror front on Thermaltake CTE C750

On display at Thermaltake's booth, this case mod of the CTE C750 comes from India's Maulik Patel. It looks incredibly festive, but what you can't see in the photos is that the mirror pieces on the front are motorized and periodically move to allow more airflow in. There's also a peacock design on the right side. There's a great video about this on YouTube.

Claw Machine

It's not clear to us whether the claw actually works in this claw machine build, but there's a joystick and a claw. This design from BRO Cooling was on display at G.Skill's booth.

Warrior Truck by JPModified

Making case mods that look like battle vehicles is always in style. This one comes from JPModified and was shown at G.Skill's booth.

ED-209 Case

If you can't have a Robocop case, why  not an ED-209 case? This was made by RandomDesign and shown at G.Skill's booth.

Turtle Case

This was at Enermax's booth and designed to showcase a commitment to the environment. 

Fallout Themed Thermaltake 300 Mod

Another Thermaltake mod: I think this is a Fallout theme, but I could be wrong. It's made by Australian Modder Corey Gregory.

Goat's Head Breaking Open the Earth

I'm really not sure what this is supposed to be, but it's an amazing feat of design from WMP. This was on display at G.Skill's booth.

Noguchi's Hologram

The main feature of this mod is a holographic window with a dancing animation on it. Spotted at G.Skill's booth.

Bumblebee Mods of Thermaltake Tower 300s

Thermaltake had a couple of different Bumblebee (from Transformers) themed mods at its booth. One comes from Mickee Lacerna of the Philippines and another from Justin Chu of the USA.

Jurassic Park Hatchling Case

This case shows raptors hatching. It's made by Modding Cafe and was on display at G.Skill's booth. 

GT-R Nismo Racing Car Mod of Thermaltake Tower 300

Designed to look like a Nissan GT-R sports car, this hot red mod comes from Jess "JP Modified" Palacio whom we have interviewed in the past. We have been seeing his impressive work at shows for many years. 

Gulf Gas Station Mod of Thermaltake Tower 300

Gas-station-themed mods seemed like a thing this year. Here, modder Timmy Parker (aka PC Workz) has made one that honors Gulf gas.

Palit GPU Mod by Mijinko Studio

Now this is not a case mod, but a GPU mod. Underneath there somewhere is an RTX Card. This dragon was the winner of a GPU mod contest by Palit and was designed by Mijinko Studio's Chin Ku. Could it fit in your case? Probably not.

Buzz Lightyear Case Mod of Thermaltake Tower 300

This Toy Story-themed mod comes courtesy of Thailand's Suchao Prowphong.

'Holographic' Case Mod of CTE 750

I'm not really sure how to describe this Thermaltake CTE 750 mod from Thai modder  Ponsaurd Romvilast. But you can see a video about it here.

LN2 Case

This case was used for overclocking demos at G.Skill and the actual motherboard was at the top with lots of Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) being poured over the CPU.

Very Gold Case

Lots of gold and lots of waterblocks. This was at G.Skill's booth.

Avatar Case

On display at ASRock's booth, this is supposed to be one of the machines from Avatar.

Avatar Helicopter Case

Also at ASRock's booth was this Avatar helicopter case. 

ASRock Gumball Case

I'm not sure what this is exactly supposed to be, but it looks like a gumball machine to me. It was on display at ASRock's booth.

Project Alpha Concept Case

Technically not a mod but a concept case, Project Alpha was on display at G.Skill's booth in both black and white varieties. It's kind of house-shaped and has excellent air flow.

Gundam Case mod of Jonsbo MOD-3

We found this case on display at Jonsbo's Computex booth where apparently it was made by IPASON, a company that makes and sells its own gaming PCs. The chassis is clearly based on Jonsbo's MOD-3, but with a yellow and black paint scheme and a picture of a Gundam character on the window, along with the Anaheim Electronics logo. Anaheim Electronics is a company in the fictional world of Gundam.

Matt, who runs his well-known YouTube channel DIY Perks, has created an amazing "Endgame Invisible PC." This involves making a complex hidden panel that opens to reveal an integrated widescreen OLED monitor with all the peripherals underneath, his desktop-grade ultra-high-end components, and a ginormous custom liquid cooling radiator. All of this is hidden within the tabletop of a motorized desk capable of supporting 440 lbs (or close to 200 kg). 

While the whole build is impressive in itself, nothing about it is easy. It relied on Matt's experience with his previous builds, as well as the time, effort, and expenses incurred due to the components used in this setup. The centerpiece is a motorized standing desk, but a custom tabletop that houses the entire PC system, monitor, and connected peripherals is needed. 

Throughout the video, Matt uses multiple stripped-down components and a series of custom-made parts to make them work with each other seemingly flawlessly. While some may call it overkill at a glance, the whole video shows that it was necessary because of the choice of components, cooling, and the part where it needed to justify the words 'invisible' and 'end game.' 

The engineering behind the 'hidden' art

Aluminum is a soft metal, and these 3mm sheets are bendy, becoming rigid once the panels are screwed in with the help of extruded aluminum support used as an internal frame. Once the body of the hollow aluminum desk top was made, the casing was sawed with a hinge added for the monitor hatch. 

Throughout this build, Matt used a series of special hinges, custom L-brackets, pneumatic struts, tension springs, and sliding rails to work between these joints and panels needed to hold in place while opening and closing the monitor hatch. As a result, it will conceal a mini ITX desktop build while making it easier to open, close, and keep the hatch in place during use. 

Matt also explained that some of this was possible because of technological advancements, making monitors like the Corsair Xeneon Flex ultrawide bendable OLED used in this build possible. However, it was stripped down to its PCB and the panel, which was painstakingly integrated into this custom build.

The depth of the tabletop was crucial as this would house all the components and peripherals while being seamless with the rest of the desk when opened or closed. This would include a full-size keyboard, a mouse, a headset, and an external audio interface with the OLED monitor. 

Matt's build includes an Intel Core i9-13900K processor paired with an ASRock Z790 PG-ITX/TB4 motherboard and a Zotac GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card with water blocks used on these components. Since ATX and SFX power supplies are not small enough to be concealed, two HDPlex 500W GaN (Gallium Nitride) power supplies were used, and one of the units is dedicated to the graphics card. For storage, twelve 4TB Crucial P3 M.2 drives are installed on a Flashtor 12 Pro NAS drive, which is connected to the motherboard, M.2 port, and a 10Gbit M.2 network card.

The wooden panels were then installed on the exterior of the aluminum case and internally to serve as a surface for the peripherals. The gaps behind the hatch were hidden with a spring-loaded wooden insert that protruded outwards when opened. The only way the monitor hatch could be lifted was by using a magnet attached to a concealed steel plate underneath the monitor hatch. Fortunately, it is easy to lift and close because of the pneumatic struts.

Cooling a system with a 800W heat output with a custom radiator

Matt needed a suitable liquid cooling radiator, as cooling a system with a total of 800w heat output would be a big task for any radiator. A custom water-cooling block was constructed using four brass pipes sandwiched by forty low-profile copper heat fins with bidirectional low-profile fans. The entire frame, including the front section, was covered with a thin wooden panel shaped so that the tabletop looked thinner.

However, this custom water block array couldn't effectively cool the system despite having these low-speed fans at max speeds, with the system reaching up to 92 degrees Celsius during stress testing. The cooling setup was replaced with an array of 140mm PC fans and taller heatsinks with more space and surface area. 

The result was a vast improvement in cooling capacity while maintaining quiet operation. The 140mm fans were running at 432 RPM, which can keep the RTX 4090 at 52 degrees while running on Furmark. 

A series of 'necessary overkills'

Ironically, Matt says this enormous liquid cooling array costs less than the previous custom low-profile set and typical liquid cooling radiator you could buy from a retailer. However, this wouldn't have included labor costs as Matt did it himself. Additionally, the costs involved would deter anyone from making such builds. 

Many of the challenges of this build could have stymied less-dedicated individuals, but it shows the skillset Matt has to pull this one off. While custom builds will always continue to impress many, every part of this build would leave many in awe. 

Two transparent mods for the Steam Deck are on the way from JSAUX and eXtremeRate, according to a report by GamingOnLinux. The mod will allow enthusiasts to replace the matte black plastic shell of the Steam Deck with a transparent one, revealing the console's internals for everyone to see.

According to a quick sneak peek from JSAUX, its new transparent clamshell will have a tinted frost-like finish that adds a bit of haze while staring at the Steam Deck's internals. The case replaces the Deck's black clamshell completely, leaving the buttons, joysticks, and triggers as the only remnants of the Deck's default color scheme. Additionally, the clamshell comes with some extra ventilation near the bottom left of the chassis to improve cooling. The new design will be available in clear ("Krystal") as well as purple and brown. 

eXtremeRate's transparent clamshell is different from JSAUX's — instead of a frosted finish, it has a "plastic-like" finish with buttons and triggers that have been modified with see-through materials. This case will come in several transparent finishes, including a vanilla non-tinted design, a dark-tinted design, and a design with a dark purple finish. It will also come in several non-transparent finishes, including purple, black, white, and red, as well as a "wood" pattern and a "carbon fiber" pattern.

These new transparent designs will be fantastic for any Steam Deck enthusiasts who want to show off their Deck's internals, as well as any modifications they may have performed on the handheld console. However, GamingOnLinux warns that replacing the Deck's clamshell is not an easy task: it requires a great amount of precision and care to replace the Steam Deck's cover without breaking it.

No word on pricing or release dates for either JSAUX's or eXtremeRate's new cases, but they should be out soon.

The Computex 2023 show floor isn't just a place for PC hardware companies to showcase their new tech — it's also home to dozens of wildly creative case mods created by independent artists from around the world. We didn't have as much time as usual to walk the exhibition halls in search of mods, but managing editor Matt Safford managed to snap some photos of some pretty awesome ones as he was rushing between meetings. 

Cyberpunk Motorcycle Case

We spotted this 3D-printed cyberpunk motorcycle-inspired case mod by LINModified at Enermax's booth, showcasing Enermax's Aquafusion ADV AiO cooler. It's called "The Future on Wheels," but coincidentally has no wheels. Perhaps the Enermax MarbleBron RGB 850W PSU is supposed to be a wheel? (Or maybe the future has no wheels, I don't know.) 

Alien Facehugger Case

This Alien facehugger case at G.Skill's booth features 32GB of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000 RAM as well as an Intel Core i7-13700K processor, an Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, and a 500GB Samsung 870 EVO SSD.

To be fair, if this case were involuntarily attached to your face, at least you'd get a massive RGB light show and the ability to play most games at 1080p. Perhaps a little baby mobile processor would pop out of your stomach eventually, though.

Cybertower Case

We loved this multi-level futuristic cybertower by Samuel Callanta of Samca Studios. This incredibly detailed case mod uses Thermaltake's Tower 500 as its base and won second place (first runner up) in Thermaltake's 2022 CaseMOD Invitational Season 1.

The mod features an Intel Core i9-12900K, an ASRock Z690 Steel Legend WiFi 6E motherboard with 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, and an Asus ROG STrix Radeon RX 6750 XT OC Edition GPU.

The Moon Case

Titled "The Moon," this "air space center" tower by Krittanon Kidprasert took first place in Thermaltake's 2022 CaseMOD Invitational Season 1. Also based on Thermaltake's Tower 500 case, this mod rotates to showcase different components. (Kidprasert also created the Cooler Master Shark X mod we saw — and I loved — at CES 2023.)

Medieval Church Case 

Appropriately titled "Quiet Please," this case mod by CUGMAG is based on be quiet!'s Pure Base 500 FX case and has been modded to look like a medieval church — complete with stained glass and catacombs. The build includes an Intel i9-10900KF processor, an MSI MEG Z490 Unify motherboard, and a Zotac RTX 3060Ti Twin Edge OC GPU.

Tower of Light Case

It may not be terribly practical, but this black and gold tower of light is certainly mesmerizing with its rhombille tiling-etched acrylic. This mod, created by Mike Petereyns of MP Customized, was also on display at G.Skill's booth, featuring 64GB of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000 RAM, as well as an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor, a ProArt X670E-CREATOR WiFi motherboard, and an Asus Radeon RX 7900 XT GPU.

Cybernetic Cylinder

This cracked cybernetic cylinder is designed to showcase the GPU inside — that's Zotac's new Geforce RTX 4070 Amp Airo Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse card, by the way. This impressive, custom-built case mod was created by Mark's Fabrication.

Pyramid Case with Liquid Nitrogen Overclock

We're not sure if this colorful, misty pyramid is really a case mod so much as it's a way to keep a steady flow of liquid nitrogen pumping to cool off G.Skill's latest Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-8000 memory module, which managed to hit a non-record-breaking 10,000 MT/s. 

This "mod" by ElmorLabs also features an Intel Core i9-13900K processor, an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Apex motherboard, and a PowerColor Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU. 

More Thermaltake Mods

These may not be as wild-looking as the custom-built cases, but we appreciate these ultra-clean builds on display at Thermaltake's booth. The first is by Mhike Samsin from TantricmodZ PC Casemodding, and uses Thermaltake's Ceres 500 Snow as its base and features a custom water cooling setup with rigid black acrylic tubing and a temperature monitoring screen. 

The second is by Michael John Larcerna of MadMods PC Modding, and uses Thermaltake's Core P6 TG Racing Green as a base. And the third is by Jesse Palacio of JP Modified and uses Thermaltake's Tower 500 as a base.  

A PC enthusiast in China has built a custom PC case specifically to fit the substantial Noctua NH-P1 passive cooler — with room for little else. With a self-imposed design constraint of using a Mini-ITX platform, ChipHell’s FreshCool created a custom case measuring just 30 x 20 x 20 cm (LWH), or roughly 12 x 8 x 8–inches. The result, spotted by FanlessTech, is a pleasingly compact passive system. Moreover, it looks much like a modern manufactured case, featuring contemporary design trappings such as a side window, a generous amount of venting, and a vertically barred front. Perhaps it was Fractal North inspired.

What kind of thermal load will this passive PC system have to cope with? The system’s main heat source will be the Intel Core i7-12700, which of course has the Noctua NH-P1 attached. FreshCool says that if the CPU is limited to 65W, in testing it never strayed beyond the 50 degrees Celsius range. A 100W limit meant that the processor would run at temperatures in the mid-70s. Finally, the translation isn’t great but it seems like if the power limit is completely unlocked (140W), the 12700 will start to throttle under load after 90 seconds. We don’t have any info about what tests were run, ambient temperatures, etc.

On the quest for a truly fanless system, FreshCool chose to install a Seasonic PX450. This is a fully modular 450W PSU, and it offers 80 Plus Platinum efficiency with an attractive 12-year warranty. Other key components of the build include a Maxsun H610 ITX motherboard, 32GB of RAM (Kingston 2x16GB), and a WD Blue SN570 M.2 SSD.

In some further comments and replies on the ChipHell forums, FreshCool joked with other users about the case looking like a cooking appliance. The PC DIYer also revealed that they had previously considered using a SilverStone Sugo 16, with a comparable size but designed for active cooling. FreshCool didn’t use the Sugo after determining that "its ventilation efficiency is not good" for creating a passive system. However, for builders wanting a discrete GPU the Sugo has room for cards up to 275mm long and 147mm wide.

This custom case obviously won't win any gaming performance awards, since it lacks anything better than the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770. That's enough for streaming video or perhaps playing Minecraft, but it falls well short of even the slowest dedicated solutions that we've tested in our GPU benchmarks. Of course, few graphics cards offer fanless solutions these days, which would defeat the point of this build.

Intel is flexing its marketing muscles around its Arc Alchemist lineup, even though the cards themselves are still missing from the world at large (with the exception of China, which has current exclusivity on the entry-level Arc A380). The company has enlisted tech-streamer Robeytech in a bid to deliver its secretive and coveted Arc A770 to be integrated - and showcased - in case modders' creations. If you need a refresher on Intel's Arc (understandable given how long they've been talked about), here's everything we know.

All three creations - signed by LiquidHous, Blue Horse, and PC Werkz - integrate Intel's Arc identity within tones of blue and violet. The three systems are beautiful in their own way, making good use of liquid cooling installation to enhance the cards' clean, industrial design.

Building upon its marketing campaign, Intel launched its "Gamer Days" promotion just yesterday, which runs from August 25th through September 30th. Through it, participants will be given a chance to bring the LiquidHaus system home, and there are a series of deals with hardware prizes that, in some instances, reach $10,000.

Intel's Arc launch has been postponed multiple times over problems with inconsistent, poor drivers and the alleged board partner manufacturing cancellations "due to quality concerns." As a result, everyone is still waiting for quality reviews showcasing the customer value of a third player in the high-performance, discrete GPU segment. 

One would expect that Intel's accelerating and increasingly serious marketing efforts mean that Arc's worldwide launch is closer than one might think. While initial performance reviews on (imported) Arc A380 cards showcase meager performance (which is to be expected from Intel's entry-level product), overlocking endeavors that have sidestepped Intel's voltage controls show that there's considerable grunt available in even entry-level Arc cards.

Hopefully, that Arc A770 cards are already hitting tech influencers' hands means they're also being distributed to review outlets - with a fast-approaching release date lock-in. We'll just have to wait and see.

Some people love cable management, making sure everything in their PC is neat and clean. Others do their best in the hopes it enables better airflow in their system. And some don't care at all and just hope the sides to their case close. But with a new collaboration from Gigabyte and Maingear, building a PC without messy cables might just get easier.

The two companies today announced Project Stealth. It centers around a motherboard, the Z690 Aorus Elite Stealth, that moves all of the connections to the back, including power supply connections, audio, USB and front panel headers. There's also a case, the Aorus C300G Stealth with appropriate cutouts to install from the rear and a GPU, the RTX 3070 Gaming OC Stealth,  with a power connector on the underside.

Project Stealth will be available as an assembly kit, the Z690 Aorus Elite Stealth motherboard, RTX 3070 Gaming OC Stealth GPU and Aorus C300G Stealth Case. Pricing was not announced. Maingear will be selling full pre-built systems in custom configurations, including DDR5 RAM and PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, for those who want a clean build without putting it together on their own. Those will probably cost a lot more, considering they'll include processors, PSUs and other parts, as well as assembly in the company's New Jersey facility.

Here's a look at what a build might look like from the back, where all the connections go: 

Gigabyte's announcement very specifically refers to using Maingear's "revolutionary patent and design" for the motherboard, likely referring to a 2011 patent held by Maingear chief executive Wallace Santos. After Aorus France tweeted a teaser showing a cable-free build and a motherboard and GPU meant to hide ports, many wondered if Maingear would enforce its claim to the patent. If they weren't working together then, the two companies certainly are now.

There's no specific release date. A release from Gigabyte says that the kit is "now available," but we haven't seen it for sale anywhere. 

Episodes of the GeForce Garage from Nvidia are often greeted by delight by PC modding fans and enthusiasts. The latest video showcase might be one of the best we have seen, with Mark's Fabrication discussing the development of the Doom Eternal BFG 10000 PC mod. Yes, Doom Eternal fans, it is a design that pays tribute to the game's massive planetary defense weapon, capable of blowing a hole core-deep into an average sized planet.

Mark's favorite mods are machine-based and turning to the project in the spotlight he finds scenes and design elements within Doom Eternal very inspiring. The most impressive design elements within the game revolve around armor and weapons, reckons Mark, and with this in mind you can understand the genesis of the Doom Eternal BFG 10000 case mod.

One particular Doom weapon caught the eye of the Taiwan-based modder, and that was the BFG-10000 planetary defense weapon gun turret. In the game, the huge turret stands independently of the operator (who controls it with the BFG-9000). This idea draws parallels with a PC base unit, so is a great subject for a mod that is designed to grace a desk.  Of course, Mark hasn't just built a replica Doom BFG-10000 turret in the real world verbatim, he has added some design elements of his own, drawing from several years modding experience and his favorite design flourishes.

Examining the Doom Eternal BFG 10000 case mod images and video, you can see how cleverly Mark has integrated two major system fans which, head-on, would make you feel like you are about to be blasted by both barrels. Laser lighting is built-in too, and the case can animate to various "shooting" angles, as if it is targeting.

Towards the end of the showcase Mark modestly laments not having time to add some finishing touches to this mod, which would have made it "even better and more complete." For example, he would have liked to have improved the animation of the turret design, with better pivoting, and added rotational movement, as well as packing in some more laser lighting.

Last but not least, the Doom Eternal BFG 10000 PC mod isn't just a work of art, it is a powerful modern gaming PC with the following components, many with RGB LED lighting.

• GPU: GeForce RTX 3080 FE
• CPU: Intel i7-10700k
• Motherboard: ASRock Z490i Phantom Gaming-ITX
• RAM: 32GB (16x2) Zadak Twist DDR4
• Storage: Zadak TWSG3 M.2
• Power: CoolerMaster GX GOLD 1050
• Cooling: Cooler Master ML240 Illusion

Mark, started case modding seriously when he took part in the Cooler Master Case Mod World Series in 2018. Winning second place in this major competition, helped Mark realize his talent, and the splendid wood and brass, steampunk gears and dials mod, was obviously a great public debut.

To paraphrase Xzibit, "we heard you like rigs, so we put a rig in your rig". And what a rig this is. Created by Suchao Modding & Design of Thailand, and brought to our attention by PC Gamer, who have clearly been spending too much time of Reddit and Facebook, this delicious diorama is a PC, its parts cleverly hidden in the walls and furniture. There’s also an Intel NUC masquerading as a coffee table, and a wall-mounted Nintendo Switch.

had_to_share_this_credit_suchao_prowphong from r/pcmasterrace

The desk is a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti - an Asus ROG Strix Gaming - while above it hangs an ITX motherboard (Asus ROG Strix B560) with a Core 17 11700K, 16GB of RGB Thermaltake RAM running at 4400 MHz, and a 1TB Intel M.2 SSD. 

The CPU water block is connected via custom tubing to a Pacific CLD 360 Radiator with a triple-fan setup, the aquarium acts as coolant reservoir, and all the tiny screens on the desk work too, though there’s a video out in one of the external walls too. The Intel NUC houses a Celeron J3455 and pulls just ten Watts, while the main PC is powered by a 650W Thermaltake PSU, though we’re not exactly sure where he’s put it - possibly in the air conditioner. The arcade machine shows different screens in different photos, so appears to be at least semi-functional too, though the tiny MacBook on top of the NUC probably isn’t. There are even tiny Harry Potter books stacked on a shelf.

The 3D-printed rigged rig is a prize in an Intel Gamer Days 2021 event that supports Technovation, “a global tech education non-profit that empowers underrepresented groups to be leaders and creative problem-solvers through technology and engineering education”.

If you just want to admire the work, there’s a comprehensive photo gallery on Facebook, where modder Suchao Prowphong also shows off his other creations, including this Gatling gun case mod.

Project A.R.E.S. (Astral Robot Enclosure Systems) tells a story: 

Starship Copper Nebula, named so for its peculiar color, is tapped for space program A.R.E.S. The starship comes in contact with some sort of organic alien technology, which starts to merge with it, covering the external structure and contaminating the propellant.

This story continues through colors and lines, from the blue and copper shades and curved lines representing alien technology, to the aluminum and silver shades and straight lines embodying human technology. Three astronauts at the back, impersonated by the hex-shaped reservoirs, look into the void while trying to communicate with the alien being. Up front is a mirror, which reflects Copper Nebula’s destination

Eventually, the humans and aliens succeed in communicating and join each other in a common cause: survival.

When I built Project A.R.E.S. for the latest Cooler Master Case Mod World Series. My goal was to take the Cooler Master Cosmos C700M, (which we list in our Best PC Cases list) and re-think it from the ground up, following this sci-fi design language. My biggest inspiration -- mainly for the mod’s color scheme and the starry face at the front of the case -- came from  Robot in Netflix’s Lost in Space show. 

The finished product took about six months and ultimately won Best Tower of the Year in Cooler Master’s contest, is usually what matters most. But I take a lot of pride in how I actually accomplish this kind of work and in inspiring people to start pushing boundaries. By detailing the making of Project A.R.E.S., I hope to do just that. Let’s get started!

Case and Components 

Here are the PC components I recruited for Project A.R.E.S.:

• Case: Cooler Master Cosmos C700M
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 
• Graphics Card: Inno3D iChill Frostbite RTX 2070 Super
• Motherboard: ASRock X570 Steel Legend
• RAM: Adata XPG Spectrix D60G (32GB) 
• SSD: Adata XPG Spectrix S40G (512GB)
• Cooling: Bitspower custom watercooling components, 2x Cooler Master SF360R 
• Power Supply: Cooler Master V850
• Other: CableMod custom small form factor cables 

As mentioned, the base of this project is the Cooler Master’s Cosmos C700M. You’re seeing two of those because I actually replaced the bottom panel of one with a second top panel (taken from the second case), for symmetry purposes.

The first step in making such an intricate mod is tearing the case apart, particularly the internals, which will be completely reworked. After that, I flipped the case 90 degrees in order to have the handle bars at both the front and back instead of at the top and bottom, where they were originally. 

The C700M case has an amazing feature that helped a lot with these extreme modifications: threaded holes on all sides of the frame. This allows you to easily mount any kind of custom panel or bracket.

Next, I took some aluminum L-profiles and cut them to length to fit all around the case’s frame. This made it easier to add internal panels to close up all sides.

Custom Back Panel 

Since the internals were still in the design phase at this point, I proceeded to cut the first custom panel for A.R.E.S., the back panel. I used 5mm acrylic, cut and engraved on my CNC router. The peculiar shape created a challenge, as I had a lot of curved corners and, simply, weird angles to replicate. To tackle this, I first cut an MDF (medium density fiberboard) prototype to trace down the measurements and ensure their accuracy.  

After that, I went to cut the real thing. 

Due to the unique shape of the C700M, I had to bend the back panel’s top and bottom using a heat gun. For accuracy, I used the original panels from the C700M as a template. 

You might be wondering about the three circles in the panel. Those are there to show off the Bitspower Water Tank Hexagon reservoirs and to provide a sort of space helmet look. Ultimately, I used ornaments to complete the look. 

Going back to the internals, I cut the two top and bottom grills out of 5mm acrylic to allow airflow to the pair of 360mm radiators and fans. I tried to keep Project A.R.E.S.’ insides as clean as possible to let enough air through. The final design is basically open-air though, and there are other entry points for air as well, so it wasn’t a big issue to begin with. 

Rotating Hardware Panel 

One of the most eye-popping features of Project A.R.E.S. is undoubtedly the rotating system for its main components. Below is an early 3D concept: 

The central design was so difficult to work out, and I went through tens of attempts before landing on one that actually worked. I eventually made the rotating hardware panel’s side wall and rotating bracket out of 5mm aluminum. 

To fix the central acrylic panel, I made four brackets out of 8mm aluminum and screwed them onto the two rotating discs. 

Next, I added a small pocket to the side walls, so I could insert two small ball bearings.

This is how it looks without the central piece:

The Floating Effect 

On to more aluminum milling. I started making the base and pedestal so that I could start having a clearer look on the final shape of the whole thing. 

First was the 8mm aluminum panel, which attached to the bottom of the case, thanks to two other strips that I cut, drilled and threaded. 

In order for the pedestal to give Project A.R.E.S. the illusion that it’s floating I called in three 40 x 40mm acrylic blocks. But to avoid having to drill holes in them and ruin the magic, I made six acrylic discs that I glued to the blocks and had them serve as mounting holes.

The main part of the pedestal is made out of 15mm acrylic. The trickiest part about constructing this piece was definitely creating the huge chamfered edges. I was able to create the look by using a tridimensional toolpath on the CNC router.

Since my machine isn’t very sturdy, it tends to chutter and leave undesirable finishes on the surface. So I took my orbital sander and got to work with some elbow grease to finish up that big chamfer.

I left a frosted finish so that the edges could catch some light coming from the central LED strip.

Since I didn’t really trust the acrylic to hold all the weight, I added a 5mm aluminum plate under it and a small channel to route the cable from the RGB strip to the back of the pedestal.

At this stage, here’s what Project A.R.E.S. looked like:

Time to get to work on the hardware mountings.

First I made an MDF prototype of the motherboard/GPU tray, which will be a separate part from the central acrylic piece for easier maintenance and setup.

The prototype allowed me to fix a couple issues with my design. Then, I proceeded to cut the three pieces out of 5mm aluminum.

I fixed the GPU brackets to the motherboard tray by drilling threaded holes on the edges with a drill press. Here, the focus was keeping things standard, so that hardware could be easily upgraded if needed. This ste[ isn’t as obvious as it may seem. Many extreme PC modding projects feature custom mountings because they’re easier to implement. But those custom mountings are, naturally, tailored to the specific components used for that mod, making upgrades really difficult without further custom work.

Picky PSU Placement 

Finding a placement for the power supply , even if it’s one of the best power supplies, is always a big issue for me because, to be honest, no one wants to look at a plain metal box. PSUs also take up a lot of space, so it’s hard to find the right place for one in a custom mod. When it comes to Project A.R.E.S., the rotating hardware panel makes this even more complicated because all cable management has to go on the actual rotating part.

I eventually decided to make custom mountings and covers to fix the PSU to the back of the rotating panel and add cable channels to the acrylic. Below are the 3D models (the shape of the channels changed in the final product).

I made “armor” for the PSU using 5mm acrylic (front, top, bottom sides), 8mm aluminum (left and right, with threaded holes on all the edges to fix the other plates) and 5mm aluminum (for the back plate that was also used to fix everything to the rotating panel).

I then cut an MDF prototype of the central acrylic panel to trace down the placement for the tubing pass-through holes. I played with a couple of ideas regarding the way to route the tubing, which was parallel and kind of X-shaped. Eventually, I ran with parallel runs, which always look super nice.

Chugging Along

Quick backtrack to the rotating hardware panel. At this point, I looked to mount this central piece and make sure it’d work as planned.

I took the 8mm brackets I cut previously and drilled M5 holes on the edges to mount them to the rotating discs.

Moving onto some external work, I incorporated the same design style used for the custom back panel into the top and front ones as well.

These were also bent, using heat on both sides. In the picture below, you see the panel being bent and the clamps holding it in place while it cools down.

I individually constructed the Cooler Master logo seen on the front of the case in the picture below and put it on top of the case’s original power button so the button could have some more pizazz. I also did this for the front controls for fan speed and RGB lighting.

Starting the Side Panels  

Using 15mm acrylic, I constructed the large ellipse at the front of A.R.E.S., and added a big fillet, which features rounded edges, to make it fit into the overall design scheme seamlessly.  To do this, I leveraged the same 3D toolpath technique used in creating the pedestal, which meant clearing it up with a flat end mill and making it smooth with a ball end mill.

Again, my machine is a joke when it comes to good finishes, so I went ahead and made the fillet really smooth by hand.

And this is how it will fit inside the front.

After having checked all measurements for the central acrylic panel, I dove into three hours of straight milling to get this piece done. There were a lot of processes involved in building Project A.R.E.S., but the longest one was definitely milling all of these 10mm deep channels for cable routing.

Then I threaded all the required holes in M4 and M5, as well as the G1/4” threads for the pass-throughs. I didn’t use regular pass-through fittings due to clearance issues, (and the solution I went with looks cleaner anyway).

Meanwhile, I finished designing the side frames of the case, featuring the side “portals” and edge lighting all around. The assembly of each side required five different parts total.

The first part I made was the 2mm aluminum frames with part of the rings.

A trickier part was making what would go under these 2mm panels, the 10mm acrylic frames. Those required a channel to be milled, allowing me to route the LED strips inside.

To avoid losing my mind with double-sided operations on the machine, I drilled counterbores on the other side to have the screws sit flush.

The mounting holes are dedicated to both the acrylic and aluminum frames, so the aluminum one can be easily removed by itself if necessary. This is particularly helpful when doing maintenance to the internal hardware, since the rings do take up some clearance. During maintenance you can keep the acrylic frame on and avoid having to deal with the LED cables.

For some aesthetic flair, I incorporated rings into the side panels using 5mm acrylic. I also included my logo In the surrounding rectangle, which I milled down to a thickness of 3mm and polished.

I had to make custom mountings for the top 360mm radiator and clearly overdid it with a chonky 5mm aluminum plate.

This right here took a few attempts. I wanted to make some kind of custom fittings to fix the corrugated pipes that would help route the cables from the rotating system to the inner areas of the case. The thing is my machine was acting up and ruined a couple attempts to cut these. I eventually managed to get them right and did a quick test fit.

Starry Night Side Panel 

Here comes a more artistic part. The front ellipse you saw earlier was meant to offer a clear view on a starry night kind of effect. To accomplish this, my main actors were optic fibers and epoxy resin. The process required me to prep a clear mold so that I could keep track of what was happening during epoxy pouring and curing. I had to drill more than 100 holes into the top panel in order to fit the optic fibers through and keep them in place while the epoxy was curing.

The resin pour I made used black dye as well as light blue and copper mica powders. The light blue was eventually covered up by the other two but copper actually shows up at some angles creating a very nice nebula effect.

The thick-pour epoxy required about a week for a full cure. In the meantime, I made a modification to the C700M’s handles, which just didn’t cut it for me in terms of looks. Again, I wanted some kind of floaty look, so I decided to cut off the case’s mounting braces and replace them with my own custom mountings.

Since this is cast aluminum, there were a few hollow spots after cutting the braces off, so I filled them up with body filler.

I did the same to the plastic panels in the spots where the braces originally were.

I drilled new holes at the top and bottom of both plastic panels and handles and added small, 9mm aluminum spacers to mount the handles directly to the plastic panels.

This obviously made it much cleaner looking, while sacrificing the use of these handles as actual handles, since they no longer mount to the case frame.

Here’s a before and after shot and some eye candy of the overall look so far.

I also used body filler to fuse the two plastic pieces that go in the center of back and front panels.

After this, the epoxy for the starry night side panel was done curing and delivered the below result.

I quickly realized that if I painted the back black instead, the lighting effect would be much more visible.

Now, it was finally time to get the paint job started. I began from the external panels and went through a couple attempts before I got a color I liked, so I wasn’t starting off very optimistic. The biggest obstacles were in trying not to overdo it with the blue or make the paint  clunky. 

Thankfully, I was able to break up some of this blue with copper paint, starting from the C700M’s trims that normally have RGB lighting in the C700M. I decided to paint them in copper and remove the lighting to fit the overall design much better. The handles also got the copper treatment. 

The more I painted, the more confident I got with my choice of colors. Project A.R.E.S. was starting to really come together as a beautiful piece.

The side frames got the same blue treatment, and I finally added the edge lighting strips behind them.

As I mentioned in my story at the beginning of this article, there are two color schemes Project A.R.E.S. represents. I wanted the inside of the mod to be painted and finished differently from the outside. 

So I took the acrylic parts and painted them with a titanium color.

Pump Mounting 

At this point, I took a break from the paint job to tackle a part that was long overdue: the pump mounting. I wanted the pump to look like the thruster of the starship, so I made simple brackets out of aluminum L-profiles and then modified the pump to make the cable come out of the side, instead of the bottom, of the pump for a much cleaner look.

Finishing off the Internals 

The internal aluminum panels were finished by initially brushing them and then making random strokes using abrasive discs mounted onto the power drill.

Final assembly of the internals started by putting together the acrylic panel and all the parts of the rotating hardware panel.

Blue LED strips embedded into the acrylic panel help things pop.

With this done, it was time to finish the PSU side. I painted the acrylic covers with the same titanium color used before and added some details using a copper-colored acrylic marker.

Finally, the PSU is mounted: 

Cable Management

Now it’s time for the fun part: cable management! This was quite complicated because there just isn’t a lot of space here. I was definitely happy with how the corrugated pipes acted here though. They were both very useful and fit with my theme.

The pedestal was completed as well by painting the lower aluminum plate blue and adding a couple copper details with the aforementioned marker. 

Next, I fixed everything together, including the acrylic blocks.

Coming Together

With cable management done, it was time to assemble the main hardware and ,with that, the internal tubing runs and last touches on the internal cables.

This is how the “dark side” looks with the cables through the rotating system. They will be fixed in place later on.

While I kept painting all the remaining parts, I kept on with cable management too, since at this point I was in a crunch time until the Case Mod World Series’ deadline (today, I’m definitely glad I worked my butt off to finish it in time).

Almost everything was now assembled except for the external panels, which still had to be painted. But in the meantime I went ahead and filled the watercooling loop. I intentionally left long soft tubing runs behind the reservoirs so that I was able to remove the panel holding them to access the internals when needed.

Here comes my favorite part of this project: the finished front. I painted all the parts, filled the engravings with the copper marker and installed the backlighting for the optic fibers.

Project A.R.E.S. Complete 

My mind was already pretty blown when I saw how good Project A.R.E.S. looked assembled. But then I turned the backlighting on, my brain officially melted. I created the vision I had in my mind, but the end result was even better than I pictured.

After recovering from a quick brain melting, I painted the top panel and added warm-white LED strips to the reservoirs area.

With this final touch, A.R.E.S. was finally complete and ready to take the win at this year’s Cooler Master World Series as Best Tower of the Year.

Final photos:

When times get tough, modders get modding, and 2020 was no different. Today, the winners of Cooler Master’s Case Mod World Series 2020 modding contest receive their crowns, rewarding some of the most remarkable mods created in a challenging year. 

The 2020 contest saw 90 entries from enthusiasts across 23 countries. Mods were equally judged on craftsmanship, aesthetics, functionality and innovation, with judges including Cooler Master, professional modders, sponsors, including MSI and the game Control and media judges, including Tom’s Hardware. 

Overall, 12 mods won awards, with the most coveted “Best Of” awards going to 6 builds (Best Tower Mod, Best Scratch Build, Best Innovation and Design, Best Craftsman and Best Art Direction). 

You can see the full list of Case Mod World Series 2020 winners here. Below is an inside look at some of the fiercest award winners. 

Best Tower of the Year: Project A.R.E.S. by Explore Modding 

• Case: Cooler Master Cosmos C700M
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 
• Graphics Card: Inno3D iChill Frostbite RTX 2070 Super
• Motherboard: ASRock X570 Steel Legend
• RAM: Adata XPG Spectrix D60G (32GB) 
• SSD: Adata XPG Spectrix S40G (512GB)
• Cooling: Bitspower custom watercooling components, 2x Cooler Master SF360R 
• Power Supply: Cooler Master V850

We may still be waiting for the hover cars that so many movies and novels have promised, but with Explore Modding’s Project A.R.E.S. build, the appearance of a floating tower is already here. The modder describes his build as a “story, told in art form.” He drew inspiration for the colors, curves and starry window (made of optic fibers and epoxy resin) from the character Robot from Netflix’s Lost in Space reboot. 

Ultimately, A.R.E.S. tells its own story though. And with its base designed to make the tower look like it’s awesomely afloat, that story is told from a world seemingly far off in the future.

Not surprisingly, designing and assembling the base was the hardest part of the mod, Explore Modding told us. It required many parts that were hard to fit together, “due to tight tolerances.” 

“Even designing it was difficult because I really wanted something that made it look like the case was separated from it and floating above the surface, but that required a lot of trial and error in order to make it stable enough,” Explore Modding told Tom’s Hardware. “In the end, the three acrylic blocks are very sturdy and they're very transparent, so they even tend to disappear under some light scenarios, creating that awesome effect of floating.” 

A.R.E.S.’ hardware panel rotates 180 degrees on the fly, so you can easily swap the build’s look -- components on the left or on the right. Cable management located in the back and front allowed for a clean look inside, where the suspended centerpiece boasting all the components steals the show. 

“I often change the layout on my setups, and I always had the struggle of sacrificing the amazing view of the internal hardware when I had to move the PC to the other side of the desk,” Explore Modding said. “I actually ended up tearing apart my build to make an inverted mod a couple times for this reason. ... So this PC can be put wherever you want and still show the same side every time.”

Maintenance is also a bit easier. Just undo a couple screws and turn the panel to access your components. The rotating panel also means you don’t have to tilt the entire case to bleed air from the loop.

Best Scratch of the Year: Ikigai by Nick Falzone Design 

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 
• Graphics Card: MSI Radeon 5700 Gaming X
• Motherboard: MSI B550I Gaming Edge WiFi
• RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3600 (32GB) 
• SSD: WD Black SN750
• Cooling: Alphacool Laing DDC, Alphacool GPU waterblock and radiator, Optimus CPU block, EKWB fittings, Cooler Master SF360R fans 
• Power Supply: Cooler Master V650 SFX

Nick Falzone Design’s mod Ikiagi is named after the Japanese word for, as he put it, “one’s personal passions, beliefs, values and vocation.” The Japanese concept about finding your life’s purpose has also recently picked up Western attention and led the modder to create  a sensible design with both modern and traditional Japanese woodworking techniques.

Nick Falzone Design, an American modder, has been working with wood since childhood and grew to enjoy the Japanese aesthetic, including the “overall timeless and modern design.” In fact, the modder’s first PC case had mini shoji doors. 

“At the time, YouTube was not around, so I read books about Japanese architecture and Japanese joinery. ... I'd always wanted to make the hemp leaf pattern that I did in Ikigai,” the modder told Tom’s Hardware

Ikigai incorporates “traditionally made Japanese Kumiko designs” from unfinished Sitka Spruce contrasting with a Wenge wood outer shell complete with hand-sawn dovetails. The inside is mostly acrylic and aluminum with Wenge added for accent pieces. 

To keep Ikigai cool, Nick Falzone Design crafted a distribution plate that also serves as the build’s pump top and reservoir, while keeping most of the cables out of view. 

The biggest challenge, however, came in maintaining Nick Falzone Design’s vision of a Mini-ITX build. Keeping up with the small form factor trend is great, but carefully constructing the watercooling and wiring in a build that’s under 20 liters is no small task.

“I made three full-scale models of the main case and many more models of the interior to maximize each component and make everything work efficiently,” Nick Falzone Design said.  

Best Craftsmanship: Cyberpunk 2077 - Deconstruction by AK Mod 

• CPU: Intel Core I9-10900K
• Graphics Card: Aorus GeForce RTX 3080 Master
• Motherboard: Aorus Z490 Xtreme 
• RAM: Aorus RGB Memory DDR4-3200 (4x 8GB) 
• SSD: Gigabyte NVMe SSD M.2 2280 (1TB)
• Cooling: Bitspower fittings, Premium Summit M Mystic Black Metal Edition CPU block, D5 Vario motor, Leviathan XF 120 4xG1/4" radiator, Water Tank Z-Multi 50 V2 and Bitspower Touchaqua in-line filter, digital thermal sensor, digital RGB multi-function controller, PWM fan multi-function hub, Cooler Master MasterFan SF120M, AlphaCool Eiszapfen laser fitting with 4-pin molex
• Power Supply:  Aorus P850W 80+ Gold Modular

With Cyberpunk 2077 making splashes of all types in 2020, it wasn’t surprising to see a Cyberpunk-inspired mod. More surprising are the undeniable intricacies, craftsmanship and expertise boasted in this showstopping mod that looked unlike any other entry, (and yes, we looked at all 90).

The mod embodies Mantis Blades being repaired. AK Mod did a whole lot of 3D printing, as well as CNC milling and research into unique parts, like military aviation connectors, a vacuum fluorescent (VFD) display and a light bar -- to bring the concept to life.  

Of course, 3D printing Mantis Blades calls for some patience. AK Mod separated the blades’ parts into over 90 fdm and dlp files but had to redesign due to construction failure. 

“In the original design, inner metal structure frame and outer arm were separated. The outcome of the first design was too thin. The finger parts are difficult to assemble, and the weight bearing for the wrist part was not as expected, so we had to improve the design and print the outcome all over again,” AK Mod told Tom’s Hardware. 

Other techniques used to make Cyberpunk 2077 - Deconstruction include welding, digital processing lathing, UV printing and laser engraving and cutting. Hand-made parts were also sanded, soil filled, spray painted and given an aged treatment. 

AK Mod also included an actionable ring scanning instrument to “simulate the Mantis Blades being scanned as a weapon,” AK Mod said. Red LEDs add authenticity as the blades move horizontally.  

Best Innovation and Design: Spirit of Motion by Maximum Bubble Mods  

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Graphics Card: Nvidia RTX 2080 Founder’s Edition 
• Motherboard: MSI B450M Pro-M2
• RAM: G.Skill TridentZ - 3,600 MHz (16GB)
• SSD: Samsung 970 EVO (500GB) 
• Cooling: Corsair Hydro H115i Pro, Cooler Master MasterFan Pro Air Pressure RGB
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G5

While some of this year’s winning mods look straight from the future, Spirit of Motion opts for a retro vibe. Building the mod for his father, Maximum Bubble Mods' Spirit in Motion goes for a classic car theme, incorporating an “Art Deco era front car grille,” as the modder describes it, topped off with delicious Candy Apple Red paint. 

That custom grille not only looks good but opens up to reveal the PC’s components. Hand-building the aluminum grille took “tens of hours, hard work and many processes,” Maximum Bubble Mods told us. 

Further earning the Innovation & Design title, Maximum Bubble Mods inverted and mirrored the motherboard and vertically mounted the graphics card to keep all the I/O as low as possible.

“It was all done to keep the PC from getting excessively large and to keep the I/O below the frame that my hinge would mount to,” Maximum Bubble Mods explained. 

Perhaps the best part is that Spirit In Motion is now the modder’s father’s best gaming PC (you can even watch him receive the mod on this YouTube video). 

“The last time we talked, he was on a Civilization kick and sounding like he was loving the PC, so I'm happy,” Maximum Bubble Mods said. 

Thermaltake today announced its new Commander G Series addressable RGB (aRGB) PC cases with three distinct looks. While the Commander G31, Commander G32 and Commander G33 each have a different front panel, they're identical in terms of the rest of the chassis and internals.  

The Commander G Series cases are mid-tower ATX with room for up to seven expansion slots. If you have a PCIe riser card, you can also choose to vertically mount your GPU to show it off a little. The chassis itself is built from CPCC steel and comes with a 4mm thick tempered glass panel.

Many cases nowadays have power supply shrouds, Thermaltake has opted for a rather interesting shroud for these cases. The shroud's clearly built to hide all the cables but has a little window right where the PSU is mounted so that you can show off the artwork on the PSU itself.

For cooling, the rear of the case can hold either a 120mm (included) or a 140mm fan, and the top of the chassis doubles those numbers. The front of the case can hold either three 120mm fans, two 140mm fans, or two 200mm fans, and it comes standard with one 200mm RGB fan included.  

PSUs can be up to 160mm long with the hard drive rack installed. Without it, they can be up to 200mm long. Graphics cards are limited to a maximum length of 300mm either way and, if installed vertically, can be no thicker than 45mm. So if you want to install a 2.5-slot GPU, be sure to check how far the cooler expands beyond the board. Intriguingly, Thermaltake also specifies a RAM height restriction of 40mm if you're using a liquid cooling radiator installed at the top exhaust.

At the time of writing, there was no pricing or release date information available, though we suspect the cases won’t be very costly, given their simple construction and use of SPCC steel.

Desktop towers draped in the sort of show-stopping colors you don’t find on Best Buy shelves. Rigs that break the traditional tower form factor and take completely unexpected shapes. Dizzying water cooling entwining a powerful lineup of components and amplified by a rainbow of lights. These are the type of PC builds that make you stop and point. This is what modding’s all about, but at Computex the world is your stage.

At the Computex 2019 tech conference in Taipei last week, over 43,000 attendees from 171 countries came seeking the most powerful, coolest, exciting, unique, or niche products. For a PC modder, this means stakes are higher than usual. Who knows what website, blog, social media account, fellow modder or vendor your creation will meet. Both your modding reputation and potential opportunities are on the line.

Last week, we showcased our favorite PC mods from Computex 2019. Now, we’re giving you an inside look at what went into those pieces of computing art before they wound up wowing spectators on the Computex show floor.

Apex Legends Loot Tick by Jesse Palacio aka JPModified

Palacio’s mod features:

When you’re recruited to mod for Computex, you’re under pressure to create something not only grand and exciting, but that no one else is doing. Starting his rig three months before the show, Palacio had to scrap his original idea to make an airplane-like dropship from Apex Legends because his schedule and time constraints made it “close to impossible.”

Instead, Palacio thought he’d make an Apex loot crate before learning someone else was doing that too. After playing a few rounds on Apex, the Filipino modder found new inspiration in the loot tick and quickly asked G.Skill, which displayed the rig, to stop anyone else from doing the same.

Palacio admitted that he could have went with a more personal design, but said not as many people would get it. “I went with a game for it to be easy to relate to,” he explained.

Much of the case was 3D printed, and Palacio had to have a friend make a scaled down rendering, since none were online. Every mod has to be able to draw people in. This time Palacio’s focus were the feet, “since people see triangles all the time,” and took extra care in making them as realistic as possible.

Printing out all the pieces on an average-size 3D printer was time-consuming, but nothing was harder than shipping this BUILD from the Philippines to Taiwan, especially with the difficulties that often come with shipping companies, Palacio noted. He started figuring out shipping a day after finishing the mod.

“I had to figure out a way to ship it in piece by piece and have it not look like a 20-foot container,” Palacio said. He ended up using one crate with four different sections: one for the “head” with all the components, one for the body, one for the feet and one for the cover and everything else.

Although Palacio is a full-time modder, he feels pressure when modding for a show the size of Computex, noting that you have to be “extra meticulous” because of all the foot traffic.

“When you build for a client, only the client’s going to see. When you build for a company like Asus for local events in the Philippines, it's only going to be there for a specific number of people also. For something as big as Computex, you got to put in extra effort,” Palacio said.

G.Skill Trident Z Royal Inspired Mod by Alex Banks

Banks’ mod contains:

For G.Skill’s booth, UK modder Banks went for a mod as intricately carved as G.Skill’s Trident Z Royal RAM and worked to make the finely chiseled look of the memory modules a feature of his build’s chassis.

“I didn’t want to try basing something off a game or just some random silliness. So I thought it’d be good fun to try and take a bit more difficult approach,” Banks said.

Built from scratch, the mod was designed so the structure of the heat spreader ran through the whole case, with the water cooling incorporated into all of that. Banks also wanted the liquid to flow nicely around the whole build in a way that stood out from the norm.

The biggest challenge with this mod, Banks said, was in the crystal lighting plate and trying to emulate the “polygon effect” going down the middle of the Trident Z Royal RAM sticks. Creating the three plates took 16 hours total, with the first one taking the longest amount of time at eight hours.

“I took thick pieces of acrylic, clear plastic about 20mm thick, and then I had to in my 3D design make the whole sort of polygon shape,” Banks explained. After he had his 3D model, Banks used his CNC machine to make the double-sided crystal plates. This required machining the material on one side, flipping it over and then lining up the machine in the same exact spot so everything was symmetrical.

“That basically involved milling down little triangles and some pockets and then running a very small end mill across the whole thing backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards for 12 hours, just to be able to get the shapes and get it very smooth,” Banks recalled.

Taipei is about a 16-hour flight from the UK, so Banks designed his mod with shipping in mind. It has “strategic hard points” scattered about that distribute the weight evenly when it’s laid flat. Banks claims this build’s as strong as a rock.

At a big show like Computex, modders go over the top to get attention. But flashy rigs, with features like decals, crazy paintwork and skulls, just aren’t Banks’ style, which he describes as having a “Scandinavian design approach.” He admitted this style works well in Europe and for video and photography but is the “exact opposite of what people like here in Asia.”

“It’s really about trying to get as much of visual flair in as you possibly can, but at the same time I didn't want to lose the identity that my own modding style has,” Banks said. He added that he likes his mods to be functioning for years to come.

Meter-Tall Mod by Mike Petereyns

Petereyns’ rig includes:

This mod was so tall -- a little over 1m -- that G.Skill had to lower its table for displaying mods at its booth in order to stop the rig from crashing into the banner hanging above it.

Like Banks, Petereyns' rig drew inspiration from G.Skill’ memory, crafting a mod to looks like a giant memory stick. Its shape is a nod to the Trident Z specifically.

The profile view not only shows off the G.Skill logo, but the rig’s cooling reservoir, where the cooling passes through the radiators. It then goes to the back through a hole, straight to the video cards and then the motherboard and then out through the top and back down.

Petereyns also added an extra radiator in preparation for Taipei’s environment.

“It has two big 360 radiators in the bottom. Normally one is enough for a system like this, but in Taiwan it’s hot and humid, so I provided two radiators, and it cools very well,” he explained. “I think idle temperature is like ambient 20 / 25 [degrees Celsius] or something. But if you ramp up the fans, it can go much lower also.”

To no one’s surprise, constructing a rig this tall was the biggest challenge. To build it, Petereyns started by making a 3D model in CAD software so he could determine its size and how all the components would fit.

After creating a rendering, Petereyns needed to construct the chassis in a CNC machine. That’s no easy task, especially since modders often work with hobbyist-grade machines, rather than professional ones. Petereyns actually called in Banks to use his semi-professional machine for help.

With this slim, clean design, there’s limited room for cable management. To keep things neat, Petereyns relied on products from German company Label the Cable, which he said open and close more quickly than zip ties.

Petereyns shipped his rig in one piece via a giant crate stuffed with insulation and foam. Now, after a week wowing the crowd at Computex, Petereyn’s tall drink of water may end up in the modder’s house as a piece of modern art.

“I’m going to hook it up on my big screen in the living room and I’m just going to enjoy it every day,” Petereyns said. The modder currently has about 20 of his creations in his attic and 5 more around the house for general use.

"Neon 20" by Jason Simm aka Sam Arlian

Simm’s mod includes:

This was Simm’s first competitive mod ever and took about 100 hours to build. The UK modder helped Thermaltake celebrate its 20th birthday like any other tech enthusiast that age: with a love for RGB. Neon colors and RGB inspired this build, which includes holographic sides and an infinity mirror for a front panel.

To raise the bed of the PC, Simm put the 360 rod underneath. A handmade waterfall serves as the cooling reservoir, as Simm was looking to stand out from builds with distro plates. With a Pacific-brand pump, liquid cooling comes from the waterfall and flows around the build’s entire loop, going down the pump to the CPU and GPU, before heading up top and dripping back into the tank. This all required sawing a piece of the case off to keep it clean and help with cable management.

To make the waterfall, by far the most cumbersome part of the project, Simm used a CNC machine and acrylic glue to stick it all together. The meticulous process took 40 adjustments before the waterfall worked perfectly.

“Get one mill wrong and the whole thing would be wrecked enough to start [the waterfall] from scratch again. That took me the longest getting that to work because either it was flowing to the left or to the right too much,” Simm told us.

Simm used acrylic to make the reflective Thermaltake logo on top of the rig and included upcycled truck guard rails on the bottom.

He also replaced the back glass panel of the E-ATX case with laser-etched acrylic and added an LED strip down the back. Inside the case, he fit a two-way mirror that reflects the LED lights while still offering visibility inside the case.

“I Choose You” by Stefan Ulrich aka random2k4

Ulrich’s mod features:

I Choose You has a triple-loop cooling system, with the graphics card, memory and CPU each getting their own independent water cooling loop. The coolant comes in green, red and blue to represent each of the adorable Pokémon on display in the case’s power supply chamber: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, respectively.

Those Pokémon are three you’re offered when you first start playing the original Game Boy game, Ulrich told us during Computex.

Fitting those three loops was Ulrich’s biggest obstacle, even with an E-ATX size case.

“Even though the Level 20’s a very big case, to fit like all three loops in, three water tanks, three radiators, three pumps … and to figure out where to put all the tubings was the hardest part,” the UK modder explained. “I wanted to keep the original shape of the case because I think it looks great. I just tried to figure out a nice and creative idea to showcase the Pokémon.”

For new school Pokémon fans (or maybe just Ryan Reynolds fans) there’s also a poster for Detective Pikachu. Additionally, Ulrich added yellow and black vinyl to the outside of the chassis. Pikachu also makes appearances on the front and side panels.

“I played this game a lot as a child. And when the movie came out, I thought maybe it’s a good idea again to pick up the theme,” Ulrich said.

And for those wondering which Pokémon the modder himself would choose, it’s Squirtle. That’s because Ulrich is a Wartortle fan, plus it doesn’t hurt that in the original game “the first trainer has a stone Pokémon, and water crushes stone.”

Hopefully, this has given you mod fans an even deeper appreciation of the creativity, work and trial-and-error that goes into the spectacular mods that shone brilliantly at Computex. If that’s not enough mind-blowing technology for you, relive Computex’s finest with our breakdown of the Best of Computex 2019: Overclocked With Innovations and The Coolest Stuff We Saw at Computex 2019.

Image Credits: Tom's Hardware

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.

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.

“ElmorLabs Ice Cube”

ElmorLabs kept it cool with its mod for G.Skill with the chillest looking build on the Computex showfloor. It includes Trident Z RGB RAM and and ROG Maximus XI Apex motherboard.  Liquid nitrogen (LN2) cools it to -50 degrees Celsius, great news for its i9-9900K.

“Best Pork Ramen Store”

Adorable or scary? You decide. We don’t know why these pigs would want to hang out so close to a place that cooks pork, but we do know Vietnamese modder Amber Spider outfitted this surreal creation with an i7-9700K, MSI MPG Z390I Gaming Edge AC and RTX 2060 Ventus 6G OC, HyperX Predator DDR4 RGB RAM, Bitspower Paris cooling and an FSP Dagger Pro 650W PSU.

"I Choose You"

Kanto meets Reynolds in Stefan Ulrich’s Pokémon themed mod. This year, Thermaltake’s booth featured mods of its case Level 20-series cases. Uniting the original three Pokémon choices Professor Oak gives you (both in display and in coolant color) in the video game with nods to the new Detective Pikachu movie, there’s nothing for a Pokémon fan (new or old) not to enjoy. 

Ready, Aim, Fire

Despite using the same style case as the other mods at Thermaltake’s Computex booth, the one belonging to Mike Samsin, from the Philippines, looks like it could physically obliterate the others. Let’s just be grateful that thing isn’t loaded.

“Cyberbike”

If you’re looking for a less combative form of transportation, perhaps the Cyberbike is more your style. Displayed by Enermax, it uses the firm’s Revolution SFX 550W PSU, Liqfusion 240 CPU cooler and Trident Z Royal RAM.

“Mini TV”

AMD PC mod inception. Found at Alphacool’s booth, it’s an AMD Ryzen 5 2400G-based system on an ASRock A300M-STX board with a Plextor M9Pe SSD, chilled by an RGB Alphacool Eisblock XPX CPU block and accompanying pump and radiator, all housed in a modded version of AMD’s first-generation Ryzen Threadripper box. For authenticity, we hope you need to use the Torx screwdriver included in the Threadripper packaging to get to what’s inside.

“Mortar V2”

Speaking of things we hope aren’t loaded, this mortar-inspired mod, spotted at the AITC booth, was another one of the few AMD mods. It hosts an AMD Threadripper 1900x CPU, AITC’s Rapidez RGB RAM, an Asus Prime x3999 motherboard, Corsair 1600W PSU and Bykski cooling.

Team Blue

No question what brand CPU this Vikingdom’s mod uses. No matter your CPU team preference, you’ve got to admit this is a sweet rendition of Intel’s unique 9th Gen packaging.

Fittingly, it taps an i9-9900K and Intel’s 750P 512GB SSD, plus Trident Z Royal memy, ROG Strix Z390-I Gaming and GTX 1080 Ti O11G Gaming and ROG Thor 1200W PSU.

Traditional China

Ni hao! Inspired by traditional Chinese culture and respect for the environment (as per PSU vendor FSP’s philosophy), Zhengzhou 90IT computer studio’s mod depicts a delightful scene, especially with its bridge and tiny fisherman and koi pond.

In addition to an FSP Dagger Pro 650W PSU, traditional China is sitting atop an i9-9900K, ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming and RTX 2080 08G Gaming, Trident Z Royal RGB, Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD (500GB) and Bitspower Paris water cooling all packed into Thermaltake’s Core P5 case.

Tall Glass of Water

G.Skill actually had to lower their platform for MP Customize’s mod, a meter-tall sight to be seen featuring an i9-7900K, Asus ROG Rampage Extreme motherboard, Zotac RTX 2080 Ti ArticStorm, Samsung NVMe SSD 960 PRO (512GB), Bitspower cooling and impressive cable management thanks to Cablenaut.

“Cap-Ten’s” Ship

German modder Cap-Ten made us want to watch sci-fi with his creation. He took off with an Intel CPU (unspecified), MSI MPG Z390I Gaming Edge AC motherboard, Trident Z Royal memory, MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero and Crucial SSD M.2 525GB with power supplied by the Enermax Revolution SFX 550W.

Skull Mountain

We found AI-Mask’s frightening mod at G.Skill’s booth, but it’s presumably from the depths of Hell. It houses an i9-9900K, ROG Maximum XI Gene and all the bones of our ancestors.

I’ve Come From the Future

Looking like something from a distant and way more shiny future, we found this over at Bitspower’s booth. Modder Nguyen Dinh Ban modded a case by fellow modder nhenhophach. It has an i9-9900K, Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme board, Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4-3200, Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti, Samsung 970 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD and FSP Hydro PTM+ 850W power supply.

Lian Li today launched its latest Bora fan kit, Bora Digital, with digitally addressable RGB (ARGB) lighting. Available in black, lightened black or extra-lightened black (officially black, space grey and silver), the new 12-LED fans are compatible with all major RGB software in addition to Lian Li’s own controller.

Lian Li’s sixteen-mode controller is even included, to assist buyers whose boards lack a 5v ARGB (aka D-LED) header. As a bonus, the controller is compatible with Lian Li's Strimer 24-pin RGB cable, allowing both the fans and cable lighting to be synchronized without relying upon motherboard control. 

The full installation kit includes mounting hardware in addition to the controller and three 120mm fans.

Already listed at Newegg, all three Bora RGB kits (black, gray, silver) are still out of stock and unpriced. Lian Li lists its MSRP for each kit at $60.

We’ve seen countless RGB strips, fans, and even RGB cables here at Computex 2018. But InWin’s 307 ATX chassis instantly drew our attention from across the crowded show floor. In many ways, it’s essentially an InWin 303 with a brand-new face. But oh, what a pixel-happy, animated RGB face it is!

In essence, the entire front face is an easily programmable light show that’s a lot like having a pixelated 8-bit screen strapped to the front of your PC. Pre-programmed settings let you display the time, soothing animated clouds, a flickering candle flame, and much more. And thanks to a built-in microphone at the top (it seems everything has a mic these days), the animation you choose can dance to the beat of your room.

But the real fun comes when you dig into the company’s GLOW software, which lets you easily program each pixel, create animations, and save your creations as presets. You can get a quick sense of the panel’s capabilities from this video from InWin. But some of our favorite examples involved pixel-perfect recreations of retro games, like Pac-Man ghosts, an 8-bit potion, and invader from space.

The bright, flashing animations achievable with the InWin 307 certainly won’t appeal to everyone. But we really like the retro-cool visuals available from the light panel, and the ability to easily change things up to fit your mood or changing interests. This is a case that you’ll really want to spend time fiddling with in the weeks and months after building in it, which is more than we can say for most PC chassis.

All that said, we do think there’s room for improvement. It’s clear from the side that the light display is snapped on the front of the case, and the plastic materials used, while they didn’t exactly feel cheap, don’t evoke the look and feel we’d expect from a case in the $300 price range, which is what an InWin rep told us the 307 case is expected to sell for.

We hope the 307 is a success for the company, because we’d love to see a second-generation model with a better-integrated front light panel (perhaps with more-and-smaller LEDs), and higher-quality materials. We’re sure such a case would be expensive. But InWin has never shied away from pricey chassis before. There’s a lot of potential here, and we hope InWin continues to develop it.

If you’re interested in picking up the InWin 307, the company says it should be available in the fall. And while detailed specs are scarce, we suspect the internal component compatibility and clearances will very similar—if not identical—to the InWin 303 that this case is based around.

There will, though, be an added USB-C Gen 2 port on the side of the 307, along with the typical USB 3.0 ports and light control buttons. So be sure to choose a motherboard with a compatible USB-C header if you’re planning a build inside this eye-catching case.

All The Sweet Case Mods

Computex 2018 isn’t just about new tech - case modders from around the world use the annual event to showcase their computer creations to the world. For these exotic systems, what’s on the inside isn’t what matters. We walked the halls of the Nangang Exhibition Center in search of such pristine projects, and here are the best we saw at the show.

Giant Viper

Colorful’s booth was filled with several unique case mods, including a red open-air spider-like chassis called the Giant Viper. The system was built by a modder named Bykski, and it sports an Intel Core i7-8700K, custom open-looped liquid cooling, and a plethora of Colorful-branded components, including an iGame Z370 Vulkan X motherboard, a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Vulcan X TOP graphics card, and an SI 500 960GB SSD.

Get To The Choppa!

Every year, Thermaltake’s mod rig gallery is a sight to behold, with a cavalcade of exotic systems featuring varying themes, shapes, and sizes.  One of our favorites was a large helicopter-like chassis, built by Suchao Prowphong of Thailand, which is adorned with RGB LED fans, custom liquid cooling, and a large Asus Strix graphics card prominently displayed at the center of the monstrous machine.

Through a translator, Prowphong told us that the case is meant to look like one of the helicopters from the movie Avatar (the case is way cooler than the film). He said that he used laser cutting materials to get just the right shapes and that he even worked on making sure that the material looked a little weathered to imply that it had been used a bit.

Prepare To Be Punished

The winner of Thermaltake's most-recent modding contest, this turret-like system looks like the love child of ED-209 from Robocop and the Punisher, with side-mounted missile launchers, guns and a riot shield. It has the skull logo of everybody's favorite vigilante in the middle and a motor at the bottom which can be used to make it rotate.

This bad boy beast is the latest masterpiece from Jesse Palacio of the Philippines, who is also known as JP Modified. Palacio said that he was able to finish his build in just two weeks and that he worked hard to make sure that he wasn't totally ripping apart the Thermaltake P90 case it was based on. All of the case mods at Thermaltake's booth began life as P90s.

Sailing The Seven Seas

Asus threw its hat into the case mod arena with a large galleon-style boat PC called Freedom, complete with blue LEDs that resemble an ocean contained in a wooden treasure box. With a Core i7-8700K processor, an ROG Maximus X Formula motherboard, and an ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, this sea-bound rig is enough to shiver anyone’s timbers.

The Force Is Strong With This One

GamerStorm’s booth featured a modded Deepcool Quadstellar chassis made to resemble a spacecraft you’d find in the Star Wars universe. An Empire stormtrooper sits atop the four chambers, which have been bored out to expose more of the interior components and etched to give the surface an edgy look. In a galaxy far, far away, you could easily handle the Kessel Run in under twelve parsecs with this beastly mod rig.

Foosball Anyone?

Another entry from the Colorful booth, this foosball table doubles as a powerful gaming rig with custom liquid cooling and RGB LED memory. Now fans of the tabletop soccer emulator can play their favorite game digitally or the old fashioned way.

A Drive Around The Blockchain

Biostar displayed its latest cryptocurrency mining components in what appears to be a modified Power Wheel car that houses the company’s TB250-BTC+ motherboard, a liquid-cooled Intel CPU, a 120GB S100E SSD, and eight AMD RX 570 8GB graphics cards. You may not be able to take it for a spin, but you can definitely drive it around the blockchain with an estimated ETH hashrate of 220MH/s. Just don’t blame Biostar if you get a speeding ticket.

The Romans March Again

Taiwan-based AK Mod styled a Cooler Master C700P chassis to match the ancient uniform worn by Roman commanders, who were known as Praetors (the namesake of this mod rig). Holes were bored in the top of the chassis for the mercury chrome tubing, and the case has been modded with CNC aluminum for an edgy yet elegant design.

It Takes Two

A pair of 19 year-old twin brothers known as Brother MOD created a custom gaming rig known as the Chameleon Project. The Cooler Master Cosmos II chassis has been masterfully sprayed with automotive-grade paint, and although it may not be the most elaborate mod rig in the room, it’s certainly impressive to see the next generation of modders build at this level.

Yellow There, Beautiful

Korean modder Yong Un Kim customized an open-air Cougar Conquer White Edition chassis for the FSP booth. It sports a unique liquid cooling loop that features a clear acrylic reservoir and yellow coolant, which bathes the case in a golden glow. The chrome piping further adds to the system’s ambiance, and the Core i5-8500 and Asus ROG Strix GTX 1070 graphics card are sure to keep cool with the expertly crafted cooling system.

A Water Snake

Bykski also created a little brother for his Giant Viper build at the Colorful booth. The Tiny Viper is a blue three-post chassis that sports a sealed dome and bottom-mounted radiator and pump that flushes non-conductive liquid over the components to keep them cool. Although the Core i3 processor and Nvidia GT 730 graphics card aren’t what you’d consider a winning performance combination, the pint-sized Tiny Viper is in a class of its own with its unique direct-contact liquid cooling solution.

A Case With A View

G.skill’s booth was filled with a schmorgus board of modded rigs, but one stood out from the pack with a custom-built side panel display. Similar to iBuypower’s Snowblind, the display is illuminated by white LEDs and is contrasted against the interior’s also-white components and panels. A modder named Polycat designed the screen himself, and the impressive aesthetic could give iBuypower a run for its money should they ever decide to build these on a large scale.

The Calvary’s Here!

Cheers love! The calvary’s here at Computex 2018 with an Overwatch-themed case mod that pays tribute to the franchise’s leading lady, Tracer. Modder Ronnie Hara styled a be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 chassis with Tracer’s signature yellow tone, and he even mounted a chronal accelerator to the front and top of the case. With a Core i5 processor, a GTX 1060 graphics card, and liquid cooling blocks from EK, the Tracer mod case is one of the coolest rigs we’ve seen on the showfloor.

That’s Dark

BIRD Customs also based its mod rig on be quiet! components, with a customized Dark Base 700 chassis, Straight Power 11 PSU, a Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU cooler, and Silent Wings 3 case fans. The Darkest Base keeps the components neatly compacted in the centrifuge, and the black theme brings the stoic PC to a dark place.

Gullwing Glory

Zotac commissioned GGF to build a customized rig for Computex 2018. The modified Thermaltake View 27 chassis sports a gullwing tempered glass panel that puts the components and custom liquid cooling on full display, and the PSU shroud has been cut to accommodate a vertically mounted graphics card that connects to the back of the chassis with pass-thru cables. The angled GPU fits between the yellow liquid-filled tubing, and Zotac’s wares have never looked more attractive than in this beast of a machine.

Case Mods From The Community

Mods are a big part of the computer hardware enthusiast community, and a big part of ours. Some of our members mod their rigs for efficiency, others for aesthetics. Whatever the reason, we wanted to see yours. Last month we asked the members of our community to show us their mods, and they delivered. Here are a few of our favorites.

All-White Interior Build Pt. 1

Some case mods can completely revamp your PC case, while others are simple touches that truly bring the rig together. User USAFRet gave his case a basic all-white internal paint job to simulate the equipment bays in a fighter jet.

All-White Interior Build Pt. 2

This paint job on USAFret's Corsair Carbide 540 AIR case looks great with and without the components. It also features a matching Cryorig A80 Liquid AIO cooler. 

Bamboo Front Panel Case Mod Pt. 1

You might not be able to tell from the photos, but that is an Antec P380. This case has all sorts of mods, such as a custom paint job, perforated aluminum accents, and a bamboo veneer. Inside you'll find the Intel Core i7-6800K processor, 16GB of RAM, and two GeForce GTX 980 Ti GPUs in SLI configuration.

Bamboo Front Panel Case Mod Pt. 2

Did we forget to mention the SSD window? While most modifications happen on the left side of the case where the motherboard resides, User David Cathey added a second window just for his SSDs. Check out that perfect cabling.

SSD Window Case Mod Pt. 1

With so few PCs using the 5.25'' bay for disc drives, most case manufacturers have gotten rid of front panel access entirely, opting for a much more sleek and minimal look. Unfortunately, this development means no space or opening for front-mounted intake cooling. By adding a steel cut panel and elongating the front case panel with magnets, user Kgrevemberg opted for a modification that enhances both the aesthetics and the performance of his rig.     

SSD Window Case Mod Pt. 2

Here's another photo of Kgrevemberg's awesome case mod from a different angle. Not satisfied with a total overhaul of the front panel, Kgrevemberg also added purple LEDs to the front of his Phanteks Evolv mATX PC Case.

Corsair SPEC-04 TG Auto Paint Job Pt. 1

This case mod comes all the way from Bangladesh, courtesy of our venerable moderator LutfiJ. His custom-painted Corsair SPEC-04 TG chassis is a real stunner thanks to the automotive paint job done in dark metallic marine blue.

Corsair SPEC-04 TG Auto Paint Job Pt. 2

Lutfi's rig is no slouch when it comes to performance. It features an AMD Ryzen 5 1600, a Corsair Force LE200 480GB SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti Founder's Edition GPU. You can follow the entire build log here.

'Voltron'-Themed Cougar Panzer Max

This Voltron themed mod of the Cougar Panzer Max Case has it all. The set of three front intake fans compliments add more cooling power to the extensive custom made water cooling system inside. We really liked the distressed touches featured on the "Voltron"-themed paint job.

The Corsair 600T Experiment

Here's another fully custom case done by the same modder. This stunning all-white Corsair 600T features a custom front panel and liquid cooling system. It's all about the details when it comes to modding. You might miss it, but the cooling reservoir is situated on top of the case.

The IBM XT Retro-Fit Mod Pt. 1

Back at the start of the personal computing revolution, the IBM XT was known primarily for its internal hard drive (a rarity 35 years ago). This retro IBM XT case mod pays homage to the PC of yesteryear.

The IBM XT Retro-Fit Mod Pt. 2

While the outside may be retro, the inside features all modern components. Bobba84 did a remarkable job updating this rig for the 21st century.

The Askew Project: Watercool Testbench Pt. 1

For their case mod, Rubix_1011 decided to think outside the box. This custom-built watercooled PC exposes all the innards on the outside. Rubix_1011 called this project 'Askew', based on the lightweight wood featured in this build. Rubix_1011 documented the entire project from start to finish in our forums.

The Askew Project: Watercool Testbench Pt. 2

Here's another angle of 'Askew'. The case was designed to be a functional test bench and an art piece. The mod is pretty old at this point, and features the tried-and-true Intel Core i7-2600 and a now-ancient Nvidia GeForce 560 Ti SLI configuration.

Art on the Outside, Power on the Inside

A custom-made desktop PC should be as unique as the person who built it. From commercially-available cases you can use in your own projects to custom mods from chassis artists, these are the coolest-looking PC cases, concepts, and mods we saw at Computex 2017.

All Images Credit: Tom's Hardware

Deepcool Quadstellar

The Quadstellar follows Deepcool’s Tristellar case from 2015. Where the Tristellar had three distinct compartments joined at the center of the case, the Quadstellar’s four compartments flow into each other much more. The device now has room for an ATX motherboard and four dual-slot graphics cards.
 
The motherboard spans from the core of the chassis into one of the compartments, with the graphics cards all located towards the center of the chassis. The additional three cabins consequently offer room for a 280-mm long ATX PSU and up to nine 3.5-inch hard drives, or twelve 2.5-inch units and the cooling hardware.

There’s room for up to a 360mm radiator up front and a 240mm unit at the bottom. The front air intake also has a neat trick up its sleeve: When the internal case temperature rises, it will open up to allow for more air flow.

In-Win Winbot

Winbot. It’s a case, and it’s a robot, sort of. It has a plexiglass dome, with aluminum structures that can support an E-ATX motherboard and 340mm-long graphics cards, and it has eight PCIe slots and four HDD modules--but it’s much more than that.
 
It has a dual camera module that lets you make gestures (to, say, move the case on its axis, electronically), or to allow for facial recognition (for authentication, mainly). If you’ve got an Amazon Alexa, it will assist with voice recognition, as well. You can command Winbot to take photos using its camera. It’s unclear if In-Win will take this case to market, and if so, when, and at what price.

Donkey Kong Case

This mod’s design harkens back to Nintendo's 8-bit classic from 1981. Built by Thermaltake's U.S. team and based on a Tower 900 chassis, the Donkey Kong PC has original Nintendo glass and stickers, an eighties-tastic blue paint job, and a cooling pipe layout that looks just like the ladders and planks in the game. It also plays the Donkey Kong theme song.

Corsair Concept Slate

Want one PC for streaming and another for gaming? This giant tower case has room for two different, discrete computers inside, each with its own power button, liquid cooling system, and collection of storage drives.
 
The entire Concept Slate case is made from glass and aluminum with room for over 30 different case fans and three different radiators. As built, the prototype on display at Corsair's Computex suite weighed around 150 pounds. There’s no word on when or whether this is coming to market.

TTower 1O1 (Taipei 101 Case)

Belgian Mike Petereyns' custom case brings new meaning to the term "full tower." Like many of the mods showcased in Thermaltake's Computex booth, it’s based on the Tower 900 case. This one is made to look like world-famous skyscraper Taipei 101. Green-tinted windows and green coolant match the color scheme of Taiwan's most famous building.
 
A spire on top of the case completes the look. Unfortunately, unlike the real building, there's no Din Tai Fung restaurant in the base.

WarCar

Inspired by Crossout, a popular post-apocalyptic MMO, the WarCar looks like a jeep that's ready for a fight, complete with dual machine gun turrets and a skull on the front. Unlike most mods you see, this car was built from scratch and not based on an existing commercial chassis.
 
Designed by a modder named FUXK, this chassis is about the size of a child's electric car so it would take a fair amount of work to transport it to your next LAN party. It also makes a point of hiding its motherboard. When we saw WarCar in person at Colorful's Computex 2017 booth, we had to look under the canopy just to see that there were components inside.

Steampunk Case

Modder Ronnie Hara of Japan took a Thermaltake Tower 900 and turned it into a metallic steampunk masterpiece. The case has elements of copper, silver, and leather to give it that high-tech 19th century look.
 
We particularly like the giant purple cooling reservoirs inside that make the components look more like a mad scientist's lair than a PC. A bas relief Aorus logo adorns the left side to let you know that some of the components inside are from Aorus / Gigabyte.
 

H.R. Giger-Inspired Case

Artist H.R. Giger's creepy monster designs inspired the look of the Xenomorph from the Alien Movies and also this case. Designer Ron Lee Christianson used a Thermaltake Tower 900 chassis and added the haunting head, bones, and body parts with custom-sculpted foam and epoxy clay. Christianson was inspired specifically by Giger's 1977 book “Necronomicon.”

In-Win "The Floating"

Letting it all hang out, the Floating is an open case with RGB-lit structures to which you can attach your PC parts. The case is made of reflective tempered glass. On the upper left side, there’s an LED readout of sensor metrics (temperature, fan speed--you know the drill). Other structural parts are made of aluminum, and being an open case, it can support pretty much any number and size components you can throw at it.
 
At Computex 2017, The Floating showcased an Asus Crosshair VI motherboard with individually addressable RGB lights, coupled with In-Win’s Aurora fans that have their own individually addressable RGB lights, and all of the components sitting on structures outlined in, you guessed it, addressable RGB lights.

Pirates of the Caribbean Case

If watching five different movies with Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow character isn't enough for you, you can always make your PC look like this one. Based on a Thermaltake Tower 900, Modder Corey Gregory's case comes complete with a sunken ship inside, a skull on top, and seaweed accents sprouting from the top. We particularly like the rusty aesthetic that makes the panels look like the sides of a pirate ship.

Death Race Case

Designer Suchao Prowphong modified this Thermaltake Core WP 100 case to look like one of the cars in the Jason Statham movie “Death Race.” The machine-gun turrets and steel aesthetic are meant to remind you of the way prisoners in the film built their cars out of metal scraps. To be fair, this chassis is much cooler and more memorable than the film.

TitanFall 2 Case

Inspired by the popular first-person shooter game, Jesse Palacio's TitanFall 2 case has a number of great design elements, including a series of sci-fi-style dials on the bottom and a battleworn aesthetic that makes it look as if it has been through war. The name "Liberty" emblazoned near the bottom is a tribute to the artist's grandmother.

Robot / Motorcyle Case

Chassis Artist Siwasak Sirisomboon modified a Thermaltake Core X5 case and turned it into this futuristic device that we can't fully describe. Depending on how you view it, this chassis either looks like a battle robot or a Tron-like motorcyle.
 
Either way, the eerie green and red lights give this computer an attractive sci-fi aesthetic. We particularly like the two coolant reservoirs on the front and the sleek black "head."

MYTHRA Spaceship Case

This PC is ready for an epic StarCraft campaign or a real trip to Alpha Centauri, whichever you have time for. Built by Brazilian artist Maciel Barreto from a modified Thermaltake Core X71 chassis, the computer is meant to look like a spacecraft that uses plasma as an energy source.
 
The case also features a Tesla sphere with glowing purple bolts of energy that looks like some kind of hyper drive. The bottom front surface has a touch screen which you can use to control the fans and lighting. You can see the MYTHRA (spelled there as MYTRA) in action in Barreto's YouTube video.

Cooler Master MasterBox Q300T

This steel-framed chassis takes Fat Joe's advice and gets your computer to lean back at a 45-degree angle. Shaped like a cube, the Q300T almost appears to float as it sits on its base platform.
 
Glass panels adorn every surface and let you see all of the component and lighting goodness you choose to put on the inside. We particularly like the angled front, top, and bottom surfaces. A set of handles makes it easy to carry this case to LAN parties.

Cryorig Taku Case

A throwback to the days when desktop computers sat horizontally under your monitor, the Cryorig Taku is designed to save space. This thin chassis has a slideout drawer but packs enough room for a mini-ITX motherboard with full-length graphics cards and three storage drives. The legs leave room for you to store a keyboard underneath while a monitor can sit on top of it.

Corsair Concept Curve

Built from pricey carbon fiber--and by “pricey,” we mean a cool $10,000 worth of carbon fiber just on this one prototype--Concept Curve has curved tempered glass to give it the feel of a luxury car. Just a prototype right now, Curve is based on an existing Corsair Graphite 780T, but Corsair built it to show its chops working with different types of materials.

Calyos NSG-SO PC

This chassis acts almost entirely as a heat sink, and it uses phase change cooling for the processors. The cooler uses a capillary pump to send a few grams of pentafluoropropane through the cooling loop. It becomes vapor thanks to the heat source, and as it passes through the radiator it returns to liquid form and travels back to the pump. This means no mechanical or moving parts and no fans. Even the PSU (from Seasonic) is fanless.
 
The case weighs about 22 kg, and that includes the chassis, cooling, and tempered glass protection. Its dimensions are 537 x 495 x 276mm, and it’ll set you back $675.

Choosing between multiple options sucks. That's why someone thought up surf and turf, for when you want both steak and seafood, and why CableMod made the new WideBeam Hybrid RGB/W LED Strips for people who can't decide if their rig should be lit with a bunch of fancy colors or plain white lights.

CableMod said that using RGB LEDs to create white light can often lead to off colors when viewed at the wrong angle. So the WideBeam Hybrid RGB/W LED Strips have two rows of LEDs: the all-too-popular RGBs handle the colors, and a row of WideBeam White LEDs offer honest-to-goodness white light. Both rows of LEDs can be independently controlled with an included 40-key remote control; they also support Gigabyte's RGB Fusion Technology.

"These Hybrid RGB/W strips combine two types of adhesive," the company said in its announcement. "Rare-earth magnets adhere securely to ferrous surfaces like steel PC cases, while allowing easy ad mess-free repositioning at any time. Also along the bottom of each strip is a strong 3M adhesive, making these strips suitable for even non-magnetic surfaces like aluminum." (CableMod's first strips used only one type of adhesive or the other.)

The WideBeam Hybrid RGB/W LED Strips use SATA Power Connectors and can be daisy chained to cover more space. CableMod will sell the strips in four variants: 30cm strips, 60cm strips, and kits for each length that include Y cables, an RF remote control and receiver pair, and more. The company didn't say when the product would debut or how much it will cost when it does. Here's a full breakdown from CableMod about what's included with each kit:

1 x 30cm or 60cm WideBeam Hybrid LED Strip1 x RF Remote Control1 x RF Receiver1 x Y Cable (50cm)1 x SATA Power Cable (15cm)1 x 5-pin Extension Cable (5cm)4 x 5-pin Connectors1 x Instruction Booklet

The individual packages include the strips, extension cable, and connectors.

By now your rig probably glows brighter than Times Square. Just in case you need a little more light in your life, though, SilverStone released the LS02 so you could make your system twinkle with the light of a thousand RGB LEDs. Well, not quite a thousand: the flexible light strip features 18 LEDs.

The LS02 is coated with a "special light diffusion material" to ensure more uniform colors. SilverStone said the LS02 can be controlled by hardware and software capable of manipulating +12V G, R, B signals like an RGB LED control box or motherboard. The product appears to be capable of showing just one color at a time--all of the company's press materials show the light strips glowing a single color or cycling through multiple colors in a sequence.

SilverStone packed two LS02 strips into each box. The company said these strips have built-in magnetic strips and adhesive tape to "better meet the demand of enthusiasts that require more flexibility in installation." The devices can be daisy chained, but it's not clear if doing so would offer more granular controls over the coloring or if they'll be restricted to the same color. SilverStone also included two Y cables with RGB 4-pin connector support.

The LS02 is available now in the European Union for $21 (VAT excluded) and US consumers can buy it for $22 from Newegg.

CaseLabs has announced that it will be discontinuing five of its SKUs in the beginning of 2016, which leaves you only a few more days to order before the cases are gone for good. The company is phasing out three Mercury and two Magnum models.

CaseLabs took to Facebook to notify its fans that the Mercury S3, S8S and S8 Test Bench along with the Magnum M7A and TX 10 cases will be discontinued in the beginning of January. The company said it will continue to support current owners with replacement parts but orders for new customers will cease on these models.

CaseLabs said it is reducing its product offerings to streamline its inventory. The company noted that it will be launching some new chassis in the new year, but said not to expect direct replacements of the discontinued models. In response to a question about offering another test bench case, CaseLabs stated "possibly in the future."

The five models being phased out will remain available until January 4, 2016. CaseLabs said that replacement parts will be available for at least a year following discontinuation.

Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Take It Easy With My Nightstand

Sometimes you need to think inside the box.

How Fast Are We Going?

Gauges replace the conventional chassis on this automotive-oriented build. Sounds about right.

Blub Blub

It's time to break out the fishing gear.

Post-Apocalyptic

This box could be featured in Fallout 3.

Thermaltake Level 11?

This is what happens when you cross BMW’s design with a coffee-maker.

Acrylic Everything

It might not be pretty, but it sure is transparent.

Dressing Down

Just because your girlfriend works at a True Religion factory doesn’t mean you have to drape your PC in denim.

Desktop Accessories

There are cups for pens and pencils on the sides, and paper clips fit too.

Combination

The perfect marriage of acrylic and steel. Only the power cable looks out of place.

Pure Foam

The green slime monster is alive! This PC fits in with the post-apocalyptic theme from earlier.

Insight

Another win for the nothing-but-acrylic look.

On The Table

Now we know what Lian Li’s prototype looked like.

Cool Cooler

Some turbulence is nice to see (even though we typically spend our time trying to get rid of bubbles).

Did Someone Lose A Wheel?

This rim might not be to everyone’s taste.

Soda Dispenser

If you're going for effective cooling, might as well chill your soda at the same time, right?

Counterintuitive

Turning it inside-out. We see what you did there.

Firing On Both Cylinders

We always like to see a V2.

Fanboy

This probably isn’t the right enclosure for an AMD graphics card.

Mini PC

This is how you build a Mini PC.

Wooden

Another Thermaltake knockoff, though this one could have been made by Ikea.

Wooden Squared

Since we’re keeping it natural, here’s another biodegradable case.

Plastic Explosion

This thing looks like a mixture of Raidmax, Aerocool and a hotel in Dubai.

Wizard’s Tower

And because we’re on the topic of architecture, here’s another skyscraper.

Icebox

Sometimes bigger isn’t better. Things went a bit too far here. This setup would probably be great for a cryogenic storage facility.

Medical Equipment

This thing looks like it could keep your heart beating during surgery, despite those swords at each corner. Consult with your doctor before use.

Lots Of Cables

At least the lighting’s nice. Cables can actually be hidden, you know.

Military

We don’t think this is standard Army issue.

Genie In A Bottle

There are always ways to recycle a nice empty bottle.

New Perspectives

This is the PC from page 17, taken from a different angle. I realize mods are largely subjective, but it still doesn’t look any better to me.

Undead Vacuum Cleaner

This is a great Gothic appliance for hardcore rockers who like to keep their rooms clean.

Steampunk

Nice!

Rodent

There isn’t a rat in the case, but…

Computing To The Beat Of Your Own Drum

This giant drum has perfect airflow – as long as your leg doesn’t get tired.

R2D2

Presented without comment!

Initiative For A Clean Internet

We call this stainless steel drum the “Tide” model. Either way, temperatures top out at around 90 degrees Celsius.

Schrödinger’s PC

We opened it, and now we know that it’s dead.

Skeleton

This PC literally has a backbone.

Confucius

If you’re confused by all of this, then you’re not alone.

Trash Can

No need to throw it out – it’s already there.

Setting The Table

The rolling PC table for the couch. Just add a burger, a soda and the remote control.

Fancy yourself to be a pretty good case modder? Good enough to maybe win a competition?

Taiwan-based company Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) is calling for entries for the ECS Modmen Case Mod Competition.  The case mods will be judged in a variety of categories, which, according to the competition rules, are the following:

1. Overall design (20 points) determined by judges 
2. Creativity (25points) determined by judges 
3. Technique (20 points) determined by judges
4. Mod on Motherboard (15 points) determined by judges
5. Peer evaluation (20 points) determined by the public vote

Those placing in the top ten will take home a Thermaltake case, a cooler, and a PSU. The top five entries will win $1,000 USD and over $2,000 worth of goodies, including a headset, a PSU, a cooler, and a Thermaltake Armor case, along with a trip to Taipei, Taiwan, where their cases will be pitted against each other in front a panel of judges at Taiwanese trade show Computex 2013. The winner takes home $1,000,000NT ($30K USD).

"Winning the ECS Modmen competition will give someone international notoriety and top-notch cash and prizes,” said Ivette Huang, ECS Marketing Manager. “We wanted to offer a big cash prize as well as give a few Modders the chance to check out Computex 2013.”

The competition is still open for entries until February 28. Note that in order to enter, you must buy an ECS motherboard (or own an ECS Golden Board) and be over the age of 18. You can register for entry via the official competition site.

Earlier this year, Razer announced a line of Mass Effect 3-themed peripherals including the ME 3 Imperator and the ME 3 BlackWidow Ultimate. Apparently Case Mod Blog star David Lane must've liked this idea because this may be the sexiest Mass Effect 3 case mod there is.

Sporting an iconic black and red color scheme with a generous amount of Di-Noc carbon fiber, David transformed his NZXT Switch 810 into the ultimate futuristic case. The mod features a fully customized EK watercooling system with a 420mm radiator mounted up top and a 280mm radiator mounted on the bottom.

Underneath the hood of David's Mass Effect Mod is:

CPU : intel i7 – 2700k @ 5 Ghz 8 threads ( have benched it on water at 5.3ghz) Motherboard : AsRock Fatality Pro Z68 Gen 3 Memory : 4 Gig Corsair Dominator Gt’s 2133c9 @ 2154 MHz 9.11.9.27 1T GPU’s: x2 Powercolor (Reference) 6970′s in Crossfire @ 950/1450 PSU: NZXT Hale 90 1000w SSD’s: x2 128 gig Plextor M3 Pro Series SSD Drives. Case : Modded NZXT Switch 810 ( Black) Other: Antec Veris to power Pc on and of with remote plus more. Lighting : From Mod/Smart & EK 3M Carbon Fiber Di-noc: 2′ x 10′ sponsored by Mnpctech & atxpcrepair

Each summer, hoards of gamers from around the world congregate to Dallas, Texas for one of the biggest LAN parties in North America, QuakeCon. In addition to all of its gaming glory, QuakeCon is also known for its BYOC case mod competition which takes place each year.

Sponsored by Modders Inc. and PC Perspective, the competition brings out some incredible designs. In celebration of the recent blockbuster hit The Avengers, case mod champion Derrick Jackson created "The Incredible Hulk".

Of course, the build features copious amounts of green and the whole team of superheroes from the film. The only difference is the Avengers seem to have ticked off the green giant.

Whatever it is that's going on, it looks like they are all holding together the computer, which did a great job of smashing the competition and taking home first place in the scratch build category of the competition.

This brings Derrick Johnson to a total of five case mod victories at QuakeCon. For more photos of the madness, check out the gallery snapped by Screwattack's Sean Hinz. What will Johnson bring to next year's competition?

_{Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback}

The build was created in 80 hours of work using a Cooler Master S case. There is plenty of bling and, while there is no genuine Aston Martin part with the exception of logos attached to the case, it surely looks the part with crème leather handles, wood vinyl and carbon fiber foil, enhanced lighting as well as an analog watch that was sourced from a 2006 Mercury Milan. The outside of the case, however, is a matter of taste and die-hard Aston Martin fans may claim that the round edges would be more appropriate for a Hyundai and clash with the current Aston Martin design language.

However, the inside of the case which was created using "a combination of stainless steel roof flashing and chrome side molding kit from an Auto Supply company" are the much more impressive part that give the case a clean look and make it easy to use when hardware needs to be accessed.

During Computex this week, Thermaltake was displaying a highly modified Armor Revo Snow Edition PC case mod by Ron Lee Christianson. Essentially it's Iron Man squashed into a box form factor, his mask and glowing eyes consuming most of the front, staring at users with watchful slits while they carefully surf the Internet.

Case Mod Blog actually covered the case creation back in May. The project started with a "working" replica of Tony Stark's Arc Reactor which Ron created from scratch. Materials used in its construction included a sink strain, plexi glass, RC model airplane engine mount, LEDS and copper wire.

Next he hand-fabricated Iron Man's chest plate from 00.80 polystyrene and mounted the Arc Reactor in its circular seat. The combo was then mounted on the left side of the case against an image of Stark using the helmet's interface.

The panel on the right side includes a portion of Captain America's shield on the inside, paying homage to the brief references to Steve Rogers in the two Iron Man movies. The shield was constructed from 00.80 ABS plastic and given a custom painted effect of battle fatigue.

"The ending result on the right side panel was a perfect contrast to the overall theme. In the lower right corner of the panel is an external molex power hub that Ron also built from scratch," Case Mod Blog reports.

For more information about the case mod, head here. It's also on display over on Facebook here.

For many of us gamers and enthusiasts, our rig is the embodiment of our pride and joy. While some of us may focus heavily on performance, others may spend just as much time if not more fine tuning aesthetics to go along with their machine. Our favorite enthusiasts, however go far above and beyond the rest of us by creating complex PC case mods. This gamer from the Ukraine for example has dropped many jaws with his mean green fighting robot PC case machine.

This is much more than just a simple case mod. Wehr-Wolf essentially created a standing robot sculpture complete with Gatling gun, webcam equipped robot head, cooling system, and of course, the mood of the killing machine offset with red LED light strips. The craziest part of the setup is not only in the staggering detail used to create the death machine of death, but the amount of time it was completed in.

While a complicated mod such as this may take some weeks to put together, Wehr-Wolf accomplished the feat in an incredible two days using MSI investment and used robot parts. We've seen some pretty intense case mods before, but the Fighting Robot is one intimidating beast of a machine.

iBuyPower's Defender 410

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, iBuyPower showed off a phenomenal case mod inspired by Star Wars: The Old Republic. We were definitely impressed, and iBuyPower sent us hundreds of megabytes of high-resolution images capturing the build. Join us as we go from raw sketches to trade show floor stunner.

The Inspiration: Corellian Defender

The inspiration for this case mod was the Corellian Defender-Class Light Corvette from Star Wars: The Old Republic. Here's an in-game screen shot.

The Inspiration: Corellian Defender Artist Rendering

Here is an artist rendering of the Corellian Defender-Class Light Corvette from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Canvas: The NZXT Phantom 410

The popular NZXT Phantom 410 served as the canvas for the Defender-Class case mod.

The Design: Initial Sketches

This is one of the initial design sketches of the Defender 410 case mod.

Material Testing: Etching And Paint

In order to test the design scheme on actual material, the Corellian hull pattern was laser-etched into a scrap piece of acrylic. The red, white, and black color scheme was then applied to the etched acrylic. Silver accents and weathering details complete the color scheme to create an authentic Star Wars look.

Defender 410: Front Panel

This build has four major areas of work: the front panel, rear fan, top panel, and side panels. Let's first take a look at how the front panel came together.

Front Panel: Stencil And Layout

A stencil of the Old Republic insignia was applied to the front of the case for sizing before actually laser-cutting the front panel.

Front Panel: Engraving And Paint

Satisfied with the placement of the Old Republic insignia, the front panel was removed for laser engraving before getting a coat of primer. After the primer dried, it was taped off to receive the red base coat and then taped again for the white highlights. At this point, the Old Republic color scheme really pulls together, with white highlights standing out against the red and black.

Front Panel: Side Lighting Inserts

Opaque plastic inserts are glued inside oblong cut-outs that were made along both sides of the front panel.

Front Panel: Old Republic Insignia

From pattern to acrylic reality. Two of these clear acrylic pieces are glued together for reinforcement. A coat of red paint is applied to the outer piece of acrylic, while the inner side is left clear to capture more light from the LEDs.

Cleaning The Laser Engraving Lens

All this laser engraving generates a ton of smoke and plastic debris, which wreaks havoc on the lens. It became necessary to clean the lens after cutting each part.

Front Panel: Installing The Insignia

The finished insignia acrylic is attached to the front panel, with the Old Republic insignia directly over the mesh of front case fan. Four blue LEDs are attached inside the front mesh grille to light the insignia.

Front Panel: Upper Lighting Armor Plating

“Armor plates” were added to either side of the upper lighting cut-out. The armor was created from black craft foam and styrene sheets, painted red to match the base coat.

Test Wiring

A breadboard was used to quickly arrange and test timing circuit configurations for the custom LED lighting.

Front Panel: Blue LEDs And Wiring

A timing circuit chase controller is added in order to make the LEDs blink. Here is what the front panel looks like with all the blue LEDs lit up.

Front Panel: Optical Bay Door

The outer section of the optical bay door was removed so the iBuyPower logo could be lasered out of it. A layer of opaque acrylic was added behind the logo. Reflective tape was applied to the inner section of the optical bay door in order to diffuse and equally spread the LED light across the entire logo.

Completed Front Panel

With all of the cut-outs finished, paint job complete, LEDs in place, and wiring intact, here is the front panel with functioning alternating lights.

Defender 410: Rear Fan

One of the most ambitious facets of this case mod is the large engine over the rear exhaust fan.

Rear Fan: Frame And Light Ring

Up top, we see the blueprints of the rings that make up the conical structure of the engine's frame, next to the actual machined parts. Below are the blueprints and final parts of a large clear ring of acrylic, which will serve to light up the engine.

Rear Fan: Accommodating The I/O Panel

A vertical slice was made down the side of the rings due to the position of the I/O panel. Here we see the rings come together to create the conical frame.

Rear Fan: Light Ring Plus Frame

The clear acrylic light ring is attached to the already-assembled frame rings.

Rear Fan: Shell And Primer

Thin plastic strips are used to create the outer shell of the engine, and all exposed surfaces receive a coat of primer.

Rear Fan: Light Ring Wiring Test

The light ring is wired and tested before affixing it to the outer shell.

Rear Fan: Assembly And Shell Paint

The light ring/frame is added to the outer shell, which was taped off to receive strips of red and white paint.

Rear Fan: Additional Plating

Additional engine ring plating was created in order to cover up bright spots of leaking LED light. We see the additional plates go from diagram to cut, primed pieces.

Rear Fan: Plating And Center Cone

The additional plating is added to the shell, and a center cone is created out of clear acrylic triangles.

Rear Fan: Finishing Touches

In order to recreate that whitish-blue hue iconic to Star Wars ship engines, blue LEDs were added to a white LED case fan. With all the pieces painted and assembled, the engine is attached to the fan, completing the rear fan/engine assembly.

Defender 410: Top Panel

Requiring more than 120 individual cut-outs and controllable lighting, the top of the Defender 410 is perhaps the most complicated aspect of the build.

Top Panel: Cardbord Mock-Ups

Before any cutting began, a cardboard mock-up was used to get an idea of the overall structure.

Top Panel: Framing The Dome

Multiple acrylic pieces were used to create the frame of the top dome.

Top Panel: Dome Layout

Lining up the frame of the dome to make sure it fits properly over the top fan grille.

Top Panel: Dome Rails And Braces

The rails are added to the dome and the entire top frame begins to take shape. Support braces were also added, connecting the two sides of the frame for more structural integrity.

Top Panel: Side Skirts

More acrylic is cut for the lower side skirts of the dome. The skirt pieces first receive a coat of primer, then a coat of red paint. The skirt is then assembled and glued to the bottom of the dome.

Top Panel: Window Modules

The next step is to create lighted "window" modules for the dome. You can see the individual pieces next to a complete, but unpainted dome. Below that are the painted pieces of a single window module next to a competed module. Eight of these are needed to finish the dome.

Top Panel: Chasing Lights And Wiring

Above, small holes are drilled on both sides of the top panel and then fitted with opaque plastic bits to become chasing lights. Below that, we see the process of wiring the chase lighting and installing the controller board.

Top Panel: Progress And Another Mock-Up

This is what the top panel looks like so far, fitted with chasing lights, the dome, window modules, rails, and some wiring. Below that, a mock-up of the finished top panel is made by adding paper to the existing structure.

Top Panel: Extending The Structure

Using the paper mock-ups as a template, more plastic is cut and added to the frame rails, fleshing out the entire structure.

Top Panel: Lighting Switches

Switches are mounted to either side of the top assembly. One is the master on/off switch for all the case lighting, while the other controls the flicker of the LEDs.

Top Panel: Assembly

The top panel is fully assembled and ready for final wiring and paint.

Top Panel: Paint

With all fabrication, assembly, and wiring complete, the entire top panel is masked off for painting. After applying coats of primer, black, and red, only white highlights and detail work remains.

Top Panel: Wiring And Dome Cap

The dome gets wired with blue LEDs. Black tape is applied to the dome lighting to prevent light from leaking where the various parts connect. Now that the dome wiring is complete, a cover is fabricated, painted, and affixed to the dome.

Top Panel: Finishing Touches

Next, iBuyPower is painted white on the side of the top panel. The Aurebesh alphabet from the Star Wars universe is used instead of English. Finally, weathering paint is added to complete the top panel.

Defender 410: Left Panel

Creating the left side panel consists mostly of taping, engraving, and painting.

Left Panel: Paint, Blueprint, And Tape

First, a primer coat is applied and allowed to dry. Next comes the red base coat. A blueprint of the left side is created and the panel is taped in preparation for laser engraving.

Left Panel: Engraving The Insignia

Here is a shot of the laser engraver in action as it creates the Old Republic insignia.

Completed Left Panel

This is the finished left side (windowed) panel, waiting for its right side counterpart.

Defender 410: Right Panel

Now that the left panel is finished, the right panel is all that remains before we have a fully armed and operational Defender-Class Light Corvette case mod.

Right Panel: Sanding

The first step is to sand the side panels in preparation for the primer coat, and this is what happens when you take sandpaper to the side panel of a shiny new NZXT Phantom 410.

Right Panel: Blueprint, Engraving, And Paint

The right panel goes from a blueprint to the engraver, and then from taping to paint.

Completed Right Panel

And here is the end result of all that sanding, taping, engraving, priming, and painting.

From Stock To Rock!

There you have it folks: from an already-sweet stock black NZXT Phantom 410 to the custom iBuyPower Defender 410. May the force be with you.

If there are two things any Battlefield 3 player needs for a long night of mowing down their enemies, it's a cold energy drink and a chain gun. Knowing this, master case modder Brian Carter has created the perfect Battlefield-inspired case mod for a competition run by the Raptr gaming community. Equipped with its very own tiny fridge and spinning chain gun, this case should be enough to make any Battlefield gamer drool.

Before starting the project, Carter had the choice of making a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 themed case or a Battlefield 3 one. In the end, he chose to go with the Battlefield design, featuring an airbrushed Battlefield 3 image on one side, a custom crosshair intake fan, and a decorative chain gun. Our favorite part about the case is the med pack themed mini-fridge that perfectly fits one energy drink. Check out the video below to see the case and rotating chain gun in action.

Designed by Omar Majzoub, this Godfather PC mod was spotted at a recent Campus Party event taking place in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where gamers and enthusiasts gather once a year for a week long 24-hour tech festival with over 7000 attendees. Unlike his nightmare inducing Chucky mod from last year, Omar's Godfather mod is surprisingly free of any creepiness such as a severed horse head.

Instead of a bloody mess, the Godfather mod actually features a large, clean setup in a classy ornate case. As expected out of a Godfather case mod, it's also packing some serious heat with an MSI Z68A-ZD80 motherboard, i7-2600K CPU, 2x MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti, 2x SATA3 120GB SSDs, 1TB and 2TB HDDs and 16GB of RAM.

As far as decorative aspects go, the main attraction is a 1940 Cadillac Fleetwood that spins on a turntable as a Don Corleone figurine stands by. It may not be the most theatrical of case mods, but what the case may lack in gimmicks it makes up for in style. All of the PC components and Corleone's precious car are very neatly fitted in a custom designed case with gold accents and framework.

We’ve seen a lot of incredible mods over the years, and the most disappointing thing about all of them is that there’s usually only one ever made. Case-in-point: This one-of-a-kind case mod we spotted at CES.

The latest in drool-worthy cases that only one of us can have comes from former racecar designer and engineer, Matthew Kim.

This is the Hammerhead 98902 PC. Sure, it’s got the usual suspects, like LED lights and exposed fans, but with its panels of Ecoresin plastic and CNC machined anodized blue aluminum, this is a case like no other. Kim says the components are all easily accessible because they’re attached to a true frame, which makes the PC easily modifiable and quickly adjustable, just like a racecar.

Rather than just selling the case by itself, Kim is selling the Hammerhead as a full Core-i7 PC. Full specs are listed below:

• Blue CNC brushed and anodized aluminum frame
• Supermatte White Ecoresin panels with Mil-Spec quick release system(motherboard side only)
• 2.8Ghz Intel Core i7-860 cpu
• 4 Gb ram
• 1 40 gb Intel solid state disk drive
• 1 640 Gb front loaded "hot-swappable" hard drive
• 1 extra hot-swap tray for a second hard drive
• nVidia ENGTX460 graphics card
• Optical CD/DVD drive
• Kingston 750W modular power supply
• Windows 7 64-bit Home premium

Kim says he noticed how little the average PC had changed over the last 20 years when the time came for him to buy a new computer for himself.

“I mean, apart from a few models, they were all rectangular boxes, having the same tired internal layout with endlessly uncreative cosmetic variations,” he says. “So I decided to design and build something special on my own, combining my experience as an architect and engineer.  I wanted to design something that would change the way people think about computers - a technological jewel, rather than an ordinary box, destined for a life of dusty obscurity. I wanted people to look at it and ask "ooh, what is that?" with a curious smile.”

Check out his website, Darwin Machines, for more on his modding projects or to buy the Hammerhead 98902 PC.

We got to see some pretty interesting case mod concepts at CES, despite it being a mostly consumer electronics oriented show.

One of the cases "showcased" at the Lenovo exhibit at Digital Experience was a case mode that looks as if it was made from ice. It was made by James Fislar, who turned a mild-mannered IdeaCentre K320 into something that would not look out of place inside Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

Check out James' introduction of the machine and then have a look at the pictures below!

A few months back we spied a blinged out Lenovo at CES Unveiled in New York City. After poking around on the Web, we learned that it was part of a mod-contest run by Intel and Lenovo called “What’s Your Idea of Fun?” and that Lenovo was sending the winners to the world’s biggest consumer electronics trade show.

We caught up with Dean Liou, the modder behind what was arguably the coolest mod present and he gave us a quick tour of his bartop arcade cabinet. Though it looks like it could be used with any 15-inch laptop, Liou’s mod incorporates an IdeaPad Y560, which packs an Intel Core i7-720QM, 8GB of DDR3, a 15.6-inch widescreen HD display, and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 graphics.

It’s not unusual for custom builders to offer brand-specific custom paint and wild hardware configurations, but CyberPower took its experience to a new level by creating its own high-end cooling component for a CES 2011 launch.

Cyberpower added a high-volume pump and Aerocool Touch 2000 to a reservoir of its own design to produce a compact 2-bay solution, simplifying liquid-cooling installation and coolant hose routing.

CyberPower’s new 2-part chassis adds a drive and radiator section atop a more-traditional mid-tower design. The expanded portion features two flip-down panels and an adjustable, louvered top.

Getting back to more traditional “custom builder mods”, CyberPower was showing off a dual 3x120mm radatior cooling solution with separate pathways for its graphics and CPU.

Oh yes, and you can have custom paint if you’d like. White paint highlights the design features of Inwin’s Dragon Rider chassis in this $80 upgrade.

And yes, massively mass-storage is another option.

We love casemods. The more unusual, the better. Previously we featured a pocketbike that had been turned into a working Core i7 system. Now we're going back to four wheels with this Corvette ZR1 case mod.

Believe it not, this little Corvette ZR1 replica actually still works as the RC car that it was originally. This case mod is definitely just as much 'go' as it is 'show'.

Of course, this mod was done by professional modders, so we have no reason to expect anything but the very, very best.

Check out the pictures and video for more.

_{Source: Case Mod Blog}

That blinged-out IdeaPad we saw earlier is flashy, but flashy isn't everyone's cup of tea. For those who enjoy a more industrial look (and only plan on moving their computer with the help of Žydrūnas Savickas), we've got the Concretronic from modder and Best Case Scenario forums user D.Heiße.

D.Heiße's creation is definitely special, but when you read how he did it, it becomes even more impressive. D.Heiße made the case using a single layer of concrete, which he accomplished by fashioning a complex frame out of steel sheeting and welding rods. The mod is D.Heiße's entry for a mod contest that asks that finished entries have PSU visible to the user. For this reason, the plexi-glass windows you see in the photos were also included in his custom-made framing.

Making the frame alone took D.Heiße two months. Unfortunately, he doesn't divulge how long it took to get the finished result, which is absolutely amazing looking by the way. Certain details, like the concrete buttons on the front and the SSD and HDD covers on the back, give an indication as to how long this project must have taken. Consider us blown away.

Check out D.Heiße's full post on The Best Case Scenario forum for pictures of the all the nitty-gritty procedures.

_{Source: Best Case Scenario via Gizmodo}

The Oil Computer

Oil computer? Why does that seem so familiar? By the way, the sign says: "And the fish do not mind."

This is the second part of this article. We recommend that you check out Part 1 if you like crazy case mods!

The Cube

Here's yet another case mod that seems to be made out of corners and edges.

Outstanding? (1)

This case mod reminds us of a lot of things, and not many of them have much to do with computers. At first sight, it looks like a changing room.

Outstanding? (2)

I wonder whether you could use this machine as a BBQ?

Outstanding? (3)

Perhaps you could hang your laundry up to dry in there?

Stay On The Ball (1)

Most of us are probably fed up with soccer right about now...

Stay On The Ball! (2)

...but at least this ball can be used to illuminate your home.

Another Cube (1)

SLI again, this time it is red.

Another Cube (2)

It looks quite good. Only the logo is a bit "off" without the typical green color.

We Play Shooters

Battlefield or Afghanistan? Probably some backyard in Moscow.

The Tank PC, Literally

This is a canister computer.

Futuristic

Now that is a design!

Blue Bike (1)

The only thing missing is a driver...

Blue Bike (2)

...the rest is just like it should be.

Bright Barrel (1)

Well, it kind of looks like a barrel...

Bright Barrel (2)

...but at least it lights up...

(Not Exactly) Precision Work

Solid Siberian blacksmith work from a first-year apprentice. Since then, someone used it to build a piece of armor.

And Another Engine

This isn't the biggest engine, but it's an eight-cylinder design nevertheless.

And What Is That?

This seems ready for takeoff.

It Is Alive!

And if not, at least it is bright.

We all love a good case mod. Some of our favorite case mods involve things that weren't meant to hold computers in the first place, such as a pocketbike that can hit 110 km/h.

17-year-old "Saibot" from Canada took an old pocketbike and gutted it to accept a full Intel Core i7-based system. The impressive project took 12 days of work spread over five months.

The best part of his mod was that he documented the entire process with pictures, transforming a furry bike into an amazing pocketbike PC complete with lighting effects. The user can still actually sit on the bike, but with no engine, it's not going anywhere.

Specs:

Corsair TX750watt PSU
Intel i7 920 d0 batch# 3845b260
Asus p6t
OCZ 6gb DDR3-1800 @ 8-8-8-26
XFX 8800 GTS (my 9800 gtx+ died)
1x WD 500gb HDD
1x Samsung 1tb HDD
Furry pocket bike
True120 + tricool
Lots of lights and led fans.

Check out his build in full detail here. (Yes, we know that this mod is from nearly a year ago, but true coolness is timeless.)

Go East!

Modding is an activity with a very wide definition and spectrum--and it is absolutely not just about blinking lights and fans. Some of the things the Russian enthusiasts in the following pages have managed to erect actually have hands and feet. Some designs are anything but serious, and others reveal a true mastery in the field of low-temperature sheet metal deformation.

No, this trash can does not hold a PC. It is a PC.

This Garbage Container Doesn't Hold Garbage

Open the top cover and you’ll see that there is no witchcraft involved. It's a micro-ATX platform…

This Garbage Container Doesn't Hold Garbage

... and a clean, compact interior.

This Garbage Container Doesn't Hold Garbage

It has an opening for plastic waste--in disc form.

Perfect Beer Cooling

Clearly, this crate has been abused...

A PC In A Crate of Beer

...how else would you explain the ten missing beer bottles?

A Chernerobyl-Inspired Case

This is what a PC looks like when a father working in a nuclear power plant disassembles part of it every day to bring home.

Grandma's Radio

This funny case could be grandma's radio.

Map Modding

A map on your PC? If it was not a map of Russia, a laptop would probably have been big enough.

A True Green PC?

A typical case…

Green Power PC, For Sure.

...of green power.

If I Had A Hammer...

Apparently, someone integrated the Tom’s Hardware hammer onto her or his PC. Ah well, Tom's is available in Russian as well.

Fallout Toaster With SLI Branding

A cat cage on Mars?

Fallout Toaster With SLI Branding

That part could be from Fallout 3.

Back Beauty (1)

A black cube... but which side is the front?

Back Beauty (2)

At least we know where in the rear is located!

The Green PC Again

The Green PC again.

Condolences Not Needed Here

There are people who literally take their computer with them to the grave. This coffin is available in European oak.

Anti-Matter Styling

This looks like a canister for anti-matter.

Car-Amba

A car freak, you might think.

Rubik's Cube (1)

Rubik's Cube?

Rubik's Cube (2)

Well, a bit crazy perhaps...

Rubik's Cube (3)

But it has a display!

The Speed Camera PC

No, this is not an opened speed camera in the shape of a trash can. Or is it?

Château PC (1)

It must be a fantasy geek who built this...

Château PC (2)

...as only an indoor water fountain is missing.

Grandma's Radio Again

Granma's radio from earlier, but no vacuum tubes. What a shame.

Grandma's Radio Again

It does not look any more modern from behind. There is just more plastic.

The Drawbridge PC

Horror movies or bad taste? The drawbridge is big enough in either case.

The Fallout PC

Our cat cage, back on Earth. Welcome.

The Fallout PC

It turns out it was just an ordinary toaster.

V12 Design

A V12 for the desktop?

V12 Design

It is quite something. But what, exactly?

V12 Design

It's heavy. That's much we can say for certain.

Bright Prospects

Binoculars for slow nights?

Bright Prospects

Or is Nvidia using them to search for something specific?

Bright Prospects

In any case, this shape is...well, different.

V12, Side View

Another look at the V12. How about a Mercedes SLI instead of the SLS?

SLI Tube PC, Retro Style

I wonder whether you can make coffee with it as well?

SLI Tube PC, Retro Style

It is SLI, retro style.

SLI Tube PC, Retro Style

Well, this part does have charm…

SLI Tube PC, Retro Style

...and an optical drive.

Night Vision

The Nvidia binoculars are even illuminated at night. Anybody home?

The Steam PC

Another green PC.

The Steam PC

The exhaust system is a little irritating, though. The whistles go woo woo.

Rust Mod

If you rest, you rust.

Greenhorn (1)

Nvidia transparent.

Greenhorn (2)

At least the case is easy to see through...