Towers of power

Posted at: Thursday 24th January 2008

Daniel Costin's massive Project Gemini mod includes two water-cooling loops, separate thermal zones for hot-running components and uses geometry's golden ratio to keep everything balanced.

Looking something like a cross between London's Battersea Power Station and a giant home stereo, Project Gemini is a gargantuan mod. Both of these constructions are imposing and powerful rather than lumbering, thanks to their careful observance of geometry, balance and symmetry.

Measuring 81cm wide, nearly 61cm tall and 33cm deep, Gemini comprises two massive towers linked by two central chambers. Each tower contains dual 120mm fan radiators, pumps and reservoirs for its two water-cooling loops, along with an optical drive and hard disk. One loop cools the CPU, while the other handles the system's two SLI graphics cards. The mod is built entirely from acrylic sheets, which is a challenge to assemble but gives Gemini a sleek, monolithic look that's accentuated by the use of blue cold-cathode lights.

The design is derived from its creator's fascination with mathematics, particularly the 'golden ratio'. This geometric law concerns the relations between two objects or measurements. If the sum of those measurements (for example, x+y) is identical to the ratio between the two (x:y), you have a golden ratio. The golden rectangle is a shape drawn using this rule, with the correct ratio to the length of its sides; in other words, if you add up the length and the depth, the result is the same as comparing length and depth in a ratio. The golden ratio has been used by painters, designers and architects since the Middle Ages, as the shapes the rule produces are visually pleasing, and its recursive elegance means that it's also of interest to mathematicians.

A CPC reader alerted us to Gemini, and we knew straight away that it was worth tracking down the modder responsible for it - Daniel Costin. He took us through the process of designing and building the mod, and if you think that off-the-shelf cases are too small and limiting for the PC you want to build, his advice should come in extremely handy.

CPC: What inspired you to start Project Gemini?

Daniel: The previous cases I built weren't suitable for a dual-loop water-cooling system, or dual graphics cards, both of which I wanted to use in my next PC. I was also keen to house all the liquid-cooling components inside the case. Finally, while there are some really beautiful PC cases out there, I wanted more than a rectangular box for my computer - no offence to case manufacturers. I ended up with four rectangular boxes.

CPC: Why did you decide to call it 'Gemini'?

Daniel: The system has dual loops and dual GPUs. It was originally going to be dual core PC as well , but I ended up with a quad-core in the end. I also considered making it a dual-boot system, with XP Pro and Vista. In the end, I decided I wasn't ready to part with XP, so forgot about Vista.

CPC: What sort of look were you after when you first began thinking about the mod? Did you have any specific hardware requirements?