Custom PC Mod of the Summer

Posted at: Monday 22nd December 2008 by Stuart Andrews

Stuart Andrews takes a look at the fantastic entries in our ‘Mod of the Summer’ competition

You might say that the Custom PC Mod of the Summer competition has been a learning experience for us here. The lure of two £500 prizes from modding kit supplier A.C. Ryan drew out over 30 modders, and looking at these we can safely say several things. Firstly, a great mod takes a lot of talent, skill and – most of all – dedication. If you’re the sort of lily-livered wuss who can't handle hours with a sander and a Dremel, don't apply. Secondly, there's no limit to what you can build with time, money and a place packed with workshop equipment and high-end PC kit. Many commercial PC manufacturers would struggle to produce something as slick and professional as some of the mods we’ve had entered. Finally, we've discovered that some of you are absolutely barking mad. What posesses you to spend days creating giant robot systems or elaborate Battlestar Galactica tributes is beyond us but – hey – we're really, really glad that you do.

In the end there could only be two winners. Marcus Dandy's Lockdown – Candy Cane TJ07 took the reader's prize by getting the highest score as voted for by visitors to the CPC website, and the CPC editorial team picked Will Urbina's Cinematograph HD as their favourite mod. You'll find details on the winners later on these pages, but for now, let's have a good look at the best of the rest.

STYLE AND POWER

For some of our entrants, the competition was all about producing good looking, powerhouse systems. Lockdown, with its gorgeous red and white fifties styling was a case in point, but you and we were also impressed by Steven Dodd's Aero case – an attempt to stick it to anyone who argues that a PC can only be a dull beige or black box. This custom built mesh and perspex effort flew its Windows colours high, with one side of the case dominated by the modern Vista logo in iluminated acrylic panels.

Meanwhile Stavros Stavrou's Apple Core Duo mod took the much imitated Apple G5 case and modified it to accomodate a modern, watercooled PC. This doesn't seem like an achievement until you consider the hours that went into cutting new windows and new vents into the case and completely reworking the chassis to fit in a PC motherboard. This mod was all about the details, from the I/O ports seamlessly integrated in the front to the new matt black paintwork on the front, back and top of the case. The result has all the industrial style and functionality of the Apple original, but with the benefit that you can actually put some decently priced hardware inside it.

Other mods were all about the conspicuous expression of raw PC power. 3, by Peter Hussar, takes its name from the fact that it packs three water-cooled systems into one single case. Everything is fitted in ingenious compartments, with one containing the resevoirs and radiators for the watercooling, one containing the HDD and optical drives and a central PSU, and three others containing one set of core components each. Is there a point? Who cares when the result is as monstrously impressive as this. Steel Kane's Stealth 2 Duo Turbine was another beefcake contender. This colossal tank of a PC was designed to show that you could build a hot rod SLI system without resorting to water cooling, and the Turbine in the name is an accurate reflection of the number of fans involved. Those wheels on the base of the case aren't just for looks, either. They not only allow for airflow from the bottom of the case, they're also the only things that make this heavyweight machine remotely transportable.