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Custom PC Mod of the Summer
Stuart Andrews takes a look at the fantastic entries in our ‘Mod of the Summer’ competition
Finally, Paul Edwards’ Skulltrail was a powerhouse gaming PC built to showcase Cooler Master’s flagship Cosmos S case and Aquagate Max watercooling kit. Once is never enough with this mod; with twin Core 2 Xtreme QX9775 CPUs and dual Zotac GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics cards, it needs two Aquagate Max kits to keep it frosty. Still, even Crysis Warhead holds no terrors for a PC of this magnitude.
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
Cool as all these systems are, however, we always have a soft spot for those that take enthusiasm to the point of madness – and sometimes that little bit beyond. Who couldn't love Richard Clinton's Black Mage, a case designed to replicate a sprite from the cult Japanese RPG/strategy game Final Fantasy Tactics, and constructed from painted wooden blocks to get across a true feeling of 8-bit graphics goodness? Or how about Thang Ddo’s Dead Man’s Chest, a PC ingeniously crammed into a beautifully embellished wooden chest, with a 19in monitor fitted inside the lid.
Still, these efforts look pale when next to the gung-ho nuttiness of Jez James's Steel Sentry and Brian Carter's Battlestar Galactica. The first combines a love of Half-Life 2, Hal from 2001 and dystopian sci-fi in a 7ft tall, free-standing PC in the shape of the robot, the guts of the system housed – appropriately – in the creature’s torso. With its single red eye, joints that can be repositioned and a sound system designed to produce incoherent speech, this is one PC that's guaranteed to grab attention, making the fact that its components are hardly cutting edge practically irrelevant. Carter's Battlestar Galactica mod takes expressions of sci-fi fandom to their logical conclusion, with a PC which screams ‘I love this show!’ from every inch of its massive case. The ornate chassis is practically unrecognisable from its origins as a Cooler Master Stacker 840, having grown engine pods and landing bays (constructed from insulating foam and resin), and being enhanced with running lights and LED displays. Plus there’s a 10.1in LCD panel fitted on the side is designed specifically to showcase BG episodes while a heavily modified main screen plays a BG-themed chronograph screensaver.
CUSTOM PC EDITORIAL WINNER
Cinematograph HD by Will Urbina
Will Urbina’s Cinematograph HD is a custom-built, portable PC designed specifically to capture, edit and play HD video. One integrated chassis houses a powerful PC system, up to five 3.5in hard disk drives, twin 22in LCD displays, 10w stereo speakers and a Blu-ray drive, yet still has room to stow a keyboard and mouse. We asked Will about why he built it, and how much work it took to put together.
Q: Cinematograph HD is rare in that it’s a mod designed for a specific purpose, rather than its looks. Can you elaborate on why you built it?
A: There was really nothing on the market that did what I needed. My primary computer is this massive system with 3 monitors that I simply can't take anywhere. I do a lot of digital video work, and even the most basic video editing system would be a pain to move anywhere, when you consider the system unit, speakers, monitors, keyboard and mouse - and most importantly all the cables associated with them. This is why they make laptops, but even the most powerful of laptops isn’t good enough if you want to get some serious video work done. What makes the Cinematograph special is it has all the things I need, and most importantly all the components in the case are full-sized desktop parts. I can put the best motherboard, CPU, graphics card and even optical drive in this case. This is incredibly important because I'm not simply trying to get a great 3DMark score, I'm potentially saving myself hours or even days or render time.
