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The Most Amazing PCs Of August 2014

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Every month I take a look a look at three of the most amazing PCs I've spotted from around the Internet. These aren't just off-the-shelf products that anyone can buy from popular etailers or stores though. Instead, they've been customized by their owners in all manner of ways to stand out from the crowd - they're anything but bland black boxes.

Spray painting, air brushing, powder coating, brushed metal, carbon fibre, chrome - they're all thrown in the mix and their owners bring some incredible skill sets to the scene too. Engineers, metal workers, carpenters, auto mechanics and 3D design experts have all turned their attentions to their PC's aesthetics with truly amazing results that are a match for anything MTV's Pimp My Ride can achieve.

The projects come from all for corners of the globe too, with these PC modders posting their designs in online forums for all to see. Here are three of my favorites that I've spotted in August.

First up is a project called Baby Moon by Ohio-based modder Shinji2k. He happened across some chrome hubcaps that became the centerpiece for this project and  car fans out there might have realized the project's name comes from their nickname too - Baby Moons.

The case is made entirely from scratch using popular workshop tools. For instance, the ribbed, black band around the case was milled from a strip of metal then bent to shape around a wooden template before spraying it black.

Of course, this is an entirely functional PC too, with an Intel Core i5-3570 processor and X-25M solid state disk as well as a small motherboard and low-profile processor cooler to squeeze into the tight confines of this small case. You can see the whole build process over on bit-tech.

The next project was made using an existing off-the-shelf case called the Cosmos SE by case manufacturer Cooler Master. The PC modder in question, Ronnie Hara, who hails from Japan, is well-established in the modding community having made numerous high-profile projects over the years.

To start with Ronnie stripped the case down to its individual components before spraying the exterior  red and applying carbon fiber film to the insides and adding a metal-framed shroud to focus attention on the motherboard and graphics cards and to hide most of the cables.

The PC uses two MSI GeForce GTX 770 graphics cards and a Z87-GD65 motherboard, along with Corsair memory and solid state disks, and Intel Core i7-4770K processor and a water-cooling system for the processor using components made by Alphacool and Phobya. You can see Ronnie's entire project log here.

The final project I'd like to share with you is called Monolith FT03, which was made by Swedish modder Justin Ohlsen whose forum name is MetallicAcid. He used case manufacturer SilverStone's Fortress FT03 case as the subject for his project, creating several 3D renders of the case first to decide on colors and designs.

The centerpiece of this project is the huge water-cooling radiator that Justin mounted on the rear of the case by creating a custom shroud. he then made a side window, featuring hexagonal patterns and also allowed for part of the water-cooling system to come out of the top of the case to reach the radiator at the rear.

To finish off, a front-mounted plate was made, again sporting hexagonal cutouts that are illuminated from behind using purple lighting, with more lighting revealing the water-cooling system inside the case too. Justin used Asus' Gryphon Z87 motherboard and GTX 780 graphics cards, along with water-cooling gear made by Phobya, Swiftech and EK Waterblocks. You can see the whole build log here.

That's it for this month. I'll be scouring the Internet for more amazing PCs to show you in September and as always, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.