Working on my PC rig

Distaste for PC gaming? Me? Never!

Realistically, I need a decent PC. If it plays games, great; if not; no harm, no foul. I've been running this Athlon XP 2000+/768MB RAM for the last three years. The rig has great speed for single tasks, but I use dual monitors for a reason. Since dual core Pentiums are now affordable, so I decided to move forward. (Looks like the CPU is now $35 more; it was $60 on sale when I purchased it).

Since the local PC parts outlet sucks, I ended up with parts from frozencpu.com and newegg.com. Online stores still seem to offer the most for the money (plus you can be lazy and avoid the masses of psychotic shoppers).

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I like newegg, but they just didn't have a case I wanted. After days of searching, and finding a bunch of cases I wanted to combine into one cool case, I ended up settling on this sweet little deal. While it's not the highest quality case, it had everything I wanted: a side window, controls/USB on top, a 450 watt PS, and quick release bays. I'm still adjusting to it's look, but overall I'm happy with it. The top USB's are great as I can just set my PSP dock on top and not have cables looped through the rat's nest behind my desk. No more fidgeting for an open USB port in the back, or kneeling down to access extra ports on the bottom of the PC. I don't even have to reach down to turn the thing on anymore.

The real kicker is I've found some customizations that totally suit me. Frozencpu had some items I've never seen before: ALIENS thumb screws and AVP fan grills. As much of an ALIENS fan as I am, it was impossible for me to turn away from these items. Naturally, I purchased one of each different AVP fan grill. I'll have to cut some holes in the case in order to use them. I'm thinking one in the Plexiglas window, one on the front, and possibly one on top.

All of this work is just a reminder of my desire to create a custom case in the vein of this Manga Doll PC. Instead of a porno cartoon delightful tentacle welcoming Japanese doll figure, the same method could be used to create a more interesting Alien version (how about scaled down Queen?). That's a ways off; the time consumption of such a project is beyond my will. The expense of the professional tools needed is slightly daunting (it's not bad, but I'd rather spend money elsewhere).

For now, I'll do a few customizations to what I have. I'll be sure to post pics when the PC is done. I need more parts, but it's time to start saving for wallet-hole holiday season.