Welcome
Custom PC Issue 216
EDITORIAL
EDITOR
Ben Hardwidge
[email protected]
FEATURES EDITOR
Edward Chester
[email protected]
MODDING EDITOR
Antony Leather
GAMES EDITOR
Rick Lane
CONTRIBUTORS
Gareth Halfacree, James Gorbold,
Mike Jennings, Phil Hartup,
Richard Swinburne, Stuart Andrews,
Tracy King
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Julie Birrell
PHOTOGRAPHY
Antony Leather, Brian O’Halloran,
Gareth Halfacree
PUBLISHING
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Russell Barnes
[email protected]This magazine is printed on paper sourced from
sustainable forests. The printer operates an
environmental management system which has been
assessed as conforming to ISO 14001.
Custom PC magazine is published by Raspberry Pi
(Trading) Ltd., Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s
Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS.
The publisher, editor, and contributors accept no
responsibility in respect of any omissions or errors
relating to goods, products or services referred to or
advertised. ISSN: 1740-7443.DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME The information in
this magazine is given in good faith. Raspberry Pi
(Trading) Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for
loss, disruption or damage to your data or your
computer that may occur as a result of following or
attempting to follow advice given in the magazine.
If things do go wrong, take a break.J
ust look at the gorgeous PC on our cover this month.
Our modding editor, Antony Leather, has really
outdone himself this time. The neat lines of the
water-cooling tubing, the marble-effect paint job, the bright
pink lighting – I’ve never seen another PC exactly like it, and
that’s what makes building your own dream PC so special.
By ‘dream’ I mean ‘amazing fantasy’ not ‘nightmarish’, of
course. No one wants to build a PC when they’re naked on a
public street, while being watched by a friend they haven’t seen
for 20 years and an old school teacher taunts them because the
PC doesn’t have enough gerbils in it. Or do they? We have seen
some pretty weird PCs in Readers’ drives over the years.
What I particularly love about our dream PC feature on p74,
though, is that it’s broken up into individual sections with loads
of different ideas, so you can just pick and choose what you
want to do within your own budget and skill set.
You don’t need to have buckets of cash either. You can
completely transform your PC into your own unique creation
using some cans of spray paint, a bottle of etching cream, some
vinyl sheet and a roll of masking tape. If you have a crafty
friend with a cutting machine then you’ll be able to create even
more detailed designs too. Of course, it also helps if you have a
Dremel handy.
What’s more, unlike some computer hardware, these
materials aren’t in severe short supply. No one is scooping up all
the masking tape as soon as it goes on sale, then flogging it on
eBay at an extortionate price.
It may be a while before we can start building PCs at vaguely
sensible prices again, with the current demand for GPUs still
being insatiable. But what you can do is put your own personal
stamp on your PC. Remove your hardware, dismantle your case
and then transform it into a one-of-a-kind rig that you can be
proud to show off – make it glow, make it colourful and make it
your own dream PC.
Pretty in pink
DESIGN
criticalmedia.co.uk
HEAD OF DESIGN
Lee Allen
DESIGNERS
Ty Log a n
COMMERCIAL &
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING
Charlotte Milligan
[email protected]
+44 (0)7725 368887
DISTRIBUTION
Seymour Distribution Ltd
2 East Poultry Ave,
London EC1A 9PT
+44 (0)207 429 4000
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Unit 6 The Enterprise Centre
Kelvin Lane, Manor Royal,
Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9PE
Phone
01293 312182
Email
[email protected]
Website
custompc.co.uk/subscribeISSUE 216
SUBSCRIBERS
EDITIONISSUE 216EDITOR
Ben Hardwidge[email protected]^
@custompcmag/ FROM THE EDITOR