MaximumPC 2004 08

Rig of the Month

96 MAXIMUMPC AUGUST 2004

A

name can be so telling.

Just ask Troy Fryfogle,

creator of August’s Rig

of the Month. “Moby refers to

the whale... and represents

my drive to build the perfect

modded system just as Ahab

obsessed over his white

whale,” he says. Seriously, the

quest was no small matter.

Just ask Moby 1, the custom-

crafted PC Fryfogle summarily

gutted in pursuit of his dream.

Luckily, Moby 2 turned out to be

everything Fryfogle hoped for (if

only Ahab had been so lucky!).

The craftsmanship speaks

of a practiced hand. After all, a

first-timer would hardly know

all the tricks it takes to cram

this much componentry and

extraneous ornamentation

into a standard full-tower case

without the inside looking like

R2D2’s sick bag. Large custom

windows on both the side and

top of the case don’t lie.

As for the rig’s performance:

“It runs like a scalded dog,”

says Fryfogle.

If you have a contender for Rig of the Month,

e-mail [email protected] with pics and a brief write-up.

Luckily, Moby 2 turned out to be

everything Fryfogle hoped for (if

only Ahab had been so lucky!).

of a practiced hand. After all, a

first-timer would hardly know

into a standard full-tower case

without the inside looking like

R2D2’s sick bag. Large custom

windows on both the side and

As for the rig’s performance:

Luckily, Moby 2 turned out to be

everything Fryfogle hoped for (if

of a practiced hand. After all, a

As for the rig’s performance:

THIS MONTH: Troy Fryfogle’s Moby 2

Fryfogle actually scaled back

his use of lights with Moby 2,

and went strictly LED. As he

puts it, “LEDs not only keep

the case lighting consistent

but they last forever, and if

they die it’s nothing cataclys-

mic; they normally go without

so much as a whimper and at

worst a ‘pop’.”

The mod that gar-

ners the most atten-

tion is the pop-out

LCD, which can be

used as either an

extension of the

primary desktop, or

to display television

programming via the

PC’s TV tuner card.

All the drives were “stealthed”

to match the front of the case,

as were the faceplates for the

Zalman fan controller and the

Matrix Orbital LCD. Handles

were added to the top for

easier transport.

Fryfogle meticulously

planned the machine’s

layout, “everything

from the case lighting

and wiring down to

the airflow pattern/fan

position.” A Lian Li PC-

6077 houses the whole

kit and caboodle and an

Antec 480W blue LED

PSU provides the juice.

There’s plenty to see

beneath the top window,

including the active LCD

screen when it’s tucked

safely in its resting place.