I remember when a customized gaming PC case was just a couple of LED light strips behind a clear side panel. Now, though, customized PCs—especially gaming rigs—are wildly customizable and people have figured out ways to make incredibly specific and unique computers. Such as this one from Paul McCaffrey of Battle Rigs, who created a custom BMW motorcycle PC case to house an intense gaming rig.
The PC case started out life as a Sharkoon CA700 Elite gaming PC case, which is an extreme looking, semi open case. Then, after McCaffrey actually stuffed it full of PC parts, he decided to customize the case by making it look like something from BMW Motorrad. The case itself is pretty much unchanged, except for the BMW livery and Roundel. Then he fitted it with what looks like a carbon fiber exhaust pipe, to make it look like a motorcycle. It helps that the Sharkoon case sort of looks like a motorcycle body sitting on a stand to begin with.
Inside, it uses a Gigabyte z690 Aero G motherboard, an Intel I9 12900k processor, 32 gb of Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 memory, and a Gigabyte RTX3080ti Vision OC GPU. So it’s a monster of a PC, capable of handling anything you can throw at it. Every AAA video game, 4k video editing, you name it. Hell, it might even run Crysis. So it’s more than just a cool looking case, as there’s real substance inside.
It also uses EKWB custom loop liquid cooling. For non-PC nerds, yes you can liquid cool computers, as it’s far more effective at keeping CPU and GPU temps low during intense gaming.
According to McCaffrey, the NOS bottle you see inside the case is real and there seems to be a hose connected to it, but it’s unclear what that’s for. It might just be aesthetic but it would be cool if it was functional somehow, perhaps as part of the liquid cooling system.
When I was 13 or 14, I’d have fainted from seeing a custom gaming PC like this. Not only is it cool looking, it’s far more powerful than my teenage brain could have handled. I remember when a GPU with 512 mb of VRAM was mind-blowing and this has 12 gb. However, PCs like this one are not expensive. You can probably buy a nice BMW Z3 for the cost of this PC. But if both gaming PCs and BMW motorcycles are what you’re into, this might be worth the cost.
[Builder @battlerigs / Photographer @mr_matt_lee]
