Behold Computex 2018’s wildly inventive custom PC rigs

Computex is the preeminent trade show for the PC industry, a mid-year extravaganza when all the major hardware makers trot out the hot new gear they’ll have on sale during the crucial holiday season. Of course, all of those fancy, fresh components need to look as sexy as possible to stand out from the crowd—and that makes Computex a standout show for gloriously over-the-top modded PCs as well.

Wildly inventive rigs glisten throughout the crowded halls and booths of Computex. We kept our cameras handy to show you some of the most jaw-dropping custom PCs we found.

This wild Battlebot rig wants to make sure you know what show you’re attending.

The show’s “Inception Project” is a massive wall of powerful, glittering PCs, all running on a single liquid-cooling loop. It’s like the Human Centipede of computers.

This might look like a hot rod, but it’s actually a mining cart: This custom PC was built to show off cryptocurrency mining hardware.

This arachnid-like PC was created by modder Bykski. It’s made us reconsider our deep-seated revulsion to liquid-cooled spiderbots.

InWin’s wild metallic concept case sure is a sight to behold—but don’t expect it to become an actual product you can buy.

Speaking of hot rods, check out this gleaming build at the G.Skill booth.

Here’s a look under the hood!

Hey, it’s a PC in a fish tank at Gigabyte’s booth—complete with living, breathing fish above it!

This pirate PC should’ve been playing Sea of Thieves. C’mon, Asus!

While we’re on the aquatic theme, this nifty build by legendary modder de8auer was at the G.Skill booth. Immersed PCs aren’t anything new, but this one isn’t simply dipped in non-reactive mineral oil. It uses 3M Novec cooling fluid that evaporates if it isn’t sealed. So the entire machine is made air-tight…

…and the CPU just boils the liquid off. It turns into a gas, which then hits a liquid cooler on top, which turns it back into a liquid that drips back in—like a gigantic self-contained phase-change cooler. Now that’s badass.

Staring into this is almost hypnotic.

This wild rig is like a more polished version of iBuyPower’s Project Snowblind. There’s an LCD panel in the case window that can display different images.

Now it’s a bird!

Thermaltake, as usual, was showing off the winners of a massive modding contest, all of which were built around the bones of the company’s Core P90 case. The third-place winner was created by Siwasak Sirisomboon.

The impressive runner-up in Thermaltake’s contest got its wings from modding maestro Suchao Prowphong…

…while the winner comes from Jesse Palacio’s workbench.

Several particularly impressive mods relied on open-air cases. We love the way this one integrates the cooling channels into the panel.

This nifty open-air build at G.Skill’s booth doesn’t even bother with a protective panel, on the other hand.

Zotac had a somewhat more traditional immersed PC on show.

Most underwater PCs completely immerse the parts in mineral oil, so the half-full (hey, I’m an optimist) design of Zotac’s PC really helps it stand out. 

Gaming-themed PC mods were a trend at Computex. This one evokes Overwatch‘s Tracer.

A Corsair event had some Overwatch rigs, too. Here’s one based on Mercy…

…and another dedicated to Reinhardt.

Another Corsair rig, built in a Carbide Spec case, showcased Destiny 2 instead. Or at least its front panel did.

Sweet custom rigs were everywhere at ASRock’s booth.

Here’s another one. More PCs should be circles!

Before it made the trip to Computex, Yong Un Kim’s masterpiece was displayed at Intel’s showcase at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. We’d say it’s gold medal-worthy. 

Finally, exotic cases aren’t the only impressive PC swag you’ll find. This stunning keyboard features caps inspired by tattoo designs.