Build of the week: a pile of guns and light

Every Monday, Build of the week highlights a unique rig from the web’s most dedicated PC building communities. 

This is a computer. Anyway, you know what the craziest thing I’ve ever seen is? I saw a small herd of cows tumble down a hill. They fell for like, 50 yards or something. If you ever saw a cow roll down a hill like that, you’d know that they gather quite a bit of momentum on the way, gaining some major speed, spinning like a lop-sided bovine pinwheel until their colors blend and become some undiscovered shade of brown or grey. 

First it was one cow, but the herd followed suit even though they could hear the dopplered moos of their family warbling away into a distant mumble. One after the other, down the hill, calm—confident almost. And every single cow, after their big tumble, got up and continued walking. 

I do this to myself every week writing this column. The hills keep getting steeper, the custom computers losing purpose in favor of defying expectation with no end in sight. I don’t know if I’ll make it after tumbling down this hill. I survived a PC shaped like a big gun. A PC that pours actual wine couldn’t stop me. Not even an impossible PC housing its components within a wheel spinning in two directions at once could shake me. But the Tt X ROG Mechanicore from Japan-based modder Von Carlo Rasonabe will kill me. It has killed me. I am dead.

But with my final moments, I might as well list off some of the cool features of this custom PC, this beautiful computer built to kill me. Between all the guns on guns on guns, a custom liquid cooling loop threads and weaves around like an intricate spider web, also built to trap me and kill me. My favorite touch is that the wheels are just fans, which is a fun illusion. But it’s not an illusion for me. It’s coming this way, and my body will pass under those cute fan wheels. The last thing I hear will be Windows booting. First though, here’s what this boss hog is packing beneath the hood!

Mechanicore components: 

Mobo: ROG Maximus IX Code
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
GPU: ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1070
RAM: V-Color ?? GB (x4)
SSD: V-Color 240 GB
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 850W

James Davenport

James is stuck in an endless loop, playing the Dark Souls games on repeat until Elden Ring and Silksong set him free. He's a truffle pig for indie horror and weird FPS games too, seeking out games that actively hurt to play. Otherwise he's wandering Austin, identifying mushrooms and doodling grackles.