Build of the week: a gaming PC with a built-in wine fountain

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

Before doing anything else, just watch the video above. Let it sit for a moment and take note of any prevailing sensation. Look for a hint of fig and honey that follows up nicely with a splash of silicon and paint. Any guesses?

If you guessed gaming PC, you’re right. Bertrand, who goes by Cucmag in the mod scene, put together this gorgeous piece of work. Aptly named Wine Cooling, it’s not exactly cooled by wine, but definitely made cooler by it.

On one side of the build a literal wine fountain flows from tipped bottle to drinking glass through a loop obscured by a few lovely props, including a genuine tree branch and some heretical false grapes. Accompanied by some switches on the side of the chassis that let you control lighting color, this build is ready to set the scene for whatever wine-drinking, pointing-and-clicking mood you’re in. 

The wine liquid circuit is independent of a hardware cooling circuit, of course. Step around to the other side for an inside peek at the computer graphics fermentation process. Wooden backplates, custom etchings, stencil designs for the wood inlays, and another wine bottle covering the reservoir make for a classy build that evokes Napa Valley and bus rides and not actually knowing a damn thing about wine but drinking it and nodding a lot anyway. Oops, you’re drunk now. On the power of PC gaming. 

My only criticism is that the motherboard is severely lacking a nice cheese arrangement, but at least it’s carrying a diverse array of pungent components. 

For more information and adorable skeleton-posing, check out Bertrand’s official build log.  

Wine Cooling components: 

Mobo: ASUS Maximus VIII Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700k
RAM: Avexir Impact 16GB (4x4)
GPU: GeForce GTX 1070 (x2)
HDD: Seagate Firecuda 2TB 

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.