Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Codes
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • Community guidelines
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
Subscribe now
Popular
  • Battlefield 6
  • Essential Hardware
  • WoW Midnight
  • Silksong
  • Quizzes
Don't miss these
A picture of the OcUK Gaming Mach 5R gaming PC
Gaming PCs OcUK Gaming Mach 5R review
MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi and Asus ROG Maximum Z790 Hero gaming motherboards on a green background with a PC Gamer Recommended label
Motherboards Best gaming motherboards in 2025: these are the AMD and Intel mobos I'd build a system around today
Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT mini PC and AtomMan Venus UM790 mini PCs
Gaming PCs Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
Two PC cases on a yellow background with the PC Gamer recommends badge in the upper right corner.
PC Cases The best PC cases in 2025: These are the chassis I'd use for my next gaming build
The Velocity Micro Raptor ES40 and HP Omen 35L gaming PCs on a blue background with the PC Gamer recommended badge in the top right corner
Gaming PCs Best gaming PCs in 2025: these are the rigs and brands I recommend today
AMD, Secretlab, Skytech, Zotac products composited on a pink gradient background
Hardware Best October Prime Day Deals Live — The best PC gaming hardware deals still live
A collage of gaming desks from Ikea and Secretlab against a gradient green background, with a PC Gamer Recommended logo in the corner
Gaming Desks Best gaming desk in 2025: my top picks for standing, sitting and everything in between
A picture of a Terracotta painted Fractal Terra case
PC Cases 'I didn’t want just another black box', says hobbyist who customised their PC to look like an aged terracotta pot
A gaming PC in the process of being built, using Radeon and Ryzen components and an Asus Pro Art PA401 PC case.
Gaming PCs Moody and wooden, this PC and I have a lot in common: Asus ProArt Case PA401, Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RX 9070 XT build
Retro-style PC housing built using white Lego-style bricks.
PC Cases Rather than buy a brand new PC case, one Redditor elects to make their own out of Lego-style bricks
A white gaming PC built using a Thermaltake PC case, Cooler Master fans, and an AMD CPU.
Gaming PCs I've taken a proper bargain of a case from Thermaltake and built a gorgeous white PC with it
A Corsair Air 5400 PC case
PC Cases The many-chambered PC cases at Gamescom really showed up my old banger of a chassis
Corsair Platform:4 desk
Hardware Corsair's Platform:4 has got a real deep discount on the best-looking, compact gaming desk you can buy
A white gaming PC built using a Thermaltake PC case, Cooler Master fans, and an AMD CPU.
PC Cases I've just declared this the best budget compact PC case, and now I'm tempted by that all white build
The Hyte X50 PC case on a desk ready to be built into for testing and review.
PC Cases Hyte X50 PC case review
  1. Hardware
  2. Gaming PCs

Build of the week: Victorian Desktop

Features
By Amber Bouman published 29 June 2015

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net and ModZoo user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build, which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)
Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)
Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)
Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)
Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)
Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)

Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7

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

Sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from a need (a rig that can hold more RAM, perhaps), and sometimes the inspiration for a build comes from an entirely unexpected place. For example, the muse behind this scratch Victorian Desktop build was an antique cast iron grate bought by the builder’s wife, with no specific use in mind. Apparently it wound up in the right hands, because it is now part of a custom case made from solid mahogany.

Overclock.net user Mosquito Mods says the woodworking was the easy part for him; the hardest part was keeping close enough to the theme to be striking and functional but without crossing this line into overdone steampunk.

Keeping a compact shape was a primary goal with this build which is internally divided. One side is used to house an ATX power supply; the other side contains the hardware (Phoenix Wifi motherboard, a 90 degree PCIe hard rise video card and a “low profile” GPU). Orange LED strips were added to highlight the interior, which is watercooled using a Swiftech MCP35x, a Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool Reservoir and CPU blocks with orange acrylic tubing to match the LEDs. Mosquito Mods recommends using your own experience when shooting for a killer scratch build; he relied on his experience with hand tool woodworking, and to share a build with your friendly modding community. Top notch, Mosquito Mods!

Victorian Desktop parts list

CPU: Intel i5-4690
CPU Cooler: Waterloop is a Swiftech MCP35x, Alphacool Reservoir, Phobya 200mm radiator, Alphacool CPU blocks, with black Alphacool HT fittings, and orange acrylic tubing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85 Phoenix Wifi
Memory: 8GB G.Skill Ares
Power Supply: Silverstone SX600-G 600w SFX
Storage: 120GB Mushkin mSATA (on motherboard)
Other: Orange Darkside LED strips from MNPCTech.com

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Amber Bouman
Read more
A picture of a Terracotta painted Fractal Terra case
'I didn’t want just another black box', says hobbyist who customised their PC to look like an aged terracotta pot
 
 
A gaming PC in the process of being built, using Radeon and Ryzen components and an Asus Pro Art PA401 PC case.
Moody and wooden, this PC and I have a lot in common: Asus ProArt Case PA401, Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RX 9070 XT build
 
 
Retro-style PC housing built using white Lego-style bricks.
Rather than buy a brand new PC case, one Redditor elects to make their own out of Lego-style bricks
 
 
A white gaming PC built using a Thermaltake PC case, Cooler Master fans, and an AMD CPU.
I've taken a proper bargain of a case from Thermaltake and built a gorgeous white PC with it
 
 
A Corsair Air 5400 PC case
The many-chambered PC cases at Gamescom really showed up my old banger of a chassis
 
 
Two PC cases on a yellow background with the PC Gamer recommends badge in the upper right corner.
The best PC cases in 2025: These are the chassis I'd use for my next gaming build
 
 
Latest in Gaming PCs
An iBuyPower and Acer gaming PC on a blue background
You can still grab a high-end gaming PC for around $1,500 after October Prime Day, and you get your pick between AMD or Nvidia
 
 
Three gaming PCs on a pink background with the PC Gamer Recommended badge in the top right
The Prime Day gaming PC deals have been a highlight and here are 11 of the best machines under $1,500 still available right now.
 
 
A HP Omen Transcend 14 gaming laptop on a pink background with a PC Gamer Recommended logo on top
One of the most gorgeous gaming laptops I've used is almost $500 off even with an RTX 5070 for October Prime Day
 
 
A collection of PC parts on a pink background with the PC Gamer Recommends badge in the top right.
Take advantage of the Prime Day PC deals to build your own RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC with better components and a price to match prebuilt systems
 
 
An iBuyPower Slate 9 gaming PC with mouse and keyboard on a pink background, with a PC Gamer Recommended label on top
This RX 9070 XT gaming PC is way cheaper than equivalent RTX 5070 Ti builds this Prime Day and should be enough to tempt any Nvidia fan
 
 
A Cooler Master NR W9 Mini gaming PC on a pink background with a PC Gamer Recommended label on top
This isn't the cheapest RTX 5080 gaming PC I've found this Prime Day, but it packs a lot of powerful hardware into a dinky SFF chassis
 
 
Latest in Features
Ion Hazzikostas, WoW game director
World of Warcraft director admits it's too hard without combat mods and explains how bosses will change in Midnight: 'We're not looking to turn all our raid encounters into giant puzzles for people to solve'
 
 
A warrior stands with an axe slung over their shoulder in Final Fantasy 14.
Final Fantasy 14's latest patch finally has me excited to log into Dawntrail again—I just wish it didn't take Square Enix 15 months to get here
 
 
Ama looking in a mirror.
Blumhouse's latest horror game Sleep Awake is the first psychological horror I've enjoyed in a hot minute
 
 
a screenshot from Carimara: Beneath the forlorn limbs showing a strange looking man in a tavern
Five new Steam games you probably missed (October 13, 2025)
 
 
Jason and Lucia sitting on a pier, enjoying a beer together in the first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer.
'Rockstar keeps us on our toes': Will we get another GTA 6 trailer before launch, and if so, what can we expect?
 
 
The bold and futile attempt to fix the disastrous Aliens: Colonial Marines
 
 
  1. Don't compromise on power or portability with the best gaming laptops.
    1
    Best gaming laptop 2025: I've had my hands on the best laptops for gaming of this generation and these are the ones I recommend
  2. 2
    Best SSD for gaming in 2025: the fastest and the best value solid state drives to perk up your PC
  3. 3
    Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
  4. 4
    Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
  5. 5
    Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards
  1. Lofree Flow 2 keyboard on a light blue background
    1
    Lofree Flow 2 mechanical keyboard review
  2. 2
    Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC controller review
  3. 3
    ASRock X870 Nova WiFi motherboard review
  4. 4
    CloverPit review: This bite-size roguelike traps you in hell with only a slot machine for company
  5. 5
    Absolum review: Finally, a beat 'em up with depth

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...