@yeah_books
| 2 min read
When you think about gaming PCs, you likely envision top-notch processors and graphics cards, robust cooling systems, and lightning-fast monitors and peripherals. What you probably don’t envision is a thicc Hot Wheels setup, but maybe you should. This guy did.
Modding enthusiasts Shank Mods received a phone call one day from a friend about visiting a computer warehouse to comb through parts before the store closed down for good. He ended up finding the colorful Hot Wheels (yes, that Hot Wheels) tower, which was originally released for all the cool gamer kids back in 1999.
Then Shank remembered that the Hot Wheels PC was originally sold as a set, complete with a CRT monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, a palm rest, a mouse pad, a gaming steering wheel with pedals, and two speakers—all of which had shared the bold blue paint job with the 90s-esque flame decals the toy car brand is known for. He scoured the warehouse, on the hunt for the other matching components but had no such luck.
Once home, he removed the tower’s decorative cover to check the condition of the internals, only to learn that the motherboard was corroded beyond repair. Restoration was out of the question, so Shank looked for new components to fix the PC and applied a small budget to pick up some other parts.
He was able to find a mini MSI Z170I ITX board and an Intel Core i4-7400 processor, and then purchased a Noctua CPU cooler, a Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 memory kit, and an ASUS GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card. He then spent an afternoon revamping the Hot Wheels PC to prepare it for its future as a gaming PC.
Shank was bummed at not being able to find the other components at the warehouse but was content with just having the tower. Later, two members of the DFW Retro Computing community reached out to him—one member had the matching monitor and keyboard, and another had a second monitor and a palm rest. Shank also continued the hunt online, and was slowly able to start piecing together the full collection
Until that darn Linus came along, that is, offering to pay $5,000 for a complete set to be sent to him. Shank was discouraged, as other folks thought the set was now worth that much thereby busting his modest budget.
Then MicroCenter reached out to Shank, offering the parts needed for two PC restorations for him (both the Hot Wheels and the Barbie versions) on the condition that he go all out to make super powerful rigs. Shank took MicroCenter up on its offer and racked up a $7,000 parts list, including a few truly ridiculous add-ons that make for one of the craziest gaming PC rigs we’ve ever seen. You’ll have to see it to believe it.
via AV Club
