Define 7 Compact Mod

by Laine

• Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background

  I’ve always liked working with metal and creating interesting shapes and finishes with it, so it only came naturally that custom PC builds would become part of it sooner or later. I try to create parts for these mods with a fairly basic set of hand tools when possible – just because it’s a nice way to disconnect for a while and just work with your hands.

• Are you modding alone or are you part of a team?

  Forever alone

• How did you get the idea behind this mod?

  I wanted to do build something that could be seen as an extension of the retail model, where the raw materials and techniques used was in focus, not hidden behind paint or vinyl. For this build it was all about adding functional details that would complement the case, without necessarily modifying it to any great extent.

• How long have you been modding for?

  I’ve been doing this on and off for about 12 years now.

• How did you decide what hardware components to use?

  The rig is very CPU biased, since the CAD and design software suite I use barely utilize GPU’s, it made more sense to focus on uncompromising cooling and flexibility in other areas.

• If you did it all over again, is there anything you’d change?

  I don’t know if I would really change anything given the goal of this particular build, but it would be interesting to make a bit more elaborate version that involve larger modifications.

• Do you have any plans for future mods, if so: what are they?

  I have an Era sitting on the workbench waiting to get a makeover.

• Case

  Fractal Design Define 7 Compact Black TGL

• Motherboard

  Asus Prime TRX40-Pro

• CPU

  AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X

• GPU

  Asus GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU Mini

• PSU

  Fractal Design Ion+ Platinum 860W

• RAM

  Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 4x16GB 3200MHz

• SSD

  Samsung 970 Evo 1TB

• Cooler

  Custom loop