RevoluTtion

he winner of the Case Mod category of this year’s QuakeCon mod contest was Marc “marcam923” Molella’s RevoluTtion, and it’s a long time coming, apparently. “This is a mod I have been thinking about for roughly six years,” Molella says. “I wanted to create something that showed moving components outside the computer case (such as the working gear mechanism on the right side panel and the fans visible through the front) to coincide with electronic circuitry and the transfer of information constantly moving within, but that is not visible. “Plus, I used copper that I hand-polished, which in my thought process tied in to the industrial revolution, where these metals began being used more widely, as well as machines being implements, and the computer is a machine. Instead of just naming the machine ‘Revolution,’ I added the extra T to thank Thermaltake, the creator of the Suppressor F51, and for allowing me to bring this vision to reality.” Molella says his inspiration when modding comes from many sources: “Like most other artists or creative minds, I draw inspiration from almost everything around me: the works of others, nature, and the people that daily touch my life. I use that inspiration to take one portion of that experience, and create from it a vision. Before I begin a case mod, I see the finished product in my mind, and from that point it is simple—just make that vision a reality.” Molella says he can’t even begin to estimate the number of hours he spent working on RevoluTtion, but that the work was completed over a period of roughly three months.

The Copper “I created the front panel, power supply shroud, and the Tt logo on the gear mechanism on the back side panel from copper sheet,” Molella says. “I hand-polished it to a mirror shine, cut the components to what I wanted them to be, and then treated them so they would not tarnish and would stay in this condition.”

The Paint 
“I spray-painted the case’s exterior with Firemist Orange Metallic, which is why in some of the pictures, certain portions look darker than others. It takes on different shades from different angles and has the amazing metallic effect. I really wanted to draw a contrast, which is why a case that started its life almost completely black in color, is now orange and white.”

The Details 
“I truly wanted to build a piece of art; something that would make you have to take a second and third look to notice all the detail,” says Molella. “Then, after the third look, there might be things you still wouldn’t notice, possibly unless someone pointed it out, such as the customized front door opening, revealing another custom panel inside, or the gears on the back side panel. Everything was layered. I did this because I wanted to bring back the definition of why I started modding . . . why a lot of people started modding. It’s not just about the paint job or watercooling, it’s about building something truly unique that fits your character or personality.” Molella says his initial forays into the world of modding were for more practical purposes: “I began modding cases to allow for better air flow, because I was overclocking my components but couldn’t afford high-end computer cases. Once I began doing this, I started wanting to make the case look aesthetically pleasing, as well, so it became a mesh of the two worlds, overclocking and aesthetics.” The rotating gears on the right-side panel is a custom clockwork assembly painted to match the build; Molella attached his hand-cut copper Thermaltake logo, which is mounted on a piece of acrylic to create the appearance that it’s floating. He also trimmed out the case’s interior by adjusting the size of the motherboard tray so that it stays out of sight and adding custom white acrylic pieces as needed to make the copper PSU cover and the orange coolant pop. He then sleeved all of his power cables in paracord, bent 16mm rigid tubing for his cooling loop, and custom-mixed silver Mayhems Aurora 2 coolant with orange dye to make it match his paint job. RevoluTtion is a Thermaltake Suppressor F51, an Intel Core i7-5820K mounted on a GIGABYTE X99-SOC Champion, 16GB of G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4-3000 memory, an MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G graphics card, a Thermaltake Toughpower DPS 850W power supply, a G.Skill Phoenix III 120GB SSD, and a Western Digital Black 1TB hard drive. His cooling subsystem consists of Thermaltake 16mm PETG rigid tubing, a Thermaltake Pacific W2 CPU block, a Thermaltake Pacific PR22-D5 pump/ reservoir combo unit, a Hardware Labs Black Ice GTX 360 radiator, a Bitspower GTX 970 block, and seven Thermaltake Riing case fans.

The End 
Molella says that he brought this mod to QuakeCon, then participated in the 24-hour live modding event at the show and is still putting finishing touches on that project. All of this hasn’t stopped him from thinking ahead, though, and he says he already has ideas for his next six mods. Perhaps one of them should be called “Prolific