This isn’t your average car lover’s PC gaming setup. Sure, there are model cars on the shelf, and even some Yokohama Model T6 wheels on the wall, but that wasn’t enough for Custom PC Facebook community member Zachary Nazech. As a keen lover of both cars and plants, Zachary decided to mix two of his passions in this unique PC gaming setup.
Custom PC has been celebrating the best PC builds and gaming setups since 2003, and our Facebook group has over 300,000 members. We’ve seen many custom gaming PCs, from case mods to scratch builds. Here we talk to Zachary about how he made his car-based PC gaming setup.
Custom PC: What inspired the design of this setup, and what look were you hoping to achieve?
Zachary: I’m into cars, as you can tell, and I was trying to think of a unique way to establish that, other than just putting up prints or model cars. I’ve seen people hang a whole car’s rear end on the wall, or other body panels, so I thought I could try to do something like that tastefully. I knew a friend of mine had wheels he had broken that I could probably snag for pretty cheap. And, as you could also guess, I’m also into plants.
Custom PC: What’s the inspiration behind the wheels as planters?
Zachary: It started with just the wheels up there, and they didn’t quite flow nicely with the rest of the setup. I already had a bunch of plants on the desk, so I thought it could neat to add plants to the wheels, making them look like they’d been abandoned in a building for years.
Custom PC: How did you plan out this setup?
Zachary: One day I just kind of had the idea that hanging up some wheels could be a pretty cool idea if I could find the right-looking wheels.
Custom PC: What tools did you use, if any?
Zachary: I used wheel display hooks for the wheels, but nothing special for everything else.
Custom PC: How long did it take you to make this setup, from start to finish?
Zachary: It has taken about six months for it all to finally come together.
Custom PC: Is the vertically stacked monitor setup for a specific purpose or just efficient use of space?
Zachary: I had tried using a monitor in front of me, and then one to the side, and I had also tried a dual split monitor layout. I hated how much desk space I lost with the main monitor in front of me, and I hated using the split monitor layout. So I tried them stacked and that turned out to be great. It saves a lot of desk space, it looks nice and, as long as you have them low enough, they’re ergonomically decent to use.
Custom PC: Were you a gardener in a previous life?
Zachary: Haha no, I don’t think so. I only recently got into plants within the last few years. I tried succulents at first and killed those because I always thought they needed water. I tried tropical plants after that, and they obviously need a lot more water than succulents do, so they were actually easier for me.
Custom PC: Did you come across any difficulties?
Zachary: Uhm, just trying to figure out how to make the wheels flow with the rest of the setup, and trying to figure out a wall color that would look best.
Custom PC: Are you completely happy with the end result, or do you wish you’d done some of it differently in retrospect?
Zachary: There’s still more I’d like to do, but it’s been difficult trying to find exactly what I’m looking for.
Cars and plants PC gaming setup specs
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
- Graphics card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 Super
- PC case: Phanteks P600s
- Monitors: Dual LG 27GL850
- Lighting: I just use the desk lamp, ceiling fan, and natural light for lighting
- Peripherals: Glorious GMMK Pro, Glorious Model O-, Corsair HS80 Wireless
- Storage: 2TB Samsung 970 Evo SSD, 2TB ADATA NVMe SSD, 2 x Seagate external drives, and a Sandisk 1TB SSD
- Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Master B650E
- PSU: Asus ROG Thor 850W
- Cooling: Front-mounted EK AIO Elite 360mm AIO CPU cooler and 3 140mm Phanteks Case fans
The PC builder
- Name: Zachary Nazech
- Age: 28
- Occupation: HVAC Tech
- Location: USA
- Main uses for PC: Gaming and photo editing
- Likes: Cars, plants, photography, long walks on the beach, interior decor, my job, steak, and of course the GF
- Dislikes: I absolutely hate all seafood besides Salmon
Brilliant work, Zachary – you’ve really made this PC gaming room your own, and we love the plants sprouting from wheels on the wall.
Check out our best gaming setups guide if you want to see more outstanding custom PCs and gaming setups, and if you’ve built an extraordinary PC or gaming setup of any description yourself, then we’d love to see it! Join our Facebook group if you’d like to submit your own work for consideration.
