Proving that not all gaming PCs need to be housed in enormous cases and bedazzled with an array of RGB lights, this PC build from Custom PC and Gaming Setup Facebook group member, Thor Silword, is the ultimate no-RGB, open-air mini-ITX PC build.
Custom PC has been celebrating the best PC builds since 2003, and our Facebook group has over 390,000 members. We’ve seen many custom gaming PCs, from case mods to scratch builds. Here we take a closer look at Thor Silward‘s no-RGB gaming setup.
So stark is this setup that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was cobbled together from scratch out of a few pieces of spare metal piping but believe it or not this system is built around a proper purchasable PC case. It uses the Streacom DA6, an ultra-simplified, open-air PC-mounting frame that sells for a cool $260.
Available in simple black or chrome finishes the DA6 consists of two sections of bent piping, a base plate, and a top plate, with fixings that clamp onto the tubing used to create custom supports for all your hardware. It’s a drastic approach to PC design but it makes for a practical and surprisingly versatile setup, so long as you’re comfortable leaving all your fan blades exposed to careless fingers.
Thor embraced this industrial design quality fully, using a black version of the DA6 along with plain black components and no extra RGB lighting to create a sleek, professional, yet striking-looking build. Crucial to the effect being one of considered minimalism rather than boring barebones is the neat layout and cable tidying, with all the power supply cables carefully cable tied round the back of the case. The Cooler Master PCIe riser cable also works rather well, as it uses a split design with a fun little addition of one strip of purple cabling in amongst all the black.
The rest of the build consists of an Asus ROG Strix B560-I motherboard that is mounted vertically behind the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 4060 Ti graphics card. To the right is the very large Arctic Freezer II 280 AIO cooler, which is total overkill for cooling the modest Intel Core i5-10400F CPU.
Tucked away behind the GPU and on the motherboard there’s also 16GB of Kingston Fury Beast DDR4 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD, while above the motherboard is the Asus ROG 850W Gold power supply.
Finishing off the Asus ROG dedication is an Asus mouse and monitor, though the second monitor is made by Shark Gaming.
What do you make of this ultra-minimalist look and finger-shredding case design? We love the idea of such a compact system but safety and noise would concern us.
Let us know your thoughts on the Custom PC Facebook page, via Twitter, or join our Custom PC and Gaming Setup Facebook group and tap into the knowledge of our 400,000+ members. If you want to see more outstanding custom PCs and gaming setups, check out our massive guide to the best PC builds.