This stunning Marvel PC build wouldn’t look out of place in the pages of a Captain America comic book. Built by PC modding hobbyist Marios Dalainos, it’s covered in comic panels, while its paintwork looks like it’s been sketched by a comic artist. Made as a tribute to Stan Lee, creator of some of the most iconic superheroes, it makes for a brilliant spectacle.
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 chat to Marios about how he made this Stan Lee tribute PC build.
‘I’m a Marvel fan,’ Marios explained to us, ‘and when Montech sent me this case, Stan was my first thought. I imagined it standing in front of me, and I said “Let’s do it!” I’m a person who likes to try different things in PC modding, and I decided to use the decoupage method on it to give it a comic book paper feeling.’
Decoupage is an art technique that involves sticking cut-out pieces of paper to an object, and sealing it with varnish to the point where the paper looks like it’s a part of the object. ‘All the comic book designs in the case were made with the decoupage technique,’ says Marios. ‘I printed comic book covers, cut them out randomly, and glued them in place with the decoupage glue.’
The comic-book parts look fantastic, and Marios has gone all out on their application, with decoupage comic panels found all over the PC. They’re on the CPU and GPU waterblocks, the reservoir, and all over the interior panels in the Montech Sky 2 case.
This machine isn’t just about comic panels, though. Marios has also painted the PC, and given sketch marks to some parts to make them look like they’ve been drawn. ‘The case and the other stuff was painted with spray cans using two different colors,’ Marios tells us. ‘Then I marked all the edges with an ink marker.’
There’s an interesting approach to water-cooling in this Marvel rig as well. We usually see water-cooling systems with either soft or hard tubing, but we rarely see one with both.
‘Generally, I like to use a combination of tubes in my builds, or I like to have one tube that’s different from the others, explains Marios. ‘This is why you see only one hardline wrapped tube – to add some color in that area, and to make that part look different.’
This tube looks markedly different to the soft tubing coming in and out of the CPU waterblock, which forms the rest of the tubing and looks like it’s trying to disappear into the darkness.
‘I thought that black ZMT tubes would fit better in this build than hardline tubing,’ says, and I wanted this tubing to be as invisible as possible.’ The water-cooling components themselves come from a Raijintek Scylla Elite kit.
Remarkably, considering the quality of his work, Marios says that he’s not a professional modder. ‘PC modding is my hobby,’ he tells us. I don’t have the tools I would like to have, and almost everything is made by me.’
He’s also almost apologetic about the spec of the PC. ‘I’m mostly a fan of modding and trying new things, rather than a PC hardware enthusiast, so my builds don’t have top-of-the-line parts,’ he tells us. ‘To be honest, I don’t even play games – I’m building PCs just for joy!’ And that’s what it’s all about. Who cares if your CPU doesn’t have the latest architecture if your PC looks like this?
Stan comic-book PC specs
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro-P
- Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200MHz
- Graphics card: Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
- Storage: 1TB ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro
- PSU: 650W Corsair TX650M Gold
- Case: Montech Sky Two
- Cooling: Custom water-cooling loop made from Raijintek Scylla Elite full kit
Every now and then you see a PC build that’s so striking that it takes your breath away, and this is one of them. We’ve never seen a PC like it, and we love the use of the decoupage method to make PC components look like they genuinely have comic books on them. If you’re new to the world of water-cooling, then make sure you also read our full guide on how to water-cool your PC.
What do you think of this Marvel PC build? Join the conversation to discuss this PC build with our 390,000+ strong member Custom PC Facebook group, where you can also submit your own PC build or gaming setup for consideration. If you want to see more outstanding custom PCs and gaming setups, check out our massive guide to the best PC builds.
