DIY Builds

As a kid, if you liked to tear things apart just to see what made them tick and didn't worry about being able to put things back together later, this section is for you. Anybody with a screwdriver, some zip ties and a little bit of know-how can build a custom enthusiast gaming PC. Here we'll offer you that all important know-how, skill set and insight, along with some other cool project-based stuff, from DIY Amigas to retro gaming systems built on maker platforms like Raspberry Pi and even 3D Printers.

Over the years, we've evaluated multiple versions of Asetek's famed Vapochill vapor phase-change cooling system. In fact, our first experience with a Vapochill dates all the way back to June of 2000. The first Vapochill we evaluated hardly resembles today's more refined models, however. Gone is the standard beige case, replaced with a custom... Read more...
    So what does a PC Geek and EIC for a Hardware Enthusiast site do on a holiday long weekend?  Well, beside sipping a few umbrella decorated drinks by the sea, at night you can find this odd breed playing with the latest Tech Toys of course! This weekend I built a new high performance Workstation/Gaming Rig - something I haven't... Read more...
When we pause to think of some of the more memorable, market driving, changes to the computer industry, the advent of the mini-PC is one of the first to come to mind.  What started out as a single offering from Shuttle has grown into a market in and of itself, with new entries from a wide range of companies hitting the retail channel... Read more...
Watch any episode of "This Old House", "Hometime", "The New Yankee Workshop", or any other Do-It-Yourself type program for that matter, and you're bound to hear a certain phrase repeated over and over. Carpenters, mechanics, plumbers, chefs, they all use it. This phrase has almost become a mantra for anyone who... Read more...
  By, Marco Chiappetta April 8, 2004 Almost four years ago, we took at a look at Asetek's original version of the Vapochill designed for the Pentium III, and we came away impressed.  The enclosure was a basic beige full-tower, which by today's standards isn't very exciting. The installation was... Read more...
asetek Vapochill Extreme Edition How can cooling be such a hot topic? Written by: Robert Maloney September 29, 2003 What a better way to end the summer season then to write a review about CPU cooling, in this case about the latest Vapochill unit from asetek, the Vapochill XE.  For the uninitiated, asetek, based out of Denmark, has been... Read more...
  asetek's ChillControl Windows beta An exclusive look at asetek's latest efforts Written by: Robert Maloney October 12, 2003 A first look at asetek's Windows-based ChillControl The best just got better As we alluded to in our review on the Vapochill XE Cooling Unit review, asetek has been working on a Windows-based version of their ChillControl... Read more...
  The Asetek Vapochill Vapor Phase Cooling System Taking the Pentium 4 To 3.3GHz And Beyond By, Dave Altavilla October 23, 2002 The last time we checked in with the folks at Asetek, back in July of 2000, we were working with the Pentium III at its highest core clock speed of 933MHz at the time.  The world of Personal Computing has... Read more...
The Asetek Vapochill and Abit CX6 An Adventure In Over-Clocking June 27, 2000 - By Dave Altavilla  Art form, hobby, addiction.... whatever you want to call it, Over-Clocking and the quest for every last MHz. that can be wrung out of a CPU, is beginning to become a national and global past time.  With each new Motherboard, CPU, Heat... Read more...
Shuttle's SS51G XPC Mini Barebones System The Baddest Mini of Them All! By, Jeff Bouton August 18, 2002   Ever since we saw the first mini PCs from Shuttle back in December, we've been impressed with the XPC Mini PCs themselves, as well as how quickly new models have become available.  Starting with the release of the SV24, the first... Read more...
Shuttle's SS40G XPC Mini Barebones System! A Big Package with a Small Footprint By, Jeff Bouton August 13, 2002   Ever since our initial introduction to the first mini barebones PC from Shuttle, we were intrigued not only with its ground breaking design, but with the prospects of future "mini" machines as well.  The SV24... Read more...
Shuttle's SS50 Mini Barebones System! Good Things DO Come in Small Packages! By, Marco Chiappetta May 30, 2002 For years, the only decisions computer user's had to make, dealt with speed and capacity.  How fast is the CPU?  How big is the hard drive?  How much memory is included?  These types of questions were heard by... Read more...
Shuttle's SV24 Mini Barebones System! Taking "Coolness" To a New Level! By, Jeff Bouton December 30, 2001 Today we will be straying a little from the norm with a review of a fairly uncommon type of system that has been making quite an impression around the internet in the last few months.  The SV-24 Mini Barebones System is... Read more...
Enlight's Bare-Bones AMD / KT133 System Mid Sized Socket A Athlon Performance By Dave Altavilla - November 10, 2000   These days, many "build-it-yourselfers" and PC Systems Integrators are looking for pre-configured products that take some of the busy work out of putting together a system.  Hence the "Bare-Bones"... Read more...
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