Project Synapse

Any modding project requires a victim, and this was no different. We chose the Lian-Li PC65 as the basis for our rig. It's a versatile box with good cooling capabilities, and its simple looks make it a prime candidate for some modding work.



As with the Vietcong boxes, we decided to go with a funky case skin from PolyGFX to be the basis of the mod. Our in-house art guru Kna came up with a design that incorporated the VIA 'Geared for Gaming' logo and worked it into a futuristic, cyber-organic design we which had printed up. The overall effect looked spectacular on the skin, and we were hopeful that it would transfer to the finished case.



The VIA logo.



A close up of the detail.



We recoloured the bit-tech logo to match the scheme.



I used the same technique for appyling the skins as in my original PolyGFX CaseSkin review. We had no problem with the flat panel, but we needed a cunning plan to skin over the top of the case window neatly, whilst being able to cut away to show the window (not to mention accommodating the many rivets that hold the window in place).



You can see the panel design stuck on here. We backed the centre portion with a layer of paper to prevent scratching the window when we cut it away.



You can see here the crease where the window is, as well as the rivets we had to skin over.



We cut the window out painstakingly, using a sharp scalpel. Thankfully, we avoided scratches, and the flexibility of the material allowed us to get creative - rather than keep the standard rectangular window, we cut around a single synapse to help blend the line between window and case.



We skinned the top pretty easily and folded the corners for trimming later.



To seal the edges of the skin over the case edges (and to get rid of the nasty air bubbles around the rivets) we employed the PolyGFX-recommended technique of heating the plastic case-skin with a hairdryer. This causes the plastic to flex and sit around the edge better.