About a decade ago, most desktop PCs were unsightly, monolithic towers that didn’t exactly turn heads unless they looked like weird “gamer” monstrosities. Nowadays, desktop computers are more elegant, even the ones marketed toward gamers. It’s all thanks to the prevalence of tempered glass side panels. Now, there are many ways to customize your gaming PC.
Because what else are those glass side panels for? You’re already compromising the integrity of your PC case by opting for such designs, so you might as well show off your sense of style through your PC.
But as with most things relating to gaming PCs, aesthetic adjustments can be expensive and can quickie spiral out of the intended budget. And if you’re just taking baby steps to customize your gaming PC, you for sure would want something low-risk or affordable.
Luckily, there’s no shortage of cheap options and ways to customize your gaming PC. Check out these painless and quick ways to make your gaming PC more personal.
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RGB Fans
RGB fans serve a bigger purpose than providing a unicorn poop light show for your gaming PC. If the fans are good enough, they can certainly improve the performance of your gaming PC. More cooling results in more performance overhead, after all.
You will need to be wary of your motherboard’s compatibility, however. Some motherboards don’t allow for addressable RGB fans, meaning you can’t change their color. Heck, some motherboards don’t even allow for more than two or three case fans, which is limiting since the typical PC mid-tower needs five or six case fans.
Thankfully, RGB fans like these come with their own hub so you can plug in more than your motherboard can handle; you can even change their color via an included remote.
Fans are some of the most desired ways to customize your gaming PC; they also increase performance.
RGB LED Strip
Some RGB fans have lighting so faint that they don’t do a good job of illuminating the whole case. In that case (no pun intended), you can opt for a full RGB LED strip so you can see all of your expensive components clearly.
They’re not intrusive at all; you usually just stick them to a flat surface inside the PC case and route the wire out of sight and out of mind.
And despite the implication, these things don’t consume too much electricity nor do they increase FPS in gaming. So if you’re going to purchase one, it might as well be the cheap and affordable option.
GPU Sag Bracket
If you have some Funky Pop toys or other figures lying around, you don’t even need to purchase a specific and stylized GPU bracket. You can just place the resin or plastic figurine under the corner of the GPU’s shroud to act as some kind of weight support.
The sag bracket or support is almost mandatory if your GPU is big and heavy. It will prevent the GPU from warping itself due to its own weight.
But if you don’t have an action figure that you’re fine with sacrificing to the PC, then there are custom brackets being sold online. Some of them are even from big brands like Asus. There are also more affordable and stylish options that come with RGB lighting.
Custom PSU Shroud
This one might be a bit harder to find since it’s less of a product and more of a service. There are lots of PC modders who modify other PCs for a living. The most common or affordable request would be a re-paint of the PSU shroud.
This is the piece of metal or plastic that covers the wires of the power supply unit (PSU) and sometimes it also covers the whole PSU itself.
You will need to seek out these modders in case you want something like that in the image above. It’s one of the most unique ways to personalize your gaming PC.
Actually, you don’t even need to hire a service to do that. You can customize your own PSU shroud yourself without taking anything apart. You can just grab an illustration board and draw an artistic stencil or design on it, then slap it on the PSU shroud.
You can also use stickers if you’re not good at drawing (we’re not judging).
NVMe SSD Heatsink RGB
Even an NVMe SSD isn’t spared from the PC gaming community’s sense of style. Turns out these tiny storage devices heat up quite high and can reach 60 to 70 degrees Celsius under full load.
Thankfully, NVMe SSD heatsinks or coolers are dirt cheap. And despite being way too affordable, some of them still come with impeccable style, namely RGB lighting. Here’s a decent NVMe SSD heatsink with RGB, for example.
And then there are also those that come with more industrial designs such as these. Just be careful when buying ones that are too bulky or high-profile. They might interfere with other components such as the CPU cooler or the GPU.
Temperature Monitor Display
Using software to monitor your PC’s temperature can be annoying, especially with the overlay and the mandatory tabbing out. That’s why some gaming PC owners prefer the hardware approach using small LCD monitors or displays taped to the side of the PC cases.
These are practically small screens that tell you your PC’s temperature so applications like RivaTuner or HWMonitor don’t need to interrupt your games anymore.
They’re still not as popular as they should be so don’t expect widespread availability or the specific UI you want, but these temperature monitor displays are a good starting point.
PSU Cable Extensions
And last but not least, we have some of the best ways to add color to your hardware and make it look less industrial or bland. Those would be shrouded PSU cable extensions.
There are numerous modders online who have made a living out of making customized or colorful cable extensions for PCs. You can purchase a reputable one like this.
Generally, they’re safe to use as long as you don’t use them as a complete replacement for the modular PSU cables, they’re not rated for that kind of power; just don’t risk it. In any case, you shouldn’t customize your gaming PC without these bad boys, it’s almost a tradition in the community now.
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