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Hot rod computers on view at Exploratorium
Feb 04, 2010 (Contra Costa Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
TAKE A LOOK at that black box on your desk, the one that holds your computer's hard drive. Sure, it's functional, but might it be a bit drab? Boring, even?
Alameda's Nick Falzone appears to think so. With an eye for design and a healthy respect for a clean, Japanese look, the aspiring furniture-maker turned his computer into something that could be a centerpiece in a room rather than an afterthought on a computer table.
Falzone, 23, calls his work Yuugou, the Japanese word for the fusion of two objects, and the stunning yet lightening-fast computer will be on display this week at San Francisco's Exploratorium as part of "Rods and Mods: The Kustom Kulture of Radical Computer Modification."
Falzone is a computer "modder," someone who modifies computers to their own liking.
Known online as "Green Sabbath," he belongs to a small community of men and women who aren't satisfied with the look or speed of a machine right off the shelf. This community, which meets primarily online, is similar to the community centered around custom cars. But instead of hot rod chop tops and magnesium wheels, these computers are being stuffed into custom cases as odd as a taxidermy beaver or cooled by alternative methods such as water or liquid nitrogen.
"This group of people is so talented," Craig Anderson, public program manager at the Exploratorium, says of the people he hand-picked to be part of the event. "They
put such a good amount of energy into it that they end up with a high-quality showpiece when they're done."
Falzone is both a modder and a scratch builder, which means he customizes the look of his computers and builds others from scratch. He's also an overclocker, someone who runs less-expensive chips at higher speeds than they are specified for. If you'd like specifics, he says he used an Intel e4300 Core 2 Duo Processor and overclocked it from 1.8Ghz to about 2.9Ghz -- meaning it now runs more than 50 percent faster.
When the chips are run in this fashion -- usually to play graphic-heavy video games or just to show off how fast they can go -- they become hotter than normal. So Falzone designed a custom water cooling feature so his Yuugou the computer doesn't fail due to overheating.
Also, inside the case is thick aluminum housing mostly "because it seemed cool to make it built like a tank," Falzone says. The outside of the case, however, is built from two types of wood in a delicate Japanese design.
Ton "Titon" Khowdee of Los Angeles says customizing the look of computers is something that grew, for him, out of the increasing need for speed.
"It's like cars. You want the car with the most horsepower," he says. Once you get the car with the most horsepower, you also want it to look nice, he adds. Same goes for the computer.
"The outside is a beige box, it doesn't represent what was inside. So you start doing some lights and then make some holes to allow better ventilation, then you do a paint job and pretty soon you have a custom rig," says Khowdee, who will show off his computer's liquid nitrogen cooling feature and, he hopes, break chip speed records on Saturday.
Thirteen people will bring their creations to the Exploratorium during the three-day event, among the first of its kind for this subculture. Some modders, like Falzone, will bring multiple machines.
And if you're feeling a bit jealous of the creativity on display when you arrive, you will get to customize your own cell phones or laptop computers with the help of pin-striping expert Terry Bell and a group of artists who cut adhesive vinyl into any shape ordered.
"We're hoping the cool modded computers will attract people who like cars or art," the Exploratorium's Anderson says. "We want people to see a connection between what they are doing and what a modder is doing."
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