Modding

TINY PS5 Redux is a DIY solution that transforms a large and bulky PlayStation 5 console into a slim and compact device resembling a mini PC. Covering both the launch edition and the slimline redesign, TINY PS5 Redux is a comprehensive mod that includes guides, diagrams, 3D printer files, and detailed instructions on how to assemble your own compact PS5.

Created by Not From Concentrate (NFC), you can watch a detailed breakdown of the creation of the TINY PS5 Redux in the video below. The project wasn't undertaken to make the PS5 console smaller in size, but also to improve cooling and enhance features like WiFi and Bluetooth performance. Compared to the original TINY PS5, the Redux edition is larger, but also more premium and stylish in its overall design.

The cooling is definitely one of the more impressive aspects of the mod, as it incorporates an Alpenföhn Black Ridge CPU cooler with two slim 120mm Noctua fans, along with a heatsink panel that enhances airflow through a push-and-pull system. Cold air is pulled through the back of the system, with three additional 60mm slim Noctua fans exhausting the heat through the side of the unit.

Cooler Master's annual Case Mod World Series 2024 has wrapped, and the winners are impressive, surprising, and outlandish. They showcase the incredible talent possessed by modders in creating custom PC cases.

The competition covered two categories: Scratch Build of the Year, which is all about custom case mods created from the ground up, and Tower Mod of the Year, which sees competitors take existing Cooler Master cases and let their creativity, skill, and imagination run wild.

The Scratch Build winner, "Taiwan Five Timber" by Kuan-Sheng Wu from GsStudio, is a custom build inspired by Taiwan's cultural heritage and incorporates five types of locally sourced timber. It's an impressive-looking build, though we have a soft spot for the runner-up build called "ED-209." Inspired by the classic 1980s film RoboCop, it brings the menacing OCP robot to life with impressive detail.

The Nintendo Switch is undeniably a juggernaut, one of the most successful consoles ever. However, before the Switch's meteoric rise, Nintendo's most successful home console was 2006's Wii - which introduced the world to motion controls as the primary way to interact with a game.

On YouTube, Gaming enthusiast Tech By Matt has posted a deep dive into his latest creation, turning an original Nintendo Wii console into a gaming PC. One that is powerful enough to (ironically) emulate and play Nintendo Switch games like Super Mario Odyssey at a playable frame rate.

For those with a Nintendo Wii, you might recall that it was a pretty small console - too small to fit an ITX motherboard. So Matt decided instead to use the components from a mini PC - the Minisforum UM773 Lite with a Ryzen 7 7735HS APU. The best part is that the original power button turns on the PC, and the GameCube ports still work when you plug in the original GameCube controllers.

'Environment Textures Overhaul' is a new mod for Cyberpunk 2077 that replaces lower-quality textures found throughout the game's vibrant open-world Night City with new high-resolution versions that not only match the look and feel of the originals but are also optimized for ray-tracing.

Available in 4K and 2K variants, the mod pack includes around 170 new textures for road and wall surfaces and works with the popular HD Reworked Project mod. The 'Environment Textures Overhaul' mod does not impact performance; it simply requires more VRAM. It's worth installing and checking out if you're already running the game with high or ultra-equivalent PC settings.

Created by 'nigeez' and available to download on NexusMods, the 2K version weighs around 500 MB, with the 4K textures at around 650 MB, so it's not a hefty download. As a low-impact mod, it doesn't change the actual gameplay; it simply gives the world a little more detail while making everything look crisper. Here are a few side-by-side examples.

NVIDIA's RTX Remix was released into Open Beta this month, giving PC modders some incredibly easy-to-use and powerful tools to remaster and essentially remake classic games with the help of AI and RTX technologies like DLSS and ray-tracing. With the ability to add path tracing to older games (something NVIDIA showcased with its Portal RTX remaster), the result can be like looking at a brand-new game.

However, this level of ray-tracing is incredibly taxing on GPU hardware - to the point where some of the playing certain RTX Remix mods at high resolutions might be limited to graphics cards like the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 4090.

Take this example of Rockstar's iconic Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, given the RTX Remix treatment.

Even though it's about to be replaced by the upcoming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (yeah, it's a mouthful), the current GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is still a beast of a GPU - able to deliver faster than GeForce RTX 3090 performance. A high-end GPU that often ships with over-the-top triple-fan triple-slot cooling designs - on account of its performance.

What if you could fit a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (a capable 4K gaming card) inside a Small Form Factor (SFF) PC? It's not an out-of-this-world idea because of how power efficient the Ada Lovelace generation of GPUs has been - the lower the power draw, the lower the heat generated.

And so this mod over on Reddit is impressive. It takes the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and puts in a single-fan and dual-slot shroud, which makes the 173mm long and 14.5mm thick dimensions small enough to fit inside even the tiniest PC gaming builds.

Valve has issued two DMCA takedowns and brought the hammer down on two popular mod projects in what's widely regarded as a surprise move for the developer, publisher, and Steam platform owner.

Portal 64, a project that ports Valve's iconic first-person puzzle game to an unlike source - the Nintendo 64 - is one, and Team Fortress: Source 2, which updates the classic shooter with the newer Source 2 engine, is the other.

We previously reported on Portal 64, the ambitious and impressive project from programmer James Lambert. Considering the age of N64 hardware, the fact that it works at all is incredible - with the most recent update to the project confirming that a large portion of the game was complete and up and running.

Recently, Sony released its PlayStation 5 refresh in the form of the new PS5 Slim, which presents a similar shape to the launch model but in a size with 30% less volume and a detachable disc drive. The latter was a smart move because it means those who opt for a purely digital PS5 Slim model can get a disc drive at a later date.

Compared to previous console refreshes, the PlayStation 5 Slim is a little underwhelming, but it does feature a more efficient 6nm chip and a smaller motherboard. Enter YouTube channel Not From Concentrate, who took it upon themselves to design a working PlayStation 5 Tiny - which not only drastically reduces the PS5's physical footprint compared to the launch model, but presents the console in an entirely new way.

The PlayStation 5 Slim from Sony offered a 30% reduction in volume/size, but the custom PlayStation 5 Tiny takes this to over 60%. The design follows the white and black aesthetic of the console, albeit in a form factor that looks more like a mini PC than a console.

The original Doom from id Software broke new ground in 1993 and helped usher in a new style of PC game, the first-person shooter. Back then, the 3D visuals (with 2D sprites), action, and music were all cutting-edge - but not so much in 2023. As one of the most iconic games of all time and most versatile in engine and optimization, it means that in recent years we've seen Doom running on household appliances alongside consoles like the Nintendo Switch.

The answer to the question, 'Can it run Doom?' is often a yes, and now we can add a keyboard keycap to the growing number of strange objects that can play id Software's classic. Of course, hardware is involved - it's not a magic keycap - with the keyboard component in question housing a tiny custom PCB and the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microprocessor sealed in resin.

This very cool mod was created by Bob from TheKeebProject, using an existing Doom port for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 created by Graham Sanderson with modifications to support the very tiny display. What's remarkable is that you can clearly make out all of the action, and it's fully playable.

The idea of putting a high-end gaming PC underwater is a fairly out-there idea, but being able to use a natural body of water to cool a GeForce RTX 4090 and Intel Core i9 13900K is something we didn't know we had to see. Thanks to the YouTube channel DIY Perks, the idea of building a submersible gaming PC was realized through a series of smart design choices. And it looks stylish, too, with some serious BioShock vibes.

Per the video, the GeForce RTX 4090 (a Zotac model) is paired with the high-end Intel CPU in a build contained within a water-tight acrylic cylinder. And there are no shortcuts; the build even includes three 4TB Crucial T700 SSDs for a whopping 12TB of storage and a high-end 1000W power supply.

With components under load drawing over 800W of power, using a water-tight acrylic cylinder makes you wonder exactly how this is being cooled. With a detailed breakdown of each component and the design process, we see the construction of a fully closed-loop water-cooled system attached to a copper frame that surrounds the PC - which is then cooled by a natural body of water.

NVIDIA and Blizzard have partnered with GeForce Garage collaborator Ron Lee Christianson to create a pretty amazing one-of-a-kind custom Diablo IV PC that doubles as a shrine to Lilith - Blessed Mother.

The Lilith bust here is hand-crafted using source files from Blizzard, with modifications and adjustments made to create the stunning sculpture. The base is awesome, too, with sculpted laval rocks featuring some neat LED lighting taken from artificial fireplaces. There's leather, wood, a custom frame, and so much that if you were to look at the mod head-on simply, you probably wouldn't even think that it was, in fact, a gaming PC.

Turn it around, though, and it's a different story, and it's here where you'll see the components and motherboard cleverly mounted and supported. And it has the hardware to match the formidable and imposing Lilith. Here's the breakdown.

KLEVV, the consumer brand of Essencore, was at Computex 2023 to showcase the latest in its storage and memory technology for PC gaming.

If you're unfamiliar with the KLEVV or Essencore name, all you need to know is that it's one of the world's top vendors of DRAM modules and NAND flash, so its gaming products come with the same focus on performance, stability, and quality.

Taking a stroll through the KLEVV (and Essencore) booth at Computex 2023, it was great to not only to see the new CRAS C950 PCIe Gen5x4 M.2 SSD (with funky aluminum heatsink) push sequential read speeds of up to 12000MB/s and the CRAS V RGB and BOLT V DDR5 gaming memory push speeds of up to 8600MT/s with capacities of up to 48GB - but that all of this hardware was put to good use, in awesome PC mods created by some talented artists and builders.

YouTube channel The Eric Experiment has documented how he built - from scratch - a tiny custom, fully functional 486 PC. Using actual parts, this is not a Raspberry Pi system emulating a classic MS-DOS PC; the video outlines a fascinating, cool, and brilliant journey to create a mini 486 PC. Here's a look at the final product sitting next to what an actual 486 PC looks like. And, yeah, like us, you're probably wondering how he fit all of that hardware in such a tiny space.

Hardware-wise, this is rocking an Intel DX4 100 with 32 MB of memory with sound and video compatible with old-school Windows 3.11, 95, and MS-DOS.

The short answer is that it wasn't easy, even with a four ISO-slot backplane, to stack all the cards and hardware in a compact space. From custom PCB designs and other hacks, it's a masterclass in modding.

Fandom can be wonderful, where passion and dedication can lead to some truly impressive feats. Case in point, The Time Trekking Technologist and his Star Trek-inspired Shuttle PC created in part to celebrate the new Star Trek Picard TV series. With three months of design, 3D printing, painting, and wiring, the DIY PC build is always exciting to see.

The video covering the build is a fun watch, as it covers the build and includes some of the 3D printing failures. There are some excellent touches, with the windows acting as vents for cooling and the power and reset buttons assigned to panels next to the windows.

There's some clever PC-building expertise, too, with additional Noctua fans used to vent air like an actual working engine on the back. There are even hidden USB ports on the front alongside the motherboard and other parts being installed on panels that can easily slide in and out.

When it comes to handheld gaming in 2023, there's the Nintendo Switch, and then there's Valve's Steam Deck - one being a traditional Nintendo-style console and the other being a portable gaming PC. What if you could hack the Switch to make it run Steam and fire up PC games? Wouldn't that turn it into a Nintendo Switch Deck or a Steam Switch?

That's the question YouTuber SpikeHD set out to answer and hopefully pull off - except it was impossible using existing tools and hacks. The idea is sound; a jailbroken Switch can run Ubuntu, so there should be a way to run the Linux version of Steam on the Nintendo console.

It's worth pointing out that only older models (from the console's launch) can be hacked in the first place, but that wasn't what ultimately led to the Steam Switch journey ending. Even though that requires a lot of SD card action bypassing boot loaders and compiling and even shorting connections on the Joy-Con rails to get working.

Manufacturers have been toying with new smartphone form factors in recent months. The most notable new form factor has been folding smartphones. We've seen some that bring dual screens with a separate second screen. A new smartphone form factor has turned up in the form of a leaked LG device rumored to be codenamed the LG Wing.

The top screen is said to rotate, allowing it to be swung from portrait to landscape position uncovering a second screen beneath. In the leaked image the second screen acts as a keyboard. When unfolded, the LG Wing resembles the letter "T." We most certainly aren't sure the LG Wing is anything more than a hastily photoshopped device.

There are some rumors about hardware to go along with the leaked image. Those rumors suggest that the Wing will use a Snapdragon 7-series processor and have a 64-megapixel primary camera. The main screen is said to be 6.8-inches. We could see the form factor getting a YouTube usage experience similar to what the Galaxy Z Flip features.

The force is strong with DIY electronic toymaker, littleBits. They have just released an amazing toy that is supposedly aimed for users in the age bracket of 8-12 years old. Introducing the 11-inch tall, fully-functional R2D2 Droid Inventor Kit. The R2D2 Droid kit features everything you need to get your own R2D2 droid moving around your living room bleeping and whistling with 20 authentic sounds directly from the Star Wars movies.

The accessories kit consists of 20 parts that snap together magnetically, so no screws are required. 3 sticker sheets that allow yourself children to customize R2D2 to their liking. Electronically, we see DC and servo motors, 9V battery, proximity sensor that detects hand movements for Force Drive and also detects objects in its path and more.

The most interesting part is the control hub, effectively the Droid's brain that allows communications with your smart device using Bluetooth technology. With the use of the free Droid Inventor Training app, users can view video instructions ,program secret missions by drawing maps for their droid and simply control their droid, making this app an essential tool.

Samsung is just days away from unveiling its new Galaxy Note 8 smartphone, with what looks like a big emphasis on the rear-facing camera, which I think will be one of the first big tease of Qualcomm's next-gen camera tech.

Qualcomm held an intimate conference at SIGGRAPH a few weeks ago, showing off what I think will be one of the larger steps in smartphone camera technology (something you can read here). But now Samsung's marketing hype train is in full swing for the Galaxy Note 8, which is being unveiled on August 23... next week.

In the embedded video above, you can see the 'infinity' zoom that Samsung should bake into the Note 8. Samsung will be using a dual camera rig on the Note 8, and I'm sure there will be some impressive tricks up Samsung's sleeve.

AMD launched its new EPYC 7000 series processors last week, and now GIGABYTE is one of the first to unveil its new MZ30-AR0 motherboard that supports AMD EPYC 7000 series processors, and has a ton of awesome, server-grade features.

GIGABYTE's new MZ30-AR0 packs 8-channel DDR4 support with 16 x DIMMs, supporting up to 1TB of RAM through LRDIMM/NVDIMM modules, while 64GB of DDR4 support is provided through RDIMMs. GIGABYTE includes 2 x SFP+ 10Gb/s LAN ports, M.2 with PCIe 3.0 x4 ports, and more. Storage wise we have 16 x SATA 3.0 ports, 4 x SAS, 7 x PCIe 3.0 x16, and 1 x M.2 capable of 32Gbps. The board supports CPUs with up to a 180W TDP, eating up the new EPYC-based CPUs with 32C/64T of power.

An Iron Man glove created by laser gadget maker Patrick Priebe is 3,000 times more powerful than a typical laser pointer. As shown by Wired in the demo video below, that's enough to let you indulge your inner pyromaniac a little by igniting cigarettes, ping pong balls, and matches. You can also show up to children's birthday parties and make them cry by popping balloons with it (that's a win my book).

If you want to get your hands-on one, contract Priebe through his official website. Although after the press he's been getting, you may have to wait awhile for a response.