Modding News - Page 3

If you're a prospective tinkerer or modder of all things PC, and you live in Australia, then you'll love the AMD Modder Manifest project that's set to kick off next month.

The project is designed by two very prolific modders in the community that want to show off relatable and realistic examples of modding, park picking and really how modding is done. They're focusing on entry-level gaming to show that modding can be an activity for everyone with every budget.

The project will run for six weeks and have weekly updates showing off the progress they'll make. You can sign-up to participate right here. After the first project, more will happen for six weeks at a time with appropriate increases in value and performance of the parts. The winner can win a modded gaming system.

To celebrate the release of its WP100 chassis, Thermaltake has announced the '2016 Modding Fighting Championship' (MFC).

The first round will see world-renown modder and winner of the 2015 Thermaltake CaseMOD competition (season one) Suchao Prowphong from Thailand take on Jesse "JP Modified" Palacio, the winner of Thermaltake's 2015 CaseMOD season two.

This mod-off involves these two master artists creating a system build that suits their styles and will be showcased in the Tt Community forum starting from March 2016. Both of these experts will be using Thermaltake's liquid cooling, digital power supplies (RGB models) and a Core WP100 Super Tower each.

If you've been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of press releases and news articles to come from CES 2016 in las Vegas, soothe your eyes on this slightly old yet stunning build called Project Grey.

Created by Malik Customs, this build was spotted on the Ocaholic Facebook as part of its 'Rig of the day' series, featuring a Phanteks Enthoo Primo Ultimate chassis, housing an ASUS Z97-AR motherboard.

This grey and blue highlighted system is simplistic and packs a cooling punch thanks to EK Water Blocks fittings throughout, further incorporating an ASUS Xonar Essence STX II 7.1 sound card to ensure it's not only just for looks, it would make a stellar gaming PC too.

Someone has created a working lightsaber using laser-light as it's basis. Well, it's not quite a light-saber, but just a really bright and powerful 7W blue-diode laser that doesn't really resemble a lightsaber at all. But he's calling it one, so there's that I suppose.

In reality the individual in the video, styropyro, actually built his own laser using a rather 7W Nichia made GaN diode that runs at a maximum of 4.6A. His design uses a wavelength that just happens to be highly visible to the human eye. This laser definitely can cut, though slowly, through a variety of materials. Just don't expect it to be able to lop off limbs.

The great thing is that all of the parts used to make this pseudo-saber are actually publicly available in most regions. You can theoretically make a very powerful laser all on your own, well beyond the 7W power-envelope of the one in the video. But just be very safe if you do, and always wear eye-protection when playing with lasers.

Adidas has partnered with its environmental group Parley for the Oceans to design a 3D-printed shoe created in part with garbage found in the ocean.

As of now, it's in the concept stage and comprises an upper made with plastic sourced from the ocean, and a 3D-printed midsole made with recycled polyester and gillnets (specialized nets used to catch fish and sometimes left in the ocean).

"World leaders forging an agreement is wonderful, but we shouldn't need to be told to do the right thing," says Eric Liedtke, adidas Group Executive Board member responsible for Global Brands. "The industry can't afford to wait for directions any longer. Together with the network of Parley for the Oceans, we have started taking action and creating new sustainable materials and innovations for athletes. The 3D-printed ocean plastic shoe midsole stands for how we can set new industry standards if we start questioning the reason of what we create. We want to bring everyone from the industry to the table and create sustainable solutions for big global problems."

If you're thinking about making, downloading or tinkering with a 3D-printed gun file, you might want to think again. Reports have come to light stating that the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) doesn't take to this kindly, offering hefty jail time to anyone who might want a gun file of their own.

Last week, the NSW Government passed its Firearms and Weapons Prohibition Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, with one section stating that simply owning a 3D blueprint of a firearm can land you up to 14 years in jail.

With incarceration also extended to owning plans for "electric milling machines," this new legislation marks further action against illegal real-life weaponry, offering up harsher penalties to those with stolen guns or others who are keen on making illegal firearm modifications.

During the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Intel spent a lot of time promoting the "Maker" craze in the current world. Intel corporate strategy officer Genevieve Bell believes it's a great time in the maker movement, with Intel interested in supporting new technology ecosystems created by developers.

Intel is a supporter of the Maker Faire and of Make magazine, with growing popularity in the print publication and global maker events.

"It's never been a more exciting and accessible time to invent the future," Bell said during IDF. "It's about changing the world, in small ways and big ways. It's about breaking the rules. Possibilities and disruption. Hard work. Solitary or collaborative. It's not always clear what you are doing. It involves curiosity. It certainly involves failures. It is exhilarating. Sometimes people resist it. To me, that is making."

Tech modding expert Dave Bennett is a kind of emulation wizard who is responsible for many improbable wonders like running PlayStation 2 games on a smartphone as well as playing Valve's epic puzzler Portal on Android. Bennett's latest achievement let's you play Half-Life on a smartwatch. Not that most of us would ever want to play Valve's epic FPS on a smartwatch, but it's still a pretty impressive spectacle nonetheless.

According to the modder, the SDLash3D app is able to emulate Valve's old-school GoldSource game engine that powered classic titles like Team Fortress Classic (which is also playable on Android). While working on making Half-Life run on a phone, on a lark Bennett tried it on his Android Wear-powered LG G smartwatch.

And it worked. As you can see for yourself in the video, Half-Life's unforgettable monorail scene starts up and runs on the tiny 1.65-inch screen. The framerates flux anywhere from 2FPS to an impressive 30FPS, and of course, the game is practically unplayable in itself, but it only goes to show you how versatile Android really is.

Set out to ensure your AMD Radeon R9 Fury X is single-slot in sizing, EK Water Blocks has designed and announced its new full-coverage water block.

Set for sale soon, this water cooling block is rumored to be released in two different materials according to TechPowerUp - exposed copper and nickel-plated copper. These materials will sit alongside clear acrylic and acetal covers.

Featuring a single-channel for the GPU and VRM, there's an included micro-channel lattice for the GPU and the extended option to purcahse a single-slot bracket for the Fury X display I/O.

Computex 2015 - Complete with a G1 Gaming battle elephant and a GIGABYTE titan, this motherboard and video card manufacturer has joined the modding movement, adding a few alternate and awesome builds to its arsenal in Taipei, Taiwan.

The Elephant offers a Z97-XUD5H motherboard and was designed and built by Suchao Prowphong from Thailand, featuring a great yellow and black color scheme complete with a top-mounted cannon. Known for his amazing ThermalTHOR and Core X 2 Furious mods in the past, this is another fantastic rendition by the Thai modding master.

As for the Titan, we unfortunately don't have much information beside that fact it looks incredible.