Introduction

Remember when a PC was just an ugly beige case that weighed around 60lbs? Fortunately, those days are behind us. Sparked by consumer demand, PC manufacturers are now building units that are practical as well as appealing to the eye. Anymore, it's just as desired to have a unique looking PC as a fast PC. According to one of our recent polls, 67% of our readers either have a modded case or are considering a modification. Because of this newly popularized hobby, many people have built businesses to supply components for case mods. One such company is KoolPCMods.com. KoolPCMods specializes in custom laser-etched windows. They have a wide variety of pre-selected images or can create a window from just about any image. Now, these windows aren't the sticker appliques that you have been seeing lately. These are actually laser etched, which gives the finished product an incredibly 3-Dimensional look. For this review we gave them the same AMDPower.com logo you see at the top of the page and they were able to create this window from it. Their artists did put some additional time into it because I couldn't find a high resolution image.




Etching Process


I asked Clark Pace of KoolPCMods to send in some pics of the etching in action. Here you can see the machine that is used to produce the custom windows, badges and grills. Clark also described the process a bit:

How does KOOLPCMODS.COM do those cool engravings? The Answer - we use a laser engraving system. What is that? Well, it is what is sounds like. A focussed beam of light that is computer controlled on a Y and X axis.

The laser system itself is basically a twenty thousand dollar oversized printer. You put an object inside, and a head goes back and forth hitting the acrylic with a laser beam. The effect is a highly detailed frosted image. The laser itself can do up to 1000dpi. It can engrave almost any image, including photographs. The laser can also cut precise shapes, such as fan grills and other cool mods. It's the ultimate case mod toy.

Detail in Etching

It was really hard to grab a picture that showed the detail of this work. When I tried to backlight the image, it was too dark. This picture is actually taken from the back of the window. I just reversed the image in Gimp. To get a close-up, I taped the end of a binocular lens to my digital camera (nothing but the best equipment here at AMDPower). You can click on the image for a detailed look. However, even this image doesn't do the etching justice. When the window is backlit with a colored light, it looks outstanding. I couldn't believe the quality of the graphics. However, I recently decided to place my elbow through the middle my UV cold-cathode light. As such, I don't have a good picture of the lit case. Just take my word on the quality though.






Installation

Clark sent over both a U-Type molding and an H-Type molding. Both are available on the site. I had previously used the H molding with another window. With the H, the hole is cut slightly larger than the window and the molding fits in between the window and the case. The U-Type molding simply surrounds the hole and window is attached behind it. I elected to go with the U-Type because I didn't have to recut the hole in the case from my previous window. I originally thought that the silver molding would be a bit much; but it ended coming out really nice. The kit came with double sided foam tape to attach the window to the back side of the case. It was a pretty mindless installation.



Conclusion/Pricing

The pricing for the laser-etched windows is very reasonable. It is just $23 if you pick one of the images on the website. This option also comes with your own customized text for free. For $44 you can use your own design for any window up to 24" x 12". If that's not good enough, KoolPCMods also has DIY cold cathode kits for only $13! I think I'll have to order one up to replace the UV light I broke. Special thanks to KoolPCMods for supplying this fine assembly.