Halloween Horrors 2020 – PC Builds So Bad, They’re Scary!

Happy Halloween Folks! – Yes, it’s October 31st (or at least it was when we wrote this), and we dare say that in the spirit of the occasion many of you might have started dimming the lights in preparation of telling some of your best (or worst) horror stories. And if you recently tried to pre-order an Nvidia 30XX graphics card or next-gen console you probably have more than a few to share about that experience!

Well, back by popular demand (and in case you missed it then, click here to check out last years) we present to you this Halloween 5 PC builds that are so bad, they’re scary!

Build Number 1 – When You Confuse Your Chassis for the Box It Came In

We’ll admit that seeing a PC built within a cardboard box is, unfortunately, not that uncommon. In fact, I used to have a friend who stored our private Battlefield 2 server in one. Why do people do it though? Well, in part presumably because they didn’t have a suitable chassis, but being as polite as I possibly can be, if you don’t have a chassis (or the funds to get one) you should probably attempt to resist the temptation to begin assembling your PC.

I mean, call me crazy, but looking at the picture below, I can’t imagine that the cardboard is going to be an overly effective long-term home for that system. Albeit, I do admire the fact that they’ve rather optimistically screwed some of the components in, and that they have made a relatively neat job of cutting out the PSU insert.

Build Number 2 – Improvising a Custom Loop System Out of the Crap in Your Drawer

Despite a lot of opinions to the contrary, a custom-loop cooling system doesn’t isn’t overly difficult to install and, to get some excellent levels of performance, it doesn’t even have to be overly complicated. What you shouldn’t do, however, is presume that it’s something you can throw together with the crap you’ve accumulated in your desk drawer.

When I first saw the image below, it actually took me a few minutes to realize exactly what was going on here. I mean, you could easily spend 5 minutes picking apart every terrifying aspect, but here’s a few in brief just in case you missed them.

• Tubing that seems to have come from a fish tank
• Connections are sealed seemingly using masses of clear silicon
• Major kinks in the pipes
• Cooling liquid that may have come from a gold-top bottle.
• A water block held on by zip-ties!

Build Number 3 – “PC” For Sale – Runs Everything!

If you’ve ever spent any amount looking for a PC on Facebook Marketplace or eBay, you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with the masses of claims suggesting that a 10-year old PC, featuring hardware even possibly older than that, is capable of ‘playing all modern AAA-games’. In fairness, that is partially true in some cases, but only if you enjoy playing games with less than 10 frames per second at 480p resolution. In this instance, however, we certainly have a very curious creation. – I’ll give you a minute to see if you can spot what’s going on here…

Yes, someone has basically ripped open a laptop and managed to, somehow, get it (surprisingly well) inside a PC chassis. So, is it a PC?… is it a laptop? – Lord knows, but will it run Cyberpunk 2077? – We doubt it!

Build Number 4 – “It’s Running Hot, But I Don’t Know Why…”

Ok, dusty PCs are a very common meme, but there’s something about the system below that just grabs my curiosity. Put simply, for a system that clearly isn’t that old, how in God’s name has this got so amazingly dusty so quickly? – Even more bizarrely is how certain aspects (such as the drive bay) appear to be remarkably clean.

With all that dust around the graphics card and power supply though, this must run like a toaster and sound like a jet engine. In other words, please remember to keep your PCs clean folks!

Build Number 5 – What a Cat-Astrophy!

I’ll freely admit that in so far as I can tell, there’s nothing much wrong with this system. Albeit a 520 watt power supply does make me raise a moderate eye-brow. So yes, I’ve only thrown this in largely because of the amazingly cute cat that decided to make the PC case it’s home. It is, however, an issue I can relate to.

Having two dogs and a small child, basically doing anything that requires me to get on floor level will see one (or all) of them begin climbing over me. If you’re tinkering in your PC, the last thing you want is any unnecessary distraction or worse, pains in the arse getting in the way!

Halloween Horrors – What do you think?

We’ve made our Halloween picks, now it’s up to you. What’s the absolute worst system build you have ever seen (so far) this year? Have you got any pictures? Remember, if you’ve got no pictures then it never happened!

If you do, be sure to drop them in the comments and, who knows, maybe we’ll do a follow-up and give you a mention! – Have a good Halloween everybody!