A few weeks ago, we took a look at some of the ways you can use fans, memory, and cases packed with LEDs to give your PCs some personality. RGB illumination is just scratching the surface of PC customization; the devoted PC builder has custom cooling and high-end paint jobs as key tools in their arsenal.

But not all of us want to build our own PCs, and some of the coolest modifications—like water cooling with hardline pipework and plumbing rather than flexible rubber tubing—are decidedly complex, putting them out of reach to many of us. Filling this gap are companies like Falcon Northwest, Origin PC, and Maingear. These companies build hotrod PCs, tailored to the exact design and configuration of your choosing, with high-end water cooling, custom paintwork, and hefty overclocks, while still coming with the reassurances that prebuilt machines offer, like tech support and warranties.

Wanting to explore this world further, we recently took a trip to visit Maingear to get a taste of the kind of work. For the last 15 years, the New Jersey company has been building water-cooled, high-performance custom PCs, combining both jaw-dropping good looks with near-silent operation and overclocked performance. These systems aren't just the playthings of rich gamers, either; the company also sells to industries such as finance and video production, where customers need machines that are fast, reliable, and quiet enough to stick under your desk without sounding like a jet engine.

The company gave us a closer look at the systems they build and the design and engineering work they showcase, with beautiful systems that put my own system building—a dusty wreck of a PC with a mess of cables spewing everywhere—truly to shame.

Got a custom PC project that you think we should take a look at? Drop us a line!