Quakecon's headlining event is the Bring-Your-Own-Computer (BYOC) LAN party. It's the largest annual LAN party in North America. This year's event brought nearly 3,000 machines together to share a two-gigabit connection in the Dallas Hilton Anatole. Besides the good games and good people, the BYOC also brings out the more creative types. There were a few amazing computer case-mods at this year's show.

On the final day of the show, sponsor Modders-Inc brought seven incredible mods together, and we got to get up close with the one-of-a-kind machines.

Inventiveness was on full display. Adam Owen's LAN TROOPER featured a music-matching LED array throughout its Storm Trooper-esque case. Michael Kraft and Adam Stark crafted a Ubuntu-running Fallout 3 Terminal. The pair used salvaged parts and free software to build the impressive replica, at a cost of less than $60. The Terminal features a a key-start, and a fully functional hacking mini-game, lifted directly from Fallout 3. Sabrina Sarwer teamed with co-worker Jason Hall from her waste management plant. They gutted an old plasma controller and saddled it with a top of the line AMD A8 APU. The Quakecon 800D, built by Gary Murphy, has custom paint job, with a color made to exactly match Quakecon's vibrant orange theme.

With no hint of irony, one mod stood and shoulders above the rest. That is, Derrick Jackson's Hulk. The monstrosity featured a full server case, above which was nested an action scene featuring figurines from The Avengers. The Hulk towers above his teammates, shouldering the PC's motherboard into the air, Atlas-style. The Hulk won the overall competition, netting Derrick Jackson his 5th consecutive Quakecon case-mod victory.

All images by Nathaniel Wattenmaker for DVICE.