I went to PAX Australia, and all I saw was this $17,000 gaming computer in the shape Medusa. It's a comment on AI's inability of understanding the importance of mythology in human culture.

Last weekend, I attended the biggest gaming convention of Australia, PAX Aus. The show was as spectacular as always: whether you were into cosplay, strange new 420-themed indies, or Cult of Lamb themed weddings, the PAX Aus had it covered. I love to wander the show floor and check out the eye-catching and sometimes eye-watering PC builds. This year was no exception.

Medusa

This Medusa build from Aftershock PC Australia immediately caught my eye as a lover mythology. The expressive stone-like depiction of Perseus triumphing over the Gorgon, is said to be an allegory for AI's inability grasp the importance of such stories in human culture. I'm not sure if it really hits the mark, but it looks pretty cool.

This PC is not only beastly in terms of its imagery, it also has specs to match. The Bykski Granzon BCE-X Open Frame Chassis is equipped with a Gigabyte RTX4090 Gaming OC 24-GB card and AMD's excellent Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor. Medusa and Perseus shouldn't freeze on this machine, thanks to the 3 TB SSD storage and 32GB DDR5 RAM. This is only possible if you're willing to pay the $16,995 (gosh, that's a digit more than I'm used seeing) for this legendary machine.

It's also the sale price. It's usually $18,000.

Alien

First things first. This one was only available as a prize during the show, so you don't have to worry about its price. This Xenomorph sculpt was created to coincide with Alien: Romulus, as if this cool Xenomorph sculpt needed an excuse to exist.

These PCs have a lot in common, as you might expect. This time we see a Bykski Granzon BCE-X Open Frame chassis, but with a Xenomorph alien bursting out of it. This ultimate killing machine, much like Medusa's, houses an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the Gigabyte RTX 490 Aorus Master graphics card.

Shark

Shark X was one of the more adventurous Cooler Master builds that was on display. We reviewed this killer fish case at Computex, and we still think it's wicked. This build was designed by Inony, a Thai designer, for the 2019 Cooler Master World Mod Series. It's now available to preorder at $7,000 USD. This is a bit pricey for the Intel Core i7-14700F and Geforce RTX Super 16G that are under the fin. But this great white case is more about the case.

When I photographed this full ARGB beast, several people asked me what it was. They didn't believe me until I pointed out the components. I've never seen Mini-ITX builds that were so discrete.

Shoe

After they've gotten over that, I would point them to the Sneaker X. This case looks like a bright, red shoe that a small, transformer-like robot might wear. This case is a little older and comes in new colors, but it still manages to turn heads. This Intel i7-13700K, Nvidia RTX-4070 Ti 12GB is available on the Cooler Master website for $2,200 USD. You can find the case cheaper if you have your own guts.

The rest

There were plenty of cool, but more traditional, gaming PCs on display. Themed builds were big, with some riffing off of games and fandoms such as COD, Monster Hunter and Transformers. Bubble tea was also a popular theme. Some were less flashy and opted for a more sensible, yet powerful case with matching RGB-lit colour scheme. These included PCs with Intel's Arrow Lake chips and many fully-equipped flight and racing simulators.

Please enjoy this gallery of crazy hardware I saw at the show, while I eagerly anticipate next year's lineup -- probably a bunch of cases inspired by anything other than a computer case.