Hardware Asylum Case Mod Contest at BoiseLAN - Official Rules

Summary

Show off your best Case Mod at Boise LAN.

Contest Structure

Signup Method: At the Hardware Asylum table at Boise LAN
Signup Deadline: Saturday July 20th 5pm
Scheduled Judging: Sunday July 21st 12pm
Format: Interview and questions, then judging via a small panel. Winners will be announced during the raffle.

Offical Rules for the Contest

Only one entrant per person (not per seat).
Your mod must be a functional and complete PC that is easily recognizable as a computer.
(This is a bit subjective however, the intent with this rule will to enforce that we have "case mods" and not entries for the most creative place to stuff a motherboard)
A case you have done work on cannot be entered as someone else's
Your mod must be your idea and any work that you had commissioned will need to be disclosed to the judges.
The administrators reserve the right to modify the rules as needed. This includes changes due to the number and quality of entries received.

Judging Criteria

Judges decisions are final and will be based on observations regarding the following criteria

Each of the following judging categories is worth 25% of the total score

Technical Merit: Creative placement of parts and "outside the box" changes you have made to existing components. These are the modifications you have made beyond what was available from your factory components. The end result will be positive effect on performance and/or to make for more efficient use of space.
Artistic Merit: Does the case have a cohesive theme or a distinctive look, or is it simply a collection of parts thrown together behind a window and lighted fans? We will be looking at how creative your design/build is and how well everything looks together.
Polish: The fit and finish portion of your work. This includes clean, smooth paint, solid cable management, sleeving/hiding. Tight smooth seams, the functionality of your mods (eg custom doors etc.) and effective use of lighting. You will want to ensure that your mod has a clean appearance, free from dirt and devoid of errors.
Wow Factor: Judges overall reaction or your mod.

What to expect

There are many different ways to do a custom PC and they will be judged accordingly.

Technical Merit will favor those who actually modify parts in their build. This can be as simple as custom paint and stickers or something more complex such as a custom window, integrated lighting, movable panels etc...

Artistic Merit will favor those you might not have modified their components but rather were very particular in what they selected. Matching colors is a huge win along with making sure cables and hoses are carefully placed and look appealing.

Polish will be judging how well your mods have been executed. If your paint has runs/drips/errors and shouldn't then that will be a detractor from the overall score. This will look at the build as a whole so you'll want to make sure everything looks nice. (hint: blow the dust out of your system)

Points will be awarded for each of the judging categories and tabulated to get a final score

Prizes

Hardware Asylum is working up a prize pool and will be announced closer to the start of Boise LAN 10.0