We at PC Gamer are no strangers to a funky customised bit of PC gear, but I haven’t seen one emulate the look and style of a terracotta house plant before. Well, that’s until right now, as one case has popped up that could perfectly house a couple of plants (or a full-on gaming rig).
Over on the PCMR subreddit, SayleH posted his own little Terracotta PC case, creatively called Fractal Terracotta. When I asked why he went through all the effort to customise his case, SayleH told me, “Honestly, I just really loved how old and weathered terracotta pots look.” Explaining further, he said, “I really wanted a new PC case and I didn’t want just another ‘black box’, that’s why I went for the Terra [Fractal Design Terra] in Jade Green originally.”
To achieve this iconic look, SayleH watched a video of tech YouTuber JayzTwoCents painting a PC purple, followed those steps, and then finished it off in his own style. To get that aged terracotta look, he used a “plaster of Paris & PVA mix and then just kinda went for it.”
Like the redditor who drew their own PC case, one of my absolute favourite things about PC gaming subreddits is the unique mixture of passion and creativity that PC builders exemplify.
“I used to be big into houseplants and gardening, so I have a load of old pots that I’ve gathered over the years. There’s just something about the patina of all the minerals built up over the years of use; it’s documentary.”
SayleH was kind enough to show me his PC progress pics, and before weathering it, the PC had a glorious orange warmth to it. You may wonder ‘Why relic the case?’ and he told me the intent was to make “something that tells a story from just looking at it!”
“I can also see why people say it looked like an old relic PC from games like Fallout and like scrap the Jawa’s would scavange in Star Wars – whether it’s perceived as terracotta or a relic from the future.”
The Fractal Design Terra is one of the best PC cases right now, thanks to its tiny size, ease of access, and solid GPU support. The base models are a little too easy to mark, but giving them all a weathered look solves this problem. You just need the creativity and the time. Oh, you probably need to be a bit of a plant person too, to fully appreciate the aesthetic.
Customising an already pretty unique case to look entirely one of a kind is many a PC gamer’s dream. SayleH says, “I think it’s good to be unique with your own stuff, you get to build a connection with it, a labour of love.” If you ask any plant person, they’ll likely tell you all that foliage around their house is a labour of love, and those aged pots tell their own story, too.