Your Prime Directive Is To Check Out This Awesome Star Trek Shuttle Gaming PC Mod

Have you ever wanted to "go where no man has gone before?" Since we first heard the line from the 1960s TV series Star Trek, nerd culture has exploded. Gene Roddenberry's creation has been a fantastic inspiration for people worldwide—birthing conventions, video games, books, comics, movies, and more spinoff TV series than you can shake a stick at. So, we think it's incredible when someone brings us to the 23rd century and beyond with a Shuttle PC, though we're not talking about the PC brand.

Thanks to ingenuity, 3D printing, patience, and a fair amount of fandom, we get to see how someone has managed to make themselves a shuttlecraft from the NCC-1701-D. For those not aware, that is the identifier of the USS Enterprise for Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). The creator has even given the shuttlecraft PC a name, Curie.


It isn't the first time we've heard from creator James Cameron, who creates cool mods and cases for all sorts of things. Last March, he showcased the "World's Smallest NES" on one of his YouTube Channels, Print 'N Play. The channel specializes in builds that often center around being tiny and usually run on certain types of micro-boards like the Raspberry Pi. However, his other channel, The Time Traveling Technologist, centers around old and apparently "future" tech. In the case of a shuttlecraft PC, it's certainly the future.

The creator says it took him about three months of designing, 3D printing, sanding, painting, and wiring. The build includes custom PCBs, LED strips, and custom decals. What appears to be a Mini-ITX motherboard contains an Intel Core i5-4460 clocked at 3.2 GHz, an NVIDIA GTX 650, 16GB DDR3, and a 512GB SSD. The components are, admittedly, a little old, considering the most recent generation of Intel Core chips is in the 13000s (13th gen), NVIDIA GPUs are in the 4000-series, and RAM is up to DDR5. He says that the reasoning for the older hardware is to test thermals, which makes sense as 3D-printed materials could melt if things get too hot and did not want to put newer components at risk. There are potential plans to upgrade the hardware if all goes well but he should be careful. If the computer is too fast, you could turn into some kind of an amphibian.


James also paired a Windows 10 tablet with a Star Trek-themed interface to allow him to control the RGB strips on the main PC remotely, as well as media controls. Of course, he also decided to decorate his desk with Star Trek-themed items, and we would, too. He includes a phaser-themed mouse, a communicator, a Star Trek Screensaver on the PC, a custom keyboard, and a Star Trek themed desk mat. We think this is all very cool and hope to see more ingenuity from creators like James. After all that work, you deserve a bit of a rest at Quark's.