\n\tWhile at CES 2011 in January, I met Dean Liou, a Senior Web Application Developer who’s also built some great PC case mods. Liou was one of three finalists in Lenovo’s MOD building contest who were at the show. His Street Fighter-themed Arcade Dock mod (shown at the end of this gallery), was a real eye-catcher.
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\n\tWhile talking to Liou about his entry in the Lenovo contest, we started talking about his many other case mods. And, he has graciously allow us to republish a few photos of each mod on TechRepublic.
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\n\tThis gallery features photos of 14 different case mods. I’m starting with one of Liou’s more interesting ones, the ToiletPC.
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\n\t– Bill Detwiler, TechRepublic Head Technology Editor
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tBuilt in Summer 2001, this machine has an ASUS CUSI-FX motherboard, 933MHz Intel PIII CPU, 256MB RAM, 45GB HDD, and PCI ATI Radeon VE graphics card. All this hardware is mounted inside a child’s training toilet.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe Toliet PC uses a 145Watt MicroATX power supply.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tBuilt in the Fall of 2000, Liou’s PVC Jr. case mod was the third mod to use PVC pipes for a case.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe PVC Jr. PC had a Gigabyte GA-7ZM Socket A MicroATX motherboard, AMD 600MHz Duron CPU, 128GB RAM, 25GB IBM Deskstar HDD, and Elsa TNT2 Vanta graphics card.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou used a cleverly placed mirror to make the housing of his Invisible PC appear empty.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe blue light adds a nice touch and enhances the box’s empty appearance.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou built the MysteryBox case mode for the Intel Developer Forum Fall 2002. It is an aluminum version of his InvisiblePC.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou built his BBQ PC in the Winter of 2000.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou used dashbaord gauges from a Honda Civic Si to create this unique case mod. The Dashboard PC‘s gauges show RAM, CPU, and Hard Drive usage when the system is running.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tIn 2004, Liou built this DialupPC for an Intel event being held in Dallas, TX. He wanted to build a “throw-back mod with present-day functionality”. Liou describes this machine as a “Skype, MSN voice chat-ready (and now Google talk) PC with a retro twist.”
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tWhen a Skype call, MSN voice chat, or Google talk invitation comes in, you can pickup the handset and use it as you would a normal phone.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tAccording to Liou, “the box used for this case is an antique box that was originally used to import grain from another country (probably Asian).”
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe DialupPC had a 3.4Ghz Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition CPU, ATI Radeon 9800 graphics cards, 512MB RAM, 80GB Seagate Serial ATA HDD, and a laptop DVD drive.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tBuilt in 1998, this mod was Liou’s first mod–his original PVC Case. It ran on 500MHz Celeron CPU.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tTwo years after completing his first PVC computer case, Liou built a second PVC mod–PVC II.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tCooling for this machine is provided by a single, 18-inch fan.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThis machine had an Athlon classic 750 CPU, Abit KA7-100 motherboard, 128MB PC133 RAM, Hercules Prophet II GTS 32MB video card, and two 15GB ATA-100 7200RPM IBM Deskstar’s HDDs.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou built this Ginger Bread PC case mod in the winter of 2002. The walls were made from hardboard, and he used white caulk for the icing.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou mounted the machine’s HDD, DVD drive, and power supply on the underside of the platform. He used parts from a Shuttle XPC SFF Barebones Kit for the components inside the house.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou built this Guitar PC in 2003.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThis LCD Touchframe display mod uses a 15-inch Samsung LCD with ELO touch overlay that was once part of an “all-in-one PC used as a bar counter bingo game”.
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\n\tUnlike his other mods, this unit isn’t a fully PC. It’s a secondary display for his living room computer.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou mounted the LCD in a 10-inch x 13-inch wood frame and placed it on a wooden stand.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tAmazingly, this mod was built for under $100 (US).
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tLiou built this Cyberpumpkin case mod for Intel as a way to showcase their Pentium 4 processors at E3 2002.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe machine’s turbine contains the motherboard, CD-ROM drive, HDD, and video card.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe machine’s power supply is located in the chest.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThis ArcadeDock case mod was Liou’s entry in Lenovo’s MOD building contest. The unit is a specially modified cabinet and controller that contains a Lenovo Y560 laptop and wireless keyboard.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe wireless keyboard is located on a tray that slides out from the front of the cabinet.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
\n\tThe cabinet is covered with Street Fighter-themed graphics and has a lighted marquee emblazoned with flames and the word “lenovo”.
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\n\tPhoto courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou’s amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Previously, Bill was an IT manager in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.
