Hardware

Toilet, Cyberpumpkin, and a host of creative PC mods

By // February 14, 2011, 8:55 AM PST // billdetwiler

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  • ToiletPC (1 of 5)

    While 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.

    While 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.

    This gallery features photos of 14 different case mods. I'm starting with one of Liou's more interesting ones, the ToiletPC.

    -- Bill Detwiler, TechRepublic Head Technology Editor

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ToiletPC (2 of 5)

    Built 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ToiletPC (3 of 5)

    The Toliet PC uses a 145Watt MicroATX power supply.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ToiletPC (4 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ToiletPC (5 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC Jr. (1 of 3)

    Built in the Fall of 2000, Liou's PVC Jr. case mod was the third mod to use PVC pipes for a case.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC Jr. (2 of 3)

    The 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC Jr. (3 of 3)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • InvisiblePC (1 of 5)

    Liou used a cleverly placed mirror to make the housing of his Invisible PC appear empty.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • InvisiblePC (2 of 5)

    The blue light adds a nice touch and enhances the box's empty appearance.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • InvisiblePC (3 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • InvisiblePC (4 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • InvisiblePC (5 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • MysteryBox (1 of 4)

    Liou built the MysteryBox case mode for the Intel Developer Forum Fall 2002. It is an aluminum version of his InvisiblePC.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • MysteryBox (2 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • MysteryBox (3 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • MysteryBox (4 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • BBQ PC (1 of 2)

    Liou built his BBQ PC in the Winter of 2000.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • BBQ PC (2 of 2)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Dashboard PC (1 of 4)

    Liou 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Dashboard PC (2 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Dashboard PC (3 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Dashboard PC (4 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • DialupPC (1 of 4)

    In 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."

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • DialupPC (2 of 4)

    When 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • DialupPC (3 of 4)

    According to Liou, "the box used for this case is an antique box that was originally used to import grain from another country (probably Asian)."

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • DialupPC (4 of 4)

    The 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC PC (1 of 3)

    Built in 1998, this mod was Liou's first mod--his original PVC Case. It ran on 500MHz Celeron CPU.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC PC (2 of 3)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC PC (3 of 3)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC II (1 of 5)

    Two years after completing his first PVC computer case, Liou built a second PVC mod--PVC II.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC II (2 of 5)

    Cooling for this machine is provided by a single, 18-inch fan.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC II (3 of 5)

    This 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC II (4 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • PVC II (5 of 5)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Ginger Bread PC (1 of 4)

    Liou 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Ginger Bread PC (2 of 4)

    Liou 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Ginger Bread PC (3 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Ginger Bread PC (4 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Guitar PC (1 of 4)

    Liou built this Guitar PC in 2003.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Guitar PC (2 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Guitar PC (3 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Guitar PC (4 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • LCD Touchframe (1 of 4)

    This 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".

    Unlike his other mods, this unit isn't a fully PC. It's a secondary display for his living room computer.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • LCD Touchframe (2 of 4)

    Liou mounted the LCD in a 10-inch x 13-inch wood frame and placed it on a wooden stand.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • LCD Touchframe (3 of 4)

    Amazingly, this mod was built for under $100 (US).

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • LCD Touchframe (4 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Cyberpumpkin (1 of 4)

    Liou built this Cyberpumpkin case mod for Intel as a way to showcase their  Pentium 4 processors at E3 2002.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Cyberpumpkin (2 of 4)

    The machine's turbine contains the motherboard, CD-ROM drive, HDD, and video card.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Cyberpumpkin (3 of 4)

    The machine's power supply is located in the chest.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • Cyberpumpkin (4 of 4)

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ArcadeDock Laptop Dock (1 of 3)

    This 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.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ArcadeDock Laptop Dock (2 of 3)

    The wireless keyboard is located on a tray that slides out from the front of the cabinet.

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

  • ArcadeDock Laptop Dock (3 of 3)

    The cabinet is covered with Street Fighter-themed graphics and has a lighted marquee emblazoned with flames and the word "lenovo".

    Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

ToiletPC (1 of 5)

While 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.

While 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.

This gallery features photos of 14 different case mods. I'm starting with one of Liou's more interesting ones, the ToiletPC.

-- Bill Detwiler, TechRepublic Head Technology Editor

Photo courtesy of Dean Liou. For more information on all Liou's amazing mods, visit his site Envador.com.

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By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...