Crazy ideas embodied in awkward modded cases

Mar 13, 2007 14:49 GMT  ·  By

PC users build their own systems according to their needs and budget. As every PC user has his/her own personality, each tends to imprint it onto their systems. There are people that build up their systems, trying to get the most out of those fancy components. However, unlike regular PC users, the modding fans are a bunch of ingenious dudes who like to customize their systems to fit their personality and lifestyle. I found many interesting case mods over the Internet, but for this article, I stopped at six of the most weird/ingenious ones. Be sure to click on the thumbnail images to see the enlarged versions.

First of all, let's see what that Toilet PC is all about. The author of this "work of art" took the vital components of his PC and managed to accommodate them into a $9 child's training toilet from Wal-Mart. I think the guy exaggerated a bit, depicting too much leaking brown stuff on the seat and the sides. There is an orange biohazard paint job on the lid, which really goes well with the over spilling brownish mass. Inside the toilet seat we find an ASUS CUSI-FX FlexATX small-factor motherboard, which has built-in video, LAN NIC, sound and even two PCI slots. I guess a toilet PC is not really meant to include high-end, blazing fast components. It's all in the name.

Iimage
Iimage
Iimage

Next, I lay my eyes on an awkward Windows XP box mod. Right, so if your system is running on Windows XP Professional, why shouldn't your system case be the OS product box itself? The guy who pulled this mod off used a Nehemiah EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX motherboard to fit the 243mm x 200mm x 48mm box. Also included is an internal CD drive, which was quite hard to accommodate. The components had to perfectly fit a custom-made metal frame, which was integrated inside the box in order to prevent any fire-related issues. A rather minimalist approach, to sum it up.
Iimage
Iimage
OK, the next one isn't really a weird modded case. It's more of a themed kind of thing. Actually, it's a tribute to the Harley Davidson brand. Based on Chieftec's Dragon ATX Server Tower case, the mod features all sorts of custom-made additions. Of course, the "artist" couldn't have stuck with the regular grayish color and repainted the case in orange, adding some cool airbrushed flames all around. Custom-made features include an engine-like metal design on the front panel door, a stylized eagle on the right side, honeycomb grills, Harley Davidson banners, a transparent wing inside the case, orange/blue LEDs, a bunch of metal knobs and small metal wheels underneath the case. The guy who did all this also modded the stand and rims of the LCD display and airbrushed the palm-rest on the keyboard. A work of art that does justice to the Harley Davidson brand name, I'd say.
Iimage
Iimage
Iimage
Remaining in the same field, we jump to a chopper-based system case featuring an ingenious design. This one is built into a 2/3 scale real bike frame, painted with fiery schemes and accessorized with various cool stuff. This case even has a motorcycle seat and license plate adorning the rear side. The power supply unit goes right under the seat and the front panel includes a key start to turn on the system, with additional slot load drives and a handy media card reader. The processing power inside such a modded case perfectly matches the aggressive design: AMD AM2 FX62 CPU, Swiftech Apogee watercooler, two NV78 GPU waterblocks cooling two 7900GTXs in SLI and, on top of that, a PhysX card. This is what I call a hot rod PC rig.

Iimage

Back to the weird mods again, I give you the LEGO PC case! Made up of tiny LEGO blocks, this case deserves a creativity award right away. It has room for a DVD-ROM drive, a floppy drive (who needs such things these days?), a vertical motherboard with integrated peripherals, one HDD, two system coolers and a PSU on top. I wonder if those plastic blocks can take the resulting heat and provide a good airflow inside the enclosure.

Iimage
Iimage

Last, but not least, we take a look at a guitar case. We are talking about a real acoustic guitar, cut and trimmed in order to accommodate a small-factor motherboard, a windowed CD-ROM mod with stealth door, a pair of creative I-Trigue 3300 speakers as well as a sound activated blue cathode lighting interior. The system also provides remote control operation for power up and CD-ROM eject. A really cool case to suit any audiophile interior.
Iimage
Iimage
There are many crazy case mods out there, and every mod artist is looking to build a unique-looking case. I tried to find weird but original modded designs here. Unfortunately, not all case mods are based on original ideas, because modding enthusiasts sometimes copy each other, adding little original content to what should reflect their personality and way of being.