Creating a computer in a desk is an incredible accomplishment in itself. Seeing the desk completed with the computer parts glowing under RGB LED lights is so rewarding. But there is always a way to make something better. These simple mods will separate your Desk PC from the masses and will ensure a unique and eye-widening response from onlookers.
Unusual mods for your Desk PC include:
- Plasma Ball
- Lava Lamp
- Infinity Mirror
- Acrylic Mounts
- Engraved Acrylic Windows
- Blacklight or UV LEDs
- UV Reactive Liquid
- Built-in Amazon Echo
- Built-in Wireless Cellphone Charger
Let’s have a look at each of these and how they can enhance the look of your desk PC case.
Plasma Ball
Adding a retro flair with something like a plasma ball can really make your desk PC stand out. Even if you aren’t going all out with a Mad Scientist theme, you can still spice of the look of your desk PC case with one of these. We found a USB powered one on Amazon that made this mod super easy.
Lava Lamp
Speaking of retro, if you want to really give your setup a blast from the past look, consider adding a small lava lamp in your build. Even in this day and age they are still mesmerizing and relaxing to watch and it’ll certainly stand out as an eye-catcher.
Infinity Mirror
This one is a simple DIY project using a foot or so of wooden trim, a couple of sheets of 2-way mirror acrylic and an LED strip. Alternatively, you can buy a wooden picture frame and forego building the frame yourself with wood.
You can put one of these together in half an hour and add a dazzling curiosity to your desk.
Acrylic Mounts for PC Components
I’ve covered this one before but talk about making an impression! Acrylic is probably one of the greatest modding materials available. There is so much that can be done with it. Painting, bending, cementing… the options are limitless! We used a frosted acrylic that we purchased from
The focus here, though, is in using acrylic as mounting surfaces for your PC components. Add an RGB LED strip and you have a recipe for “Wow!”. This is probably one of my favorite mods that we did to my son’s desk PC. It is truly awe-inspiring to see the PC components set off by glowing lights from underneath them.
Engraved Acrylic
While we are on the topic of acrylic, engraving is another great way to mod this material and to give your desk PC a one of a kind look. With a Dremel, a stencil pattern, and some patience you can engrave just about any logo or design you can think up into an acrylic surface. You can even custom order acrylic sheets with a logo or design of your choice engraved on a CNC machine for a very reasonable cost. That’s the approach we took for these cool biohazard logo panel windows in the front of our desk PC.
Blacklights or UV LEDs
There’s a bit of debate in the infinite internet over the topic of UV LED lights and their effectiveness compared to traditional blacklight tubes. That argument is beyond the scope of this discussion. I will tell you from personal experience my son and I went with UV LED lights and we are extremely pleased with the results. We use them to highlight some UV reactive liquid cooling fluid that runs through our system (more on that below) and it really makes the stuff glow like something out of a science fiction movie.
UV Reactive Liquid
Liquid cooling is a passion among PC enthusiasts. Beyond the potential to cool your system’s CPU and graphics card though there is an added benefit of aesthetics. There is simply something fascinating about seeing liquid flowing through reservoirs in a computer system. When you add UV lighting and use a UV reactive fluid things really get interesting. Our build was based around a bio-hazard theme and this fluid is meant to look like some sort of toxic waste flowing through the system. It really adds to the overall look of the setup.
Built-In Amazon Echo
If you really want to take your system to the next level in modding extremism, consider a flush-mount Amazon Echo. It’s not a difficult as you might think. The key to this one is to carefully measure the diameter of the version of the Echo that you have and use a hole saw as close to that size as possible so that it can be flush mounted from the underside. We purchased a 2nd Generation version for just this purpose but haven’t yet dug into this mod. It’s coming
Built-In Wireless Cell phone Charger
This one doesn’t add to the aesthetics of your build exactly but its a nice touch in customization and cable management. It’s a bit more advanced of a mod as it requires using a router to bore out the underside of a surface without cutting all the way through. The goal here is to create a thin surface of wood between the charger and the cellphone that still allows for the phone to recognize and take the charge. Not for the faint of heart to be sure but I can guarantee we are going to be doing this one in a future build just for sake of doing it.
What Ideas Do You Have?
There are countless ways to mod your build to make it stand out as one of a kind. What ideas do you have?