Guy Makes a PC Out of Nintendo Wii
Modding your computer to look cooler is one thing, and overclocking your processor and memory is pretty cool too. But someone has managed to stuff a fully operational desktop PC into Nintendo’s minuscule Wii.
Of course, the internals of the Wii were gutted and everything taken out. But the end result is very interesting. While the Wii is very small, similar desktops are available from companies such as Dell and Apple — like the Mac Mini and Dell Studio desktop.
Check out the gallery of the Wii PC here.
The feat of course is doing it yourself. And this guy has stuffed an Intel Celeron 1.3 GHz processor, a motherboard based on Intel’s 852 chipset, 512 MB of memory and a 40 GB hard drive. Other included accessories are integrated Wi-Fi, digital video output via a DVI connector and even three USB ports — one at the back and two where the original GameCube controller ports were.
Despite the available disc slot on the face of the Wii, he was unable to integrate an optical drive to utilize the opening. However, this is easily remedied by attaching an external optical drive. The builder also managed to stuff in two fans to keep the unit cool. Unfortunately, the fans are small and because of this, have to run at high speeds to keep the overall unit cool. However, if you were building your own miniature PC like this, you can source out small fans that don’t spin so loudly.
The "Wii PC" runs a copy of Windows XP SP3 and while it isn’t the fastest PC out there, it is certainly one of the coolest — especially if you’re a fan of Nintendo and its Wii.
No he didn't. He emptied out the Wii and used it as a glorified case. If I did the same thing with a cereal box, you wouldn't call it "Guy makes a PC out of a Rice Crispies box."
And you certainly wouldn't post it as a news item.
People seem to argue that by doing so he proves he has too much time, and too little to do with it ; but how do you guys think art is made? it's certainly not made by people with no time on their hands .... And it's noisy and impractical ; so what? Art experts dismiss the design of practical things as not being art, because those things have a purpose. By using old and inferior hardware, the crafter of this item has effectively avoided giving the 'wii pc' a purpose ; thus making it art.
And as a piece of art it's marvelous.
I do however have to agree with the basic fact, that this doesn't belong in the thg news section, but perhaps on tom's guide or something like that.
ps. if I'd done this, I'd have used the mini itx board by some german company, running a centrino platform with an ati card onboard. Would've rendered the item useful though, and as such denied it the title of art, which I think the creator would be more proud of than being the creator of a simple mini-pc
Thanks for fixing! Article is pretty interesting and it is cool to read about little projects people take on!...Reminds me of the time i installed an rx-7 13b into a 914 porsche.
No he didn't. He emptied out the Wii and used it as a glorified case. If I did the same thing with a cereal box, you wouldn't call it "Guy makes a PC out of a Rice Crispies box."
And you certainly wouldn't post it as a news item.
People seem to argue that by doing so he proves he has too much time, and too little to do with it ; but how do you guys think art is made? it's certainly not made by people with no time on their hands .... And it's noisy and impractical ; so what? Art experts dismiss the design of practical things as not being art, because those things have a purpose. By using old and inferior hardware, the crafter of this item has effectively avoided giving the 'wii pc' a purpose ; thus making it art.
And as a piece of art it's marvelous.
I do however have to agree with the basic fact, that this doesn't belong in the thg news section, but perhaps on tom's guide or something like that.
ps. if I'd done this, I'd have used the mini itx board by some german company, running a centrino platform with an ati card onboard. Would've rendered the item useful though, and as such denied it the title of art, which I think the creator would be more proud of than being the creator of a simple mini-pc
Yup - article is just a harmless bit of fun, why bother with the flaming?
There are a lot more odd weird PC's like this on mini-itx.com inclusing this one , the toaster PC.
That would be funny. Showing up at your friend's house with a full tower (steel, of course) case with the Wii guts inside.
That is a great idea. Do the toaster PC project. Use the bread slots as optical drives or something. Post it somewhere, I'll write a small bit about it to give some coverage to end users who do neat things with their custom hardware. So do it up, I'll attribute it to you.
First I cover Macs; got flamed. Then now I'm covering neat custom projects using PC parts from end users who might appreciate some coverate on Tom's; get flamed.
Ah well.
/ Tuan
I don't find you useful to me and in my PC building projects. Is your existence useful to me and what I do? No. Hmm. In that case, according to your logic, I think you should go kill yourself now - cuz stuff that's not useful shouldn't exist right?
Whether or not this article was "useful" or not is subjective. Maybe it gave someone an idea to do a project and inspire something. If it wasn't useful for you, go look up something else. You have the Internet at your disposal. Why don't you Google for something you want then, instead of reading something that didn't please you and then blasting people about it?
I'm sure this piece may have inspired a lot of people to do custom build jobs.
You are one sad individual if you spent all that time flaming and provided nothing critical in terms of an idea or suggestion.
"Damn, Tuan wrote another POS after the last POS, and I read it again! I could have suggested something better but... I chose not to, and now that I read another thing I think is a POS, I am so angry. I could give advice but... I'll wait to get angry again."
Get a life.
A PC and a Wii in one tiny case would be cool.