Photos: Five years of Mini-ITX mods

On the occasion of the Mini-ITX's fifth anniversary, we present some the wildest and wackiest computer mods made with the motherboard.

The Mini-ITX was born when Taiwan's Via Technologies was seeking a way to show how its energy-efficient processors could fit into household consumer electronics, according to Richard Brown, vice president of marketing for Via. The result: a smaller-than-average motherboard (17 centimeters by 17 centimeters) sporting an x86 Via processor.

The company showed the first Minis off at CeBit in 2002, and formally announced the line in April of that year. Subsequent boards got down to 12x12 centimeters.

While most of the boards have been shipped to PC manufacturers, the parts have developed a cult following among modders, PC enthusiasts who alter a computer's appearance to enhance its look or functionality. One of Via's Russian partners made a bunch of Mini-ITX machines and put them in his nightclub for multimedia displays. Then there's the NFL football helmet PC.

The accordian mod pictured here comes from Lennie Moore and Jim Wiggins of Los Angeles. "Jim suggested we make a music server but it HAD to be in a cool case. He already had a Mini-ITX firewall computer sitting in a kid's lunchbox, so I felt compelled to keep to the same high standards. When I ran across the Enrico Bertini accordion in an antique shop near our house, inspiration hit like a bolt of lightning."