Astronaut hat

AUSTIN, Texas--Many have said it: The PC is dead. But for AMD, one of the largest PC chipmakers in the world, that idea is nothing short of sacrilege, even in the era of the smartphone and the tablet.

To showcase what it sees as the "rejuvenation" of the PC as an artistic canvas, AMD is at South by Southwest (SXSW) showing off a collection of modded PCs that showcase what imaginative people can do with a set of off-the-shelf components and perhaps the occasional astronaut helmet.

This computer is using an AMD E-350 processor along with a Radeon graphics card and is set up to run Skype video calls with a nearby pay phone PC mod.