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Planning Desk mod, sanity check and advice!

Discussion in 'Modding' started by moullas, 18 Dec 2015.

  1. moullas

    moullas What's a Dremel?

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    Hi there, long time lurker of the site and forum...

    I am planning to make a desk case, and would like the hive's feedback.
    My plan is have the pc hidden discreetly in the desk, have a good coefficient on the WAF, silent and look nice. Modeled after a conventional desk , so there is lots of clearance where I'll be sitting, with the PC residing in the box on the left side.

    No fancy stuff like watercooling, SLI or anything, just a normal ATX motherboard (Asus Z97 Pro at the moment) with a decent graphics card. I'll reuse my current rig for this project, though this should have enough space to accommodate anything I should throw at it.

    Desk will be done with MDF. Sketchup mockup doesn't show doors on the front or rear, which will close off the desk, for clarity in the diagram.

    Full desk
    [​IMG]

    Detail on box - Front
    [​IMG]

    Detail on box - Back
    [​IMG]

    1) Intake or exhaust?
    I'm thinking that intake should provide better cooling, at the expense of more noise out the front. Fans are 140mm though. Alternate solution would be have the fans out the back, and have passive vents on the front. Me not being an expert in these stuff, asking for advice.

    2) Glass on the top or not? The way to have access to the PC is to have the top rise using some sort of hydraulic mechanism (like a car's bonnet). Though having a glass would be nice, that'd mean needing to do things on the inside with a focus for form rather than function. And glass can break. And it will need to be clean all the time.

    3) Layout of components in the case. I've allowed for 20cm on the inside for all components. Though, it being effectively a big box, would cooling be better if the space of where the motherboard will reside be separate than the PSU / disks?

    4) There will be a door to the rear, where below the PC all power / networking / sound connections will be terminated in standard wall plates fitted inside the desk. This is due to having everything coming out of the floor where the desk is situated. Planning for 4x power (Pc, monitor, speakers + a spare), 4x ethernet (because, why not), and audio jacks connecting to my sound system. Any recommendations / differentiations / something to add that I haven't thought of?
     
  2. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    1) if you put the fans in the back, you have to deal with cables and plugging things in. and the noise will bounce off the wall that the desk is up against. so its the same either way you go, unless you make a muffler for either side, just like 'zig-zag' mdf boards with a sound dampening coating. a rubber is decent, a felt should be the best (IMHO).

    2) if you use glass, then you will need a frame. which would aid in the hydraulic attachment. there are alot of really cool PC desks on here and on the web with glass tops showing off all of the hardware. and with that decent desk real estate you could have a nice area to hold a book or a drink on a coaster (No condensation on the under side of the glass)

    3) since you are using SU (sketchup) go into there 3D warehouse (easy google search to find) and look for something that can become a representation for your hardware. to be able to see what it will look like in the box.

    4) put all of the rear IO ports from everything on the back plate, no one can predict the future
     
  3. moullas

    moullas What's a Dremel?

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    1) Hadn't thought of that. However, there is no wall behind the desk, it will be sitting in the middle of my man-cave. As for cables, that's a non-issue, since I'll be able to route them inside the area where the PC will be. So, I guess since cooling performance will be roughly the same, on the back they go!

    2) Frame it is! I'll see what's possible , will scour the forums.

    3) I have a representation of my hardware in SU (visible in the screenshots, maybe not too well due to the angles I've posted) However, I'm still at a loss on how best to place them . I have a spare PC, I guess I'll dry-run some combinations.

    4) I am trying to include everything, and the kitchen sink. Just wanted to see if there's anything that I may have missed.
     
  4. Dayaccus

    Dayaccus What's a Dremel?

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    The space under the pc , that 465mm, what are you going to use it for? Because you can split that in two, horizontal, and put the PSU and all the cables in there and make holes on top where cables need to go to the components. This way you hide all the cables and make a great wire management that will help a lot to the general look.

    About the glass on top, you need to cut into the mdf and make a frame so the glass can sit in there and be flush to the desk. You need some good tempered glass to handle shock and scratches.
    If you want to keep things simple and cheep, you don't need to use any hydraulic attachment but use suction cups like THIS to take the glass off and put it back in. This things can lift up to 60kg so no problem with your glass. Once finished you will not take the glass off every day, and that is a reason more to use suction cups instead complicating with hydraulic stuff.

    If you don't do watercooling, you will need to have good airflow to the pc, that means fans for both intake and exhaust. If you use only intake fans(positive pressure), you will have a lot of dust inside because the intake fans will get air with dust inside and nothing will take that dust out before it will settle down on components.
     
    Last edited: 28 Dec 2015
  5. moullas

    moullas What's a Dremel?

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    Hi Dayaccus

    thanks for the constructive feedback.

    I figured I'd let the bottom space as a cupboard for storing stuff. I thought about using it for housing PSU and possibly disks, but then figured I'd need additional cooling if I have 2 spaces with PC components inside.
    Bear in mind that there will be another set of doors that will close off both the front and back that I am not showing in the drawing, so everything will be closed off.

    As for the fans, I am not planning on watercooling, so thanks for the reasoning for both intake and exhaust fans. I'll adjust accordingly, I was just trying to make this as simple as possible (so preferably just have exhaust fans instead of intake). I thought 3 x 140mm fans would be enough for this, but maybe I'll add another set of them to have good flow of air.

    Thanks for the idea of suction cups, it will indeed make the build simpler, cheaper and I think easier to implement than hydraulic. (If I do indeed use glass at the top and not have just a wooden top).

    Back to the drawing board it is!!
     

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