In desk wind-tunnel PC

[Flyinfinni]

Alright everyone, this is my first attempt at modding/building a case, and I have a TON of details to work out still. Right now I have the basic ideas of what I want, but would REALLY appreciate suggestions and comments. Basically, I was sitting at my desk the other day and realizing that I really need a better way to clear the clutter, manage my cables, and add some storage areas.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/Desk Project/2011-03-18_07-18-52_672.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/Desk Project/2011-03-18_07-19-12_273.jpg
On top of that, I have been really wanting to do a custom mod for a while, and I need a new project (just finished building my bicycle).
So far, I have some basic ideas and put them into a google sketchup drawing. It obviously needs some work, but at least I've got some layout ideas, and I know what I wan the desktop to look like.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/Desk Project/DeskConcept1.png
I am planning on going with Eyefinity once I get it put together and I've always enjoyed the corner-desk type, thus the shape of the desktop. I wanted originally to put the PC itself into the desk right in front of the displays, but realized that would end up severely constricting my leg room (I'm reasonably tall, but have very long legs for my height, so leg room in important).
Anyway, the basic layout of the components is shown here.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/Desk Project/DeskConcept2.png
I came up with this thinking about how to get the best airflow and cooling possible without tons of noise, as noise is one of the complaints I have with my current system. There are 3x140mm fans pulling in from the front and 3 more pushing out the back, thus the wind-tunnel name. After putting together this concept, I also started thinking about watercooling the setup at some point as well, so I was thinking about making sure I could mount a 3x140mm radiator on the back 3 fans. I haven't figured out how I want to mount optical drives and fan controllers, etc yet, so I'd love suggestions on that and comments on the ideas I've got so far as well. Really at this point, the only thing that is set in stone is that I'm planning on making the Mobo tray and fan mounts (basically all of the inside of PC drop) out of 0.125" black plexi as I have a 24x48" sheet of it, and that I'm gonna be using a black and blue color scheme. Also- I will be doing fully custom cables for this build- the wonders of fully modular PSUs

Anyway, I'm planning on building the mobo tray and stuff first off, and then moving on from there. I'd love comments, suggestions and ideas

BTW- the Rig in my sig is what will be going into this once complete Do y'all think a 3x140 rad would be enough to cool the whole thing with a single loop?

 

[mannyman]

thats a neat idea, i might ty to make on my self, it looks good and 3 by 140 should be fine.

 

[Cschill1290]

Very cool idea. If I remember right, there was a post on here a while back where someone made one out of a glass coffee table with a WC loop and everything. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[jojo69]

building flat (old school desktop style as opposed to tower configuration) def has some advantages...especially with the size real video cards are now

shameless self promotion http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1577248

 

[nalc]

I'd install some sort of a baffle or backplate between the components and the rear fans. You want airflow, but you want airflow through your components, not around them. I'd rig up a custom ATX backplate like the back of a normal case that only has openings for your components. Air will try to take the path of least resistance, so with your current design the air will just go around all of the components. If the only way for air from the front to go out the back is through the CPU heatsink, GPU heatsinks, or PSU, then you'll get lower temps. Otherwise you will just be making noise to blow air around your heatsinks, not through them.

 

[Flyinfinni]

thats a neat idea, i might ty to make on my self, it looks good and 3 by 140 should be fine.

Go ahead and give it a go! If you do, we can trade ideas and lessons learned as we go Also- I get pretty high ambient temps during the summer here (up to 29-30C in my bedroom with the computers), so I'm really hoping to keep my components as close to ambient as possible. Would more than just a 3x140 rad improve things much with my rig, or would that be plenty to get the water back virtually to ambient?

Very cool idea. If I remember right, there was a post on here a while back where someone made one out of a glass coffee table with a WC loop and everything. I'll see if I can find it.

Yeah- I think I've seen that. I was going for more of a traditional desk look in some respects, but that WC Coffee table was sweet. this will likely end up somewhat similar, but I'm hoping to use the wood of the desk itself to really hide all the cables so that you only see the parts of the cables you really can't hide, while still seeing all the hardware

building flat (old school desktop style as opposed to tower configuration) def has some advantages...especially with the size real video cards are now

shameless self promotion http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1577248

Thats a cool setup. I wasn't really even thinking about advantages of a desktop form factor, but just the fact that spacewise, a tower wouldn't work inside a desk but yes- I do like the advantages of less stresses on the board due to the weight and size of the vid cards and CPU heatsink.

I'd install some sort of a baffle or backplate between the components and the rear fans. You want airflow, but you want airflow through your components, not around them. I'd rig up a custom ATX backplate like the back of a normal case that only has openings for your components. Air will try to take the path of least resistance, so with your current design the air will just go around all of the components. If the only way for air from the front to go out the back is through the CPU heatsink, GPU heatsinks, or PSU, then you'll get lower temps. Otherwise you will just be making noise to blow air around your heatsinks, not through them.

Yeah- I am planning on a custom backplate and I/O shield, etc. Its actually got one in there (not necessarily representative of what I'll build) but its hard to see. Also, as long as I am supplying fresh ambient air pushed in from the front, then the fans on each of the components will have fresh air to pull. One of my main goals is to get as close to ambient air temp inside the case as possible to make sure none of the components is pulling hot air through the heatsink and ending up warmer than necessary.

 

[Flyinfinni]

Well, my 24x48 inch sheet of black plexiglass arrived today! This was great news as I was off of work today as well, so I got started. I'd modeled a mobo tray in Google Sketchup , so I printed it and taped it to the plexi and broke out the dremel (also brand new and had only played with it on some scrap wood.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_15-24-23_752.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_15-24-37_601.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_15-24-52_312.jpg
Well, the first cut was a little rough... I made sure I had a little extra wiggle room on that first edge so I wouldn't end up with a board that was too small, and its a good thing I did.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_17-19-55_576.jpg
The second cut went much better.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_17-20-09_230.jpg
shaved it down to clean up the first cut, and we had the beginnings of a nice mobo tray!
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_17-26-37_15.jpg
Then I added a cutout to be able to reach the CPU backplate and we've got a nice start.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_18-11-13_388.jpg

Now, I'm not sure whether I should trust my sketchup print for the hole locations, or pull my mobo out of case to mark where the standoffs need to go. If I made the drawing with the ATX spec dimensions, am I pretty safe that it'll fit or do you all think its worth the extra effort to check?

Anyway, thats as far as I could get tonight- had to clean up, but hopefully I'll get to work on the backplate tomorrow, though I'm not quite sure whats going to be the best way to attack that.

Thanks for looking, and I'd still love any suggestions and advice you guys who've done these types of things before have!

 

[nalc]

Well, my 24x48 inch sheet of black plexiglass arrived today! This was great news as I was off of work today as well, so I got started. I'd modeled a mobo tray in Google Sketchup , so I printed it and taped it to the plexi and broke out the dremel (also brand new and had only played with it on some scrap wood.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_15-24-23_752.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_15-24-37_601.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_15-24-52_312.jpg
Well, the first cut was a little rough... I made sure I had a little extra wiggle room on that first edge so I wouldn't end up with a board that was too small, and its a good thing I did.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_17-19-55_576.jpg
The second cut went much better.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_17-20-09_230.jpg
shaved it down to clean up the first cut, and we had the beginnings of a nice mobo tray!
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_17-26-37_15.jpg
Then I added a cutout to be able to reach the CPU backplate and we've got a nice start.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-08_18-11-13_388.jpg

Now, I'm not sure whether I should trust my sketchup print for the hole locations, or pull my mobo out of case to mark where the standoffs need to go. If I made the drawing with the ATX spec dimensions, am I pretty safe that it'll fit or do you all think its worth the extra effort to check?

Anyway, thats as far as I could get tonight- had to clean up, but hopefully I'll get to work on the backplate tomorrow, though I'm not quite sure whats going to be the best way to attack that.

Thanks for looking, and I'd still love any suggestions and advice you guys who've done these types of things before have!

Hold the sketchup print up to your mobo just to check.

 

[mannyman]

It looks good so far, and i have faith that it will turn out good, i'm tuned in.

 

[Wylee]

Subbed. Let's do this.

 

[Mohonri]

One comment about your concept--make sure the opening for your legs/chair is nice and wide. On the desk that I built, it's just barely wider than the chair itself, and is actually narrower than the circle made by the casters, so it is at times awkward. If you can eliminate the legs on either side of the opening (perhaps replace them with diagonal braces to the back of the desk?), it'll make the desk much more comfortable to use.

Just my two cents from building my own desk...

 

[Flyinfinni]

First off- sorry its been a while since I posted an update, but work has been absolutely crazy lately and I've really had almost no time to work on stuff at home (60-70 hour weeks:-p) Anyway, I did a little bit this past weekend, but not enough for a real update, but hopefully next week. I'll leave you all with a teaser photo though Some of the sweet new hardware and tools I got.
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/flyinfinni/2011-04-22_16-50-38_766.jpg

It looks good so far, and i have faith that it will turn out good, i'm tuned in.

Thanks man- I'm hoping I can pull this off

Subbed. Let's do this.

Thanks man.

One comment about your concept--make sure the opening for your legs/chair is nice and wide. On the desk that I built, it's just barely wider than the chair itself, and is actually narrower than the circle made by the casters, so it is at times awkward. If you can eliminate the legs on either side of the opening (perhaps replace them with diagonal braces to the back of the desk?), it'll make the desk much more comfortable to use.

Just my two cents from building my own desk...

Awesome- thanks! Thats excellent advice and much appreciated. I'll have to rework my sketchup a little.

Thanks all- hopefully I'll make some REAL progress in the next couple of weeks now that I have more of the hardware in and hopefully I'll have a little more time as well.

 

[sam2145871]

Subbed! Loving it!

 

[mathewmatics]

I have one...kinda...but nothing like that! Mine is for easy access in and out diags of parts from multiple device types...SATA...IDE..AGP...PCI-e....PCI...etc....

That would be a very cool desk to own no doubt! IKEA would probably buy the idea off of you...

 

[Dmac122383]

Can't wait to see this thing complete. Seems like a fairly simple build (not knocking you) and beginner friendly, I'm def bookmarking this so I have something to look at for when I do something similar. Keep up the good work

 

[Flyinfinni]

Sorry all- life has totally taken over here. Work continues to not let up and life isn't easing up any either. Anyway- I finally did buy the plywood for the desktop, so I have a nice 4'x8'x.75" slab of wood in my garage. Now to find the time to actually cut into it!

 

[joekaveh]

pretty cool idea, I saw something similar on gizmodo or engadget with a high end i7 990x system

 

[Flyinfinni]

Thanks. Mine won't be quite that high end though, sadly, as I can't afford those kinds of parts. It will most likely just be my current rig transferred from its current home in my CM690 to the desk.