I just took some snapshots of my rig, thumbnails to all with unclippd/fullsized photos here: http://imageshack.us/g/202/img0762tx.jpg/
My gaming rig hardware:
Consoles:
Xbox360 Elite
Nintendo Wii
PC:
LianLi full tower black anodized aluminum gaming case
Seasonic 430w power supply
Gigabyte Nvidia 560ti 1gb video card
AMD Quad core 3ghz Deneb cpu
6gb Ram DDR2 800
Crucial 60gb M4 SSD OS drive + 320gb 7200rpm data drive
Monitor
Playseat Racing chair
Custom Cut pine desk surface to accomodate pc human interface devices
Logitech G27
Logitech G13 WASD game controller
Microsoft Sidewinder wireless Bluetrack 500-4000 DPI on the fly adjustable gaming mouse
Custom cut Razer mousepad
Saitek X45 HOTAS system
Sennheiser 555 headphones
This rig is designed as a home theater pc with gaming capabilities. Tiny booksize pcs are one way to go when approaching a htpc, but my vision is of a machine that can handle tv, movies and pc/console gaming. Modern era games such as Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2 & 3, and Rage by Id Software require a flexible control setup where one can quickly transition from driving to flying a plane and back again to mouse and keyboard for FPS elements. I got the idea for this setup many years ago when I was playing Battlefield 1942 (my fave multiplayer game of all time) but ironically I was never able to get all 3 control setups to work together in tandem, I have to disable the wheel to get the joystick and mouse/kb to work. And I haven't gotten everything to work simultaneously with Battlefield 3, either, which is a huge disappointment as I expected the developers would have programmed the game to allow for multiple controllers. I'm still hoping for a patch or workaround. At any rate the setup allows me to play FPS and racing games without a lot of re-arranging my controllers.
The pineboard desk surface is bolted to the Playseat as well as the Logitech G27 wheel. I cut the desk surface to allow me to place all my game controls at comfortable shoulder width distance apart. In practice I can switch from mouse/kb to steering wheel within 1-2 seconds, and from flight to mouse/kb in 2-5 seconds. To get the flight stuff in the sweet spot I do slightly pull the HOTAS system down and push/slide the WASD controller and mouse down, so there is a slight adjustment necessary when going back and forth between these two. The alternative is to leave the mouse/kb controllers in the most comfortable position for my arms and then to have to reach a little bit to control the flight stuff...it works ok but the throttle control especially is a bit of a reach when going to maximum acceleration, so I prefer to just move the flight controllers a few inches down as it doesn't take a lot of time to do. I also built a wood box structure to mount my six speed shifter. Evidently Playseat makes a metal mount for this shifter that bolts to the Playseat, but I didn't feel like spending 60 bux for it so I built something that is nice and sturdy with 8 nails and 2 dollars worth of wood. The box is attached to the floorboard w/ velcro and it holds it very tight, velcro seemed better than screws or nails since other plays in my house may want to adjust the position and velcro allows for that.
The plywood board on the floor is to stabilize the rig, the whole thing is on soft carpet and was unstable without the plywood underneath. Also, I've opted not to paint and polish up the woodwork because painted or not it is never going to look like a fighter jet cockpit or a race car cockpit. It is what it is - a setup that allows me to access all my most important controls quickly, easily and comfortably.
If you are wondering why I am rocking a 19 inch CRT then just consider how much money I spent on video card, racing chair and other assorted controllers. Then also take a look at my couch 'Nuff said!
My gaming rig hardware:
Consoles:
Xbox360 Elite
Nintendo Wii
PC:
LianLi full tower black anodized aluminum gaming case
Seasonic 430w power supply
Gigabyte Nvidia 560ti 1gb video card
AMD Quad core 3ghz Deneb cpu
6gb Ram DDR2 800
Crucial 60gb M4 SSD OS drive + 320gb 7200rpm data drive
Monitor
Playseat Racing chair
Custom Cut pine desk surface to accomodate pc human interface devices
Logitech G27
Logitech G13 WASD game controller
Microsoft Sidewinder wireless Bluetrack 500-4000 DPI on the fly adjustable gaming mouse
Custom cut Razer mousepad
Saitek X45 HOTAS system
Sennheiser 555 headphones
This rig is designed as a home theater pc with gaming capabilities. Tiny booksize pcs are one way to go when approaching a htpc, but my vision is of a machine that can handle tv, movies and pc/console gaming. Modern era games such as Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2 & 3, and Rage by Id Software require a flexible control setup where one can quickly transition from driving to flying a plane and back again to mouse and keyboard for FPS elements. I got the idea for this setup many years ago when I was playing Battlefield 1942 (my fave multiplayer game of all time) but ironically I was never able to get all 3 control setups to work together in tandem, I have to disable the wheel to get the joystick and mouse/kb to work. And I haven't gotten everything to work simultaneously with Battlefield 3, either, which is a huge disappointment as I expected the developers would have programmed the game to allow for multiple controllers. I'm still hoping for a patch or workaround. At any rate the setup allows me to play FPS and racing games without a lot of re-arranging my controllers.
The pineboard desk surface is bolted to the Playseat as well as the Logitech G27 wheel. I cut the desk surface to allow me to place all my game controls at comfortable shoulder width distance apart. In practice I can switch from mouse/kb to steering wheel within 1-2 seconds, and from flight to mouse/kb in 2-5 seconds. To get the flight stuff in the sweet spot I do slightly pull the HOTAS system down and push/slide the WASD controller and mouse down, so there is a slight adjustment necessary when going back and forth between these two. The alternative is to leave the mouse/kb controllers in the most comfortable position for my arms and then to have to reach a little bit to control the flight stuff...it works ok but the throttle control especially is a bit of a reach when going to maximum acceleration, so I prefer to just move the flight controllers a few inches down as it doesn't take a lot of time to do. I also built a wood box structure to mount my six speed shifter. Evidently Playseat makes a metal mount for this shifter that bolts to the Playseat, but I didn't feel like spending 60 bux for it so I built something that is nice and sturdy with 8 nails and 2 dollars worth of wood. The box is attached to the floorboard w/ velcro and it holds it very tight, velcro seemed better than screws or nails since other plays in my house may want to adjust the position and velcro allows for that.
The plywood board on the floor is to stabilize the rig, the whole thing is on soft carpet and was unstable without the plywood underneath. Also, I've opted not to paint and polish up the woodwork because painted or not it is never going to look like a fighter jet cockpit or a race car cockpit. It is what it is - a setup that allows me to access all my most important controls quickly, easily and comfortably.
If you are wondering why I am rocking a 19 inch CRT then just consider how much money I spent on video card, racing chair and other assorted controllers. Then also take a look at my couch 'Nuff said!
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