- Joined
- Apr 29, 2014
- Messages
- 4,244 (1.12/day)
- Location
- Texas
| System Name | SnowFire / The Reinforcer |
|---|---|
| Processor | i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2 |
| Motherboard | Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720) |
| Cooling | RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock |
| Memory | Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb |
| Video Card(s) | GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector) |
| Storage | Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5 |
| Display(s) | Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz) |
| Case | Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case |
| Audio Device(s) | Realtec ALC1150 (On board) |
| Power Supply | Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick |
| Mouse | Logitech G5 |
| Keyboard | Logitech G19S |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016 |
Hey everyone,
So recently I decided to do an overhaul of my PC and had been looking for a while into doing a build inside a desk to get rid of the tower. I wanted to reduce clutter in the office, do hard tubing along with making the PC more visual, have an adjustable height desk, and just have something where I could keep this for a long time (Possibly the last case ill have LOL). However, once I started looking into them, I realized they are outrageously expensive and (At least in my opinion) pretty cheaply made along with most not have height adjustment (Most I found were $1,000+). So, I got to thinking about the design and what I wanted which made me decide to build my own as I wanted to do this on a budget to where I focused more of my money into the PC itself and cooling instead of the desk along with it hopefully lasting a very long time. I also intend to buy a new GPU (Probably 7900 XT or XTX) and possibly at some point upgrade my processor/motherboard. Here is the focus of the build for me:
1: Building a useable desk a PC can fit inside with plenty of space for cooling, expansion, and use while gaming.
2: Keeping the desk costs down, not overspending on pieces like the top, legs, etc
3: making sure the desk is comfortable to use and can fit a normal gaming setup/mat
4: Desk is quiet while maintaining keeping temps down.
So first I forgot to take some pictures of my basic building of the structure, but I will post some pictures later of the pieces and some of the way I did and measurements but for now I will be missing some of those steps.
The first thing I did was research some desk legs. I looked up the cost and most of the ones I could find online were 200+ and were very basic or had a very low weight rating. Weight was a concern mostly because of the basic desk weight, weight of equipment inside, and weight of me leaning on it. The brand I kept coming back to was VIVO as they had a good reputation along with features I liked, and they could hold a decent amount of weight (200+ pounds). I managed to find one Amazon deal for $175 shipped as an open box unit, but even then, I wanted to do better. Going to eBay I managed to find a seller who was selling a bunch of the higher model with memory desk height (A feature I wanted) for $125 plus shipping. I noticed he had "make an offer" available and I sent an offer for $115 and managed to get the whole thing shipped to me for $125 and it came pretty much new in package only missing one rubber washer on top which was an easy fix.
Next was the top as I decided I wanted to either do plexiglass or tempered glass top. Looking into this I was shocked at the pricing of plexiglass which knocked it off the table as in most cases I could get nice thick tempered glass in more sizes for less/the same price at least around me. However, the budget part of me was not happy as most of the prices still hovered around $200+ which I refused to accept. Researching this for a long while did not net me much better prices especially at the sizes I wanted (Somewhere is the area of 25" x 40" to 30" x 50"). I got to a point where I was actually stuck thinking I was going to just have to bite the bullet and pay the money until I decided to check out Facebook marketplace and noticed lots of people selling glass table tops cheap. As I searched, I found a beveled edge 30" x 50" tempered glass top (pretty thick as well I will measure) for $50. I negotiated it down to $40 and picked it up from the seller. Now with the two pieces I could work on the structure.
For the main basic structure, I decided basic treated lumber with a plywood base as that seemed like the quality and price I wanted. Total price for wood was about $60. I intended to paint it black or white anyways so I am not looking for anything too fancy wood wise (Yea I could go for a stained look but not what I want for the PC look I'm going with). The wood is 2x6 for the structue.
When I started building the structure the basic is just going to be a box with the plywood on the bottom. I originally built it to 35" x 55" size with the wood siding around the plywood. This was done originally with a design to have the desk top (Glass) be made into a structure where it would have hydraulic lift to open it so I could service the inside or show it off. The problem I ran into while doing this was first getting the glass height correct to wood. While I could have adjusted it with rubber base and sanding, I realized this was still going to be a problem in holding it down without having bumps in the material which I could not accept for a gaming desk as I wanted everything as smooth as possible under the mat. Another issue came up where I realized how massive this was and how hard moving it was going to be (Even though once it gets into the room it wont move much, it was still hard to fit it around corners), also I realized I had mis measured the radiator height and they were going to be too close to the top (It was nearly flush) which worried me. To resolve these issues I cut down the size to be 30" x 52" and mounted the structure on top this time to make it where the glass will not have a structure on it and it will lay across the structure fitting snug except for around 2" on the backside (I will get to that in an update) along with some corner triangles to hold it in place (I will post more about as well in next update). Currently after doing the adjusting this is the current version of the desk below.
Inside is a little rough placement of first radiator and motherboard mostly set there for scale and to give me some ideas on placement.
Let me know what y'all think so far and some ideas maybe for placement. I am pretty set on having both 360mm radiators at the back for reasons I will show later along with outputs for monitors, USBS, etc.
Thanks for reading!
So recently I decided to do an overhaul of my PC and had been looking for a while into doing a build inside a desk to get rid of the tower. I wanted to reduce clutter in the office, do hard tubing along with making the PC more visual, have an adjustable height desk, and just have something where I could keep this for a long time (Possibly the last case ill have LOL). However, once I started looking into them, I realized they are outrageously expensive and (At least in my opinion) pretty cheaply made along with most not have height adjustment (Most I found were $1,000+). So, I got to thinking about the design and what I wanted which made me decide to build my own as I wanted to do this on a budget to where I focused more of my money into the PC itself and cooling instead of the desk along with it hopefully lasting a very long time. I also intend to buy a new GPU (Probably 7900 XT or XTX) and possibly at some point upgrade my processor/motherboard. Here is the focus of the build for me:
1: Building a useable desk a PC can fit inside with plenty of space for cooling, expansion, and use while gaming.
2: Keeping the desk costs down, not overspending on pieces like the top, legs, etc
3: making sure the desk is comfortable to use and can fit a normal gaming setup/mat
4: Desk is quiet while maintaining keeping temps down.
So first I forgot to take some pictures of my basic building of the structure, but I will post some pictures later of the pieces and some of the way I did and measurements but for now I will be missing some of those steps.
The first thing I did was research some desk legs. I looked up the cost and most of the ones I could find online were 200+ and were very basic or had a very low weight rating. Weight was a concern mostly because of the basic desk weight, weight of equipment inside, and weight of me leaning on it. The brand I kept coming back to was VIVO as they had a good reputation along with features I liked, and they could hold a decent amount of weight (200+ pounds). I managed to find one Amazon deal for $175 shipped as an open box unit, but even then, I wanted to do better. Going to eBay I managed to find a seller who was selling a bunch of the higher model with memory desk height (A feature I wanted) for $125 plus shipping. I noticed he had "make an offer" available and I sent an offer for $115 and managed to get the whole thing shipped to me for $125 and it came pretty much new in package only missing one rubber washer on top which was an easy fix.
Next was the top as I decided I wanted to either do plexiglass or tempered glass top. Looking into this I was shocked at the pricing of plexiglass which knocked it off the table as in most cases I could get nice thick tempered glass in more sizes for less/the same price at least around me. However, the budget part of me was not happy as most of the prices still hovered around $200+ which I refused to accept. Researching this for a long while did not net me much better prices especially at the sizes I wanted (Somewhere is the area of 25" x 40" to 30" x 50"). I got to a point where I was actually stuck thinking I was going to just have to bite the bullet and pay the money until I decided to check out Facebook marketplace and noticed lots of people selling glass table tops cheap. As I searched, I found a beveled edge 30" x 50" tempered glass top (pretty thick as well I will measure) for $50. I negotiated it down to $40 and picked it up from the seller. Now with the two pieces I could work on the structure.
For the main basic structure, I decided basic treated lumber with a plywood base as that seemed like the quality and price I wanted. Total price for wood was about $60. I intended to paint it black or white anyways so I am not looking for anything too fancy wood wise (Yea I could go for a stained look but not what I want for the PC look I'm going with). The wood is 2x6 for the structue.
When I started building the structure the basic is just going to be a box with the plywood on the bottom. I originally built it to 35" x 55" size with the wood siding around the plywood. This was done originally with a design to have the desk top (Glass) be made into a structure where it would have hydraulic lift to open it so I could service the inside or show it off. The problem I ran into while doing this was first getting the glass height correct to wood. While I could have adjusted it with rubber base and sanding, I realized this was still going to be a problem in holding it down without having bumps in the material which I could not accept for a gaming desk as I wanted everything as smooth as possible under the mat. Another issue came up where I realized how massive this was and how hard moving it was going to be (Even though once it gets into the room it wont move much, it was still hard to fit it around corners), also I realized I had mis measured the radiator height and they were going to be too close to the top (It was nearly flush) which worried me. To resolve these issues I cut down the size to be 30" x 52" and mounted the structure on top this time to make it where the glass will not have a structure on it and it will lay across the structure fitting snug except for around 2" on the backside (I will get to that in an update) along with some corner triangles to hold it in place (I will post more about as well in next update). Currently after doing the adjusting this is the current version of the desk below.
Inside is a little rough placement of first radiator and motherboard mostly set there for scale and to give me some ideas on placement.
Let me know what y'all think so far and some ideas maybe for placement. I am pretty set on having both 360mm radiators at the back for reasons I will show later along with outputs for monitors, USBS, etc.
Thanks for reading!