• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

MoonPig's Desk Mod V2

Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
Hey,

Well, i've been trying to delay this, but im starting to need ideas and advice. For those that knew about V1, skip the next paragraph.

Back last year i made a project log of my desk as i started modding it, i worked on it for awhile then left it and used it for afew months. The design had afew flaws though. The layout wasn't well done and the graphics got most of the air flow. I also used wood and it tended to absorb heat and bend alittle. The shallowness of the shelf ment i could only used small heatsinks. So, i took all my components out of my desk, bought an A300 and added v2 to my to-do list. A little down the line i swapped my A300 for a CM690. Here's a link to the original thread: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=74847

Ok, i looked for some inspiration from existing cases. All cases seem to be the same, expect the Raven etc. So, this design obviously works. I took that into account when i started planning my desk. In the beginning, i wanted to make it ALL myself, but after afew wasted hours with my dremel and tinsnips, i realised that theres a reason they use machines to plot holes and cuts... lol. So, sat at my PC i turned and looked at my CM690... from my vision, it was perfect to destroy. It had everything, WaterTubing holes, HD cage, 120mm exhaust, grills etc.

I took out my tape measure and started looking at my desk. However, the shelf i used originally was too low for a 120mm fan. So, i thought of ways i could make it work. Luckily the shelf used four pieces of wood, so i cut up the CM690, measured it, moved the supports in the desk down and slid the newly sprayed, custom mobo tray in. Perfect. (Forgot to mention the time it took to punch the tray in, secure though, lol).

Then i started fitting all my hardware and noticed that i cant mount the PSU vertically anymore... shame. It all worked though and she booted first time. After afew hours of playing around, i shut it down and fitted the switch and did some cable management on the top.

Now, theres still work to do, but i need input for that. I've worked out that i need either:

- Get 4/5 120mm fans and fit them (2 on the LMX).
- Go water again and cool my HD4870 with a Full-Cover.
- Keep my deltas and Lian Li's and get a Rheostat for them.

I also need to:

- Get a 12" White cathode to go behind the door, lighting all the motherboard, yet hidden.
- Possibly get some braided 24pin, 8pin and 2x 6pin cables.
- Cut some metal to cover the grill holes in the tray.
- Fit a fan controller behind the door, hidden yet easily accessible.
- Sort out the under shelf to make the PSU fixed and the HD's better placed.

So, afew things. I mainly want input and advice. Also just wanted to start this so i have a place for updates.

All input is welcome :)

When it's complete, or good enough, i'll post it in the 'Case Mods' section.

Pictures:















 
Joined
May 11, 2009
Messages
1,072 (0.20/day)
Location
Colorado
System Name not sure yet
Processor R9 3950X
Motherboard Asrock X570 Taichi
Cooling It's a secret for now..
Memory 64GB Vengeance
Video Card(s) 2080Ti FE
Storage 2x 1TB NVME, 3x 500GB SSD, 2TB SSHD
Display(s) Predator 27" 4k 144hz, 55" Vizio 4k
Case Lian Li O11-D White
Audio Device(s) Steel Series Wireless
Power Supply EVGA 1200W
Mouse Glorious D-
Keyboard GMMK 60% Red Box Caps
Software Windows 8.1 Profession x64
This is pretty awesome!
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
8,518 (1.43/day)
Location
Kansas City
System Name The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling Custom water loop
Memory 16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s) 2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage 500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s) 27" Asus 144Hz
Case Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s) ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply Corsair 1200W
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Win 10 64x
Dude I never saw that power switch, absoluetly sick!

Depending on how flashy you want it you could drop some tracers in or a led 120mm fan on your heatsink instead of a 12" hidden cathode.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
Well, i was thinking about getting my old Xiggy XLF's back.

2 in the front
2 on the LMX
1 at the rear

Then the cathode later on. I prefer white light over colours.
 
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
1,888 (0.33/day)
System Name The Beast
Processor Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Asus P8P67 LE
Cooling Stock
Memory 4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 @ 1600MHz
Video Card(s) 1GB Sapphire Radeon HD4650 Ultimate Edition
Storage 60GB Corsair Force LE, 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F1, 500GB Seagate
Display(s) 22" Samsung T220HD & 19" Acer X193W
Case Corsair Obsidian 750D
Power Supply Corsair HX650W
Software Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Well, i was thinking about getting my old Xiggy XLF's back.

2 in the front
2 on the LMX
1 at the rear

Then the cathode later on. I prefer white light over colours.

Yeah, I like white cathodes myself. I find it's more, elegant? I can't think of the word lol. Less kinda "gamer" case, it's there to show off the inside of a case and not add to the crazyness lol
 
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
3,628 (0.63/day)
System Name Ultra 64
Processor NEC VR4300 (MIPS R4300i)
Motherboard proprietary design
Cooling Fanless aircooled
Memory 4.5MB 250 MHz RDRAM
Video Card(s) 62.5 MHz Reality Coprocessor
Storage 32 - 512 Mbit ROM Cartridge
Display(s) 720x576
Case Clear Blue Funtastic
Audio Device(s) 16-bit CD quality
Power Supply proprietary design
Mouse N64 mouse for use with N64DD
Keyboard N64 keyboard for use with N64DD
i dont no if you have the tools or even how hard it would be to build but maybe have te cd drive pop out the side of the desk? All stealth like? dont no how you sort out the buttons etc but an idea:D tis very very cool though bud
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
I don't use a CD Drive. Ain't done for over half a year, maybe more.

I'm leaning towards the XLFs, but that means i NEED to shift these Delta's before i can afford them.
 
Joined
May 11, 2009
Messages
1,072 (0.20/day)
Location
Colorado
System Name not sure yet
Processor R9 3950X
Motherboard Asrock X570 Taichi
Cooling It's a secret for now..
Memory 64GB Vengeance
Video Card(s) 2080Ti FE
Storage 2x 1TB NVME, 3x 500GB SSD, 2TB SSHD
Display(s) Predator 27" 4k 144hz, 55" Vizio 4k
Case Lian Li O11-D White
Audio Device(s) Steel Series Wireless
Power Supply EVGA 1200W
Mouse Glorious D-
Keyboard GMMK 60% Red Box Caps
Software Windows 8.1 Profession x64
How do you install Windows then?
 
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
5,196 (0.96/day)
System Name Dust Collector
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Motherboard Asus B550I Aorus Pro WiFi AX
Cooling Alpenfohn Black Ridge V2 w/ Noctua NF-A9x14
Memory Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 3200MHz/CL16
Video Card(s) Power Color Red Dragon RX 5700 XT
Storage Samsung EVO+ 500GB NVMe
Display(s) Dell S2721DGF
Case Dan Case A4
Power Supply Corsair SF600 Platinum
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Logitech G613
Genius mod, stylish and classy.
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
427 (0.08/day)
Location
The Netherlands
System Name Monolith // Fileserver
Processor Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.4GHz // 2x Intel Xeon Nocona, @ 4x 2.8ghz
Motherboard ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z // ASUS NCCH-DL Socket 604
Cooling Corsair H60 // 2x Thermaltake Full Copper Blocks
Memory 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair // 1.5GB of Kingston and Corsair @ 400MHZ
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX570 DCII // ASUS X800XT 256MB
Storage 2x Samsung 830 128GB, 1TB Samsung, 1TB WD Black // 74 WD Raptor, 120GB Seagate
Display(s) 3x 22" LG LCD Screen // Neovo 15" LCD Screen
Case Lian Li PC-A71F // Chieftec Big Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative F4tality Champion Series 7.1 // Onboard AC97 audio
Power Supply Corsair HX 1000W // BeQuiet 520w
Software Windows 7 Professional x64 // Windows XP Professional x86
Benchmark Scores Can play Pacman and Space Invaders. Lags a bit, but still playable :D
Does it support all motherboard types? Wait... it doesnt, Hehehe you can just drill the holes you need :p Awesome, havent seen this kinda mod done well in a long time.

And that on button is pure genius.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
@jellyrole: Using a USB stick.

It supports ATX and down. Not sure i'll ever need more than ATX...
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
427 (0.08/day)
Location
The Netherlands
System Name Monolith // Fileserver
Processor Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.4GHz // 2x Intel Xeon Nocona, @ 4x 2.8ghz
Motherboard ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z // ASUS NCCH-DL Socket 604
Cooling Corsair H60 // 2x Thermaltake Full Copper Blocks
Memory 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair // 1.5GB of Kingston and Corsair @ 400MHZ
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX570 DCII // ASUS X800XT 256MB
Storage 2x Samsung 830 128GB, 1TB Samsung, 1TB WD Black // 74 WD Raptor, 120GB Seagate
Display(s) 3x 22" LG LCD Screen // Neovo 15" LCD Screen
Case Lian Li PC-A71F // Chieftec Big Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative F4tality Champion Series 7.1 // Onboard AC97 audio
Power Supply Corsair HX 1000W // BeQuiet 520w
Software Windows 7 Professional x64 // Windows XP Professional x86
Benchmark Scores Can play Pacman and Space Invaders. Lags a bit, but still playable :D
@jellyrole: Using a USB stick.

It supports ATX and down. Not sure i'll ever need more than ATX...

Still if you do want to, lets say, go for dual socket motherboards or anything else that has the size of E-ATX you could easily make it fit. Thats the major advantage of wood, is far more workable then steel or aluminium.

On a side note, you never would have to be afraid that someone is gonna steal your PC. Other side of that coin would be LAN Parties. I dont think your gonna bring your entire desk along, hahaha.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
That and im not sure i'd ever go to one. And on the off chance i did, i have a PC upstairs thats more than suitable :)

I'm not that much of an enthusiast, anymore. So, dual socket doesn't interest me. Next major upgrade would be to i7 in afew months, thats ATX and its not like im gunna need another upgrade for along time.
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
427 (0.08/day)
Location
The Netherlands
System Name Monolith // Fileserver
Processor Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.4GHz // 2x Intel Xeon Nocona, @ 4x 2.8ghz
Motherboard ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z // ASUS NCCH-DL Socket 604
Cooling Corsair H60 // 2x Thermaltake Full Copper Blocks
Memory 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair // 1.5GB of Kingston and Corsair @ 400MHZ
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX570 DCII // ASUS X800XT 256MB
Storage 2x Samsung 830 128GB, 1TB Samsung, 1TB WD Black // 74 WD Raptor, 120GB Seagate
Display(s) 3x 22" LG LCD Screen // Neovo 15" LCD Screen
Case Lian Li PC-A71F // Chieftec Big Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative F4tality Champion Series 7.1 // Onboard AC97 audio
Power Supply Corsair HX 1000W // BeQuiet 520w
Software Windows 7 Professional x64 // Windows XP Professional x86
Benchmark Scores Can play Pacman and Space Invaders. Lags a bit, but still playable :D
One thing I'm curious about. What are the temps you're getting? Since you got a hot-head 4870 in and all. I know mine are running hot :p
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
2,557 (0.48/day)
Location
United States
System Name Aluminum Mallard
Processor Ryzen 1900x
Motherboard AsRock Phantom 6
Cooling AIO
Memory 8GB
Video Card(s) ASUS Strix 1080Ti
Storage SSD
Display(s) Benq Zowie
Case Cosmos 1000
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply Corsair CX750
Software Win10 Home
Benchmark Scores 31 FPS in Dalaran.
That's badass dude. I like it a lot.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
Erm, 40c idle, 70c load. It's overclocked too. Might get some proper cooling for it though, depends if i stay with this card.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
1,528 (0.28/day)
Location
UK
System Name Betty The Dirty Dragon
Processor AMD 8350 @4.8
Motherboard ASUS sabertooth rev 2
Cooling Watercooling - Swiftech GTZ - XSPC RS360 - XSPC RX120
Memory 8GB corsair vengeance cas 9
Video Card(s) 280x 1100core 1600 mem
Storage 240 gb ssd- 2 tb Storage
Display(s) Samsung 24" 2433BW
Case Corsair 650d
Audio Device(s) Xfi Fatality Titanium Pro
Power Supply XFX 850 fully modular
Software Windows 7 Ultimate x64
hey moony looking good :), i have your xigmatecs here and waiting.
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
Great work MP. Looking forward to seeing V3 ;)
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
427 (0.08/day)
Location
The Netherlands
System Name Monolith // Fileserver
Processor Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.4GHz // 2x Intel Xeon Nocona, @ 4x 2.8ghz
Motherboard ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z // ASUS NCCH-DL Socket 604
Cooling Corsair H60 // 2x Thermaltake Full Copper Blocks
Memory 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair // 1.5GB of Kingston and Corsair @ 400MHZ
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX570 DCII // ASUS X800XT 256MB
Storage 2x Samsung 830 128GB, 1TB Samsung, 1TB WD Black // 74 WD Raptor, 120GB Seagate
Display(s) 3x 22" LG LCD Screen // Neovo 15" LCD Screen
Case Lian Li PC-A71F // Chieftec Big Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative F4tality Champion Series 7.1 // Onboard AC97 audio
Power Supply Corsair HX 1000W // BeQuiet 520w
Software Windows 7 Professional x64 // Windows XP Professional x86
Benchmark Scores Can play Pacman and Space Invaders. Lags a bit, but still playable :D
Erm, 40c idle, 70c load. It's overclocked too. Might get some proper cooling for it though, depends if i stay with this card.

Those are very nice temperatures for a stock cooled 4870.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
Yea, Not keen on the looks of it though, unless i had 2. lol.

Need something sexy :D
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
8,518 (1.43/day)
Location
Kansas City
System Name The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling Custom water loop
Memory 16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s) 2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage 500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s) 27" Asus 144Hz
Case Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s) ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply Corsair 1200W
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Win 10 64x
Dude, nice fans! That list pic is awesome!

Are those Xiggy's? If they are you could mod the casing or fan since they are removable. :)
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
Yea, XLFs. Why would i mod it? Do what to them?

I know how to mod fans, made some odd ones in my time :)
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
8,518 (1.43/day)
Location
Kansas City
System Name The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling Custom water loop
Memory 16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s) 2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage 500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s) 27" Asus 144Hz
Case Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s) ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply Corsair 1200W
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Win 10 64x
I was just curious about if they were or not. Could paint the fans red or to match another part of the computer.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
3,603 (0.70/day)
Location
Oregon, USA
System Name GLaDOS
Processor AMD FX-9590 X8 4.7GHz
Motherboard ASUS Sabertooth 990FX
Cooling Corsair H80i v2
Memory Corsair Vengeance 24GB (2x8GB, 2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX580-O8G-GAMINGOC
Storage WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB Internal PC SSD
Display(s) 2 Acer S231HL 23" LED backlit LCD's on a Dual LCD stand
Case Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow
Audio Device(s) Onboard - Corsair Void Pro Wireless
Power Supply Corsair 850HXi 850W
Mouse Corsair Sabre RGB
Keyboard Corsair K70 LUX RGB
Software Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
Wow, looks good there MoonPig.
 
Top