Crunchy Dragon

Hello all, First time poster, long time lurker.

I've finally got my remote gaming PC setup and desk to a point where I would like to share the setup with the community.
I hope others wanting a similar setup can gleam some useful ideas from this post!

Background:

My gaming PC puts out a good amount of heat, and my desk is in my bedroom. In the summer the room is brutal after a few hours of gameplay. Even with aggressive AC, the room can hit 90F.
I've seen Linus' setup and I already had a server rack, so I figured I'd do a similar thing with the long distance display cables.
I did try out other methods; RDP, moonlight, and steam remote play, but found the latency and compression were just too noticeable.
Not to mention that wake on lan is unreliable in my experience. As for thunderbolt, I didn't want to get stuck into an ecosystem of specific motherboards and cpus.

The Long Cables:
I found some good 75ft optical USB and Displayport cables on Amazon for ~$160 a piece. Its definitely pricy for a single cable, but it is plenty worth it IMO.
I was worried about latency issues with long cables, but after testing it out, I found no noticeable difference between a 3ft USB and display cable and the 75ft cables.

The Gaming PC Power Switch:
The PC power switch circuit is 5v but only 0.01 amps, so voltage drop over 75ft could be less than a volt. So I could just run a pair of wires the whole distance. But I thought, if I'm running a whole other cable through the walls, I might as well make it a useful cable.
Despite the extra cost, I decided to use a CAT 7 Ethernet cable and just hijack a twisted pair inside the cable. Just a little bit of future proofing if I move in the future, for the next person.
I got one of those momentary push buttons with built in LED, the ones you might find on custom PC cases. And I could use a second twisted pair in the Ethernet cable and splice into the power LED header on the motherboard. Granted, the voltage drop at that distance with 24-26 awg wires is about half, but the LED still illuminates enough.
And as a side benefit, I still had two twisted pairs left, just enough for a 100base-tx connection, as well as PoE mode A. (Don't ask me why when I already have an Ethernet cable to my room, in short I'm splicing off two pairs for a PoE powered GPS NTP server in the attic)
As for each end of this power switch madness, I wanted something that wasn't entirely cobbled together. So, I found some Ethernet splitters, the ones that split out a gigabit Ethernet cables 4 twisted pairs into 2 100base-tx connections.
For the PC side of things I got one of those M.2 to RJ45 network adapters. The one I found has the all the logic on the m.2 side, so the pcie bracket just had raw electrical connections.
I used this as a nice way to make the bulkhead connection into the PC case. I got some splitters for the motherboards power sw and led headers, and connected up the rj45 network adapter.
The other side was definitely more cobbled. I cut the end off an Ethernet cable and soldered the pairs (orange and green) onto the push button. Covered it in dielectric grease and wrapped in electrical tape and fabric wrap.

Audio:
I went pretty basic here, my monitor has 3.5mm port, so I'm just using audio over displayport. Then I have a terribly cheap 3.5mm mixer.
I have ground loop isolators on all inputs and outputs and there is still a small hum in the background - to be fixed later.

USB hub:
This remote PC isn't my daily driver, for that I have a SFF Linux box. My KVM switch has two USB 3.0 ports (not for keyboard and mouse) that I have for a microphone and any USB drives I might need.
Side note: The reason I have the connectpro KVM specifically is because I hate the delay of regular USB switches, so I needed one with USB DDM.

Cable routing:
I'm fairly lucky, theres an air return vent that shares a wall with my bedroom.
I'm on the second floor and my server rack is in the basement, right next to the HVAC system, so it was basically a direct cable drop through the first floor.

Pictures:
 



 

 
 

Middle monitor is the only one I run on the gaming PC, the sides stay permanently on my daily driver SFF.
 
Views of my cable rats nest. Gotta hide 'em somewhere:
 


 
 
 
Definitely not completely finished with this setup, still have some things to take care of, like having a non-duct taped together quality audio mixer, and maybe mounting the UPS and KVM under the desk.

I would love to hear what y'all think!
 

Parts Lists:
Desk: Flexispot E7 Pro Center Monitor: Dell s2716dg - 27" 1440p 144hz Side Monitors: Lenovo li2364d - 23" 1080p 60hz UPS: APC BE850M2 KVM: ConnectPro UDP-12AP Keyboard: Logitech K740 Mouse: Logitech M500s Headphones: beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X Network Switch: Ubiquiti UniFi Switch Lite 8 PoE Access Point: D-Link PoE DAP-2610 (openwrt)
Cables:
1x 75ft Kxable USB 3.0 Extension Cable,  Active Fiber Optical Male to Female 1x 75ft FURUI Fiber Optic DisplayPort 2.1 1x 75ft Adoreen Cat 7  SFTP shielded RJ45 Ethernet cable PVC/LLDPE 26 AWG Copper
Power switch:
1x uxcell Momentary Metal Push Button Switch 12mm Mounting 1NO 3-6V White LED (I'd recommend a larger diameter though) 1x IO Crest M.2 Gigabit Ethernet Module, 1000BASE-T M.2 A+E NIC Module 2x SinLoon (A-Pair) RJ45 Ethernet Splitter Adapter
Gaming PC:
CPU: Intel i7-8700k @ 5 GHz Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 AIO RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 3000MHz CL15 Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus XI Code GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080 Noctua Storage: Samsung 970 evo plus 2TB NVMe Case: SilverStone RM52 5U Rackmount Server Chassis SST-RM52 PSU: Corsair AX860 80+ Platinum
Daily Driver SFF:
CPU: Intel i3-10105 @ 3.7GHz Cooler: Cryorig C7G RAM: Crucial Ballistix 16GB DDR4 3200MHz CL16 Motherboard: MSI MEG Z490I UNIFY Mini-ITX GPU: Intel iGPU Storage: 2x Samsung SATA SSD 870 EVO 1TB (ZFS RAID) 1x Samsung NVMe SSD 980 PRO 500GB (Home drive) 1x Supermicro SATA SSD SuperDOM 16GB (Boot drive) Case: Sliger SM550 PSU: Corsair SF450 80+ Platinum

Same here and I do have that option in my 2010 Altima.
Plug in an MP3 player loaded with what I want to hear and it's all good, plus I can change what's on the player anytime I want to with no commercials instead of having to listen to whatever gets played over the air, commercials included with it.
 
I can only speak for myself but I'm fine with what I have - No car payments or expensive insurance to pay, plus tags/stickers for what I've got (Based on assesed vehicle value here) are cheap too.
I also know the vehicles well, upkeep isn't a big deal either since I do alot of it myself anyway.

These days, monthly payments for a alot of vehicles is almost the same (In some cases it's more) as making a house payment.
TBH, in my case I could invest the same (Or less) than the cost of a new one in something I already have and come out better too. Already did that with my old pickup (91 S10 4x4) and it's doing just fine.

I'm with you on that.
 
I would still rather have a 3.5mm audio cable to play music and things through my car speakers.

Yeah, I used to really want Android Auto/Apple CarPlay back when I had a car without it. Now that I have one I frequently consider just going back to sticking my phone in a mount on the dashboard.
 
 

It is not. Don’t connect it to internet or transfer data between that and other computers.

I wouldn't think so. The difference, assuming there's a similar amount of energy (sometimes steel case ammo is underpowered), is brass usually has less issues with extraction with its friction coefficient and ductility compared to steel, but AKs were designed around steel. There's also a lot of fudd lore regarding 5.56 AKs, which by their nature, are built around 5.56x45mm. Someone like PSA is designing the gas system and tolerances around brass case ammo and not steel case, but the same can't be said for 7.62x39mm or 5.45x39mm AKs.
 
Where what you're referring to might be accurate is if you had a poorly designed 7.62x39mm AK that was designed around underpowered steel case with a huge gas port, where shooting full powered brass case ammo might rip the rim or case head off upon extraction.
 
Building AKs sucks, since you actually have to build it with rivets and get headspacing gauges, drill the barrel pin, etc. Where 'building' AR-15s is more akin to assembly than building when discussing AKs.
 
PSA's AKs overall are very good, they make most imported AKs look like poor quality now a days. You'll still have a ravenous group of "AK Guys" you'll shout down any suggestion of such, but its the reality of capitalism. PSA's been making AKs for a while now and are actually improving their products over time.
 
Overall, the folding trunnion is the best out of all, but there's specific downsides to it. Some of my PSA AKs have set screws to help tension it while its open, some don't. The specific annoyance is the forward latch on the left side of the receiver, which is quite sharp and annoying when slung, especially if you're not using it.
 
I've considered drilling it out on one of my 16" 7.62x39mm AKs that uses the JMAC Customs 4.5mm to M4 buffer tube with a BCM stock, since that doesn't use the latch. For this AKS-74U clone, its basically required. I'd likely steal that adapter and throw an SBA3 brace on one of these if I end up getting one (and put the standard 4.5mm folder on that full sized one).

Can also get conversion followers that let you use AK-74 magazines like bakelite and plum mags in 5.56 AKs, since the rest of the geometry is close enough to work.

PIR  sensors use changes in infrared light to detect motion.
Microwave sensors do the same with electromagnetic waves. 
 
They essentially accomplish the same job in two different ways. 
 
Microwave sensors tend to have higher sensitivity and range but PIR are more accurate.

PS2 to USB adapters are thing. (In both directions). Heck you can get AT to USB if you really want. So I don't think compatibility is a concern.

I'm aware of some designs that don't work with 300blk, I'm not enough of an internet firearm's engineer to assume it will or won't work, but it probably would.
 
The best part of it is 300blk's performance in short barrels. I'm not sure if its full powder burn or if its just a pistol cartridge like pressure curve, but the 7-9" barrel range for 300blk seems to be the 14.5" equivalent of 5.56 of barrel length to velocity sweet spots. 5.56 still performs adequately within 100yrds out of something like the Polish Mini-Beryl. Karl over at InrangeTV has a Bulgarian or so 5.56 Krink he's done a lot of testing on. There's one video where he compares it to an M1 Carbine.

It'll game, but I would advise you to temper your expectations. Be prepared to turn settings and resolution way down, and don't expect modern games to run well, if at all.
 
Almost any modern Ryzen APU will likely outperform it in terms of graphics capability.

Slapping AI into everything is just this year's version of slapping "smart" into everything

I would take the i7 2600 over the i5 3470 because it has HyperThreading. The difference in single core performance should be minimal.
 
However, when paired with a GT 1030, there shouldn't be a huge difference for gaming. The GT 1030 is just too slow for the difference in CPU to matter much here, even at low settings.

found the one you said at a great price from a trusted seller, thanks so much!

OEM GPU's are real. They tend to have shit coolers on them though so are usually on the lower end of the performance spectrum. They don't cool as well so they don't boost as high.

That's a thing??
 
Moderators aren't humans so I've never gotten any of those. Guess the forum knows it wouldn't do me any good to verify my "humanity" anyway.

Please don't bring the drama here too 😭
 
Truly, it will be a dark day once MOTF is lost again

I will never confirm or deny any allegations.

Kind of, yeah.

Is it funny outside your sig?

It's really too bad how many members end up leaving after some bit of drama, we lost some good ones too

Bold of you to assume there isn't one in place already....
 
Now get in the van. Don't ask questions.

Dang, I haven't even noticed he left....