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Hey all! Apologies in advance for garbage formatting, metric units and lengthy post, just a senior student asking for the kindness and helping hand of you all <3 (TL;DR at the bottom) I'm an Australian Year 12 student making a custom PC-In-A-Desk as my major work for one of my subjects (Design & Technology). I have saved up a lot in preparation for this project and my budget for the entire project is $7000 AUD give or take (prefer to save money in places still). The desk will become my workstation and gaming station for many years to come, I'm aiming for longevity here, Something that I won't have to be swapping out parts/upgrading from for atleast 4 years or so. The desk itself will be (apologies for metric lengths) 180cm long, 75cm wide and around 74cm high (legs of desk are 58cm high, taking into consideration my own leg room and computer cavity etc in total it will be around 74cm high) and feature a glass top in the middle with a size of 136.4cm x 60cm. The desk itself I am currently in the process of making. I have 3D modeled the main jist of my desk in CAD, (will figure out fan holes, entire layout etc. after its constructed): Screenshots of desk here: https://imgur.com/a/ANUqZ I don't want to spend more than $700AUD on the desk itself, already between the MDF ($200 AUD) and customly made glass ($300 AUD) i've hit $500 and I'm not sure how much all the LED strips, paint etc. will cost me. more info on this further down. AIM: Longevity is key here. The computer I want to be able to handle high end games without struggle (all AAA games, potentially at 4k someday when 1080p dies), Some minor 3D work and Graphical stuffs, 2 Monitor setup that I don't have to upgrade/fix/touch/massage for the next 4-5 years. A desk that looks damn good, With its RGB glory and beefy but silent operation. Okay so, I've divided my budget into rough parts, I already know for the most part what parts I want and have done extensive looking and I feel these all suit my needs/wants. I have only bought the wood and a few tools currently, most of the physical work I will utilize my schools woodwork rooms for. Asking for suggestions on this, all and any help/opinions are appreciated! ROUGH TOTAL: $6256 AUD PC Itself: ~$3370 AUD CPU: Intel Core i7 8700K Hex Core LGA 1151-2 3.70 GHz Unlocked CPU Processor ($510~, pretty firm on this cpu, should be good for 5+ years without upgrading right?) Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero Z370 LGA 1151-2 ATX Motherboard ($460~, open to suggestion of other mobos but I like the look and pre mounted i/o shield, 2 assignable rgb headers etc.) Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GDDR5X Founders Edition Video Card ($1200~, pretty firm on this too, should last me long time and is capable of everything) RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB (4x 8GB) DDR4 3200Mhz Memory ($670~ don't really mind what mhz its at, just looking for bling and 32gb memory) SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB ($230~, not really too fussed over the m.2 ssd hype. would prefer a 1TB SSD but the price kinda deters me abit lmao) HDD: WD WD4004FZWX 4TB Black 3.5" 7200RPM ($284~, again open to suggestions, want to avoid seagate as their hard drives sometimes die outta nowhere and I want longevity, seagate scares me ) Power Supply: Corsair HX-1000i ATX ($300~, should be able to handle the overclocked cpu and gpu and all the other rgb vomit right? open to suggestions here too) Water Cooling, inc. fans: ~$1136 AUD Fans: 4x Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 120 Air Balance RGB Fan ($80~, for intake, aura sync compatible and am pretty firm on these for intake) 6x Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 120 Air Pressure RGB Fan ($120~, for the 2 360mm radiators, pretty firm on these too for the rgb aura sync vomit) Radiators: 2x EK-CoolStream PE 360 ($240~,want to go with EKWB, they the best for water cooling) CPU Block: EK-Supremacy EVO - Gold (entire loop will be un-dyed, clear tubed distilled water, doesn't have to be gold, is just more of a want, nickel or copper will be fine) GPU Block: EK-FC GeForce GTX FE - Nickel ($150~) Backplate: EK-FC1080 GTX Backplate - Black ($40~) Pumps: 2x EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM - Plexi (incl. sleeved pump) ($320~, pumps so expensive , figured 1 pump running 2 radiators and the big length of the loop would be abit weak so I went with two) Reservoir: EK-RES X3 400 ($90~, one long res with silver coils inside will look cool) Tubing: 2x EK-DuraClear 11,1/15,9mm 3M RETAIL ($60~, hardline tubing may look nicer but cutting it all and doing hardline tubing myself gives me nightmares lol) Fittings: 14x EK-ACF Fitting 12/16mm - Black ($126~, will change size of tubing etc if anyone suggests I should, just figured an OD of 16mm is easier for me to drill many holes for all the tubing in my desk) Other accessories and such: this area is incomplete cause it'll include price of distilled water, silver coil etc. and anything else i might need related to cooling and such. will add to this as I go. RGB Vomit (discluding fans & ram) $400? This is something i'll probably decide and look into once my desk is actually built, from there ill figure out where i want my strips and stuffs, really prefer and want to go out of my own way to make everything compatible with aura sync, more than 2 softwares for my RGB goodness annoys me at the thought. Physical Desk: This is gonna be a crude list bc ive bought a bunch of crap already for this but I felt like id include it 3x 2400mm x 1200mm x18mm MDF: $200AUD Custom cut glass (been quoted different prices for this ranging from $200 to $400, I dont want to use one going on gumtree(australian craigslist) or whatever. I want my own, no scratches etc.) 121mm Holesaw ($50, this thing was hard to find and is expensive just for a hole saw, i cri ) A stupid amount of screws: $5 (lol) Paint & incidentals & other crap i might need: $300? Front USB/headphone jack panel which I have no idea where i'd buy but I know I want one, that way I dont have to reach around to the back of my desk and plugin a USB or whatever. Power button (figured id just make my own, splicing it together with some CableMod cables sounds easy enough for me) Cables (CableMod sponsor me lol): $400 AUD? I plan to figure out the exact length of cables and such that I need when I finish constructing my desk for the most part, I'll do all the measurements, hoping you guys help me out with that, especially with fan hubs compatible with Aura Sync and the stupid amount of LED strips and all my water cooling crap. Thank god CableMod exists because finding extensions for all the different cables I need smells like a nightmare) Peripherals & Such: This is where I ask for help/opinions. I don't want to spend $600+ per monitor. I am not sure if 1080p 144hz monitors last the years as 4k is the thing nowadays. I currently use a dual 24' 60hz setup and while I love having 2 screens, the 60hz part bothers me a lot. I would rather have 144hz 1080p monitors over say 60hz 4k monitors. 1440p 144hz dual monitors smells really nice to me but the cost of that deters me a lot to be honest. I do not want 3 monitors, 3 monitors is too much for my eyes. I'll only ever need 2, 3 is (ironically) overkill in my opinion. If you guys think otherwise please let me know. In terms of mice, keyboard and headset I am happy with my g502 mouse, Am looking for a good preferably 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound AND wireless headset (currently have my eye on the hyperX cloud flight, it just lacks the audio i want but its wireless and nice). The current keyboard I have is the Razer Deathstalker. It's an old, membrane flat keyed keyboard that I've been using since 2012 and I still love it but I need an upgrade. I NEED silent keys, I can't stand the loudness of mechanical keys so I'm currently eyeballing the G910 Orion Spectrum. I still want mechanical keys, just silent ones. Am very open to suggestions for all these, please. Thankyou if you read everything. I appreciate it heaps. TL;DR: Aussie High School student with more cash than an 18 year old student should have is building a custom PC In a Desk for his HSC Design & Technology Major Work, that he will use for gaming, web browsing and some 3D work and Graphical imaging stuffs. He has very messily listed his needs and wants and is asking for suggestions and any help one has to offer.

Hi guys, so I moved my thread from the watercooling section to the new builds and planning section, because it is more suited here. Thus the 2 in the title. So, I have recently indulged myself in a new project that I am tackling and it is something that is a bit out of the norm. I am going to build an EXTREME desk gaming and multimedia system from scratch. From procuring the materials for a desk, all the way to the last bit of water and kill coil entering the system... and of course, we will need benchmarks and overclocking as well, to see how the system performs. B) This is just an introduction and I just wanted to get a feeling if the people in this forum would be interested in seeing this? :wacko: I got a feeling it will be a world craze. Well here is the parts that I have currently and the to do list that I still have to get. Main Parts > Motherboard - ASUS ROG VII HERO > CPU - INTEL CORE I7 4790K > RAM - Corsair Dominators 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ CL7 > GRAPHICS CARD - EVGA SC NVIDIA GTX 980's SLI (I have and extra Asus 980 as well, so 3 x 980's) > HDD - 500GB, 3TB, 4TB and 2x OCZ 128GB VECTOR SSD's > PSU - CORSAIR AX860 > SOUND CARD - ASUS XONAR D2X 7.1 Add-On's Description > WATERCOOLING - 2x XSPC Custom loops (incl. barbs, fittings, waterblocks, etc) > CHASIS Thermaltake Level 10 GT (BMW Design) - Temporary > SCREEN 1 - TBA > SCREEN 2 - Samsung S2223 23" HD > Corsair Airflow 2 fan > Corsair Airflow Pro LED RAM Indicator for AIRFLOW 2 > OPTICALS - Asus Blu-Ray Writer x16, ASUS 24x DVD Writer > ROG Front Base Extra's Description > Headphones - Razor Tiamat 7.1 Surround > Mouse - Gigabyte M8600 AIVA > Keyboard - ZALMAN (simple) will get Corsair K95 > LED Lighting - Cold Cathodes UV and Colour LED strips > CASE FANS - CM BLADEMASTERS + Corsair Airflow Pro (Various Colours) Home Theatre System Description > Speakers and AV Receiver - Sony 7.2 True Surround HT-M77 > Blu-Ray Player - Sony S5200 Wi-Fi > TV - Sony Bravia KDL46-HX750 > 3D Glasses - Sony Original Battery Powered Additional Items Description > Director's chair - Leather Director's Chair > Desk - Desk (construction, materials, etc) > CABLES - HDMI (3D calbe x2, mini, micro)+Wall Mount I still need to get the following: > Carbon Fibre sheets for aesthetics > Individually sleeved power cables from Corsair > Tubing and UV Dye's > Fan grills for the sides > Desk materials (don't know if I should go wood or Aluminium? :wacko:) > Hard drive cages I will be using the TV as my main screen and then two smaller screens for the nvidia surround gaming. I also don't know how to use the third 980 as I bought it when it was on a special that I couldn't refuse and I already had the motherboard. Will give updates weekly with pictures and videos that you guys can follow. I am also going to split the loop into two, with one loop cooling the GPU's and the other cooling the CPU. Next step is to design the case. What do you guys think?

Hi guys, So this is my first post and all great things start with a simple step and I thought that Linus's tech forums is a great place to start. I have recently indulged myself in a new project that I am tackling and it is something that is a bit out of the norm. I am going to build an EXTREME desk gaming and multimedia system from scratch. From procuring the materials for a desk, all the way to the last bit of water and kill coil entering the system... and of course, we will need benchmarks and overclocking as well, to see how the system performs. B) This is just an introduction and I just wanted to get a feeling if the people in this forum would be interested in seeing this? :wacko: I got a feeling it will be a world craze. P.S. The picture is not my desk, but rather what I am heading towards.