Computers located in server room, monitors in office

[LordNobatko]

Hi guys, I need some advice.

 

I work in a small company (5 people in the office). We need new computers. I would like to have our workstations located on the second floor of our building in the server closet, we have plenty of rack space, and we would use the heat from the computers to heat the adjacent warehouse. Therefore we would not waste it, and we wouldn't need as much AC in the office below. Something like Linus's home setup. What is the best way to achieve that for a reasonable price? Four of us need two monitors (1080p 60Hz) and some USB ports for mouses and keyboards. I use three monitors (one 1440p 60Hz and two 1080p 60Hz), 3D mouse, two keyboards (one for macros), El gato stream deck xl for macros and one more port for a USB thumb drive.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention how long the cables need to be. They need to be 15-25 meters long

Hit me with ideas guys.

[Moonzy]

i use usb extention with a powered hub at the other end, and long HDMI and DP port for my setup

1080p60 is fine on 10M HDMI cable, but DP had issues transmiting 1080p240 over my 5M cable, probably not a good quality cable though

audio can be handled by USB sound card / audio passthrough from HDMI monitor

 

but if you have 4 machines, the cable clutter may be an issue

[LordNobatko]

@MoonzyWell I forgot to mention how long I need the cables to be  I have edited the original post

[Skipple]

Any reason Windows RDP can't be used with a thin client? 

[LordNobatko]

1 minute ago, Skipple said:

Any reason Windows RDP can't be used with a thin client? 

I have not considered that option, is it stable? And what kind of client machines are we talking about (spec/pricewise)?

[BobVonBob]

Long cables. You'll likely need some active cables to reach 15-25 meters, and that increases the costs significantly. I'd expect around $150 to $300 in cables per person.

[LordNobatko]

@BobVonBob Well I can easily wire up the whole office myself, I have plenty of Cat 6 and Cat 7 cable available (from a previous project of mine, I have like 400m of both), the balun for HDMI over Cat 6/7 seems tempting. The only thing I am worried about is the possibility of signal distortion. The last thing to figure out is the USB. Is there something similar to the HDMI baluns?

[Skipple]

16 minutes ago, LordNobatko said:

I have not considered that option, is it stable? And what kind of client machines are we talking about (spec/pricewise)?

Stable? Sure! It's as stable as your internet connection and assuming you are using domain logins with AD. It would also allow you to easily set up for users to work from home if that's something your company is interested in. (don't forget 2fa though)

 

As for specs, I'm not entirely sure. It's been a few years since I have deployed them. I imagine they would run you in the area of $200-400/ea depending on your needs. 

 

 

[LordNobatko]

29 minutes ago, Skipple said:

Stable? Sure! It's as stable as your internet connection and assuming you are using domain logins with AD. It would also allow you to easily set up for users to work from home if that's something your company is interested in. (don't forget 2fa though)

 

As for specs, I'm not entirely sure. It's been a few years since I have deployed them. I imagine they would run you in the area of $200-400/ea depending on your needs. 

 

 

Well, for now, it seems like the HDMI over Cat 7 will be cheaper. But I will consider it, as for the internet, I have wired our office for 10Gb, and our switch is capable of that but our connection to the outer world sucks, it tops at 20/4Mbps. Therefore working from home is not a possibility...

[Electronics Wizardy]

13 minutes ago, LordNobatko said:

Well, for now, it seems like the HDMI over Cat 7 will be cheaper. But I will consider it, as for the internet, I have wired our office for 10Gb, and our switch is capable of that but our connection to the outer world sucks, it tops at 20/4Mbps. Therefore working from home is not a possibility...

RDP normally only uses like a few hundred kilobit, unless you watching video then its like 5-10mbit. 

 

You can probably do work fro hoe with 4 users just fine with that connections. I have a 20/20 connection at work, and can have multiple people working from home fine.

 

But Id really just put the workstataions on desks, really reduces trouble, and saves money.

[LordNobatko]

2 hours ago, BlueScope819 said:

With the amount of money you would spend putting them in the server room it's easier just to buy some Noctua coolers to make it silent.

Well, the cables and baluts still seem like the better option. I forgot to mention we have decent server UPS from Eaton, that easily handles our servers and can handle our workstations as well. Connecting all of the workstations to the central UPS would save me the money I would spend on individual smaller UPSs for every desk since they are not cheap and you have to service/change the battery eventually. This way, I will have to wire just one power cable from the UPS to power our monitors. I think one decent quality cable will be able to handle 11 LED monitors just fine. It is also much more efficient energy-wise from my point of view, but I don't know if I am thinking right. I would prefer not to have the systems in the office, since it leads straight into the main workshop where all the CNCs are. Therefore, the mist from the coolant can get in(biologically totally safe, it is all organic), but it contains oils, they make the dust stick to everything in the computers. It's a real pain in the butt to clean them. The second floor (server is there) is clean storage which means no dust and no coolant mist.

 

I have ordered all the parts for my workstation excluding the case since I have one rackmount chassis leftover from an old server. I have ordered three of those baluts and an active USB extender. Everything should arrive tomorrow. I will test it and then let you all know how it worked/if it worked. 

 

If it does not work, I will probably give up on the idea. I will buy an ordinary case and rebuild mine into it.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, LordNobatko said:

Well, the cables and baluts still seem like the better option. I forgot to mention we have decent server UPS from Eaton, that easily handles our servers and can handle our workstations as well. Connecting all of the workstations to the central UPS would save me the money I would spend on individual smaller UPSs for every desk since they are not cheap and you have to service/change the battery eventually. This way, I will have to wire just one power cable from the UPS to power our monitors. I think one decent quality cable will be able to handle 11 LED monitors just fine. It is also much more efficient energy-wise from my point of view, but I don't know if I am thinking right. I would prefer not to have the systems in the office, since it leads straight into the main workshop where all the CNCs are. Therefore, the mist from the coolant can get in(biologically totally safe, it is all organic), but it contains oils, they make the dust stick to everything in the computers. It's a real pain in the butt to clean them. The second floor (server is there) is clean storage which means no dust and no coolant mist.

 

I have ordered all the parts for my workstation excluding the case since I have one rackmount chassis leftover from an old server. I have ordered three of those baluts and an active USB extender. Everything should arrive tomorrow. I will test it and then let you all know how it worked/if it worked. 

 

If it does not work, I will probably give up on the idea. I will buy an ordinary case and rebuild mine into it.

I do IT for. small company  that does some manufacturing, and has cncs and similar.

 

I have computers next to the cnc, they don't seem to mind the dust and grime, and none have died. I don't think this is a major issue. I don't really even clean them, they just keep working.

 

I wouldn't worry about ups on workstations, not worth the effort normally if you have reasonably good power.

 

Ijust think this will cause a good amount of hassle that you otherwise wouldn't have to deal with. I have seen a fair amount of issues with hdmi over cat 6 and simmilar adapters

 

 

[LordNobatko]

@Electronics Wizardy I will see how it turns out, although to be fair I want it to work, it seems rather cool to me.

[LordNobatko]

All the parts have arrived today I was able test the setup with 3 baluns (HDMI to Cat7) and a USB repeater with a hub. It works great, total cost to wire this up was 280$. It was more than originally planned but since it works great I will probably do this for the rest of the systems as well.