Any tips to make my little setup better?

[Dafydd Taylor]

I am really starting to not like my setup. I wonder what you guys think and was hoping for some tips on how to make it feel more like a comfy setup to get work done. 

[suedseefrucht]

42 minutes ago, Dafydd Taylor said:

how to make it feel more like a comfy setup to get work done. 

A setup can be satisfying, but don't expect it to motivate you to do work.

At some point, you just have to force yourself to do it.

 

To be honest, the top of the desk looks better than mine, because I just have a random mouse and keyboard.

Here is, what I did differently:

I went for a single 1440p monitor, because 27 inch is big enough for me to not need another monitor.
And I love my case (Fractal Design Define R6) for it's professional look and it's quality.

My spirit is not to buy everything NOW and get something low quality.

My spirit is to get high quality stuff, one thing after another.

So one day, everything will be high quality.

 

You put a lot of effort in the top of your desk and less money/effort in the PC itself.

I guess it's a budget question here. Stock cooler and a functional case works, but of course it can look better.

So no offense, but in my opinion: Very nice top of the desk, rainbow puking acrylic box under the desk.

You could also get Windows 10.

[Chris Pratt]

Looks fine to me. You might want to invest in a good ergo chair, since you didn't mention or show pictures of that. I know from my own experience that sitting in an uncomfortable chair for long periods definitely destroys motivation. I'm not talking about one of those abhorrent "gaming chairs" that look like a bucket seat of a race car, but a good, ergonomic chair rated for 8+ hours of use. They're not cheap, although you can find deals or buy used. Worth every penny of investment though.

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, Dafydd Taylor said:

I am really starting to not like my setup.

You didn't explain in your post why you're starting to not like your setup. We cannot give you advice on how to improve it, if we don't know what you dislike about it.

 

Can you elaborate?

 

At initial glance, your setup looks better than most people's.

[Dafydd Taylor]

8 hours ago, suedseefrucht said:

A setup can be satisfying, but don't expect it to motivate you to do work.

At some point, you just have to force yourself to do it.

 

To be honest, the top of the desk looks better than mine, because I just have a random mouse and keyboard.

Here is, what I did differently:

I went for a single 1440p monitor, because 27 inch is big enough for me to not need another monitor.
And I love my case (Fractal Design Define R6) for it's professional look and it's quality.

My spirit is not to buy everything NOW and get something low quality.

My spirit is to get high quality stuff, one thing after another.

So one day, everything will be high quality.

 

You put a lot of effort in the top of your desk and less money/effort in the PC itself.

I guess it's a budget question here. Stock cooler and a functional case works, but of course it can look better.

So no offense, but in my opinion: Very nice top of the desk, rainbow puking acrylic box under the desk.

You could also get Windows 10.

Thank you for the tips. I am definitely wanted to update the looks of my PC. It's also windows 10 with a theme. So hopefully that's ok. 

 

[Dafydd Taylor]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

You didn't explain in your post why you're starting to not like your setup. We cannot give you advice on how to improve it, if we don't know what you dislike about it.

 

Can you elaborate?

 

At initial glance, your setup looks better than most people's.

I have had this setup for a long time and I was just hoping for some general ideas to make it look better and feel more like a comfy setup I guess. Sorry for the lack of information. 

[Dafydd Taylor]

4 hours ago, Chris Pratt said:

Looks fine to me. You might want to invest in a good ergo chair, since you didn't mention or show pictures of that. I know from my own experience that sitting in an uncomfortable chair for long periods definitely destroys motivation. I'm not talking about one of those abhorrent "gaming chairs" that look like a bucket seat of a race car, but a good, ergonomic chair rated for 8+ hours of use. They're not cheap, although you can find deals or buy used. Worth every penny of investment though.

I have a alright office chair. It's older and ugly but still quite comfortable. But thanks for the tips! 

[IPD]

Motorized standing desk.  Gives you the option to be seated or to stand up and get the blood flowing to your brain.  Might consider swapping out the 4:3 screens for 16:9 or something.  Hard to recommend something definitive when I don't know what you do or how you use what you have.  If it were me, I'd say that there's plenty of room for a taller display (space under monitor) and there's probably room to go higher without craning your neck.  So a bigger display or even a portrait orientation on one or both sides, might be of use too.

 

Consider ambient lighting.  LED strips maybe.  Or you can use something like Bliss Lights (Ark, Sky Lite, etc).  Anything direct or "harsh" is going to be irritating and draining. 

[Dafydd Taylor]

1 hour ago, IPD said:

Motorized standing desk.  Gives you the option to be seated or to stand up and get the blood flowing to your brain.  Might consider swapping out the 4:3 screens for 16:9 or something.  Hard to recommend something definitive when I don't know what you do or how you use what you have.  If it were me, I'd say that there's plenty of room for a taller display (space under monitor) and there's probably room to go higher without craning your neck.  So a bigger display or even a portrait orientation on one or both sides, might be of use too.

 

Consider ambient lighting.  LED strips maybe.  Or you can use something like Bliss Lights (Ark, Sky Lite, etc).  Anything direct or "harsh" is going to be irritating and draining. 

Thank you for all the tips! I appreciate it. 

[suedseefrucht]

15 hours ago, Dafydd Taylor said:

I have had this setup for a long time and I was just hoping for some general ideas to make it look better

The noise and the case make a huge difference.

 

Here is some inspiration:
 

My old system from 2015:

Spoiler

i7 4770 & GTX 970 was a pretty good 1080p gaming experience.
But it still felt cheap, because of the noticable Intel stock cooler and because of the plastic power button and the ugly front. Back then I tried to get as much performance as possible for as little money as possible.

 

My new system from 2020:

Spoiler

5 years later I took my time to get a nice chair, a nice 1440p monitor and a new PC for 1440p gaming.

i7 9700 & RTX 2070 for a good 1440p gaming experience.
I feel the quality, whenever I press the power button and the only thing I barely hear is the graphics under heavy load card or the HDD.

 

Today I would probably go for the Fractal Design Torrent Nano or compact.
Maybe the compact with a 4.5 slot RTX 3070 with noctua fans from asus, so I wouldn't hear anything.

[Stahlmann]

I'd be uncomfortable from your Windows design alone. But that's subjective. Get warm ambient light, set your desktop background to something more inviting.

 

If you do a lot of typing, then investing in a nice mechanical keyboard can improve the experience.

 

Like @Chris Pratt said a nice chair can also help. Any kind of discomfort will kill motivation or maybe even force you to take more breaks because of back pain etc.

[mariushm]

You could upgrade your side monitors. 

 

I'd look into a DAC or something for better audio, if you use headphones a lot.  I see that adapter cable converting the two stereo jacks on front panel into that mixed jack... 

I'd try to improve the sound quality by not routing the audio signal through unshielded ribbon cable or whatever from that front panel audio connector on motherboard to the case. Could be either using a bracket with two stereo jacks in the back so that signal goes straight to the back, or maybe have a DAC that takes optical / digital out and has a built in headphones amplifier ... I don't know. 

Most sounds cards nowadays allow repurposing so audio jacks can be repurposed and you could plug the headphones and microphone in unused stereo jack in the back (or have longer adapter cable to bring the jacks to your desk). 

 

[suedseefrucht]

16 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

set your desktop background to something more inviting

On 2/10/2022 at 8:13 AM, Dafydd Taylor said:

some tips

Great idea!

If you have a favorite movie, a favorite car, a hobby, a favorite series character, ... you can use a wallpaper.

 

[Needfuldoer]

Are you really still running XP somehow, or is that just a theme?

 

Do you primarily use it for gaming, or productivity? I use my PC for work more than gaming, and buying a 43" 4K TV as my monitor made a huge difference. (It replaced a pair of old Dell monitors, similar to yours.) High refresh rates are fine, but it's also nice to have acres of pixels to work with.

[wasab]

Replace Micky Mouse with Godzilla