Desk Pc information?

jtmoseley · April 12, 2018

So my desk right now is pretty janky, and doesn't have much space for monitors and all that stuff... There are no desk sales places near me, and when I asked my dad, he just said that we would build our own. Simple enough. So I was brainstorming about what I want the desk to look like, and after watching Linus's video, I had a few thoughts.

1. I did not want the entire desk top to be glass, due to fingerprints. I want only the part that holds the PC to be glass'd up.

2. I want drawers functioning as one of the tables legs (we have some spare ones, wouldn't be too hard to transplant)

3. Keyboard tray? If the desk is low enough I can go without, but my current desk has an okay one which would possibly work

The design that I was thinking of was something along the lines of a L shaped desk, the PC being set into the drawer side of support. The PC then maybe being placed either into the drawer somehow, so that it would be easy access to hotswap, or there not being a drawer on the top section. Then, in order to have some glass, perhaps put in a sheet right over the PC, that way it wouldn't be fingerprint prone or in the way, but would look pretty cool.

Anyways, I would like thoughts on that, I am not sure if I explained it with enough detail. Again, just brainstorming.

Here are my actual questions:

1. Would the motherboard need to be directly against the back in order for the IO to be accessible? Or would you just make a cable port in the back, and bring them through and then tie them down?

2. Since I wouldn't be liquid cooling just yet, I was thinking maybe 2 200mm fans on each side, (maybe 120 depending on how deep it goes), but if I had those fans, how would you go about setting them in? Just drill holes? What about dust filters?

3. For the graphics card, the goal would be to have it facing lateral to the window so that you could see the fans. Would I need a pcie extender? How would you go about screwing it in? Would you need to take apart another case for the pcie brackets, and just implant them into the back of the case to screw it in, then get something to support it, then pcie bracket it?

4. For lighting, what would be the best choice? An nzxt hue or similar, for RGB, or a static color?

5. How would the standard case IO work? Like power switch, or USB ports somewhere on the desk? I have an NZXT phantom 240 that I could butcher perhaps, not sure how that would work...

6. How would you go about installing an AIO?

here are some pictures of builds kind of similar to what I would want: The middle one is my favorite one, but the right one is interesting as far as a drawer PC. Not sure how that would work into showing from the top. The left one I think the glass is way too big, and I wouldn't need the side glass on the middle one, just the top I think. Thoughts?

Tsuki · April 12, 2018

52 minutes ago, jtmoseley said:

1. Would the motherboard need to be directly against the back in order for the IO to be accessible? Or would you just make a cable port in the back, and bring them through and then tie them down?

It doesnt HAVE to be, but it will make connecting IO infinitely easier

2. Since I wouldn't be liquid cooling just yet, I was thinking maybe 2 200mm fans on each side, (maybe 120 depending on how deep it goes), but if I had those fans, how would you go about setting them in? Just drill holes? What about dust filters?

yep just drill holes, and you can get filters that screw in. and i would suggest using either 120 or 140mm fans instead of 200, so it will make it easier to upgrade to liquid later on if you choose to.

3. For the graphics card, the goal would be to have it facing lateral to the window so that you could see the fans. Would I need a pcie extender? How would you go about screwing it in? Would you need to take apart another case for the pcie brackets, and just implant them into the back of the case to screw it in, then get something to support it, then pcie bracket it?

yes, you'll need a GPU riser cable to mount it in that position. and you dont have to take apart another case if you dont want to, just cut the space for it

4. For lighting, what would be the best choice? An nzxt hue or similar, for RGB, or a static color?

thats going to be a personal preference. if you like rgb, then do it

5. How would the standard case IO work? Like power switch, or USB ports somewhere on the desk? I have an NZXT phantom 240 that I could butcher perhaps, not sure how that would work...

you can buy switches and stuff for that, or butcher an old case if you wanted.

6. How would you go about installing an AIO?

same way you would normally, you just need to make sure the board is close enough to the side of the desk to mount the radiator