Hi all, I've just joined up, so thought I would share my most recent & largest build to date.
I started the project after moving house & wanting a big solid desk, I was sick of the unstable cheap things I had been using in the past, so decided to make my own.
During the planning & thinking about where I wanted the computer to be, I thought, why not build it into it, those builds always look cool.
So with a basic idea of what I wanted & some rough measurements, I went to work. To be honest, a bit more planning would have made things go smoother, but I subscribe to the idea of- 'it's not a mistake, it's a creative opportunity'.
The desk itself is pretty big, at 3ft deep x 6ft wide. It houses a pretty decent gaming rig, as well as a totally overpowered backup/media server- specs listed below.
I learned a lot from the build & will use that knowledge in my next project, which is about to begin- A modded Thermaltake Tower 900. Parts start arriving next week
Specs:
Built into the desk.
ASRock Extreme 7+ Motherboard
6700K, runs at 4.6 daily, has benched at 4.9 with ease.
16GB Hyper X Savage @ 2666
2x Gigabyte G1 Gaming 980TIs
EVGA P2 1200W PSU
Samsung 960 256GB NVMe
Samsung 850 1TB SSD
EKWB on the CPU & GPUs
EK X-Res 140 DDC res/pump combo
EK 540 Radiator with EK 180mm fans
ASUS PB279Q 4K 27" monitor
Media/backup rig-sits on a shelf under the left hand side of the desk. This was my old gaming setup before I got the 6700k.
BeQuiet Silent Base 800
MSI Krait Z97 Motherboard
4690K @ stock speeds
8GB RAM
BeQuiet! Pure rock CPU cooler
EVGA G2 1000W PSU
500GB Samsung 840 SSD
WD RED 2TB x 2
Building the frames for each end.
Cutting out the area for the clear panel to sit. I screwed down a piece of board roughly the size I wanted, then ran around this with a router to get the step for the acrylic to sit on. I then used a holesaw to cut the 4 corners & finally a jigsaw to cut away the rest.
Bases mostly completed.
Test fit in the room.
Looked good, I ended up reversing the positions of the cabinets though, for a reason that will be shown shortly
Top was then removed again, joined properly, sanded & oiled up.
The radiator sits down in a separate section under the motherboard. I decided to make up a cover for it using perforated steel sheet. I drilled out some of the holes slightly larger to create a pattern. I was pretty happy with the end result.
Painted.
Installed with LED lights.
With the desk now complete, it was time to start on the computer. This is the motherboard tray. I don't have pictures the underside, but it sits on small legs that have velcro pads on the bottom of them. This allows for easy removal if required & keeps everything in place- it's pretty heavy anyways, so likely wouldn't move even if it wasn't stuck down.
Waterblocks being fitted to the GPUs.
And all done. The small monitor needs to go. I'm swaying between a second 27", a 40", or a 34" widescreen at the moment. It's very handy to have the second screen though, especially when running VMs. So I think a multi monitor stand will be the way to go, maybe throw one up above the main display.
I'm super happy with how this turned out. It runs near silent, the only noise is a slight wine from the water pump. I can fold all night during winter & the GPU temps never get above 42c, I wish I could fit the 540 radiators in more cases!
I started the project after moving house & wanting a big solid desk, I was sick of the unstable cheap things I had been using in the past, so decided to make my own.
During the planning & thinking about where I wanted the computer to be, I thought, why not build it into it, those builds always look cool.
So with a basic idea of what I wanted & some rough measurements, I went to work. To be honest, a bit more planning would have made things go smoother, but I subscribe to the idea of- 'it's not a mistake, it's a creative opportunity'.
The desk itself is pretty big, at 3ft deep x 6ft wide. It houses a pretty decent gaming rig, as well as a totally overpowered backup/media server- specs listed below.
I learned a lot from the build & will use that knowledge in my next project, which is about to begin- A modded Thermaltake Tower 900. Parts start arriving next week
Specs:
Built into the desk.
ASRock Extreme 7+ Motherboard
6700K, runs at 4.6 daily, has benched at 4.9 with ease.
16GB Hyper X Savage @ 2666
2x Gigabyte G1 Gaming 980TIs
EVGA P2 1200W PSU
Samsung 960 256GB NVMe
Samsung 850 1TB SSD
EKWB on the CPU & GPUs
EK X-Res 140 DDC res/pump combo
EK 540 Radiator with EK 180mm fans
ASUS PB279Q 4K 27" monitor
Media/backup rig-sits on a shelf under the left hand side of the desk. This was my old gaming setup before I got the 6700k.
BeQuiet Silent Base 800
MSI Krait Z97 Motherboard
4690K @ stock speeds
8GB RAM
BeQuiet! Pure rock CPU cooler
EVGA G2 1000W PSU
500GB Samsung 840 SSD
WD RED 2TB x 2
Building the frames for each end.
Cutting out the area for the clear panel to sit. I screwed down a piece of board roughly the size I wanted, then ran around this with a router to get the step for the acrylic to sit on. I then used a holesaw to cut the 4 corners & finally a jigsaw to cut away the rest.
Bases mostly completed.
Test fit in the room.
Looked good, I ended up reversing the positions of the cabinets though, for a reason that will be shown shortly
Top was then removed again, joined properly, sanded & oiled up.
The radiator sits down in a separate section under the motherboard. I decided to make up a cover for it using perforated steel sheet. I drilled out some of the holes slightly larger to create a pattern. I was pretty happy with the end result.
Painted.
Installed with LED lights.
With the desk now complete, it was time to start on the computer. This is the motherboard tray. I don't have pictures the underside, but it sits on small legs that have velcro pads on the bottom of them. This allows for easy removal if required & keeps everything in place- it's pretty heavy anyways, so likely wouldn't move even if it wasn't stuck down.
Waterblocks being fitted to the GPUs.
And all done. The small monitor needs to go. I'm swaying between a second 27", a 40", or a 34" widescreen at the moment. It's very handy to have the second screen though, especially when running VMs. So I think a multi monitor stand will be the way to go, maybe throw one up above the main display.
I'm super happy with how this turned out. It runs near silent, the only noise is a slight wine from the water pump. I can fold all night during winter & the GPU temps never get above 42c, I wish I could fit the 540 radiators in more cases!