DeskPooter

[Crazy Buddhist]

Well ... Deskpooter got some new presents today

I decided I agreed with Drumthumper about those grey IDE cables. Not so much for the visual lack of appeal - though that is now a part of the reason as my plans develop. More because the way they were laying was seriously impeding airflow around the desk drawer. Although the top is still open at the moment and thats not a problem it will be when she is closed up.

So in honour of her new smoked glass top which I may get round to ordering later this week, she has lovely rounded yellow disk cables and also some green cold cathode tubes so I can light her up under the smoked glass for visitors I'd like to find a similar yellow material to loom the power supply wires with. Anyone got a bright idea?

I think the PSU may be turning yellow too.

interesting....how is it cooling for you??

Yazeed - a good question - It can get a little warm at the moment which is why it's open at the top. But then I haven't installed the cooling components yet. I am waiting on a Noctua CPU cooler at the moment (review here) which will be ducted to draw cool air straight into the cabinet (plexiglas tunnel methinks).

Then the huge 120mm Noctua will be pushing air in at the front of the case and around the optical drives and hard drive. Also I have an 80mm fan that will push air out the side, creating flow round the Mobo and PCI components.

Now I need to cut the wood some more to be able to complete the installation and my neighbour hasn't come back from his now very extended "mating leave".

CrazyB

[Crazy Buddhist]

Update

Got another friend to come and help me do the cutting work to finish the cabinet on Friday as my neighbour is still AWOL with his new woman.

New parts ordered:

AC Ryan FanGrill Classic 120mm Black

AC Ryan UV Yellow Complete Cable Sleeve Kit to go with the funky yellow IDE cables

Noctua CPU Cooler

Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste on recommendation (ty guys)

Also picked up a Athlon64 X2 4200+ processor. I won't need more power than that in the next couple of years.

Just got to order three parts now to have all I need to finish the build: two sheets of glass: one to seal the desk drawer to get the ventilation working properly and one to cover the cabinet and protect it from friends/beer/coffee; plus four casters to wheel beastie about on. Saw some casters on the net for £1.99 ~ $4 but they wanted £7.99 shipping ~$16 - who are they kidding ... I'm off to B&Q (UK equiv of "HomeDepot").

CrazyB

[alphastryk]

w00t!...looks great man... you're giving me ideas... +REP

[Crazy Buddhist]

hehehehehehe

Now this has arrived I can get on with the build ! Hammer out, man with Jigsaw coming round at ten. I'm going to sheath the PSU cabling so I don't annoy the bollocks out of him by backseat driving the work he is kindly doing on the cabinet for me.

I'm in love with a CPU cooler. What a sad bastard. Big innit??

Matthew

[Air Cooling Fan]

This is great

I'm new to TBCS, just became interested as I've started my own modded PC buildt into a desk. I swear I'm not a copycat.

Mine is a bit different anyway (thread coming soon)

What I was going to ask is how much of a factor do you think the insulating wood is in terms of cooling?

My mobo is screwed straight into some furniture board. Seems to run fine, but the back of the board is now heavily insulated. Chance of a component burning out?

[Crazy Buddhist]

Wahoo ... Finally I have enough of the parts I need to complete this build to make a leap forward. Plus my mate with a jigsaw that actually works showed up today YAY!

First Deskpooter needed emptying onto the sofa. The thing on the yellow pillow is the Mobo tray Mobo, Backplate, CPU, Cooler and PCI cards all removed as one piece:

Johhny got down to work. I didn't take pictures while he worked cos the damn camera battery was dead again. The round side holes are for the fans drawing air in:

This is the drawer front after its been cut for to locate the optical drives and another fan which - along with the PSU - will push out the hot air. This is before I sand the wood down to remove fifty year old varnish and fifty years of dirt (the donor desk for this cabinet was old. You'll see the result after sanding in a moment ... let's say I'm pleased

And this is a side fan installed in a mock up. have to buy two more grills now as I've changed my plan a tiny bit:

And after a lot of work sanding down the drawer fronts I am starting to get some idea of how the finished cabinet will look. This is a mock up. You can see the Sellotape/Scotch tape holding on the fan grill and brass drawer handle. The top drawer will be fixed in place and the computer accessed through raising the hinged, smoked glass lid that will close the top of her.

Front of the drawer detail:

So?? Looking good??? I think so Happy man here. A productive day always puts a smile on my face.

Matthew

[Drew]

Looking fab mucka!

Well done, I was getting concerned about the fan positioning.... that looks loads better!

I would +rep ya but I'm out

[Crazy Buddhist]

What I was going to ask is how much of a factor do you think the insulating wood is in terms of cooling?

My mobo is screwed straight into some furniture board. Seems to run fine, but the back of the board is now heavily insulated. Chance of a component burning out?

I dont know. I chose to cut an old case up to get the Mobo tray and bracket for the PCI devices. I like a bit of space everywhere for air to flow just in case. Maybe one of the more experienced modders can advise you on that. I love these noctua fans I can tell you that and if you are an aircooling fan you would too: quiet, move plenty air and the colour goes with pale wood lol

Glad you like my build man thanks

Matthew

[Bucko]

Looking good Crazy B.

Air Cooling Fan: It probably would be better to have the MoBo up just a little for some air flow. You don't need a MoBo tray out of an old computer though, just get some small plastic or metal tubing just big enough for the screws to go through and put them in behind your MoBo. Make sure they are all the same length!
It's not just for airflow either, generally a MoBo isn't perfectly flat on the bottom. If it is screwed down to a flat surface, you may be warping the board slightly.

[D1337]

Figure out how to sleeve the cables yet? Or you gonna go ahead with plan B.