Project Deskee! by toesy

[toesy]

Below are threads merged together from the forums I started the post on, a gaming clan I run with a friend.

The idea behind Project Deskee! was to do away with my PC's as they were, ie in two cases, one a Lian Li V2000 (which is huge) and my long standing gaming pc, a Shuttle SN25P. my long time idea was to build these under a desk, and make something special, those who know me, know I love modding, but have been away from it for a while. But nows the time, I guess.

As you can see the basis of this is a large desk, 75cm x 157 cm. I have so far lowered the legs, and bought a glass top for it from ikea, which you can see in the pics, originally i was going to go for clear glass, but opted for the frosted glass as to soften the pc bits underneath. I may got back to clear as the project moves forward.

I got some table legs from B&Q and turned these upside down, which are now the supports for the table top, got some bolts, chopped the heads off and these anchor into the glass top and screw into the upturned legs, which had adjustable feet (now removed).

As you can see from the pics below (which do need resizing...later) it looks a tad weird, but thats because the project has only started.

As it moves on there will be a aluminium panel which goes around underneath the desk, with cut outs for the drives, fitted on and off buttons and hd/pwr lights. I will be adding removable HD bays, possibly a 7" touchscreen for use with the TV in the room, so i can power down the monitor and play me movies. And also fans to aid the hot air root out.



What you see at present underneath is two PC's, one for gaming and one for my other stuff. And there is a lot still to be done.

UPDATE.

I have added the dance floor lights..... see pic below. Adjustment will be made.



UPDATE.

Small Update to Deskee!

So I decided to add a water cooling kit to this project. I had already purchased a Thermaltake Bigwater 745 kit. As it seemed a good price and was a complete kit, you can add to.

At this time im only water cooling the CPU, but today ordered a Waterblock for the graphics card. So i'll add this later.

Believe it or not most of Sunday gone, I spent just trying to work out the best placment of the WC Kit, and becasue this has two radiators and a reservoir it really started to do my head in. When installing a water cooling kit, you have to bear in mind the tubing only allows a certain amount of bend. Plus the flow has to be correct to the components. I've built a few watercooled PC's to date and its always great fun. This Termaltake Big Water 745 kit is brilliant for a first timer, and even seasoned pro's might enjoy a play with it. Simple, easy to connect and has everything in the box.

Anyhow my dilema where to place the components kept my mind busy all day, and then I had a thought, literally out of the box moment. I decided that to aid the cooling process, I could literally place the 24cm radiator and the pump/res outside of this project. And since its a desk, I decided to build a floating tray underneath. I purchased from B & Q some long 200MM bolts, used a aluminium shelf from my room (yes there is a shelf now missing, from my shelving system, but hopefully Ikea still make these or im in trouble) and mount this underneath the table/desk/pc.

You can see in how it turned out in the pic below, please note another water cooling kit will be installed later, so I had to plan ahead. And this shelf will allow another pump and res/rad setup underneath. Btw way I added another bit of tubing thru the desk, which is used to top the res up with.



So yes as you can see the tubing goes straight thru the desk, into the pump and the rad below.

The pic below shows Carling2 with the water cooling kit installed, yes its very messy and wires are everywhere, but this project is so far off completion its gonna take time and patience to complete.



UPDATE.

Small update today, I started work on the motherboard trays, and then switched to the side panel.

The side panel is an aluminium kick board, that you put underneath kitchen units. Marking the parts to be cut, took a while as I didnt want the exit holes for the fans and PSU being flat across the bottom of the panel, as this would of meant me cutting the holes out from the bottom up, would of been easier this way, but I wanted the fans to pull the air more from the top, so I had to get a template and mark it all out. Drilling the mount holes first, and then cutting out the middle sections with a jigsaw. I then spent a little while removing by way of a dremel, the middle aluminium brace support to allow me to mount the fans with accoustic rubber/anti vibration screw replacments.

This is not how it will look when finished, the holes you see will be covered up with maybe fan filters or mesh, can decide yet.



UPDATE.

Another update.

Today I started on the front Panel, took ages to decide on where items would go. Eventually I got it how I felt it worked best for what I want from it.

Some of the area that have been cut out still need more work, and I havent wired up any of the switchs yet, as im waiting for a some more to arrive.

Undecided on if I should put fans in the front or not, have to wait and see what happens to the temps. The front panel still needs work and the drives, hard bays, etc etc are not fixed yet, but its looking good I think.

Flash used on this pic to show the aluminium.



UPDATE.

A small update,

Got me Fan Grills, which I have now also added two fans with grills to the front of Deskee.

I also got the other ON/OFF and Reset switchs, which I had to make up my own cables and connectors, got some new pins and solder/crimped them and also sleaved them.

I have blue as ON, and the RED is the HD LED, plus its the Reset switch, thinking was RED for Danger. It kinda works.

Got also a Scythe fan controller which is luvly, as it can turn the fans completly off, plus has four temp probes, which is handly as I can use two for each PC.



I also got this week a Matrix Orbital GX2 Typhoon which was going to be originally in the front panel, but I decided to mount it under the glass top, after an hour of dremel work its mounted, the black strips will be changed for white in the future, but it works really well.

And heres a full pic to date, still more to be done, but i'll be taking a break for now.



Hope you like it so far, there is still loads to do, some of the parts I purchased from Specialtech & KustomPC.

[Catroqui]

Damn cool mate,rly good work.I just got myself thinking about the very firts computers,they were big as the size of a room,i believe they're from the 40's, LOL! Good idea anyhow.Keep up the great work.Any changes in temps ?

[Skyline1010]

Excellent work. I would definitely enter that in Rig Of The Month.

[MM10X]

nice job! quite a way to make a computer out of the way! great job

[alphaphotek]

props for thinking outside the box! or inside? ahh! sick no matter what

[morbias]

Heh, that's cool! Not many people can say their computer case is the size of their desk.

[FULMTL]

thats pretty awsome.

[w 4 f f l e s]

Amazing stuff. You have my vote for rig of the month.

[apintojr]

now that is just some dam fine work. i 2nd the motion for rig of month.

[CommandrX]

Awesome mod toesy...I third the motion for rig of the month. Heck maybe even rig of the year.

[toesy]

Sorry I forgot to add this pic below, which shows the Matrix Orbital Typhoon.

Original comments
" I also got this week a Matrix Orbital GX2 Typhoon which was going to be originally in the front panel, but I decided to mount it under the glass top, after an hour of dremel work its mounted, the black strips will be changed for white in the future, but it works really well. "



There is so much more to do on this mod, I use it every day for both gaming, and for general web stuff, thus I really can only work on it at weekends.

Things to do.
1) Water Cool the gaming PC, which includes the 4870 x 2 GPU.
2) Trim the wood itself on the outside with aluminium edging, but not the top bit, ie the original desk top, as this will be covered in 5mm UV Blue perspex.
3) Motherboard trays make them out of 5mm UV Green perspex
4) Sleave and custom length all cables inside Deskee.

My ulitmate plan is that all cables (as many as possible) will sit underneath the 5mm blue persepx, and this will be done by routing the wood and making the channels for the cables to sit in, with the perspex lying over the top.
This is so that not only will Deskee look great from the outside, but when the top is removed, it will be a work of art.
But to get to this stage will take a lot of time and funds, and both are very limited at this time of year.

I also have plans to change the lighting, im not happy with just the blue and I am looking for some multi coloured LED lighting, which can be mounted inside to enable me to change the colour when I want or by itself.

Thanks for the great comments so far, I will update as and when.

[dune2]

Very elegant solution. Makes it look very neat. At one point I started to hook up all the power and connector cables to the bottom of my deks, but you are taking it to the next level.

Nicely done!

[d1fferent]

Lovely job man! XD

[WhiteLightning]

now this is a casemod! good job, looks awesome!

[Crisis66]

Man amazing job on this case/desk design. I love the open feel to it and I could imagine how nice the breathing space for all the parts is. I might try something similar to this if you wouldn't mind. It's an amazing idea.

[Mega_Death]

Fantastic work.

[Rock99]

Amazing, i wish i had your patience

[Logic Zero]

Totally awesome, nice work

[toesy]

Update 14128

A small update today, purchased Aluminium Edge to cover up to the wood on show around the base of Deskee,
picked it up from B&Q. Took about 1hr 30mins to complete.



Work in progess


Aluminium Edging Fixed, it has been screwed into place from underneath the desk.


Front View : Close Up


Zoomed out pic


I also added the green lights into the desk, which can be on or off.
Some will have noticed there is a little strip of wood showing still around the base of Deskee, but this will be covered over with UV Blue persex.

Many thanks hope you like the progess... toesy

[d1fferent]

Omg, this is to cool what will be next building a pc in a wall! Lol

[Finny]

Thats amazing, great job!

[Infiniti3D]

No lan Party i guess Really awesome idea, you should signup for rig of the month!

[YuKsS]

men.. as all the ppl above.. this is a great job.. really nice... rig of the month

ps.. i really nice the outside, but if you remake your inside it will be more cooler.. like you are having a tunning car and someone wants to see you engine and you actually open your engine door (i dont know the name in english) and ppl can see the monster inside, a very clean monster inside)

[xan K]

WOOOW! nice work! keep it up, dude!
I just got the email announcing this would be the rig of the month.
Well deserved!

[masterchiefx2]

11/10 for effort there looks superb congrats to a job well done!