Show us your PC/Setup

johnlgalt · May 4, 2024

johnlgalt said:
I'm in the same boat - I've been using the same desk for ... 11? 12? years now, made out of ~1/2" (~1.3 cm) MDF, and the main pieces are starting to sag, in spite of support braces under the front and back.

I know what I want - but I cannot find anyone who makes exactly what I want without adding frills that I don't care for or else missing one or 2 key features. at this point I'm tempted to basically build one on my own, contracting a carpenter to make the tabletops for me and getting my own legs and such to put it all together. Biggest issue is that I want to move away from MDF and get it made out of real wood, making it nice, heavy, and sturdy.

Once I find someone to make the desk tops, then I can gather the other pieces and build it myself.

It's now 15 years old, and I'm still using it LMFAO.

johnlgalt said:
Last year I did SSD upgrades, added the RTX 3080 'Tie', and added to my repertoire of monitors.

Please pardon my progress - It's been a few months since I cleaned it lol.

Glass on

Glass off

Externally, my rig and setup still look the same, albeit a bit cleaned up (but just a bit lol).

The new AIO (Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 RGB) I bought necessitated the removal of the Blu-Ray burner from the machine. Also, I opted this time to not use built-in fan hub on the case (Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark - see top right of second pic), and instead routed power cables for everything where it should be - since the Liquid Freezer allows you to do it in an all in one connection, or split (separating fans, A-RGB, and pump), and my mobo has all three types of connections built on it.

It means I was able to skim out a lot of excess wiring, and it is a bit cleaner inside (from the front) but massively cleaner behind the tray (this is during assembly, and still not final - since I'm taking it apart again today, I'll get the final look both powered off and powered on in a while and post):

johnlgalt said:
I need to replace my desk as well. I mentioned way back but it's ½" MDF and sags a bit there in the middle.

I've got a ton of wood left over from when I had my back deck extended and enclosed, so I was looking at this as an alternative base to start with, as I really want to keep with an L-shaped desk, and building the desk on top of that:

Amazon.com

But I'm not a power tools kinda guy, anything beyond simple drilling and screw driving and I need someone else's help lol.

My bf from HS has started doing woodworking on his own, and I've been talking with him about some desks he made for his house, to get an idea if my scrap wood might be of service to make a decent-enough desktop mimicking the one below to put on the riser I want to get.

Also, the (second) replacement Wi-Fi + BT card arrived Thursday, 5 days sooner than estimated, so I'll be taking this down again and installing it and trying it out.

Fingers crossed!

PerpetualCycle · May 4, 2024

johnlgalt said:
It's now 15 years old, and I'm still using it LMFAO.

Externally, my rig and setup still look the same, albeit a bit cleaned up (but just a bit lol).

The new AIO (Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 RGB) I bought necessitated the removal of the Blu-Ray burner from the machine. Also, I opted this time to not use built-in fan hub on the case (Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark - see top right of second pic), and instead routed power cables for everything where it should be - since the Liquid Freezer allows you to do it in an all in one connection, or split (separating fans, A-RGB, and pump), and my mobo has all three types of connections built on it.

It means I was able to skim out a lot of excess wiring, and it is a bit cleaner inside (from the front) but massively cleaner behind the tray (this is during assembly, and still not final - since I'm taking it apart again today, I'll get the final look both powered off and powered on in a while and post):

View attachment 95334
View attachment 95335

My bf from HS has started doing woodworking on his own, and I've been talking with him about some desks he made for his house, to get an idea if my scrap wood might be of service to make a decent-enough desktop mimicking the one below to put on the riser I want to get.

Also, the (second) replacement Wi-Fi + BT card arrived Thursday, 5 days sooner than estimated, so I'll be taking this down again and installing it and trying it out.

Fingers crossed!

Very clean cable routing John :crossed

Scannerman · May 4, 2024

PerpetualCycle said:
Very clean cable routing John

Yes, I was going to comment on the excellent cable management too.

johnlgalt · May 7, 2024

The new BE1750x won't work in my system, so I patched it back up as before, and BT seems to be holding off on dying for now.

This is what it looks like with everything put back in:

PXL_20240504_213103306.RAW-01.COVER_100%.jpg

PXL_20240505_003658419.RAW-01.COVER_100%.jpg

PXL_20240505_003702022.RAW-01.COVER_100%.jpg

PerpetualCycle · Wednesday at 2:22 AM

Finally got all of the parts in for my new keyboard and (geek I know) matching desk mat put together tonight. Custom RedSuns GMK Red Samurai Key Caps, Phankey Amaterasu V2 Deskmat, KeyChron Q3 Max TKL mechanical keyboard

Man so far this keyboard is sweet. Built like a tank (all metal), uniform and quiet keystrokes, nice gasket for damping typing and noise damping layers. Just a dream to type on. All keys and rotary knob customizable with VIA software.

The photos show a cable but it has Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz wireless as well. I am currently using Bluetooth, cable is in for charging.

The keycaps I bought the keyboard with. South facing LED shine-through. These are really decent keys, double-shot PBT. The keyset shown above are ABS double-shot. Both VG quality.

Scannerman · Wednesday at 9:53 AM

V nice looking keyboard. It has that discrete look about it — not too minimalist, not too gaudy. Kinda like those Jaguars that pass me by on the highway and are gone before I barely get the chance to notice what just passed me. (Okay, there are Porsches that can look like that too.) Precious little chance of wearing the characters off those keys, but I would suggest that a board like that is happier in the hands of a touch typist. I like that the control knob isn't this big blatantly ugly thing resembling some gamer kid trying to over-compensate. As I said, its discrete and matches the rest. Everything about this keyboard visually speaks to quality. As for myself, well.... Red and black just isn't my thing.

Scannerman · Wednesday at 9:56 AM

johnlgalt said:
The new BE1750x won't work in my system, so I patched it back up as before, and BT seems to be holding off on dying for now.

This is what it looks like with everything put back in:

View attachment 95547 View attachment 95546 View attachment 95545

Hey, John. You sure you got enough room in that thing? (Not that I should criticize with the old crate I own with the big ole handle coming out the top.)

johnlgalt · Wednesday at 1:13 PM

Scannerman said:
Hey, John. You sure you got enough room in that thing? (Not that I should criticize with the old crate I own with the big ole handle coming out the top.)

You know my Level 10 GT is in my basement right now as it is, waiting for a new lease on life lol ....

I like space. I hate compact builds because I never, ever intend to put a PC on my desk.

@everyone reading this:

And by hate, I mean exactly that - *I* will not have one. I'm not saying they have no place in the world, or that others who like them are weird, or anything like that - just that I don't like them at all - that I don't like teeny tiny builds that cram everything you possibly can into a case smaller than a phonograph player. Hell, looking at my current case, and you can make that (smaller than 3 phonographs lol). And you can take a look at my last several builds to see that I like space.

Servers are a different animal, but I'm also more limited in terms of what I can use for a server, and would end up rack mounting one anyway, so the "U" wins there. But not for my desktop.

Scannerman · Wednesday at 5:34 PM

johnlgalt said:
You know my Level 10 GT is in my basement right now as it is, waiting for a new lease on life lol ....

I like space. I hate compact builds because I never, ever intend to put a PC on my desk.

@everyone reading this:

And by hate, I mean exactly that - *I* will not have one. I'm not saying they have no place in the world, or that others who like them are weird, or anything like that - just that I don't like them at all - that I don't like teeny tiny builds that cram everything you possibly can into a case smaller than a phonograph player. Hell, looking at my current case, and you can make that (smaller than 3 phonographs lol). And you can take a look at my last several builds to see that I like space.

Servers are a different animal, but I'm also more limited in terms of what I can use for a server, and would end up rack mounting one anyway, so the "U" wins there. But not for my desktop.

^^ This. WOW. We are 110% on the same page with this and I confess that it has been one of my biggest pet peeves about desk top PCs. I understand the need for compact components in things like lap tops but a desk top PC is built for a desk top — preferably a spacious desk top as well. And a real tower sits on a floor and can be easily 4' tall if need be. :::sigh::: Those were the days. (Dating myself again here.)

I never could comprehend the reason for making a desktop PC so compact that any attempt at working on it consistently resulted in cramped fingers and potential damage. Where's the advantage in this? Apart from risking damage to one's hands and components while removing and installing hardware other considerations include proper cooling and airflow. A PC that can 'breathe' is a happy PC. Like you, I'm not suggesting that anyone who wants a mini or a micro is out of their minds. I realize user preference prevails; but from the standpoint of a PC builder I don't get a whole lot of satisfaction from building them. Admittedly, some feel intimidated by a large PC. To each their own. I positively love EATX boards. They usually feature so many more options than standard ATX, Micros, and Minis. A standard ATX is fine but that's where I draw the line on personal builds. The client gets what the client wants.

One is compelled to wonder however, what with all the components and features they're trying to cram onto a teeny tiny system board these days and popping it into an enclosure with virtually zero air flow just how long a system like this is expected to last. Anyway, I took a playful poke at you just for fun. And remember, that handle is made of metal so if you ever want to put it back on feel free to do so without shame. My personal abomination weighs in the ball park of at least 60 pounds now that I've upgraded it with SSDs but it still runs a number of mechanical drives as well. I can't imagine lugging that thing up the stairs without a handle.

pparks1 · Wednesday at 6:06 PM

I'm currently running my PC and wife's PC in a Fractal Meshify S2. I like working on the case, and love that the top pops off and I can easily reach in from the top to connect and work on it. It's probably borderline too big for my needs......

The wife's has even more space as she is using a much smaller cooler and a much smaller Nvidia card.

My son's build is in a coolermaster H500

antspants · Wednesday at 6:24 PM

pparks1 said:
It's probably borderline too big for my needs

I like a full tower. In fact I’d like something bigger. I like the space, I have many fans setup correctly in my opinion but I also have many drives. I can’t stand tight spaces, They do my head in.

A glass door refrigerator would be cool.

jvickers · Wednesday at 8:17 PM

antspants said:
I like a full tower. In fact I’d like something bigger. I like the space, I have many fans setup correctly in my opinion but I also have many drives. I can’t stand tight spaces, They do my head in.

A glass door refrigerator would be cool.

I have a Phanteks full tower. It has plenty of space even with two video cards.

antspants · Wednesday at 9:23 PM

jvickers said:
I have a Phanteks full tower. It has plenty of space even with two video cards.

Is it the one with the glass door?

I’m still using my 10 year old NZXT Phantom 820 Full Tower

https://www.amazon.com.au/Phantom-Computer-Changing-Control-CA-PH820-W1/dp/B009QZH22E

jvickers · Wednesday at 10:54 PM

antspants said:
Is it the one with the glass door?

I’m still using my 10 year old NZXT Phantom 820 Full Tower

https://www.amazon.com.au/Phantom-Computer-Changing-Control-CA-PH820-W1/dp/B009QZH22E

I like your case.

This is the Phanteks I have. I like it because it has 5.25" bays. It's nice and roomie.

antspants · Wednesday at 10:58 PM

jvickers said:
I like your case.

This is the Phanteks I have. I like it because it has 5.25" bays. It's nice and roomie.

Plenty of bays, nice

I actually gutted mine a little to fit more in. I’ve lost count now

Scannerman · Thursday at 1:06 AM

antspants said:
Plenty of bays, nice

I actually gutted mine a little to fit more in. I’ve lost count now

I've always been a big fan of front bays if not for hardware utilization then at least you have the potential for good airflow. It would seem that the designers of the newer cases don't much care about that these days. The whole 'less is more' thing is a little too much on the Orwellian side for me.

antspants · Thursday at 1:10 AM

Scannerman said:
I've always been a big fan of front bays if not for hardware utilization then at least you have the potential for good airflow. It would seem that the designers of the newer cases don't much care about that these days. The whole 'less is more' thing is a little too much on the Orwellian side for me.

I really liked that mine came with swap-out mesh vents you could put in place of the bay doors if you weren't using a DVD player etc, or adjustable brackets if you wanted to use them to put more hard drives in.

Scannerman · Thursday at 8:56 AM

antspants said:
I really liked that mine came with swap-out mesh vents you could put in place of the bay doors if you weren't using a DVD player etc, or adjustable brackets if you wanted to use them to put more hard drives in.

Yup. That's what I'm talking about. Even with cheaper models if you didn't get the mesh you could always buy these separately. In some cases you could use the ones from another PC. If all the front bays were populated in many cases you could use meshed adaptors such as those used for converting 5.25" bays into 3.5" bays. You could also buy these with extra front bay cooling and they were excellent for keeping drives running cool and drawing in air for better positive pressure. Bay Cooling Nowadays so many newer cases have these leetle tiny holes along the edge and these are expected to be sufficient for air intake. The end result is huge front end fans that barely draw any air, hardly cool any thing, but hey, they're RGB and they flash and strobe enough to make a fencepost have an epileptic seizure. Everyone knows RGB rules, right?

DennyZenny · Thursday at 10:30 AM

This is replacing my family's AMD Athlon Desktop PC. (System 2 Specs)

pparks1 · Thursday at 11:52 AM

Scannerman said:
I've always been a big fan of front bays if not for hardware utilization then at least you have the potential for good airflow. It would seem that the designers of the newer cases don't much care about that these days. The whole 'less is more' thing is a little too much on the Orwellian side for me.

I always try to find a case that has outstanding airflow. My Fractal meshify S2 is obviously all mesh in the front, and it's mesh on top.....so can get lots of airflow in and heat out. I'm running a Ryzen 5900x, with an EVGA 3080 and a Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and I only have the 3 standard 140mm case fans in my box and it's plenty. Although I can run up to 9 fans if I like.

I haven't really had a need for front bays in a while. With NVMe and SSD's, they are small enough that you can stuff them about anywhere in a case and if I had a need for an optical drive, I have an external USB based one......although I haven't used it in years.