Case/Desk in one Design

[Savan]

I would leave an opening for a 3 fan rad with that setup. As for the res, a 5 1/2 bay size one should be good.

 

this is assuming you will only be wc'ing one of the systems. If more, then I would run a separate loop for each one.

Edited December 17, 2010 by Savan

[SpeedCrazy]

Noctua D14 approaches the performance of budget water cooling kits and would be a good choice.

Thats what i thought. I think i will plan for that. But being wood i can always mod it easily later. And how likely am i to need more than 3 systems at my desk? (i have the first blueprint with 3 horizontal systems with 9 in of head room each ending with a 32in desktop height)

Though as i dont(at least not yet) oc to the level where that would not be enough of a cooler, unless i was dumb enough to try it in midsummer.(80 in my room)

Oh and rather than risk a possible fire-hazard should i make the system trays out of Plexiglas with wooden ribs underneath? Wait that aint a conductive material. What would you suggest.

Edited December 17, 2010 by SpeedCrazy

[Savan]

I dont think you will need to worry about the wood being a fire hazard. The flash point of MDF is over 400f. Even if the thing shoots out sparks it shouldnt be an issue.

[SpeedCrazy]

Thats what i thought but locutus got me worrying. LOL

Where would i get some extra tall standoffs?

[wevsspot]

Personally I think these are pretty cool.

 

You can then purchase whatever length screws you need to attach the standoffs to the mounting board.

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102860

[camaro_dude15]

for an answer to 9

 

I/O shields are mostly to block electrical radiation, they have similar material in them to anti static bags and other materials to help block radiation, i had a case that wouldnt accept a normal atx I/O shield and it effected the sound and video quality noticably

[SpeedCrazy]

That would matter if i was having an open back, but im not. The in/out 'area' is about 4 inches from the back of the desk and the cables are routed up to the top. There will be 1/2 an inch of wood blocking your electrical radiation.

 

Those standoffs wev, do i just put my long screw through the mounting board and screw that on the other end? Oh and how does that achieve grounding? Though i could run a small wire to the each screw on the underside of the mounting board and then to the PSU.

 

EDIT:

 

Is it possible to get a splittable kvm switch? I mean could i have 1 monitor to 1 computer and 2 to the other or 1 to all three?

Edited December 17, 2010 by SpeedCrazy

[medbor]

1. Standoffs fit in each other so use 2 or 3 in each other to make them longer, but make sure each ends on she same hight

 

2. Depends on how you are mounting your fans/airflow. should not be a problem.

 

3. i would make rooom for 2x 140x2 rads for each system with a need for watercooling, but you can add the rads where your intake fans will be later i guess. reference coolers o high end cards suck (GTX 470/480/570/580 or HD5870/5970/5970) so wcing them should help. i cant say im much for watercooling but it is definitely GPUs that need it (some use 200+W, CPUs around 150-W)

 

4. sata has a apecification limitation of 3 or 4 feet, but other than that there is no worry at all (screen cables can be 15 feet easily), and powerbuttons is just a short circuit so cable lengths are not important. the front panel leds might need thick (I mean not tiny) cables not to lower the resistance to much (they might glow fainter otherwise)

 

5. make the screen area removable (the holes for the screens) then tou can switch the wood if some new screen don't fit

 

6. basic KVM swithches usually has 2 inputs and one output, so you can arrange them so that each computer has a possibility to use 2 of the screens, or buy better ones with for example 3 inputs then each computer could (if they have the outputs) drive 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the screens. Keyboard and mous i would switch with the middle screens kvm switch, but thats just me.

 

7. No problem whatsoever as long as there is airflow around it (they can get warm and burn otherwise)

 

8. you can just make a hole anywhere and buy a good 'loose' speaker and screw it in. just make sure to make the back airsealed from the front (not hard). just don't put a subwoofer in if you plan to use HDDs or ODDs (vibration is a killer)

 

9. i usually dont use one for testing pcs so no, not needed but grounding might be an issue somehow. i did this (wood chassis, no io-shield) with an Pentium 1 in the good old days and it worked fine except for airflow

 

you said you would have wood behind the io's on the motherboards, how is the airflow going to work then?

 

EDIT: wood is not conductive so it won't block electric radiation. the point of the io shield is like a mirror but for electromagnetic fields so the cables (on the outside) won't feel the fluctuations of compunents on the motheboard (on the inside, clock cycles an memory refreshes and stuff like that)

Edited December 17, 2010 by medbor

[Locutus]

Noctua D14 approaches the performance of budget water cooling kits and would be a good choice.

Actually, out of the box it has better performance than the CoolIT ECO ALC.

[SpeedCrazy]

EDIT: wood is not conductive so it won't block electric radiation. the point of the io shield is like a mirror but for electromagnetic fields so the cables (on the outside) won't feel the fluctuations of compunents on the motheboard (on the inside, clock cycles an memory refreshes and stuff like that)

so are you saying i really should have an in/out shield?

 

As for the airflow i am gonna try and post a copy of my 2nd revision blueprints. The Blue rectangles are fans. The fan on the right of the mobo will be ducted directly to the heatsink for optimal cooling.

 

(yes i made this basic copy on word)

I will Put together a copy with wire routing drawn on.

 

The lines from the lines represent cables. The peripheral cables will be routed to the back right and up to the desk top. The Sata Cables for the CD/DVD drives will also be routed up through there. The Power cables to the PSU will be routed up the back right to an enclosed area under the back of the desktop where i will have a surge protector/power-strip. That is also where the ethernet switch/router will be.

 

Oh and medbor, could you go into more depth on this:

6. basic KVM swithches usually has 2 inputs and one output, so you can arrange them so that each computer has a possibility to use 2 of the screens, or buy better ones with for example 3 inputs then each computer could (if they have the outputs) drive 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the screens. Keyboard and mous i would switch with the middle screens kvm switch, but thats just me.

I know nothing about kvm switches and your reply was worse than Greek to me. Thanks

Edited December 18, 2010 by SpeedCrazy

[medbor]

so are you saying i really should have an in/out shield?

 

If you notice any problems (bad sound quality/video output) you can try it, but i do not think it is needed.

 

I know nothing about kvm switches and your reply was worse than Greek to me. Thanks

 

Each basic kvm has 2 inputs (computers) and one output (screens). connecting each one computer to two different kvm switches can get you the possibility so that each computer can use zero, one or two screens depending on which computer each switch is set to.

in this setup i would have

1. Workstation

2. server

3. main gaming rig

not that you would ever need the 2 screens for your server, but its nice to be able to see what goes on while gaming or working with 2 screens.

another one is to couple them into one with 3 inputs and one output i.e.: then you could have full eyefinity on each but the server...

[SpeedCrazy]

I like the 3 imput option best, but how hard would it be to switch on the fly? It looks like hitting a switch on each kvm box?

And this could not be achieved with 1 bigger switch? Also how do i know which one has my mouse and keyboard?