:o I have a hutch on my large desk with an enclosure about 24"W x 19" H x 19" D. This enclosure has double doors on the front and the top of the hutch itself is recessed about 4" (the edging is 4" high from the top of the unit). I'm thinking about taking everything out and converting it into one large area for a computer---no tower involved. And since I'm not into LAN's, portability is not considered to be a factor, sooo... My question: can anyone think of a specific reason why towers are used? Is there a safety or electrical reason for it or just something that's been considered to be part of the norm? I'm positive that I can come up with a design and resolve any cooling concerns that may arise, but I need to be sure that I'm not missing something. Any and all ideals/questions are welcomed! (P.S.: The hutch IS made out of wood. Is that a real concern?) Thanks...

sounds like a sweet idea

Ive seen on kinda like what your talking about in Maxiuim PC. HE had a desk with a acrillic table and two mobos in it with two different puters, and controlled em by a switcher and he had a lcd in the desk with the mobos so he could see the one on top of the desk and the other is in it. Looked pretty cool. I also saw one where this guy took this child size coffen and built a computer into it. It was pretty cool looking it had hydrolics to open the top with the screen and it popped out the keyboard/mouse track pad from the side. Pretty erie but kinda cool.

Could there be a concern with grounding, since it's made out of wood? And what mobo mounting frame should I get?

na everything should be ok with the ground

Go for it. There should be no problems at all.

Back in the old AT days, I mounted an old P233 onto the wall in my room. It never missed a beat.

If you wanna take the precaution, then put it on a mount and ground the mount.

Otherweise go for it. You might even want to put windows into the hutch doors so people could see in.

Naw, I've got an entire painted, functional facade lined up for when the doors are open. Can't say much, but it'll look sweet! Lots of work... And since this isn't even close to being the small, enclosed space of a tower, wouldn't this mod project (with the standard fans, heatsink, and whatnot installed) help to keep the temp down and produce better airflow?

for the most part yes, but as with everything, it depends on the room temp
but sounds rad

yeah man mod the "f" out of it and make sure to post some pics when its done, if u can. thats gonna be sweet

Maybe you should by some of those $17000 monitors someone was flashing around yesterday heh.