Project: Stealth Desk

[justblair]

Hi all.

Second post on this site. I thought I would share with you my first Modded PC.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/justblair/In20situ.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/justblair/7ea9.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/justblair/In20situ20even20closer.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/justblair/Complete20Unit.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/justblair/Overhead20shot.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/justblair/IMG_0761.jpg

This is a super silent stealth pc. The photos were taken a while ago, Since then I have upgraded the screen to a 19' widescreen. I have changed the processor to a 3000xp and added a modified typhoon cooler. On the facia, I changed over that poor on'off switch to a much classier flush fit stainless steel door entry switch.

The specs are
Asus mobo
3000XP processor
Modded Typhoon
Geforce 4600ti card
1gb DDr Ram
Labtec Edge speaker system. (The Sub is hidden in the desk)
Maxtor 80gb HD

As you can see this isn't a gaming rig. It runs MCE and operates as my link to the web and as a HTPC.

Had it running now for a year, and it is very stable, virtually silent and ideal for the purpose I built it for.

Happy to answer any questions.

Justblair

[.alchinko.]

dude good mod. ive always wanted to mod a computer into a piece of furniture. next time it should be in a big chair! have the mouse a pad like in a laptop.

[Scotty]

Nice mod, looks great, although perhaps you could stealth the drive so you wouldn't notice it was there, that would be really stealthed :D

[justblair]

Yep Scotty, I agree with you on that one. I'll get round to it sometime, once I'm finished my current project perhaps. Or maybe after the project after my current one....

No excuses really!

[m4gnum]

Does it get very hot with the foam and only an exhaust fan?

[justblair]

Temps are in summer (outside temp bout 20c)

CPU 47c
Case 36c
HD 25c

Their is an intake fan on the underside, blowing up to the HD. Its an undervoted Nexus 80mm

This would not be a suitable case for a games machine I suspect. But then again thats not what I set out to make.

The CPU runs about 10c cooler since I modded it.

I have had 2 coutouts from the PSU in the last year. Had to switch off power for a few mintues to revive it. I sped up the PSU fan a little and it has been stable since.

[DaveW]

That's absolutely brilliant. Gave me some ideas, in fact...

-Dave

[Airbozo]

Nice mod!

I wish I still had some of the pictures of the desks I built back in the late 80's early 90's. Made a nice wad of cash making custom computer desks for some startup companies exec's. My sweetest creation was similar to some of the newsdesks you see. Monitor mounted in the desk under a smoked glass plate with a touch sensitive membrane mounted in the desk for keyboard an mouse.
floppy and cdrom mounted just above the drawer with the mobo and ps mounted on a removable tray. If you were sitting on the otherside of the desk you would never know the person was working on a computer. We also later installed 2 video monitors in the same desk with hidden switches and stuff. (I say we since I was only responsible for the computer/tech end of things, my partner was the woodworker.)

[justblair]

That's absolutely brilliant. Gave me some ideas, in fact...

-Dave

Thanks Dave, Just been looking at your project... We share more than our nationality in common by the looks of things.

Which part of scotland do you live in... You mentioned Edinburgh, but at the same time you also mentioned Bills. Isn't that at the barras? I'm sure that is the place I get my stuff from.

Airbozo... Your desk sounds spot on, shame you aint got a photo or two. Not sure it would fit into my victorian flat, but sounds cool.

[Aero]

nice mod. But that looks hot. Literally, you got to have some high temps I would imagin.

[justblair]

nice mod. But that looks hot. Literally, you got to have some high
temps I would imagin.

Cool enough for me thankfully.

The temps are a few posts above, 47c in the summer is more than cool enough. AMD XPs will run at 60+ for years without becoming unstable.

The heat does get out... Its rather pleasant actually as the vent comes out in the foot well. Warms my knees nicely,

The foam does two things you see, not only does it remove some high end frequencies, but it also directs the air path through the machine. As a result I have the fans working at low speeds. There is a baffle behind the PSU outlet that takes the airflow round a couple of bends again foamed It also stengthens the desk where most weight is.

But if I had wanted to play games i would have designed the desk differently to make it less restricive. Probably without the cavity at the rear to allow the air straight out. Would also have ducted the graphics card with fresh air.