Project: Leviathan

[Vertigo]

Recently my wife and I moved from a house on one side of town, to an apartment on the other side. Much better part of town, closer to work and school. And the cops actually come to this neighborhood when you call them. One thing however; became painfully apparent in the move, the amount of space my computer rig uses.

And since I'm about to add a fourth and final PC to the the beast I realized that I needed to rethink the whole setup. Right now there are wires tangled in every direction behind my computer desk. So after reevaluating the situation I decided to do a bit of work to streamline the whole setup, and organize things better. In addition, all of my computers will match.

It also bares mentioning that I not only play World of Warcraft, but I'm a multi-boxer, I run five account simultaneously. My setup is a hybrid of hardware and software. That, is the reason why I'm using so many computers, and also why my monitor configuration is so important. If you've seen my Animus mod, you'll be familiar with the main rig of this setup. Though it's getting a cosmetic change to match the rest of the overall mod. I'll be replacing the front bezel, but keeping the animus modded bezel in storage for posterity.

First, the cases. I'm using Lian Li 7B Cases. I've made 2 wooden tables to hold the cases, and keep them off of the carpet. (pics coming soon). These are 20 inches x 32 inches, with 6 inch tall legs, the top is inch thick pressed board. I'll be cleaning these up and varnishing them soon. These two will go side by side behind my desk, and since I'm in an apartment I'll also be adding some attachments to help organize my cable mess. More on that later. Each of these mini tables will hold two computers, a power strip, and cable organization hooks, etc.

On to the monitors, I'm using 3 Ergotron monitor stands to organize the 4 monitors. In the middle, I have 2 DELL ULTRASHARP 2208WFP 22 Inch Wide screen Monitors. These are stacked one on top of the other as in the pic above. The bottom being my main work/gaming screen, and the top being my media box screen. I tend to listen to iTunes, browse the internet for wow info or run Adult Swim.com or even watch movies while I'm playing. On either side of the wide screens I've got a pair of Samsung 940N 19 Inch Monitors, these are also on Ergotron stands, but rotated at a 90 degree angle. This allows me to run 2 wow accounts stacked on top of each other in a decent sized resolution.

The two secondary gaming computers don't need to be "too special". I'll be running dual core processors, a $100ish video card, and 3 gigs of RAM. What concerns me is the cooling, I want to simply use air cooling however I'd like to get some fans that aren't so noisy. The Thermaltake fans I bought for Animus are like a jet engine, however the ones I have in my old mod Infernis are actually really quiet. But I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask if anyone has a suggestion on fans that can move some air and not make ridiculously high amounts of noise. Meantime, I'm going to be at work deciding on the actual design specifics of the mod. I should have something a little more concrete soon, thanks for reading.

More coming soon...

[SXRguyinMA]

this thing looks crazy

[Pointy_Stick]

It also bares mentioning that I not only play World of Warcraft, but I'm a multi-boxer, I run five account simultaneously.

This. If I ever understand why people do this, I will know everything there is to know about people.

Nice looking setup though. Wish I had that sort of cash to burn. Will be watching.

[gntlkilr]

if you want quiet, noctua. 24.99 at frozencpu.com for a 12 cm

[Vertigo]

This. If I ever understand why people do this, I will know everything there is to know about people.

Nice looking setup though. Wish I had that sort of cash to burn. Will be watching.

I can only speak for myself, but I will say this: I have the money to have a hobby, so why not? When I was young, I didn't understand why my father spent inordinate amounts of money on fishing supplies, he and I talked about it one day and he told me he spends around $3000 per year, easilly. Not including charter expeditions to the Gulf, etc. He considers that part of vacation expenses. And he's a garbage man, he hauls garbage 40+ hours per week, and makes decent money doing it.

Eventually, I got older and realized who was I to question his hobby? I mean it's not like any kids ever went hungry, or bills weren't paid, etc. He told me once when I was fishing with him, that it was important to have a hobby. And it didn't make any sense to me until I did grow older. There's a lot of things that can muddy your life, if you let them. An argument with the wife, the dog crappin on the carpet, etc. So, having an outlet is important. It's what keeps workin class stiffs from shooting up a Mc Donalds (Falling Down style).

As for why, specifically this hobby, and this level of devotion to it? I enjoy it, having my own group to run is both challenging and rewarding, much in the same way that computer modding is, anyone can build a computer. But it takes someone with that special blend of nerdy and crazy to mod the hell out of it, just because they can. Playing my own group has another advantage, I get to pick and choose when I play, how involved I am in playing. And ... who I play with ... I've been playing games like WoW for a long time. And I'll tell ya, I've had my fill of 12 year olds screaming obscenities into vent because a rogue out rolled them for a sword, or any number of annoyances I don't want to listen to or deal with.

So, I have my own group. I play at my pace, if I need to log off in the middle of an instance, I can ... and I don't feel any remorse, because, the group doesn't have to replace me. I am the group. And if some friends are on, particularly friends of mine from the west coast I don't get to see IRL very often since I moved, then I can always do something with them. Basically, doing this allows me the opportunity to enjoy my hobby on my terms, and for less money per year than my father spends on his. Sorry for the length, but I think I understand the curiosity and definitely am accustomed to questions, because I get them all the time in the game.

if you want quiet, noctua. 24.99 at frozencpu.com for a 12 cm

These I will definitely be checking out, right now I'm using some super cheap Rosewill red LED fans in my older computer. And they seem pretty quiet, but one of the fans itself died after about 6 months of use. Which leads me to be a little leery of getting more.

[Pointy_Stick]

My post meant no offense. I dislike WoW vehemently, but if people enjoy playing WoW, I say let them, no matter how strange that seems to me. And honestly, I had never even considered the possibility that people would play as their own group, which makes a lot of sense really given the majority of WoW's clientele.

And when I said "Wish I had that kind of cash to burn", I was making reference to the fact that I wish I could afford that sort of monitor setup. I wasn't being critical, I was being envious.

Anyway, good luck with the build. I can't live out my fantasies of over-the-top computing power myself, so I look forward to being to do so vicariously through you!

[Vertigo]

hehe, I didn't take offense, like I said, I'm accustomed to questions. People see five guys running around that look almost identical with a 1 letter difference in their names and they get curious. I've learned the best way to handle it is to just explain and go on.

[gntlkilr]

Noctua 12 cm fan, 17dba w/o resistor, w/ resistor 6dba. and thats at 48CFM

I have 6 in my chieftec server case and you can't hear it from more than 4 ft away. I hear the power supply more than the fans. Just haven't changed the PSU fan yet. Its on the list tho.

[Vertigo]

Thanks gntlkilr, ordered 8 of the 120mm and 8 of the 80mm fans. Also got hold of some sheetmetal for my mod ... I won't say much beyond that ... because I want it to be a surprise ^_^

[DonT-FeaR]

sweet... hmm sounds like my next order... like 10 fans lol

god luck/work