Desk Drawer Build - Planning/Ideas

[Alien18]

Hi All,

Firstly, its been a long time since I've been here and posted (probably 10+ years!). I'm about to waffle on about my history and what brings me to my decision, if you don't care, skip this paragraph. I've built and upgraded about 3-4 PCs many many years ago, but due to moving around the country and renting properties with limited space, I ended up doing away with a tower PC and moving to a laptop/console combo. A few years ago, the OH and I finally bought a place and settled down, I now have a dedicated, but moderately small, office space and an aging laptop, so I started thinking about building a PC again from scratch and how best to utilise the space. I'm planning on building my own custom desk to fit the space and would like to maintain as much leg room across the width as possible, so that if both I & the wife need to work from home together, we can do so comfortably. Hence, after a little searching, I found the idea of installing a PC in to a drawer.


I've seen a few youtube videos of people building PC into desks/drawers. I prefer the idea of a pull out drawer, simply so it's easier and more accessible, for cleaning and maintenance.

Regarding the PC, since it's been a while, I'm a bit rusty, but I'm planning this well ahead, it'll likely be end of the year or early next year by the time I get round to building the desk and PC. I assume it's still the case of buying the best you can afford, rather than buying the cheapest of everything (as a general rule of thumb), allowing my build to grow over time? I think I'd like to build something that is happy playing 1440p at a high framerate capable of Ray Tracing, I feel like 1080p is something that will soon be a thing of the past, and 4K just feels unnecessary at the moment (I'll be having buy 2 monitors so, 4K would like add to a cost there as well as to the hardware).

Regarding the drawer build, my initial thoughts/concerns are:

• Cooling: I plan to build some vents fans at the lower front of my drawer (similar to the guy in this video) and fans at the rear. Would you recommend anything else? I've looked at the AIO water coolers, but would one of those be significantly better than a beefy air cooler with the aforementioned vent/fan combo?
• Noise: I plan to mount everything to the bottom of the drawer, but is noise/vibration/rattle likely to be an issue? If so is there anything you would recommend.
• Cable Management: Obviously, I want to be able to open and close the drawer without too much fuss. Any tips regarding cable management? I've seen arms that fold at the back of the drawer and cable chains (such as those common on 3D printers), but not sure if there's anything better anyone could suggest.
• Drawer placement: Since this is going to be a custom built desk (wooden, but could use metal for parts of drawer to help with cooling if recommended), I plan on having the drawer just under the desktop, above a cupboard (that will house a NAS and Printer), this way I could also cut a couple of slots towards the back right of the worktop to aid with heat escaping. Just wondering if this is a good idea, or if it'd be better at the bottom with the cupboard above it?
• I suspect this is a stupid question, but, if you were in the position where you wanted to spread the cost as much as possible, would it be a really stupid idea to build the desk first (expecting that to cost a decent amount due to buying a couple of tools I will likely want) and size the drawer based off of assumed sizes of components I'm like to need?

Apologies, if I've waffled on, but any tips/tricks or things to watch out for, would be much appreciated. It'd be great to learn from other people's experience, especially those in the UK, that also, don't have huge workshops full of equipment and stores down the road that seem to supply everything! LOL.

 

[mickyflinn]

What size space is it going into post a picture showing walls and Windows.

 

[Alien18]

What size space is it going into post a picture showing walls and Windows.

Ah, I'm really early in the process at the mo, the room is a bit of a mess, will have a tidy and try to get a pic. But approx width is about 2.05m, and current desk is around 75-77cm depth (it has a curved front to it). My current idea in my head is to build a desk similar to this. Chunky wooden top, but with white wooden "legs", so a white wooden side down the left and a white wooden cupboard and drawer to the right housing the printer, NAS and PC.

Hope that helps flesh out the idea/thoughts in my brain to something others can understand.

Oh and one other thing, other than maybe and RGBW strip down the back of the desk, I'm really not fussed with lighting up anything with LEDs or having any part of the PC build in view/lit up. I do plan on running my power button to the worktop and maybe some USB hub of some kind too, but that's all easy compared to the other stuff.

I have just noticed speakers, I'd not thought about those, I would be gaming with a headset on, but some small but fairly decent speakers would be nice too.

 

[Xyclops]

Have you considered building the computer behind the monitor? I'm currently in the process of building a desk with built-in computer. There will be a fake wall sitting on the desk (made of plywood) with three 24inch monitors directly mounted on it. The computer will be behind, and a shelf on top with some filtered metal mesh to allow the air out. The computer case itself will be 130mm thick which actually isn't too much more depth than the monitor stand currently occupies behind the monitor. It's only that thick, as I'm using 120mm fans to blow air from bottom to top (in the direction air flows naturally due to heat anyway). It could be thinner if you used smaller fans (but possibly noisier, as smaller fans need to rotate faster for same airflow).

Anyway, regardless of where you put it you need to ensure that airflow is good and ideally filtered so that it doesn't fill with dust.

If you want to install it in a drawer and be able to open and close it that will make cable management tricky. You'd probably want to have the cables tied together using something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B081HCS3RN

I'm curious why you think you need frequent access to the drawer though? If it's to plug in USB devices etc, I'd suggest just building a USB hub into the desk.

As for the order to buy things I would at least get the power supply first (preferably a modular one). If you know what kind of CPU you want then you can get the motherboard next and build around it. Those two things typically won't drop in price much if you wait. I would suggest waiting to purchase the Graphics card, as right now there's a lot going on with the nVidia 3000 series and upcoming AMD GPUs. The choice of how you cool the CPU may have an impact on the required height of the drawer. An AIO will give you some flexibility in that regard, but you could use a low profile heatink like that video you linked.

 

[Semple]

• I suspect this is a stupid question, but, if you were in the position where you wanted to spread the cost as much as possible, would it be a really stupid idea to build the desk first (expecting that to cost a decent amount due to buying a couple of tools I will likely want) and size the drawer based off of assumed sizes of components I'm like to need?

I recall reading a few desk-build threads on here, would be worth probably looking through the project logs subforum and seeing what other people have done.

Most components will be of a typical size - Mobo / PSU / HDDs/SSDs so no problems there, cooling will be the varying factor - fans can have various different sizes, or if you're looking at a watercooled solution then that too can make the sizes vary wildly.

If you're absolutely set on the design of the desk, then i see no reason not to build it first - afterall that'll be the longest part of the project.

 

[Alien18]

I recall reading a few desk-build threads on here, would be worth probably looking through the project logs subforum and seeing what other people have done.

Most components will be of a typical size - Mobo / PSU / HDDs/SSDs so no problems there, cooling will be the varying factor - fans can have various different sizes, or if you're looking at a watercooled solution then that too can make the sizes vary wildly.

If you're absolutely set on the design of the desk, then i see no reason not to build it first - afterall that'll be the longest part of the project.

Thanks for the reply. This is true regarding the longest part of the build and since I'm after a nice wooden top that won't be cheap, I've been thinking the last couple of days I can plan out a rough layout just to ensure I leave enough space for whatever components I want. The main factor is the depth of the drawer, which I'm completely in control of. I'll have a better look for other drawer threads, I did find one via a Google search.

Have you considered building the computer behind the monitor? I'm currently in the process of building a desk with built-in computer. There will be a fake wall sitting on the desk (made of plywood) with three 24inch monitors directly mounted on it. The computer will be behind, and a shelf on top with some filtered metal mesh to allow the air out. The computer case itself will be 130mm thick which actually isn't too much more depth than the monitor stand currently occupies behind the monitor. It's only that thick, as I'm using 120mm fans to blow air from bottom to top (in the direction air flows naturally due to heat anyway). It could be thinner if you used smaller fans (but possibly noisier, as smaller fans need to rotate faster for same airflow).

Anyway, regardless of where you put it you need to ensure that airflow is good and ideally filtered so that it doesn't fill with dust.

If you want to install it in a drawer and be able to open and close it that will make cable management tricky. You'd probably want to have the cables tied together using something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B081HCS3RN

I'm curious why you think you need frequent access to the drawer though? If it's to plug in USB devices etc, I'd suggest just building a USB hub into the desk.

As for the order to buy things I would at least get the power supply first (preferably a modular one). If you know what kind of CPU you want then you can get the motherboard next and build around it. Those two things typically won't drop in price much if you wait. I would suggest waiting to purchase the Graphics card, as right now there's a lot going on with the nVidia 3000 series and upcoming AMD GPUs. The choice of how you cool the CPU may have an impact on the required height of the drawer. An AIO will give you some flexibility in that regard, but you could use a low profile heatink like that video you linked.

Thanks for the reply. I'll give the "behind monitor" option in mind, however, I'm planning to put the monitors on a bracket/mount attached the back of the desk and I'm not sure a fake wall will work aesthetically for SWMBO.

Regarding the frequent access to the drawer, I'd like to be able to make sure i can easily clean it regularly, exactly for the reason of dust, in my limited experience, no matter what case I've had in the past, dust has always gotten inside and I recall my last case had a side that easy popped off that made it a breeze to clean it out. Plus, I'm not sure how easy it'd be to plug in things like power and monitor leads without being able to easily open the drawer, I absolutely plan to include a USB hub in to the build and that'll be another cable that needs to attach inside the drawer. I'm thinking of using a cable/drag chain (and if I had my 3D printer working reliably I'd print a couple for testing/prototyping, but then I have concerns regarding temps in the drawer and the durability of 3D printed parts).

After seeing a Youtube video, I'm thinking of building the drawer out of aluminium (with a wooden front). The video I saw used perforated aluminium as the base of the drawer, obviously I'd still have fans at the front and back of the drawer, but would this help/hinder cooling/dust/etc. I can see how the perforated base would help with drawing in air from underneath, but could introduce a greater risk of dust, but presumably the aluminium would help with heat dissipation, almost like a heatsink?

Again, many thanks for your replies, it really helps with the thought process and helps stop me continuing with "tunnel vision".

 

[Xyclops]

I guess it depends on how much space you have available. In my case I have floor to ceiling cupboards either side of desk, so a fake wall won't look out of place.

I have used arm mounts before on my previous desk build and found that although I like the flexibility of being able to move the monitors I rarely did. Also in the end they brought the monitor quite far forward if the desk is against a wall, as the arms hit the wall which restricts range of movement.

 

[Alien18]

I guess it depends on how much space you have available. In my case I have floor to ceiling cupboards either side of desk, so a fake wall won't look out of place.

I have used arm mounts before on my previous desk build and found that although I like the flexibility of being able to move the monitors I rarely did. Also in the end they brought the monitor quite far forward if the desk is against a wall, as the arms hit the wall which restricts range of movement.

Ah, thanks for the tips regarding the arm mounts and how far they can go back against the wall. One of the reasons for wanting the arm mounts, is because, quite often the wife and I will need to be sat together at the desk looking at the same screen, hence it'd be moved around a bit. Also, I'd quite like one flat facing and one angled to the side. I'll have a better look at mounts, especially once I know what monitors I'll be going for.

 

[Defy Belief]

I use a flexmounts d7l as my monitor arm with no issue, can put it pretty flat against the wall (More so than if I used the stand) - you just mount the arm to the side, not underneath and you get full movement and desk space.