Opinion: Where do you put your gaming PC?

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

I am getting an airflow case. I am wondering where I should put it:

On the desk/table? or

On the floor?

[silverdevil]

1 minute ago, VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants said:

I am getting an airflow case. I am wondering where I should put it:

On the desk/table? or

On the floor?

through my years as an IT guy i have learned that putting the pc on the floor can pick up lots of dust. especially if there are pets involved. i have mine on the desk. with that said, if you have to have it under the desk, put it on something to raise it above the floor. the further up, the better. either place does not necessarily mean lesser airflow. it all about having access to the fans without anything in front.

[The_Nephilim]

What does it mean airflow case is that the model of it or something.. I put mine up on a coffee table to eliminate dust and dirt from the floor. if you have pets keep it up but maybe not gonna help if you have roaming cats..

 

[tomcat_driver]

If you're gonna leave it on the floor, I highly recommend some add-on case and fan dust filters and make very sure that you have positive pressure in the case, that is, more airflow in than out.

I currently live in a very dry and dusty part of the world and man, despite my best efforts, my pc is a dust vacuum case. I tried gaining some desk real state a while back and placed the case on the floor and it turned out to be a bad mistake. The fan blades themselves started to collect so much dust that it eventually solidified into a "concrete", impossible to remove by just blowing air on them.

13 minutes ago, The_Nephilim said:

What does it mean airflow case is that the model of it or something.. I put mine up on a coffee table to eliminate dust and dirt from the floor. if you have pets keep it up but maybe not gonna help if you have roaming cats..

 

It means it's an aircooled system, not a watercooled. That usually mean that the case is built with big front and top open grilled panels that allow for great air flow to pass through.

Edited November 27, 2022 by tomcat_driver

[Coxy_99]

mine goes in the cat litter tray.

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants said:

I am getting an airflow case. I am wondering where I should put it:

On the desk/table? or

On the floor?

 

I place all of my PCs over the desk .. for one, it's much easier to plug rear cables when needed, and second, they pickup less dust than when on the floor ...

.. and third, the likelyhoof of kicking them is greatly reduced  

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Rudel_chw

[EightyDuce]

Away from the floor....typically, on the desk. 

[SkateZilla]

I recently bought a small metal 4 tier shelf from home depot, and put the system on that, and spaced the shelves so I can put the APC Unit and External HDD's directly under the PC, and a top shelf for anything on display, and a bottom shelf for accessories (extra PSU cables, etc etc etc).

I found having the tower on the desk makes it susceptible to damage from motion, as my HOTAS and / or steering wheel is mounted to the desk, so sudden movements make the PC Move as well,, 

before I put up the 4 tier shelf, I used a small night stand, but realized quickly with the APC and external drives, I needed to get more shelf space in a small area.

[Splashtrick68]

I prefer on desk, above anything that can spill on top of it and being higher helps reduce dust and cleaning intervals. 

[LucShep]

2 hours ago, VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants said:

I am getting an airflow case. I am wondering where I should put it:

On the desk/table? or

On the floor?

Do not put the PC tower directly on the floor, as it will gather dust very, very quickly. It'll be a dirty mess inside the case in no time.
You can, however, place it over something that lifts it above the floor, at least 25cm (10 inches), then it's ok.
That, or place it on the desk/table.

For example, I reused a speaker case from an hi-fi stereo, merely as a "base/platform", to place the PC tower over it. Mine sits right beside at the left, where the desk ends.  
Anything similar (shelf, box, short table, etc, etc) for that "base/platform" effect, can do trick. 

I used to have it on the desk for a couple of years, and much prefer how I have it now.
No more dust problems than I'd have when it was on the desk, space and weight over the desk is better saved for other things, and it's also not susceptible to any damage from motion or sudden movements. 

Edited November 27, 2022 by LucShep

[Thinder]

On my desk, next to my keyboard and stick, the whole thing under my bed.

There isn't that much I can do against dust appart for hoovering as often as possible including the PC filter and regularly the internals.

Clean your PC filters and internals regularly.

Dust can be a killer, not only is it conductive so it can create short curcuits and lead to your RAM slots to burn (seen it happen with one of mine), but also it prevent your system to cool properly, this cause the thermic limit to lower so your CPU/GPU limits will be lower as well.

Also, dust can stick to fan blades, creating extra ware, especially when your fans are running at max speed, the blade profile is altered so they are not as aerodynamically efficient.

[BitMaster]

Regardless where you put it, make sure you have dust filters AND..or they are useless, an OVERPRESSURIZED system.

That means, you always need to push in more air ( through the filters, than your exhaust fans pull out.

That way, all air inwards is filtered and air escapes outward through all those little openings and holes everywhere.

If you suck out more air than you push in, you will suck in unfiltered air from every one of those holes and openings.

 

Putting it on the floor is not a good idea, with pets and tiled floors dust will kill your PC. Floors with carpet are better but still no good idea.

Mine is on my, rather large, table.

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Thanks everyone. I ordered the Factual Design Torrent full case, the same model @tomcat_driver posted, but in black.  I am not sure if my current desk can accommodate it or not.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[Bob_Bushman]

Small table next to my desk.
Just getting it off the floor by a few inches makes a big difference.

No matter what you do, you still need to clean every few months, there is no way around that.

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

26 minutes ago, Bob_Bushman said:

No matter what you do, you still need to clean every few months, there is no way around that.

Will keep this in mind. Thanks

[sea2sky]

Good topic. By the way, how do you guys clean the inside of it? I believe vacuum cleaning is not good, since a high air flow create some statics.

[EightyDuce]

4 hours ago, sea2sky said:

Good topic. By the way, how do you guys clean the inside of it? I believe vacuum cleaning is not good, since a high air flow create some statics.

Only do a "deep clean" once a year, take it outside and blow it out with a compressor or canned air. Wipe down the large surfaces a small cloth damped with 50:50 IPA/water. 

Biggest help in keeping things clean is a good case with filters on all the intakes and keep the case under positive pressure, so that the air coming in, goes through the areas you want ir to - ie. intake filters. My Torrent runs a custom loop with a 280 and a 420 radiator, so thats 5x140mm intake fans and 1 exhaust (2 if you count the PSU). 

Edited November 28, 2022 by EightyDuce

[sea2sky]

33 minutes ago, EightyDuce said:

Only do a "deep clean" once a year, take it outside and blow it out with a compressor or canned air. Wipe down the large surfaces a small cloth damped with 50:50 IPA/water. 

Biggest help in keeping things clean is a good case with filters on all the intakes and keep the case under positive pressure, so that the air coming in, goes through the areas you want ir to - ie. intake filters. My Torrent runs a custom loop with a 280 and a 420 radiator, so thats 5x140mm intake fans and 1 exhaust (2 if you count the PSU). 

 

Yeah, makes sense.

Also, I better save some IPA for my self as well

 

[Thinder]

5 hours ago, sea2sky said:

Good topic. By the way, how do you guys clean the inside of it? I believe vacuum cleaning is not good, since a high air flow create some statics.

Sure thing.

The inside is a lot more important, you wouldn't believe what I cleaned from some of the fans last upgrade, I had to dismount a couple of case fans and clean them with a brush.

The CPU fan was already damaged by the weight of the dust which added ware on its axis and at full rpm its blades now hits the fairing recessing slightly in front of it, I had to order a new one.

Here is the Artic Freezer 7 X, its cooling performances are excellent but the fan will behave like an aircraft prop and pull forward, clean it is not so bad but with the added weight of dust on the blades it compresses the joint in the axis front and wares it, as you can see the frairing is recessed and blades will hit it.

On the other hand, the GPU fans were still clean and the motherboard wasn't really affected either.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Thinder

[agrasyuk]

If you want to show it off then on desk, it will be prettier, especially the new RGB glass cases.
If you are all function guy and don't care about aesthetics then on the floor, it will be quieter.
you will need to blow out dust either way sooner or later. 

To clean I blow it out with compressed air outside. this probably should happen more often...

My PC lives on the floor, behind the desk, on elevated podium to reduce the valid dust comments above.
out of sight, out of mind (lights are usually off on that one).

 

We just built a PC for my older one. he enjoyed picking parts and building it so he put it front and center on his side of the desk.
I have a suspicion he is going to get a RGB memory kit for Christmas (and I'm going to take his 32GB kit, muhahahaha!)

 

My Flight PC lives in a retractable shelf in a DIY "rack"

Edited November 29, 2022 by agrasyuk

[agrasyuk]

On 11/27/2022 at 12:47 PM, Rudel_chw said:

 

I place all of my PCs over the desk .. for one, it's much easier to plug rear cables when needed, and second, they pickup less dust than when on the floor ...

.. and third, the likelyhoof of kicking them is greatly reduced  

 

 

Some nice old school cases right there.
and a nice h-ifi thingie on the left , whatever that silver device is

[Rudel_chw]

2 hours ago, agrasyuk said:

and a nice h-ifi thingie on the left , whatever that silver device is

Its the control panel of my speakers:

 

 

[SkateZilla]

On 11/27/2022 at 1:47 PM, Rudel_chw said:

 

I place all of my PCs over the desk .. for one, it's much easier to plug rear cables when needed, and second, they pickup less dust than when on the floor ...

.. and third, the likelyhoof of kicking them is greatly reduced  

 

 

 

Someone still runs the Soundblaster Live 5.1?!

[EightyDuce]

7 hours ago, Rudel_chw said:

Its the control panel of my speakers:

 

 

Haha I still have a set of those speakers from probably 15 years ago. Down to just 3 speakers (Left Center Right) + sub. The backlight on the controller no longer backlights bu otherwise they still sound great. 

Probably moving to just two desk speakers plus a DAC at some point... But for now... 

[agrasyuk]

10 hours ago, Rudel_chw said:

Its the control panel of my speakers:

 

 

Oh no, no, no ) the Logitech controller I'm very well aware of what it is. I was drooling over the 5500 set for long time. I was referring to the box in the closet