Slashdot Mirror


Quiet Desk (Not Desktop) PC

Anonymous Coward writes "Rusty took a wholly different approach to PC noise: he built his XP1900+ machine right into the desk! While it may not make the PC industry scramble to define a new *desk* (not desktop) form factor, Rusty's inventive techniques will surely have computer hardware enthusiasts poring over his fine work."

32 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. Upgrading...... by Splezunk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bit of a problem upgrading 'Desks'. Also, LAN parties will be a bit of a bitch. Gotta get the trusty U-haul trucks.

    1. Re:Upgrading...... by MrZaius · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My God man. Bit of a problem upgrading?

      Did you see that? I've had enlight cases with sides that pop right off. I've had beautiful huge Addtronics cases that have doors that open, on simple hinges, and with a motherboard panel that takes all of 30 seconds to remove.

      This man's desk kicks the ass of everything I've seen.

      Aside from the time it would take to cut a new vent (he can position a new motherboard to use the current hole in the desk for the vent), this is the easiest to upgrade, most accessible machine I've ever seen.

      It would take less time to pop a new PCI card into it than it would to reboot it. All he has to do is pull out a drawer, pop the card in, and he's done.

      This thing is beautiful.

  2. Hasn't this been done before? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't think of any sites with specific examples, but it seems like I've seen this before... along with computer built into walls and other such things. Now... if it was a LEGO desk with a computer built into it, I'd be impressed.

    1. Re:Hasn't this been done before? by swankypimp · · Score: 5, Funny

      How 'bout an aluminum LEGO desk that acts as one big-ass heatsink, and ducts directly into the office's air conditioner. He could overclock to 5 gHz or something, add some plexiglass windows and a bunch of LEDs and be the l33test casemodder ever!

      --

      --All your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson
  3. Is this the first Desk to be /.? by WillRobinson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Darn, could not see the fine work. Slashdotted early. So, should he engrave a big /. in the middle of the desk now?

  4. Reminds me of... by Xunker · · Score: 4, Informative

    Kinda reminds me of this, eh?

    --
    Hilary Rosen's speech was about her love of money and her desire to roll around naked in a pile of money.
  5. It's Stuck! by anball · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't that make it kinda hard to take to LAN parties? I'd hate to miss out on a good Quake session because I couldn't get my computer into my car.

    --


    "No manual entry for woman."
  6. Poor table by theBrownfury · · Score: 4, Funny

    And for the first time in history a table is Slashdotted!

    --

    "Unlike most of you, I am not a nut." - Homer J. Simpson
  7. Ah slashdot.... by G-funk · · Score: 5, Funny

    I love this website... it's my #1 source of cool things I'd love to look at, if only the computer hosting them wasn't a smouldering puddle of melted plastic and silicon.

    --
    Send lawyers, guns, and money!
  8. Anonymous, huh? by $carab · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great.....So now we've got "Anonymous Cowards" hyping the first article on their website...

    Unfortunately, our Anonymous Friend didnt anticipate the strain on the servers...


    Warning: Too many connections in /home/www/silentpcreview.com/pnadodb/drivers/adodb -mysql.inc.php on line 121

    Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Too many connections in /home/www/silentpcreview.com/pnadodb/drivers/adodb -mysql.inc.php on line 121
    mysql://silentpc:@localhost/silentpcreview failed to connectToo many connections


    Ahhh.....Like poetry....

  9. Too bad by Johnso · · Score: 5, Funny
    Users of these PCs can't dropkick the units or throw them out the window like regular PC users can.

    Where's the stress relief when the damn thing Blue Screens?

    --
    I'm a signature virus. Please copy me to your signature so I can replicate.
  10. Caffeine Machine by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I dunno if building a PC into a desk is all that original. I've seen a few in my time which were pretty inventive. This, on the other hand, seems quite an improvement, at least it's got Hot Java. ;-)

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  11. Hot vibrating wood by Johnso · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Athlon XP + direct encasement in wood + heavy use = worst fire hazard ever

    Who would want to work on such a hot, shaky piece of wood?

    --
    I'm a signature virus. Please copy me to your signature so I can replicate.
  12. Breaking news by dirvish · · Score: 4, Funny

    A four alarm fire has broken out in Everett, WA. Officials believe the cause to be a overheated server creating a desk to combust.

    Registrant:
    Internal Combustion
    2815 107th Pl SE
    Everett, WA 98208
    US
    Domain Name: SILENTPCREVIEW.COM

  13. the future of computing by everyplace · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now, the next level of this will be redundency. Walk into someone's office, and see two identical desks, with idendical pen holders, family photos, telephones and whatnot on the surface.

    "What's that one for?" a casual observer might ask.
    "Oh, that's just my backup desk, for when my main one crashes."

  14. Nothing new by geek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My dads been doing this for 30 years. To change his hard drive he pulls out a drawer and puts in a new one. He started it while working for McDonald Douglas a few years before I was born. I still remember sticking 5" floppies into the slot opening in the bottom drawer. I would kick my feet while playing this wierd cow game he had and every couple minutes would kick the lever releasing the floppy and crashing the system.

    To him it makes perfect sense. He can expand more easily without opening cases and it solves some heat issues you get in tiny enclosures. Not to mention its totally silent.

  15. Pic Mirror by MrZaius · · Score: 5, Informative

    www.wworld.com/users/seancrago/CaseUnAssembledRigh t.jpg
    www.wworld.com/users/seancrago/CaseOpen1.jp g

    Those mirrors won't last long, but they're the most impressive of the pics in the article. Even if the site stays /.ed, you won't be missing much if you get a couple of pics. Only really novel thing explained in the text of the article was where he explained that the CPU was a down-volted xp1900, w/passive cooling.

  16. Kinda reminds you of... by carlmenezes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This.
    Sadly, it's been discontinued, which is why you'll only find it in Google's cache.

    Cool idea though.
    On a lighter note, you could now have water cooling linked to a nice decorative fish tank - hell you don't even need real fish :)

    --
    Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
  17. I hope his desk wasn't also the server... by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Let's see, have to do some work now. Hey, is it hot in here or is it just me? Wow, my desk is getting hot! Hey, what gives?" [phoom!]* "oh, the humanity!!!!"

    *phoom = sound wooden desk makes when it bursts into flames

  18. OK, I'm sick of this by jeko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dammit. Yet another cool site I'd love to see, but predictably slashdotted into the depths of hell.

    Sheesh. How hard is this? Quietly prepare a mirror of the site. Post the story. When their poor little server goes screaming into the abyss, shoot them an email that says, "Hi. Sorry we depthcharged your site. Would you like us to point our link to a mirror?" They say "Hell, yes."

    Problem solved. Well, OK, maybe warning them in advance would work better.

    Admittedly, I am far from the sharpest crayon in the box, and yes, this adds a layer of administration and screwups, but how is that any worse than the subject of almost every single story being unavailable?

    We're supposed to be a bunch of smart geeks here. Slashdotting sites into the next millenium is a technical problem. Why can't we fix this?

    And no, dammit, this is not off-topic.

    --
    He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
    1. Re:OK, I'm sick of this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      the easiest solution is that we all just stop coming here to begin with. you first. i'll let you know how it works out.

  19. I can see it now... by TitusC3v5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    USER: Wow, this thing is cool. Hey, where'd my notepad go?

    FRIEND: It's over there on your desktop.

    USER: Huh? No it's not. I've looked all over. Not there.

    FRIEND: No. It's on your DESKTOP.

    USER: *Dawn of realization* Ohhhh.......

    --
    And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
  20. Re:Mirror the damn sites by Peyna · · Score: 4, Informative

    Use your brain, if /. hosts the mirror locally, then the number of people access their site isn't going to go up. The total bandwidth might go up a little bit due to more images, but in the end it would have a minimal effect on them. It's not going to magically draw more users from the void to hit /.

    --
    What?
  21. What's all this... by TitaniumFox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...about the desk bursting into flames, people, and why all the "insightful" mods that go along with it?

    There's a few pictures mirrored in the posts. If you go look at them you'll see that he has a Zalman heatsink, and a ducted case fan blowing right on it.

    Lessee. Last I checked, copper had a favorable heat transfer coeffecient. Fins are a valid way of transmitting heat to air, too.

    Passively, a Zalman Flower Heatsink might not stand up to an Athlon XP 1900+, but even with a modicum of air flow, it'll do fine.

    --
    -- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
  22. Re:Mirror the damn sites by gvonk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To the Editors:

    (read this, it's important)

    I WOULD PAY MONEY to have access to a subscribers-only cache of stories.

    Period.

    Money,
    out of my pocket.

    --


    El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
  23. This is Old by Lucas+Membrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One of the first nearly-personal computers, the IBM System 3, model 6, which booted up into a Basic (or RPG II), console was built like a desk. This thing came out in the spring of 1971. It had 16k of real memory, 48k of virtual memory, mountable disks, optional VDT, builtin 100 CPS dot-matrix printer right in the middle of the desk, card reader, card punch, and as much free desktop space as most computer geeks have today, etc.

  24. Re:Err... by coaxial · · Score: 5, Funny


    You know, it's not night *everywhere* on the planet...

    You truly deserve your +1 infomative.

  25. Re:Look Ma! No video card! by Rusty075 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually no, all the cables have enough extra length looped into them at the end to allow the drawer to open fully. Trust me, it's my computer. (in fact i'm typing on it right now) But thank god that silentpcreview isn't my site, and that my machine isn't the server! If anybody has any specific questions I can try to answer them, since at the moment you can't actually see the site.

  26. Microcomputers have been in desks since 1976! by Eric+Smith · · Score: 4, Informative

    For example, the Noval 760, a Z-80 system with monitor, tape drive, and printer, built into a desk. The peripherals are in a hinged portion so they can be kept out of the way when you're not computing. The Noval was reviewed in Byte magazine in 1977.

  27. Tech Support Problems by BoBaBrain · · Score: 4, Funny

    Could this be the first PC which actually *does* have a cup holder?

    --
    I am a Karma Library.
  28. Drink hazard? by Renraku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A good rule I've learned with delicate electronics, through the actions of others while in high school. Always place the computer higher up than the drink is placed. That way, if the drink spills, it won't trickle down into the computer.

    --
    Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
  29. Convenient mirror.... by Jouster · · Score: 5, Informative

    Go grab this file.

    Unzip, preserving folder names, and enjoy.

    Jouster