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Ask Slashdot: Making a 'Wife Friendly' Gaming PC?
shadeshope writes Having just gotten married, I find that for some inexplicable reason my wife doesn't like my huge, noisy, 'ugly' gaming PC being in the living room. I have tried hiding it in a TV cabinet: still too noisy. I have placed it in another room and run HDMI and USB cables, but the propagation delay caused horrible tearing and lag when playing games. Have any other slashdotters encountered this problem? I don't want to buy a console (Steam sales let me game so cheaply), or mess with water cooling. Ideally I would just hide it in the attic, is there some wireless technology that would be fast enough for gaming use? I have become quite attached to 'behemoth.' I have been upgrading him for years and he is the centre of my digital life. I run plex home theatre, media centre, steam, iTunes and air server. Will I have to do my gaming in the spare room? Once I have sorted this small problem going to try and make a case for the efficacy of a projector to replace the television..... it takes up less space, motorized screen could be hidden when not in use, etc.
you have a good prenup
Have you tried putting her in a cabinet?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yes, make his wife wear headphones around the house whenever the PC is running. Brilliant idea.
If your wife is making more noise than the computer, spending money on computer parts won't solve the noise issue.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
earplugs.
You're absolutely right. Get the decent expanding foam ones, they block shrill frequencies right out! :D
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
If she's holding you at gunpoint, blink twice.
Look, nobody normal respects gamers, and for very good reason. The best we can hope for is tolerance unless we're prepared to marry a waifu.
Personally, I found the best solution was to quit my job so I could game while my wife as at work. No muss, no fuss. The only problem comes at times like this weekend, when I played so much Far Cry 4 that I accidentally called my wife Amita.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Get a less noisy system. How hard is that to figure out?
Married 15 years. After I had spent the money on quieter fans, it turned out she just didn't like the look of the computer in the living room, with its wires and peripherals and stuff.
Go the man cave route with an extra room (or even a closet). You get to spend the money on bigger speakers instead of quieter fans. She gets to decorate the living room to her liking, and you get major points for being so accommodating. It will come in handy later when you have kids, so you can lock out all your little ones from the Dangerous Stuff, and it's even more handy later when you can let your bigger kids play in them while you and the Mrs. enjoy some sanity time in the nice living room.
The moral of the story is: don't be poor.