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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.

2 of 720 comments (clear)

  1. Propagation delay ??? by fluffy99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

    Eh? This sounds more like crappy cables, than anything else. Propagation delay on an extra 10-feet of cables is hardly measurable much less noticeable.

  2. Re:Simple by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Informative

    Came to say this. If you want a great build, include these:

    An Asus Strix GTX 970
    A Seasonic Platinum 1050w
    A 120mm/140mm CPU cooler, at least a Hyper 212 Evo
    A 4xxx Intel chip
    A SSD
    A case with lots of ventilation so you won't need extra fans. For maximum Wife Acceptance Factor, consider mini-ITX.

    Noise? What noise? If your motherboard is willing to shut off your CPU fan at idle, you'll be at 0db (except for electrical noise). Even during heavy gaming the thing will barely make a whisper.

    Need more help? SPCR has you covered.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?