Banish the Noise: All the Enthusiast Power without the Fan/Pump Noise (sortof)

[Zarathustra]

So I ended my previous project targeted at doing a remote water cooling system.

Essentially, the plan was to banish the noise by putting fans, radiators and pumps in another room, pumping the water through PEX tubing in the walls to my office, and cooling the PC there, and have a true no compromises system.

While this probably would have worked just dine, over time it really dawned on me how much work and money I was putting into it, and during the first test/flush of the PEX pipes in the walls it became apparently just how much of a pain in the *** it was going to drain/fill the system, how accident prone it was, and that if I was going to buy almost 10 gallons of coolant, how much money I was going to spend on just the coolant.

Then I remembered what Toast0 said in my thread on the Hardforums. Wouldn't it be easier to just run long USB and Video cables to another room, and use the PC remotely?

I kind of disregarded it, because I had tried something like that before, and it was a **** show.

Back in 2014 I had just set up a VM server and I was going a little VM crazy. I needed Kodi front-ends for my TV's, and I thought to myself, instead of sticking a client at each TV, why not just pass through video cards, and have a VM running for the front end, and using long USB and HDMI extensions?

well, I tried. Using multiple different USB over Ethernet and HDMI over Ethernet adapters that were available at the time, and it ultimately turned into a huge waste of time. Constant connection issues, etc. etc.

So I thought I'd been there and done that.

Then one night I started googling. Turns out Linus is doing just this with his systems.

Interesting I thought. I googled the Icron USB over fiber box he was using, and found it cost like $1,400 or something just for the box.

I left a snarky comment on this video about how he claims he was concerned about budget, but then is using some expensive remote USB box that kind of kills it.

But then I thought, maybe there is something less expensive?

As an alternative I found this Chinese stupid brand name:



phoossno USB C to C Fiber Optical Cable USB 3.1 Type C Cable 10Gbps 65FT Compatible with Microsoft Azure Logitech Camera Aver &Vaddio & Barco ClickShare Touch Screen Kinect Intel RealSense

$153 is not nothing, but compared to $1,400 just for the converter box, it isn't bad.

Searching some more I came across some powered long Displayport cables as well:

By another stupid Chinese brand name (I keep picturing Salt Bae, but with soy )



SOEYBAE 8K Fiber DisplayPort Cable 65ft/20m, 8K DP 1.4 Cable, Support 32.4Gbps Ultra High Speed, 8K@60Hz, 4K@144Hz, Compatible with Graphics Card, VR Headset, Projector

I did some bandwidth calculations, and determined I could not run all three of my screens off of one cable, so I'd need at least two, so I got two of them and a two-way displayport to dual HDMI MST hub.



UPTab DisplayPort to Dual HDMI 4K 60Hz Adapter Multi Monitor Splitter, Converter Multi-Stream Transport (MST) Hub, DP to 2X HDMI 2.0 (DisplayPort to Dual HDMI)

And in order to connect the two male displayport connectors to eachother, I got a female to female adapter.


I also picked up this Startech USB hub as it was the only one I could find with a 10gig female USB-C port as the uplink.



StarTech.com 4-Port USB C Hub - USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) - 3x USB-A & 1x USB-C - Powered - Universal Power Adapter Included (HB31C3A1CS)

I was concerned latency might be a problem, so I decided to buy everything on Amazon, so that if it didn't work to my requirements, I could take advantage of their return policy.

Everything arrived several weeks ago.

When it first arrived I tested one of the displayport cables and the USB-C cable and hub, without running the cables in order to see if they were reliable and had decent latency before I did all the work.

To my surprise they worked perfectly. I did some large sample size "response time" tests and did some statistical analysis, and found no statistical difference between normal USB and monitor cables and these long ones, so I decided to move ahead.

I ran the two 65ft displayport cables and the 65ft USB-C cable through my basement drop ceiling, moved the desktop to my "server room" and hooked up all the wiring at my desk.

The main center screen worked great. The two old Dell 2007FP screens however were not working right. They were flickering on and off every couple of minutes, and just not working right. I don't know whether to blame the MST hub, or the fact that I was using multiple adapters (Displayport -> HDMI -> DVI) or that there were two active cables/adapters in a row, but in the end, I just could not get them to work right.

I returned the MST hub, and instead bought another Soy Bae displayport cable.

And because I didn't want to run into this issue again, I decided I needed side screens that actually had native displayport inputs. I've liked my old Dell monitors, so I did some searching. It turns out you can get a used/refurbished Dell U2412M for only about $80, so I decided to just do it so I didn't have to mess with any more adapters or MST hubs.

When they arrived, I ran the added Display Port cable, and hooked them up. The U2412M's looked kind of awkward with the default stands as the height was not right compared to my center screen, so I also picked up a set of the cheapest compatible VESA monitor stands that I thought would hit the right height for them.

I hooked it all up, and everything works beautifully.



The lighting is strangely orange today and I still have my ****ty temporary rug after my old one got ruined when I had the leak, so I'll have to take a "glamour shot" another day, maybe with some of that behind the screen "mood lighting" that is so popular these days But I like the way it turned out.

Only issue I've had connectivity wise is that occasionally, during reboots the USB hub gets confused and loses the connection, requiring me to power it off and on again to get it to work, which can be annoying since it can cause me to miss the Grub OS selection screen, if I am trying to get into Windows.

Once connected/booted - however - it is rock solid. I've probably put about 150 hours of gaming into it in this condition thus far (end of System Shock remake, a short Civ 6 game, and now Starfield) and it has been rock solid, and the room has been silent and cool.

10gig USB-C is more than enough to handle my mouse, keyboard, USB DAC, USB microphone and probably lots more at the same time.

I decided I also had to buy another UPS, as there is no point to have the desktop on a UPS, if I wont have the scxreens and controls I need to safely shut it down if the power goes out The lower capacity (I don't need that much for just screens mouse and keyboard) true sine wave CyberPower units are surprisingly affordable, so it didn't set me back all that much. The new UPS is semi-hidden behind the monitor on the left.


The Desktop is currently on the floor in the server room next to the rack:


It's a little messy. I think the next step will be to transition the build into a rackmountable chassis, and stick it in the rack.

It wouldn't be a real Z project without at least some experimental customization though, so here we go:

Everything truly worked out to my liking except the fact that I did not have power and reset buttons in my office, and had to walk across the house to hit them. I did some searching for existing products for remote front panel, and the only thing I found was some power button on a keychain fob which I didn't like, so I decided to try something of my own.

I grabbed a 75ft Cat 6a cable (it had to be 6a because I was uncertain if the copper leads would be thick enough to carry the current necessary for the LED's on Cat 5.) I also grabbed an older front panel cable extension kit I had laying around. I cut the ends off, of both, and spliced them together on both ends as follows:

Power Switch​	+​	Blue​
Power Switch​	-​	White-Blue​
Power LED​	+​	Green​
Power LED​	-​	White-green​
Reset Switch​	+​	Brown​
Reset Switch​	-​	Brown-White​
HDD LED	+	Orange
HDD LED	-	Orange-White

As an aside, if you splice wires and haven't come across these type of Solder Seal wire splicers get some now, they make life so much easier.

Once buttoned up with some heat shrink tubing to cover the ugly work, it looks a little prettier:




I did this on both sides, and looked around for something to connect it to.

I found these Cherry MX style switches with a built in LED to be a neat solution:



DKE Power Switch Power Supply Control Adapter Cable 2M External PC Power Button ATX Desktop Computer Case Motherboard Switch On Off Power SW Cables, Black

I picked up two of them. One for power button and power LED, and the other for reset button and HDD LED.

They come with a magnet base so they can be stuck on anyhting metal (or some round adhesive backed metal pieces to stick them to.

Up until this point I still had NO IDEA if it was going to work. I did some googling, but I never found anyone else who had tried this.

IT WORKED! Perfectly at that!

Now the only thing that remains is to stick the whole thing in a rackmountable case.

The Silverstone RM51 5U case seems really cool, but **** is it pricy for a case...

Whatever case I wind up with will be going on the bottom of the rack, just in case I have a leak, so nothing more important gets wet.

I'm thinking I'll have two Watercool MoRA radiators external to the case handle the cooling, but thats a future project, maybe next time I upgrade the motherboard. For now I am just going to sit back, play some starfield maxed out at decent temps with fans and pumps at 100% and enjoy the silence.

Side note: My snarky comment on the LTT video? Seems like he or someone on his crew may have read it, as I just saw they did this follow-up video:

I kind of like my solution better than his though.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I admit I've thought about doing something similar to this over the years by using KVM switches and so on. Basically keeping one rig in the cave and running cables to rooms throughout the house. What's held me back, mostly, is that display needs are always increasing and it's difficult to source cables long enough to support all the features I want.

The other drawback is running all those cables throughout the house plus my current strategy allows a hand-me-down path when I upgrade components in the main(4090) rig to the other builds.

Congrats though!

 

[LazyGamer]

This is something that I'd love to do, and if I did, would instantly regret the moment I decided to start tinkering...

 

[DrezKill]

Awesome idea, awesome project! Glad it all worked out!

The Desktop is currently on the floor in the server room next to the rack:

Okaaaaay, so you have accomplished one of my dreams and have a server rack (server room) in your house! Do you have a thread about it? It would be cool to get some more info on this whole setup.

I think the next step will be to transition the build into a rackmountable chassis, and stick it in the rack.

Yeah that would be neat. Would definitely save space.

...enjoy the silence.

The room where my PC and consoles are has a window A/C unit, so silence is not something I ever get to enjoy. Not that I really need it. I like at least some white noise. Not too much (like the f*cking PS3's fan(s), where I can't even hear my own thoughts), but I don't mind the noise coming from my PC case fans. The AIO radiator has 4 fans on it, and when I turn them up to max speed for heavy gaming they can get pretty loud (but they just kinda blend in with the sound from the A/C unit). After 9 years I've gotten used to it though, and usually while gaming I have the speakers turned up too, so the sounds of the fans don't really interfere. Headphones would probably work great, but I am NOT a headphones guy. I can't stand to wear them for very long. Certainly not long enough for a typical gaming session. Overall though I think I endure more noise than most PC enthusiasts would prefer to deal with. But a dead silent room also f*cks with me, probably a lot more than having constant white noise from cooling equipment. Obviously in the winter I don't have to deal with the window A/C unit's noise.

I picked up two of them. One for power button and power LED, and the other for reset button and HDD LED.

They come with a magnet base so they can be stuck on anyhting metal (or some round adhesive backed metal pieces to stick them to.

Up until this point I still had NO IDEA if it was going to work. I did some googling, but I never found anyone else who had tried this.

IT WORKED! Perfectly at that!

I didn't even think about how you would hit the Power and Reset buttons (or see power LED and HDD activity LED) with the PC in another room. This idea is genius! Really nice setup there!

...maybe with some of that behind the screen "mood lighting" that is so popular these days

When RGB lighting for computer components is not enough, the kiddies love to throw RGB on the walls of their rooms. RGB the world! Can't frag harder without the disco lights.

The U2412M's...

Fantastic monitors, and I like how you get 'em set up. My bro still uses one of these. I had a U2410 but it died on me after 9 years. I had been hoping to use it in portrait mode when it was no longer my primary display. Oh well.

Still rockin' that RatPadz (GS or XT?), and I forgot you got the new version of the Logitech MX518. Nice shiznit. I like the pattern on your desk too.

I've probably put about 150 hours of gaming into it in this condition thus far (end of System Shock remake, a short Civ 6 game, and now Starfield) and it has been rock solid, and the room has been silent and cool.

Oh shiiiiat, so you put some good time into this new setup already before you even told us about it!

Honestly I had been wondering what you had been up to since the previous project ended up not going anywhere after you had to deal with the leak and ripped all the carpet out. Well you definitely replaced it with an interesting project, and it all worked out well this time! Thanks for sharing it with us. Fascinating stuff indeed.

What's held me back, mostly, is that display needs are always increasing and it's difficult to source cables long enough to support all the features I want.

I have friends who are having a h3ll of a time trying to find super-long HDMI 2.1 cables for full 4K HDR 120Hz-with-VRR output that can successfully carry the signal without issues.

 

[Zarathustra]

I admit I've thought about doing something similar to this over the years by using KVM switches and so on. Basically keeping one rig in the cave and running cables to rooms throughout the house. What's held me back, mostly, is that display needs are always increasing and it's difficult to source cables long enough to support all the features I want.

The other drawback is running all those cables throughout the house plus my current strategy allows a hand-me-down path when I upgrade components in the main(4090) rig to the other builds.

Congrats though!

I'm pretty hopeful that these Displayport cables will last me a while. I can't imagine really needing more bandwidth than 4k120hz, at least not for some time, and I havent heard of a standard replacing displayport on the horizon. Fingers crossed I don't have to do it again any time soon!

 

[Zarathustra]

Awesome idea, awesome project! Glad it all worked out!

Thank you Sir!

Okaaaaay, so you have accomplished one of my dreams and have a server rack (server room) in your house! Do you have a thread about it? It would be cool to get some more info on this whole setup.

There is no cohesive thread about this. It came together in the middle of two moves piecemeal. I scoured craigslist and facebook marketplace for free or near free racks. They were once a dime in a dozen around here, but when I did it in 2020, they were hard to come by. Then within a few months of having it set up in my old house, my landlord at the time said he was selling the house, so we had to move. When we bought our own place I set it up over a period of time, but never really did any posts about it.

I'll see if I can find some links to stuff I have posted over the journey.

The room where my PC and consoles are has a window A/C unit, so silence is not something I ever get to enjoy. Not that I really need it. I like at least some white noise. Not too much (like the f*cking PS3's fan(s), where I can't even hear my own thoughts), but I don't mind the noise coming from my PC case fans. The AIO radiator has 4 fans on it, and when I turn them up to max speed for heavy gaming they can get pretty loud (but they just kinda blend in with the sound from the A/C unit). After 9 years I've gotten used to it though, and usually while gaming I have the speakers turned up too, so the sounds of the fans don't really interfere. Headphones would probably work great, but I am NOT a headphones guy. I can't stand to wear them for very long. Certainly not long enough for a typical gaming session. Overall though I think I endure more noise than most PC enthusiasts would prefer to deal with. But a dead silent room also f*cks with me, probably a lot more than having constant white noise from cooling equipment. Obviously in the winter I don't have to deal with the window A/C unit's noise.

They are expensive, but have you seen those U shaped window units? They hang over the windowsill and isolate the compressor side outside the window with the window mostly closed. They wind up being MUCH quieter than a traditional window unit (but not as quiet as a typical mini-split.

There are several different brands, but most of them look something like this:





I imagine the ones that go down below the window are slightly quieter than those that poke up, as the glass is less sound deadening than the wall.

Some of my friends have one for a room with their newborn kid, and they tell me the unit lives up to the claims of being quiet and effective.

I didn't even think about how you would hit the Power and Reset buttons (or see power LED and HDD activity LED) with the PC in another room. This idea is genius! Really nice setup there!


When RGB lighting for computer components is not enough, the kiddies love to throw RGB on the walls of their rooms. RGB the world! Can't frag harder without the disco lights.

Yeah, my office looks a little sterile by comparison, but there is no wauy I am going to cycling RGB lighting. That just isn't my thing. I might decorate a little bit more though. Just haven't had the time since we bought the place in 2021.

Fantastic monitors, and I like how you get 'em set up. My bro still uses one of these. I had a U2410 but it died on me after 9 years. I had been hoping to use it in portrait mode when it was no longer my primary display. Oh well.

Yeah, they are pretty nice. I am happy with them. Most gamer kids wouldn't like them as they are 60hz with no VRR, but they are great for general desktop use. Essentially they were the cheapest I could find with native displayport inputs. At $80 a pop, they really weren't bad. There are even Amazon sellers that sell them.

Still rockin' that RatPadz (GS or XT?), and I forgot you got the new version of the Logitech MX518. Nice shiznit. I like the pattern on your desk too.

This is the original one. Back when they were only called "Ratpadz". I forget the later naming once there was a different variant. I have about 3 of them in the strategic reserve for a rainy day. I still haven't found a pad I like as much. The modern kiddies run really low sensitivity and huge mouse pads, so they wouldn't like them, but this is perfect for me. Only downside is that they tend to warp over time, so I have to regularly bend them back.

Oh shiiiiat, so you put some good time into this new setup already before you even told us about it!

Yeah, that's in part because the place was still a mess since the leak I had in the basement. Work got really crazy too. I wanted to clean up the office a little, and give it some time first before doing a writeup. I had it hooked up and working for a while, but hadn't put the polished finished touches together until this weekend. The remote front panel buttons only just came together, and I wanted to show off the finished product.

Honestly I had been wondering what you had been up to since the previous project ended up not going anywhere after you had to deal with the leak and ripped all the carpet out. Well you definitely replaced it with an interesting project, and it all worked out well this time! Thanks for sharing it with us. Fascinating stuff indeed.

I'm glad you liked it!

I have friends who are having a h3ll of a time trying to find super-long HDMI 2.1 cables for full 4K HDR 120Hz-with-VRR output that can successfully carry the signal without issues.

Yeah, HDMI is trickier, from what I understand. back when I was running a TV as a monitor I always had trouble with cabling.

These active over fiber displayport cables just work though. No problems at all, as long as you are using native displayport screens, and don't try messing around with adapters or MST hubs.

I got the 65 ft versions, but they come in 50ft to 150ft sizes. The USB-C cables go up to 100ft.

 

[Zarathustra]

Yeah, that's in part because the place was still a mess since the leak I had in the basement. Work got really crazy too. I wanted to clean up the office a little, and give it some time first before doing a writeup. I had it hooked up and working for a while, but hadn't put the polished finished touches together until this weekend. The remote front panel buttons only just came together, and I wanted to show off the finished product.

Also, I wound up with Covid, and once the worst symptoms were over, I was still told to stay home and isolate, so without the distractions of work and the honey-do list, I really had nothing better to do than to just dump hours into Starfield.

I got WAY more gaming in than I otherwise would in this amount of time. So the hour count really inflates how long this has been up and running

 

[Zarathustra]

Okaaaaay, so you have accomplished one of my dreams and have a server rack (server room) in your house! Do you have a thread about it? It would be cool to get some more info on this whole setup.

There is no cohesive thread about this. It came together in the middle of two moves piecemeal. I scoured craigslist and facebook marketplace for free or near free racks. They were once a dime in a dozen around here, but when I did it in 2020, they were hard to come by. Then within a few months of having it set up in my old house, my landlord at the time said he was selling the house, so we had to move. When we bought our own place I set it up over a period of time, but never really did any posts about it.

Looks like I posted more about it than I remembered posting in this thread over in the Hardforums.

It's not a complete writeup, but it does describe a lot of what I did.

I haven't updated it in a while (since my last move and moving it into the new house which was an adventure), so it is not 100% up to date, but it is a starting point.

 

[DrezKill]

There is no cohesive thread about this. It came together in the middle of two moves piecemeal. I scoured craigslist and facebook marketplace for free or near free racks. They were once a dime in a dozen around here, but when I did it in 2020, they were hard to come by. Then within a few months of having it set up in my old house, my landlord at the time said he was selling the house, so we had to move. When we bought our own place I set it up over a period of time, but never really did any posts about it.

I'll see if I can find some links to stuff I have posted over the journey.

Ah okay. Thanks for the info you did provide. I did recall that you moved not too long ago, and I was wondering if that rack was a pain in the @ss to move.

I was concerned latency might be a problem...

When it first arrived I tested one of the displayport cables and the USB-C cable and hub, without running the cables in order to see if they were reliable and had decent latency before I did all the work. To my surprise they worked perfectly. I did some large sample size "response time" tests and did some statistical analysis, and found no statistical difference between normal USB and monitor cables and these long ones, so I decided to move ahead.

Ah okay, I missed this info before, and I had been wondering about the latency. Sounds like it was just fine. Good to know.

I can't imagine really needing more bandwidth than 4k120hz, at least not for some time

Same.

I havent heard of a standard replacing displayport on the horizon

Not to mention we only just got DP 2.x.

They are expensive, but have you seen those U shaped window units? They hang over the windowsill and isolate the compressor side outside the window with the window mostly closed. They wind up being MUCH quieter than a traditional window unit (but not as quiet as a typical mini-split.

There are several different brands, but most of them look something like this:

I imagine the ones that go down below the window are slightly quieter than those that poke up, as the glass is less sound deadening than the wall.

Some of my friends have one for a room with their newborn kid, and they tell me the unit lives up to the claims of being quiet and effective.

Actually I am not familiar with these, very interesting. I shall have to look into them.

Most gamer kids wouldn't like them as they are 60hz with no VRR, but they are great for general desktop use.

About 10 years ago they were great gaming monitors, and aside from being stuck at 60Hz and not having VRR (and also not having the best latency) I would still consider them great monitors for gaming. But yeah for general purpose PC use they are fantastic. Both the U2412 and U2410. Also I'm a big fan of the 16:10 aspect ratio.

It turns out you can get a used/refurbished Dell U2412M for only about $80, so I decided to just do it so I didn't have to mess with any more adapters or MST hubs.

Oh well sh1t, maybe I should do that. Both of my side monitors are TN trash that I got for free from friends who were throwing them out. I'm a sucker for the LG IPS panels Dell uses in their displays.

This is the original one. Back when they were only called "Ratpadz". I forget the later naming once there was a different variant. I ahve about 3 of them in the strategic reserve for a rainy day. I still haven't found a pad I like as much. The modern kiddies run really low sensitivity and huge mouse pads, so they wouldn't like them, but this is perfect for me. Only dowside is that they tend to warp over time, so I have to regularly bend them back.

Aaahhh, still using one of the original RatPadz. Glad you got some spares handy. I had a GS and I'm still using an XT. Forgot when I got the XT, but it's still in excellent condition. My brother also uses a GS. Some of those older RatPadz designs I wanted for my collection, but I found out about RatPadz a bit too late. I do recall the warping issue. The RatPadz series are definitely THE best mouse pads I have ever used in my life, and maybe it's just me, but I feel like the optical sensors on mice track better on the RatPadz. It sucks when awesome products leave the market, and there is absolutely nothing that comes even remotely close to replacing them.

But no, maybe I'm using my mouse wrong. Maybe I need a cloth mousepad that is large enough to be used as a tablecloth, and I should move my entire arm to move the mouse.

Yeah, that's in part because the place was still a mess since the leak I had in the basement. Work got really crazy too. I wanted to clean up the office a little, and give it some time first before doing a writeup. I had it hooked up and working for a while, but hadn't put the polished finished touches together until this weekend. The remote front panel buttons only just came together, and I wanted to show off the finished product.

Ah okay, gotcha. I see you've also been busy. Life happens. Glad you still got a chance to complete this project. The remote front panel buttons are like a fancy decorative flourish on the top of a gourmet cake! It helped sell the final presentation of the whole project, delivering maximum impact. Probably best that you waited until the whole thing was done and you had spent time with it before you shared your thoughts on it with us. And now I will be sharing this project with others.

Also, I wound up with Covid, and once the worst symptoms were over, I was still told to stay home and isolate, so without the distractions of work and the honey-do list, I really had nothing better to do than to just dump hours into Starfield.

I got WAY more gaming in than I otherwise would in this amount of time. So the hour count really inflates how long this has been up and running

Oh daaaaaaaaaang, you got COVID-19 huh?! That sucks! Sorry you had to deal with that. A friend of mine recently got married, and his wedding present wasn't a honeymoon, it was COVID-19. It was the 2nd time he's had it, and he said it was way worse than the first time. I've been lucky enough to have avoided it thus far. Probably a good thing cuz my immune system isn't the best as it is. Illness time is always a good time for gaming though! Regardless of the circumstances of how you ended up with the extra free time, I'm glad you were able to use it to get some gaming in, and really test and enjoy your new setup.

These active over fiber displayport cables just work though. No problems at all, as long as you are using native displayport screens, and don't try messing around with adapters or MST hubs.

I got the 65 ft versions, but they come in 50ft to 150ft sizes.

Yeah fiber DP cables, very interesting. I've been hearing that the decent long HDMI cables are also fiber. Seems like the way to go for very long cables. For some of the shorter long cables (like 15-20ft), I've had some luck with Monoprice Redmere cables. These cables are unidirectional, with one end for the source and the other for the display. The source side pulls extra current to make sure the signal can make it to the other end intact. They work pretty well.

Yeah I assumed trying to pass the signal from fiber DP cables through adapters and hubs would f*ck with the signal.

50-150ft, wow that's a pretty nice range. I'll have to keep these cables in mind.

Looks like I posted more about it than I remembered posting in this thread over in the Hardforums.

It's not a complete writeup, but it does describe a lot of what I did.

I ahvent updated it in a while (since my last move and moving it into the new house which was an adventure), so it is not 100% up to date, but it is a starting point.

Oh cool, I'll check that out, thanks!

 

[Zarathustra]

Oh daaaaaaaaaang, you got COVID-19 huh?! That sucks! Sorry you had to deal with that. A friend of mine recently got married, and his wedding present wasn't a honeymoon, it was COVID-19. It was the 2nd time he's had it, and he said it was way worse than the first time. I've been lucky enough to have avoided it thus far. Probably a good thing cuz my immune system isn't the best as it is. Illness time is always a good time for gaming though! Regardless of the circumstances of how you ended up with the extra free time, I'm glad you were able to use it to get some gaming in, and really test and enjoy your new setup.

Yeah, second time for me as well. I got it the first time in December last year.

This time was more fever (I haven't shivered that much in a long time) and less respiratory, at least for me.

It's only an n=1, but maybe that helps explain why fewer people are losing their lives to it now. My understanding is that it was the respiratory part that was claiming lives.

My almost 80 year old immuno-compromised mother-in-law is staying with us on a semi-permanent basis, so I secluded myself in my basement office most of the time, and once I was well enough to not just lay in bed a shiver, I had little else to do but games.

 

[Zarathustra]

Alright, as previously promised, cleaned up, and with proper white balance and a little of that oh-so-popular mood lighting this time.

Also, since last pic I switched from an Asus XG438Q as my center monitor to a 42" LG C3, which required a little rearranging.

And because of the little project above, it is always dead silent, even under heavy gaming load

 

[DrezKill]

Alright, as previously promised, cleaned up, and with proper white balance and a little of that oh-so-popular mood lighting this time.

Also, since last pic I switched from an Asus XG438Q as my center monitor to a 42" LG C3, which required a little rearranging.

And because of the little project above, it is always dead silent, even under heavy gaming load

View attachment 2783

View attachment 2784

Very niiiiiiiice!!!

 

[Zarathustra]

Very niiiiiiiice!!!

Thank you sir!

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I'm jealous. That's sweet! Clean, elegant, and functional.

 

[Brian_B]

The boomerang really pulls the room together.

 

[Zarathustra]

The boomerang really pulls the room together.

You know, its kind of there by accident.

I made that Boomerang in middle school wood show class.

When I was moving into this house, for some reason it was loose on top of a box. Not knowing what to do with it, there was a nail in the wall, so I hung it there "temporarily" until figuring out what to do with it, and it just kind of stayed.

 

[Zarathustra]

I'm jealous. That's sweet! Clean, elegant, and functional.

Thank you sir!

 

[DrezKill]

HAHAHAHAHAHA I was gonna mention the boomerang. How well does it fly?

 

[Zarathustra]

HAHAHAHAHAHA I was gonna mention the boomerang. How well does it fly?

Pretty well! If I throw it right, it will go out in a large wide circle, come around and hit me in the shins if I am not careful.

They are surprisingly easy to make.

I just cut a boomerang shape out of plywood, filed each side into airplane wing shapes, and then tuned it by filing the corners until it behaved as intended.

That was a long time ago though.

 

[Space_Ranger]

That setup is thing of beauty!! Very well done Zarathustra, and I too am jealous!