[Question] Custom computer desk

[Gared]

Ok, since moving into our new place last January, my wife and I have been gaming in the living room, computer set up on a crappy old Ikea folding table, just taking up space. While we don't have any furniture that needs that space, it is the ideal place for a Christmas tree, and really, it's not even convenient to game there because of the TV placement - we both have to crane our necks in really awkward positions in order to look at the TV. So, being that I work for a cabinet company, I though it'd be nice to get a custom desk put together for one of our spare bedrooms.

I have a basic design in mind - basically a V with a flat bottom so that we're both focusing in on the wall opposite the desk, where I can hang our current TV, with our towers stored in a cabinet that would hang between the two desks, where the flat bottom to the V is. The two counter top portions of the desk wouldn't have backs on them, would be supported by metal table frames, with finished ends and a short (like 5") panel down the back (just enough to cover the table frame and mount some wire manager for cable runs).

What I need from you, dear other techies, is any knowledge you may have on cabinet cooling, monitor mounts, and monitors with minimal bevels. Currently, my wife and I each have one monitor, but I'd like to upgrade us each to two monitors, mounted side-by-side at about a 170 degree angle, without having 3" of bevel between the viewable space. For cabinet cooling, I figured I'd use some cabinet fans on the back of the cabinet and a nice high-airflow percentage mesh on the front, but putting two towers side by side in a cabinet really concerns me. Does anyone have recommendations on a good, quiet cabinet fan? I'm willing to trade minimal noise for better CFM ratings on the fans. I was looking at this fan system on Amazon, don't know if it's really good or not, but the reviews are pretty good. I will also need a wall-mount for a 40" LCD TV.

Any suggestions? If you were going to mount fans on the back wall of a cabinet, would you mount two sets horizontally, or one vertically in the space between the two towers? I don't plan on doing this all at once, so the dual-monitor mounting systems and bevel-less monitors can wait.

 

[Dave]

Do you have animals? If so, put a fine mesh on the sides to catch a lot of that hair/dust that would normally be found inside the cabinet. Sure, it's a pain, but better externally than internally. Other than that i have nothing to add. I'm absolutely inept at building things. People who play Minecraft with me would concur.

 

[Gared]

I was going to just make the vast majority of the door out of mesh venting, and mount fans on the back to pull air through the cabinet. It honestly never occurred to me to use vent grills on the sides as well, but that's easy enough. One 4x8 sheet of expanded metal should do the job. It's the 6" spacing all around each tower that concerns me, that could make for a much larger cabinet than I was planning on having made.

Do you have animals? If so, put a fine mesh on the sides to catch a lot of that hair/dust that would normally be found inside the cabinet. Sure, it's a pain, but better externally than internally. Other than that i have nothing to add. I'm absolutely inept at building things. People who play Minecraft with me would concur.

Oh come on, Dave, you aren't that bad at Minecraft. Also, I wouldn't be the one doing the building on this thing - which is good. I don't need a wobbly, non-level, hastily glued together piece of crap. I'd love to have this last more than 3 months. And yeah, we have two cats, who love hanging out with us while we sit at our computers, so I'll be needing a fine-ish mesh to keep cat hair out.

 

[PatrThom]

You might be able to get some inspiration from the computer cabinets ("isolation cases/boxes") which are specifically designed to be used in recording environments.

--Patrick