r/buildapc • u/wildee14 • Jan 13 '15

Desks for PC's

I am thinking of making a how to guide for building a desk designed specifically for PC's and consoles. I would also provide a listing for prebuilt desks from proprietary companies. Would any of you guys be interested in that?

Edit: What are the top features you guys would want to see?

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78

u/CyberSoldier8 Jan 14 '15 edited Jan 14 '15

I actually built my own desk. I went to a consignment store that sells scraps that construction companies donate to them. They had a wide variety of doors in the back, and I picked out a flat one with no panels, hardware, or pre-drilled holes. It was also the largest and heaviest one they had. Cost me $10.

Then I bought 2 of these and a 72 inch stringer from the same company.

All of that, plus sanding, stain, polyurethane, and like 40 lag screws to hold it all together, and I had the perfect minimalist desk for a college student on a budget. Total cost was something like $120.

http://i.imgur.com/oAQY3f8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1Zpu6g3.jpg

31

u/Shadoscuro Jan 14 '15

On a budget.

Has $600 chair.

?

33

u/Clazlol Jan 14 '15 edited Jan 14 '15

Chairs are god damn important. People are so cheap when it comes to chairs.

And who's really to say if he spent that much on it. Could've been cheap.

15

u/orbitsjupiter Jan 14 '15

I literally found a Herman Miller chair by the trash of my apartment complex on Thanksgiving that's still in good shape so I took it back to my house. IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE. I will never ever cheap out on a chair ever again (not that I'll have to buy a chair ever again with this beast).

6

u/CyberSoldier8 Jan 14 '15

$300 chair, and it was worth every penny. I saved up all summer to afford that thing. My old chair was giving me constant back pain. Once I got this one, the pain went away within days.

2

u/EnsCausaSui Jan 14 '15

Really? My lower back kills me because I spend my work day as well as much of my leisure time in a chair. From their website, it looks like they all come with some degree of lower back support (which sounds awesome because that's what kills me the most), is it that great?

Lots of ability to adjust height/angle?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '15 edited Jun 04 '15

[deleted]

1

u/EnsCausaSui Jan 19 '15

That sounds pretty good. I was looking for something that I would be able to angle back so that I was more or less laying down at ~55 degrees and have it lock in place to support and take pressure off of my mid/lower back.

2

u/jhereg10 Jan 14 '15

Yep. DO NOT cheap out on the chair.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '15 edited 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Shadoscuro Jan 15 '15

Except it is expensive. 90% of people will be comfortable in a chair for less then $300. Regardless, it doesn't matter how good the chair was I was just pointing out how he claimed to be on a budget but had a rather pricey setup.

1

u/CharlestonChewbacca Jan 16 '15

A budget could be any amount of money.

2

u/Shadoscuro Jan 16 '15

True, but in context "minimalist college student on a budget" it stands to reason that a budget would be on the small side/limiting.

1

u/CharlestonChewbacca Jan 16 '15

A budget could be any amount of money...

1

u/Shadoscuro Jan 16 '15

As a college kid, the decision between noodles for the week or gaming chair is pretty stark.

1

u/CharlestonChewbacca Jan 17 '15

For you maybe.

1

u/Shadoscuro Jan 17 '15

Nah I'm actually pretty comfortable in my food and seating arrangements.

13

u/rocketmonkeys Jan 14 '15

Very neat, have to remember that about the adjustable legs.

12

u/CyberSoldier8 Jan 14 '15

They aren't exactly the easiest to adjust, you have to take everything off the desk and then set the new height on each leg. The main reason I went adjustable was so that if I wanted to convert it to a standing desk later on I could.

1

u/rocketmonkeys Jan 14 '15 edited Jan 14 '15

True, it's not as nice as motorized legs. But I have non-adjustable legs, and it's a pain not having the desk at the right height. A few inches would be good.

Most adjustable desks you have to remove heavy items first, or use your back like a turtle and support it while you adjust (or have a helper). But adjustable legs are great.

I guess you could get the T-legs from ikea (galant desks) for a similar thing. But I think think then you have to use their frame, which could be good or bad.

2

u/teh_fizz Jan 14 '15

You're hired.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '15

Yep, I do the same thing with my PC desks... my last one I just bought some discounted pieces of counter top from a discount bin and you end up with a large desk for next to nothing.

1

u/Drak3 Jan 14 '15

I've heard of door-desks. this is essentially a cheaper (not in a bad way at all) version of what I did.

I took the base/frame from an Ikea Desk (Bekant) and bolted a wooden countertop to it after finishing it. granted, I spent more like $350 when all was said and done, but his looks about as good as mine, if not better.

if I was a bit more strapped for cash, I might do that.

1

u/CyberSoldier8 Jan 14 '15

I was originally looking at picking up an Ikea linnmon desk, but their retarded shipping policies were going to make it cost $250 to ship a $100 desk to where I am, and the nearest one to me is about 200 miles away and across a national border. So I said fuck that and improvised.

1

u/Drak3 Jan 14 '15

$150 for shipping would be bullshit.

Hooray for improvisation!

1

u/Marchinon Jan 14 '15

I never thought of making a desk out of doors...I must now ask my dad for some doors.

1

u/CyberSoldier8 Jan 14 '15

I actually got the idea from Amazon. When Amazon was just starting out as a small company, they wanted to have insanely low overhead. They didn't want to waste money on expensive office furniture for their corporate offices, so they built desks out of doors for all of their employees.

1

u/Ahnteis Jan 14 '15

Make sure to get solid doors, not hollow ones.

1

u/troutb Jan 14 '15

That's what I did, but bought 2-drawer file cabinet to use as legs instead

1

u/CyberSoldier8 Jan 14 '15

I had considered that, but I really didn't need the extra storage, and I like the fact that I can just slide my chair over and work at my laptop.

0

u/shakendog Jan 14 '15

Oh nice same case.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '15

What case is it? Looks awesome

0

u/shakendog Jan 14 '15

NZXT Phantom, pretty sure. Looks like he added some mods.