so the folks at origin wanted to sponsor a video featuring their brand new
genesis system you can learn more about it at the link below but in a nutshell
this latest version was just unveiled at ces and our config rocks an 18 core
extreme edition dual tempered glass side panels dual water cooled gtx 1080 ti's
and four radiators for cooling not bad
for eight thousand eight hundred and eighty one dollars
lordy so a machine like this deserves nay demands a proportionally dank battle
station to complement it so with our middle school level woodworking skills
we set out to build a custom desk for
the genesis let there
be RGB light
now with this kind of power 4k gaming is
well within our reach but plopping a 4k monitor on a table and
calling it a battle station is not the LTT way so we decided to use
one of the dell s718 ql 4k laser
projectors that we reviewed recently instead
but opting for an ultra short throw projector as your display
will introduce some key constraints to a
project like this first we realized we would need a really
deep tabletop since not only would the projector itself be taking up a lot of
key real estate but if we ended up too
close to our screen we were concerned we'd feel less like
a badass power user and more like a
tennis spectator but finding a sufficiently deep and wide
desk at a reasonable price isn't easy
or is it this sliding door from our bedroom set
is 34 inches deep seven feet wide and
doesn't have any pesky door-like features like a knob hole so we picked
up another one of them for 20 bucks and spent then another 20 on some semi-gloss
black paint to complement our tower the second thing about using a projector
like this is that the image ends up being quite a bit higher than you would
typically want and we didn't want to have to lean
way back in our chair but can you do
this i don't think so
just to see the browser search bar the solution
a phone book on the chair i mean realistically it's 2018. what else were
you going to use it for actually i'm just kidding by cutting a
recess in the desk and then hanging a dropped shelf we were actually able to
get the top of the projector flush with the desktop which looks sick
and gets the screen down as low as it
can be to create our mounting system we simply
used some long bolts and a shelf from ikea which
could actually easily be replaced by a regular piece of wood to save a buck
since you'll never see it constraint number three
where are we going to put the tower normally we'd want to show off a box
like this on top of the desk but even
with a short throw projector and a super wide table
we'd be risking cutting off the view of either the system tray or the start
button and letting the genesis sit on the floor
is totally out of the question so
since our giant desk didn't have any legs at this point and since any
potential legs would have to be pretty beefy to be proportional we decided to
build a custom cabinet for the tower that would double as a table leg so we
went to ikea and bought two alex cabinets for 80 a piece
one that we fully assembled and endowed with upside down feet to rest the table
top on and another that we completely butchered so that our tower's good looks
and hot air could shine and blow through
finally we added some black anodized aluminum trim to visually unify our
ragtag assortment of pieces not to mention to cover up the janky lines that
came with freehanding the jigsaw which i guess brings us perfectly to the
bloopers let's just say that building this desk was a
learning experience for james the first lesson was that you can tell if a door
is hollow or not by how much it weighs and how cheap it is and if you find
yourself accidentally in possession of a hollow door that you're expecting to
hang a 33 pound projector from you can beef it up by ripping out the cardboard
ballasts and inserting slabs of wood to basically act as like big reinforcing
washers lesson number two use molding that's as
wide as the material you're trying to cover up the walls of our alex cabinets
are three quarters of an inch thick but the trim we ended up with is only half
an inch leaving a lot of exposed wood and nothing is more awkward than exposed
wood lesson number three don't use too much glue unless you want
to find your finished desk ruined by hardened gorilla glue bubbles that take
the paint off when you cut them off finally lesson number four a projector
really looks a lot better on a purpose-built projector screen so to do
this over we'd probably recommend that upgrade especially if you were trying to
recreate this setup with a less bright projector
however with all of that said as a proof of concept this turned out
more than okay we put together a simple plan for how
pretty much anyone can set up a giant comfortable custom desk for just a few
hundred bucks and we have a bad ass new
addition to our new set not to mention our selection of
off-hours leisure activities here at the office
so big thanks to origen for sponsoring this video their genesis system
absolutely chews through anything we can throw at it at 4k and looks great doing
it the front i o including 10 gigabit usb 3.1 is discreetly hidden behind a
sliding cover and the tempered glass side panels are easily swappable with
toolless hinges and swanky magnetic clasps of course if you're into the
all-aluminum look origin will paint or laser etch any logo or custom design
your heart desires and before we go we
should probably also throw an honorable mention to dell for providing the projector ergodirect for providing this
awesome chair that works really well with a nice tall screen and nanoleaf for
hooking us up with some brilliant decor
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