How to make a desk PC from IKEA MICKE desk - probably the cheapest DIY desk PC

In this video I'll show you how to convert
pretty much any desk into a desk PC. I based my build on a tiny Ikea MICKE desk,
which costs less than $40 making this probably the cheapest desk PC you can get. Huge thanks to AMD for hooking me up with
their top of the line Ryzen 1800X CPU - it was actually team red's representative who
approached me with an idea of an affordable DIY desk PC. Let's get started...

When adapting a drawer to house PC components,
you must ensure enough area to fit all the hardware while preserving space for your legs
to sit comfortably. Based on my experience, 10 cm provide optimal
balance between the net volume space and legroom. To fulfill this requirement, you must use
a PCI-E riser as the regular sized GPU will stick out too much when inserted directly
into the PCI-Ex slot. This time around I decided to air cool the
CPU - given the height restriction, I went with the Noctua low profile heatsink which
should be enough to handle those 8 physical cores.

Airflow is ensured by a set of four 92 mm
fans which bring some air in through the vents in the bottom and two 12 cm exhaust fans at
the back. As far as tools are concerned, you might need
quite a few. A power drill along with some wood bits, 60
mm circle saw, as well as 35 and 18 mm bits. You will also need a jigsaw or something else
to cut holes for those 120 mm fans, a soldering iron to sort out powering those exhaust fans
and a hot glue gun.

The list of materials includes: a piece of
4 mm thick plywood to reinforce the drawer , a handful of T-nuts and bolts,
tulle material or something else that can act as a basic air filter, some zip-ties,
aluminum pipe to make spacers, 4 by 2 cm angled aluminum bar, a molex to four
3 pin fan connector splitter and another fan splitter for for the exhaust fans along
with some wire to extend those cables, and optionally some cable management accessories. I started just as most of my projects begin
- from putting everything into the drawer to figure out exact location of each component. I marked the position of intake fans, full
size ATX motherboard mounting points, location of the SFX power supply and the riser cable
assembly. At this stage, make sure that your GPU power
cable is long enough to reach to the video card.

I myself am using a simple GTX1050, which
takes all the power it needs from the PCI. Ex slot, but if you're using anything more
power hungry, you might need to order a custom cable for a modular PSU or a cable extender. Then, I disassembled the drawer to prepare
the bottom and the back pieces for cutting. I outlined the power supply and established
the center for the fan intake cut out.

Next was the air intake up front... And the
GPU fans intake to the left of the motherboard. In such confined space, a blower style design
cooler would be your best choice, but a custom cooling will also do its job, just make sure
to provide the fans with enough air. With everything traced out I moved onto cutting.

I drilled a pilot hole and used a cheap hole
saw bit to cut a 60 mm opening for the power supply fan air intake. Next, I drilled a set of six 35 mm cut outs
under the GPU. For the front air intake, I figured cutting
a bunch of holes will preserve better rigidity of the bottom piece that's only 4 or so mm
thick. So, I established centers for each and drilled
a row of 16 mm holes.

I also had to make openings in the back wall
of the drawer for the GPU, motherboard IO. Ports and the PSU exhaust and power connector. I traced the outline of each and marked drilling
points in all corners. I drilled 12 mm holes and cut the rest using
a jigsaw.

After removing the material, I treated edges
with Dremel sanding bit to even lines a little bit. I cut a piece of 4 mm plywood to make the
bottom thicker so the t-nuts that I'm using to facilitate the mounting points don't rip
the original element. I applied some glue and secured the plywood
with a few staples. Next, I drilled motherboard and PCI express
assembly mounting points using a 5 mm bit.

Then, I fixed an M4 T-nut in each hole...
And put the drawer back together. At this point, I decided to attach three PVC
pipes supports for cable management purposes. I'm obviously not a native speaker so I'm
not really sure what these are called. To dust proof all the intakes I used tulle
textile that my wife bought for her wedding skirt.

I cut the material to size, fixed each end
to a small piece of wood using a staple gun and attached it to the bottom of the drawer
using hot glue. When fixing the front fans intake, it turned
out that you can actually hot glue the material directly, without the wooden pieces. Then, I hot glued the intake fans together. That's when I decided to run the cables under
the drawer for clean looks.

So, I marked positioning of each fan's cable
and drilled 4 mm holes. The diameter was large enough to fit the connector
so I removed the plugs, threaded each cable and replaced all connectors. I drilled four holes to zip tie fans assembly
in case hot glue would be insufficient... Applied some glue and fixed the fans in place.

Next, I marked the exhaust fans cut outs,
drilled pilot holes and cut the desk using jigsaw. This would have been much easier if the desk
was disassembled - so if you're starting fresh, don't bother to put the desk together before
you cut these openings. Then I screwed both fans to the back... After
double-checking the airflow direction.

After that, I moved the rails attached to
the desk 2 cm from original mounting points, to lower the drawer so there's enough clearance
for intake and CPU fans. Just be aware that in this area, there's only
a few millimeters of material and it might be that the rails will loosen a bit after
abusing the drawer and you might have to rethink the assembly. To cover the gap at the top that resulted
from lowering the drawer, I got an angled aluminum 4 by 2 cm. I measured at cut it as wide as the front
of the drawer is.

Then I removed some material at each end so
the extension doesn't interfere with the side walls. Next, I drilled two holes on either side for
screws. I made the holes larger to ensure some room
for adjustments. I drilled pilot holes in the front piece and
screwed the extension to it.

To further dust proof the desk, I attached
furry stripes that I think are used in wardrobe furniture. I trimmed the side stripes as the gap between
the desk and the front of the drawer was a little too tight. Finally, I moved onto assembling components. I won't be getting into the PC building details
- there's hundreds of guides available.

The motherboard sits on spacers that I made
from aluminum pipe. It's a really awesome piece of hardware that
was also a gift from AMD. The PCI express riser is fixed on a pair of
longer spacers, ensuring enough clearance for the GPU cooling. The GPU slides right into the slot and it's
secured to the back-mounting piece with an M3 bolt.

I secured the power supply with some hot glue
and stuck the SSD to the side with a piece of double sided tape. After connecting ATX and CPU cables, I drilled
three more holes  one right next to the front fans assembly, another one by the case
front panel pins cluster and at the back for the exhaust fans. I took one of the splitters and used pliers
to squeeze the metal contacts and free the cables from the connector. I run the cables through the hole and replaced
the connector.

I connected all four intake fans, and managed
the excess of cables with a combination of zip ties and zip-ties anchors. Next, I did some soldering to extend the exhaust
fans wiring which I decided to power off of one of the system fans headers on the motherboard. This motherboard has a power button on the
PCB but I still connected a power switch to the front, so I don't have to pull the drawer
out to turn the computer on. You can salvage such switch from an old computer
case or get one in electronics store for really cheap.

Since the original rails don't allow to pull
the drawer out completely, I put the drawer in place and crawled under the desk to connect
all the cables. And this is it - probably the cheapest, fastest
8 core desk PC out there. Operating temperatures are very reasonable
the Ryzen CPU idles at 32 degrees and warms up to around 60 under full load, which
is pretty amazing. Now, the problem is that this system isn't
very quiet due to the fact that the front fans are missing any kind of RPM control.

So I would suggest adding a fan controller
or maybe powering fans off of the 5V rail. Also, you can consider getting finger guards
for the exhaust fans which will prevent cables from hitting the blades when closing the drawer
in case of sloppy cable management. Thanks again to AMD for sending over the Ryzen
1800X - it's an absolute beast and a perfect choice for power users. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the
next one..