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PC Desks

After finding some old photos of my PC Workstations, I decided to hunt down all the images and put them in one place, with all the notes about the builds that I can remember. This is a fun nostalgia trip, but it's also an interesting analysis of how my setup has changed over time. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos of my first PC, that I used at University, but below are the specs that I remember...

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Comp01 (1999):

  • Monitor: 17" Belinea CRT

  • CPU: 650Mhz Athlon K7

  • RAM: 128MB

  • GPU: 3DFX Voodoo 1

  • HDD: 9GB SCSI

  • ODD: Philips CDRW

  • PSU: 350w

  • SND: Soundblaster Live

  • Case: Baige Tower ??​​​​​

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2000 - 2002 (Leamington Spa 1)

This way my first flat, after university, taken on my first digital camera (Fujifilm Finepix 6900z). The desk was the one that I grew up with. It's nostalgic to see it again, but if I could go back and tell myself something simple to improve the workstation experience, it would be to get a simple desk and do some basic cable management. Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to keep this space tidy for a couple more decades. Also, just because an amp fits under the desk doesn't mean it should. I wish I still had much of this stuff today, especially the monitor and Panasonic games console! The monitor had an s-video input, so could connect directly to the consol too.​​​​​​​​​

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Comp02 (2001):

  • Monitor: Dell 2000FP

  • CPU: 1.4Ghz Athlon

  • RAM: 3x128MB DDR

  • GPU: GeForce 3 ?

  • HDD: 120GB

  • PSU: 480w Tagan U01

  • Case: Lian Li PC-61 USB 

  • Optical: DVDRW x2

  • Mouse/KB: Logitech MX Duo Cordless Elite Wireless

  • Tablet: Wacom Graphire​​​​​

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Other Stuff:

  • ​​Desk: From childhood

  • Speakers: Eltax

  • Amp: Rotel 930 BX

  • HPs: Sennheiser HD565​​​​

  • Console: Panasonic Q

  • Console: PS2

  • ​Sony VHS recorder​

 

2002 - 2005 (Leamington Spa 2)

My second flat in Leamington Spa was a much nicer place with a bigger room. I then had space for a proper desk, and got my only L-shaped desk to date. Since I was working on my portfolio here, it must have been after I lost my job at Codemasters in 2005. If only I could go back and tell myself not to be worried about finding another job. My adventure was about to begin with a move to Europe. ​​​​

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Comp03 (2004):

  • Monitor: Dell 2405FPW

  • CPU: 3.4Ghz Pentium 4

  • RAM: 2x 256MB DDR

  • GPU: GeForce 6800 Ultra

  • HDD: 2x 200GB SATA 2

  • PSU: 480w Tagan

  • Case: Antec P180

  • Optical: DVDRW

  • Mouse: Microsoft optical

  • KB: Unknown POS

  • Tablet: Intuos 3 A5 Wide

  • SND: Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme​​

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Other Stuff:

  • ​​Desk: IKEA (I think)

  • Speakers: AE Aego 2​

  • HPs: Sennheiser HD565​​​​

  • Epson 1270 A3+ printer​

 

2005 - 2006 (Amsterdam 1)

My first move overseas took me to Amsterdam. My workstation changed drastically to a laptop so that I could travel with the computer and move around more easily. Unfortunately, a rather rushed purchase led to a rather poor gaming laptop that wasn't really good at anything, so I kinda hated it, but since my first flat was so small (central), near Rembrandtplein, that kinda worked out ok. It was hot, heavy, noisy, not that fast, the battery didn't last too long and the keyboard sucked. Basically, I couldn't wait to switch back to a desktop PC, which I did a year later when I moved to a bigger flat. I bought this desk from Ikea, since there was nothing in the room (other than the bed), and I still have it today.

 

Can you tell I had a mosquito problem? Canals on every street made them abundant here, and I reacted to the bites so badly that I almost resigned from my job and left the country. I am glad I didn't, however, as otherwise I probably wouldn't have met my wife.​

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Switching to a laptop may have been an aberration here, but it sparked off an interest in me for portable computing that remains to this day. Although it took another six years for me to try one again, my interest in ultraportables took of at that point. I would end up buying far more laptops than desktops before long. Below is a list of all the laptops I have had until now...

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Other Stuff:

  • ​​Desk: IKEA basic​​​​

  • Laptop: ??

  • Handheld: Sony PSP

  • Speakers: Logitech Z-5500

  • ​KB: Logitech ??

  • Tablet: Intuos 3 A5 Wide

  • Camera: Nikon D2H

  • Paintball Mask

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Laptops (by date):

  • 2005: 17" custem (below)​​​​

  • 2011: Alienware M11x r1

  • 2011: Dell Onyx 13

  • 2012: Dell Vostro v131

  • 2013: Lenovo Thinkpad 13

  • 2014: Sony Flip 13

  • 2015: Sony basic 14?

  • 2017: Dell XPS 13

  • 2020: Samsung Book 12

  • 2021: Acer Spin5 13

  • 2023: Acer Swift 16

  • 2025: Lenovo Yoga 7i 360

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2006 - 2009 (Amsterdam 2)

This was from my second flat in Amsterdam, this time in the outskirts of the city, but still on the map you see on my wall today. This glass topped desk came with the flat, so I had two, but luckily they fitted easily enough with a sofa. I should have switched the desks around, as leaning your arms on a glass edge was not comfortable. The tower chassis is the older version (Antec P180) that you see compared to the new NCase M1 on its page. If I ever make another PC, I doubt it will be a big tower PC case.​​​

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Comp04 (2007):

  • Monitor: Dell 3008FPW

  • CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4Ghz)

  • RAM: 2x 1GB DDR4 800

  • GPU: GeForce 7950 GX2

  • HDD: 500GB 7200rpm

  • PSU: 1000w Tagan

  • Case: Antec P180

  • Optical: DVD SH-W183A

  • Mouse: Razer Deathadder

  • KB: Logitech Ultra X

  • Tablet: Intuos 3 A5 Wide

  • Stylus: Wacom Classic Pen

  • SND: Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme

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Other Stuff:

  • ​​Desk: IKEA basic​​​​

  • Epson 750 slide scanner

  • Speakers: Logitech Z-5500

  • HPs: Beyerdynamic DT231​

  • Model: Akira bike

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2009 - 2016 (London)

This was the only apartment that we lived in London (West Hampstead) after getting married. Unfortunately it was never a setup that I was proud of so I didn't photograph it much. I kept the same desk, PC, monitor, keyboard & mouse since Amsterdam. Ignore the Alienware PC here, as that was an old one from work that I didn't keep long as it was absolutely enormous and not easily configurable.​​​​​

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Comp05 (2015):

  • Monitor: Dell 3008FPW

  • CPU: Core i7 6700 (4GHz)

  • RAM: 4x 16GB DDR4 3200

  • GPU: Nvidia GTX 970 (4Gb)

  • SSD: 512GB + 1TB

  • HDD: 6TB + 8TB

  • PSU: 750w Corsair

  • Case: Antec P193

  • ODD: DVD SH-W183A

  • Mouse: Razer Deathadder

  • KB: Logitech K740

  • Tablet: Intuos 3 A5 Wide

  • Stylus: Wacom Classic Pen

  • SND: Ifi USB DAC

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Other Stuff:

  • ​​Desk: IKEA basic​​​​

  • Speakers: Logitech Z-5500​

  • HPs: Grado SR-80

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2016 - 2026 (Göteborg)

For the first four years living in Sweden, my home PC desk was the usual thrown together mess. However, in 2020 I started to work from home (oddly, not related to the Pandemic). Spending the majority of my day here, I started to make this space a little more friendly. Keeping the surface clean and tidy was step one. Then I added a second monitor, some LED lighting and returned to a proper amp and speakers. The work PC was still at the office at this point, so I would connect to that via VPN. Unfortunately, stuck on an ADSL internet connection for the first couple of years...​

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Update

In 2021, I decided to neaten and simply things some more. I removed the 2nd monitor and made a small-form-factor PC. I then added a standing desk with more lighting and added some shelves and other bits. Despite getting a much faster cable internet connection at home, in 2023, I was unfortunately forced to accommodate the work PC here as well. Being overwhelmed by keeping even more cables to tidy, I unfortunately went back to living with a rat's nest once again. Fortunately, after a year or so of living with that, I finally got around to making it tidy again... ​​​

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Comp06 (2021):

  • Case: NCase M1 6.1

  • MB: DTX ROG X570

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5800x

  • RAM: 32GB 3600 cl14

  • GPU: RTX 3080 Ti (12GB)

  • SSD1: 512GB PCI-E 4.0 (OS)

  • SSD2: 4TB PCI-E 4.0

  • SSD3: 4TB SATA

  • Cooler: Noctua NH-C14

  • Fans: T30, NF-A14 (2x)

  • PSU: Corsair SF750

  • 3DP: Fan Shrouds​​​

  • Monitor: Acer XB321HK

  • Arm: Ergotron HX

  • Lightbar: Benq Screenbar+​

  • Mouse: Logitech Lift

  • KB: Logitech MX Keys Mini

  • Controller: Xbox Elite II

  • Tablet: Wacom Intuos 5 A4

  • Stylus: Wacom Classic pen​​​

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Desk:

  • ​​Desk: iiglo Ergo (150x75)

  • Shelves: Vivo modern​

  • Mats: Oakywood Felt&Cork

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A/V:

  • DAC: Topping D90SE

  • Amp: Teac AX-505

  • Speakers: Dynavoice LCR-4

  • HP1: Beyer DT 1990 Pro

  • HP4: Hifiman Sundara

  • Mic: Blue Yeti

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Lighting:

  • Lamp: Flowerpot VP9

  • LED: Govee Aura Lamp

  • LED. Govee Light strip

  • LED: Govee Flow Light bars

  • LED: 2x 20cm Light Strips

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2026 & Beyond...

I am refreshing the SFFPC soon with updated CPU, GPU, RAM & SSD. It will be a bit more powerful in some ways (CPU / RAM / SSD), a bit less in others (GPU), but it will draw significantly less power and be totally silent. I also have some plans to reorganize the desk because I have plans to add a retro IBM Desktop PC. Like the new/old laptop I bought last year, this one is older than any PC that I owned originally. It will be all beige, including the small LCD monitor. This should be a fun project! Here is the spec for the new PC:​​

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Comp07 (2026):

  • Case: NCase M1 6.1

  • MB: Gitabyte Z870i

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 9700x

  • RAM: 32GB 5600

  • GPU: RTX 5060 (8GB)

  • SSD1: 1TB PCI-E 6.0 (OS)

  • SSD2: 4TB PCI-E 4.0

  • Cooler: Assassin 120 Mini

  • Fans: T30, NF-A14 (2x)

  • PSU: Corsair SF1000​​​

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