<p>Hey all, rising senior from Charlotte NC. I just got back from a couple college visits, NC State and UNC Chapel Hill (currently my #1 and 2 choices). I have been planning on building a gaming/performance desktop as a graduation gift to myself next summer. My plan had been to keep it in my dorm and use the laptop in class/anytime I can't use the desktop. However, after some discussions that me and my dad had while we were there, I have a few
questions. </p>
<ol>
<li>Do most dorm rooms have room under the desk for a tower? And if not, is it easy to make space by reorganizing the furniture a bit?</li>
<li>Do roommates get easily annoyed by the noise of the fans/fan LEDs?</li>
<li>Is it hard to manage having both a laptop and a monitor and keyboard on the same desk.</li>
</ol>
<p>In general I'd like to know what issues there are
I'd prefer answers from people who either use gaming desktops at college or are rooming with someone who does.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You can fit a reasonably decent (and quiet) gaming rig into a Shuttle sized or microATX (heck, mini-ITX :)) sized chassis fairly easily. But #1 is yes, very doable.Dust may be a problem…</p></li>
<li><p>Likely yes. Some cases / fans / etc are quieter than others, and you can use some creative skills to quiet things down more (I built a near silent quad core video editing machine using large fans, serious vibration insulation, and serious sound insulation. LED’s and the like can be taped dark or adjusted. But doing a Crysis 2 PC that is near silent takes LOTS of money (water cooling, etc). Don’t forget heat dissipation and hard drive noise.</p></li>
<li><p>Not with a good KVM. I’ve done that for a decade.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You can fit a desktop under a desk, but if the monitor is over 24 inches it can take much effort to put it on the desk and still have enough space for schoolwork.</p>
<p>Oh… that may be an issue, since I was planning on getting a 23" monitor. Can I pull it off with a 21.5" one?</p>
<p>Also, in response to turbo93, I don’t intend on playing Crysis 2. And I don’t intend on trying to run anything at max settings. In case it helps, the games I will probably be playing are TF2, Day of Defeat: Source, Tribes Ascend, Planetside2, Skyrim, Borderlands 1&2. And I’ll probably get a fan controller, so I’ll be able to have some control. If I get a smaller monitor, I may be able to afford some fan silencers or aftermarket fans that are quieter (i.e. Gentle Typhoons)</p>
<p>A very good friend of mine went to NCSU, loved it (BS and MS EE). But watch out for the desk ‘hutches’. If they’re not removable from the desk you’re toast as you can’t fit anything bigger than a TRS-80 under the shelf :). Probably the same issue at UNC. A call to the housing office should answer it. </p>
<p>In terms of what desk size is ok; my home desk is 20" deep by 46" wide and is fine, even for homework, with a 24" LCD and speakers. My high school student has been using her same size desk with a 22" LCD for years. 24"-26" deep would be fine. Go for the biggest monitor you can afford, even 24". In CompSci, every inch counts. At work I use two 22" LCD’s, one on the VM and one for email, documents, etc. Maybe go for a 22" but super high resolution, not the dinky 1600x1000 types.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve decided I’ll just use my laptop on my bed or in a common area if I absolutely need a desk. Or I could always just plug into the desktop via DVI and then plug in my laptop via HDMI. Although I have a feeling my laptop GPU may have difficulty pushing 1920x1080 pixels, even if I’m just browsing the web.</p>
<p>In the picture above, look at the little shelf that the white fan is clipped on. If that shelf is not removable or adjustable, you’re limited by the height of the shelf. You need at least 18" clearance from the desk’s top to the bottom of the shelf above to fit a decent size monitor. My wife’s 20" widescreen needs around 16", my 24" widescreen (now with DD1) needed 18".</p>
![http://housing.unc.edu/sites/housing.unc.edu/files/imagecache/gallery_thumbnail/galleries/craige_bedroom3.JPG[/url]](http://housing.unc.edu/sites/housing.unc.edu/files/imagecache/gallery_thumbnail/galleries/craige_bedroom3.JPG%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
