I put my PC on the ground, however not with out this $14 stand

Sorry, however I simply can’t take care of an enormous, cumbersome PC on my desk. I’m already juggling a pair of 27-inch screens, a few boxy Bluetooth audio system, a full-size mechanical keyboard–to not point out I additionally want house for the occasional linked laptop computer. Cramming a PC case subsequent to these different elements is simply an excessive amount of. 

However placing your PC beneath your desk comes with its personal set of issues, as my colleague Dominic Bayley realized the arduous approach. Slicing to the chase, I’d by no means put my PC on the ground and not using a stand; many makes and fashions can be found on Amazon, however I settled on this Io Crest tower stand, which prices an affordable $14. 

Why does a PC beneath a desk want a stand? Even when your PC case has its personal toes (which have an evil tendency to fall off), your system shall be simply millimeters away from the ground, and which means mud, bugs, and spiderwebs, all conspiring to dam your PC’s airflow. 

The state of affairs will get worse in case your ground is carpeted. Even low-pile carpet can clog a PC’s air vents, and as your CPU and GPU warmth up, they’re susceptible to throttling. That’s unhealthy information for avid gamers. 

Another menace to think about for PCs on the ground: moisture. My workplace is within the basement, and we’ve had our fair proportion of water seepage over the previous few years. Even lower than an inch of water might be sufficient to short-circuit your PC’s energy provide. 

I’ve bought three of those Io Crest stands, one for every of the PCs I’ve constructed, and so they’ve served me nicely over time. The stand is greatest described as a plastic, X-shaped bracket with a width that may be adjusted from 6 to 10 inches. The bracket feels thick and durable; I’ve by no means had any considerations that my PC was in peril of tipping out of the stand. 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

A set of casters is included, and with these put in, the underside of your PC can be an excellent 4 inches off the ground, excessive sufficient to maintain your system’s air vents clear even when you’ve got high-pile carpet. Personally, I go away the casters off, and even then, my PC remains to be roughly two inches off the ground. 

Even when the Io Crest stand isn’t to your liking, there are many options on Amazon, and belief me—you want one thing to your PC to take a seat on if it’s going in your desk, except you want the concept of mud bunnies cozying as much as your graphics card.