Set up desktops in the basement and connect cables to other rooms.
Set up desktops in the basement and connect cables to other rooms.
Hey everyone, thanks for your support! This might not be the right place, but if you need advice, let me know where to post. For building a new house with an office on the first floor and a kids' room upstairs, I’d like to avoid having their loud computers in that room or mine. Would it be possible to run a cable from their room down to the basement? Maybe using Thunderbolt would work. I remember seeing Linus do something similar in a video—what’s the best setup for monitors upstairs and headphones? Thanks!
I express this with genuine effort, but it’s just too much trouble for the effort involved. The expense adds up, especially when you consider the cost of getting everything to function properly. Desktops are quiet enough; just add a powerful cooler and set the fans low, and it’ll be nearly silent. This approach is also significantly more affordable—purchasing a large cooler typically costs $70–130 per desktop—making it a practical choice. Linus did this because he received sponsorship, which gave him a premium setup with a rack-mounted case. Tech YouTubers like him do it to boost views, but it often becomes a hassle; Jake usually has to step in when issues arise. Connecting Thunderbolt cables can be tricky, requiring specialized gear that tends to be pricey. Installing it during construction is manageable, but doing it later after drywall is finished isn’t ideal. Getting the mice, monitor, and keyboard to work smoothly will also depend on the model and can be challenging.
Linus has been doing this for a while, and he has several reasons to explain it. The computers being noisy isn't a strong excuse. Even top-tier machines can run quietly with good cooling. My main desktop is a decent, though somewhat outdated, gaming PC. It only makes noise when I use a powerful GPU. If I had a cooler for that GPU, the system would run smoothly without any sound. The CPU I installed isn’t powerful enough to overheat the heatsink much, so it’s not the main issue. I’d suggest making the desktops quieter instead of trying a complicated fix that costs more and is hard to manage. You’d end up spending a fair amount on cables, running them through walls, adding connectors in other rooms, and dealing with poor signal quality. Long cable runs can be tricky, and Linus’s videos highlight many problems people face.
You might manage to get by with a low budget if the cable connections are only about 5 meters long. However, achieving the same level of centralization Linus accomplished would require investing more in the hardware needed to connect everything rather than spending more on the computers themselves.
I resolved the problem by placing a headless computer in a quiet area and connecting a smaller machine to my screen. For gaming, I use Steam streaming and can play most of my games on the couch while streaming to my Nvidia Shield. It runs smoothly with minimal noise. In my setup, the gaming PC is located far away—on another building across the farm—connected via Ubiquiti wireless. There are occasional interruptions, but it’s sufficient for me. Side note, I don’t play competitively, so a bit of lag doesn’t bother me.
It's a possibility, though I'm not a strong player myself. I quickly realized the decline in performance and lag during streaming, which is really frustrating.
I previously had my gaming setup inside the home, sending streams at gigabit speeds. There were only occasional minor delays or lag, and sometimes slight compression effects appeared, but the performance remained very fluid overall.
The absence you noticed isn't proof it's missing—it could still be there for others. Every video compression at any bitrate brings some quality loss and delay. This issue is even more noticeable because I'm accustomed to 4K 60-120fps HDR, which wasn't the focus when I was comparing. Plus, playing pinball games makes latency especially clear compared to other genres.