Has anyone built a bartop without the PC installed inside?

[Ninten-doh]

I'm in the process of designing a bartop for my nephew, and I'm thinking I might design it so that the PC just sits on the floor.  This way, when he inevitably messes something up, I can troubleshoot fairly easily, or worst case, I can just take the PC home to tweak.  Also means I can save some depth in the design.

Just curious if there are any pros, cons, issues I should be thinking about.  My primary concern is having it move around while playing since it will have a lightweight 15" LCD inside and no PC components to help weight it down.  Maybe a few bricks would do the trick.   

[ahofle]

I guess one issue that would bug me are all the wires that you'd have to deal with (monitor, power, USB wires, speaker wire).  One of the things I like about my cab is that you can't tell there is a PC behind it. 

[leapinlew]

I would just build him a control panel that he could plug into his computer and set on the desk. I mean, if it's not going to be fully contained you sort of lose some of the magic.

[Ninten-doh]

ahofle: Yeah, that's one of the cons I've been thinking about.  I was hoping to run all the wires straight behind the cab to minimize the ugliness.

leapinlew: I considered that as well, but I really want the cabinet feel to it.  Hmm, maybe I just suck it up and make it big enough to slide the mini tower PC into it and make it easy to take out if need be.  I should have some room to work with considering I'm using the LCD.

[ahofle]

You may also want to look into those little "shuttle" PCs.  They are very small and would probably be easy to yank out of there if need be.  This is of course assuming you don't already have the PC for it.

[Ninten-doh]

This is of course assuming you don't already have the PC for it.  

I told my brother he needed to supply the PC, thus the micro tower Dell.  I'm a cool uncle and all, but I'm not made of money!     I'm already springing for the ipac, trackball and mag-stik.   Trackball wasn't in the original plan, but I know he loves those games, so...

[SteveJ34]

If you want to minimize cables you might consider running kvm over cat5 using an extender like this....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330022556002

[Tahnok]

My bartop has the PC sitting below it. It works well, but I don't think it's really worth it. Once you have the PC configured, there's no advantage. That's why all my bartop's have an area for a PC now.

If you really need an easy way to adjust the PC fairly often, try either a KVM switch or some VNC software. I like the VNC stuff personally, as you can use a laptop and just plug in. Try TightVNC, it's easy to get running.

[_Iz-]

Decase the PC and mount the components to the back panel or a removeable shelf that slides inside. That way it can be easily removed if necessary but only takes up the minimum amount of interior space.

[mark shaker]

If you want to minimize cables you might consider running kvm over cat5 using an extender like this....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330022556002

Pretty cool item, but doesn't it trash your video quality?

   - Mark