LOW power consumption gaming rig needed. 4 of them!

[007ELmO]

 

[007ELmO]

 

[007ELmO]

 

[Sleepingforest]

Are those the pod bay doors?

 

[007ELmO]

Heh, not sure what pod bay doors are. This is just a smoked mirror. I used quilted batting (3 layers), white leather, this smoked mirror, on 0.5" OSB cut to the size of the door. Just need a door handle and I'll attach it to the door.

I have no theme in my basement, just building random things. I kind of like the outer space, I should try and create some LED outerspace window domes and star ceiling panels in my actual theater room.

 

[Sleepingforest]

It was just a joke (riffing off their space-like look), I meant "are those doors?" It looks really cool--where are they going?

 

[007ELmO]

Heheh, Thanks!

I wish I had the know-how to make a complete space theme. I just need time to research it...now you're giving me more ideas!

This door panel is going on my first Auditorium (theater room #1). It is specifically for video game playing and 3D movies.

Here is the door and entrance to it's room (without the panel attached):

-ELmO

 

[Sleepingforest]

Nice color scheme! Are you planning on making every wall the same red color (is it paint or sound-absorbing foam?) or leaving some of it white?

 

[007ELmO]

Good question! Yes, for sound-absorption - I fabricated the side walls with red canvas fabric, the back wall with black canvas, and the front wall with...Triple Black Plush Velvet from SyFabrics.com. The SyFabrics velvet is amazing, you cannot capture it on camera (even with a flash). You can see some of it on the front wall in one of the pictures above! Just pure black.

Each frame is roughly 4x8ft and each took about a day to make, fabricate, and attach to the wall. Based on that timing, it took me months to finish wall fabrication (since I only work about one day a week on the basement, if I'm lucky!).

Actually I'm still not even done with that. I have the 2 sides of the screen done, and was going to work on the top - but decided to work on the outer door panel first.

Here's another shot of the inner side walls done:

I also installed 240V underfloor heating in this room. It seems to work OK but needs to be on for about an hour before the room will get comfortable, basements are cold. There is rigid foam insulation and OSB board on top of concrete, underneath the laminate - so that helps a little also.

-ELmO

 

[Sleepingforest]

That's really cool! Did you plan things out specifically for acoustics (as in, the room shape/space itself) or are you just soundproofing it for the sake of outsiders?

And this is totally separate from the LAN gaming?

 

[007ELmO]

Thanks!!!

I did not plan anything out for acoustics. AVSForum wanted $5000 just for plans (for that), I said I will live with what I have. Laminate certainly is not as good as carpet would have been (carpet is going in the other theater room). This room was put on staggered studs (2x6s). I'm afraid the audio is actually going to be pretty sub-par compared to what it was at the beginning (a fully carpeted basement), but I had to divide up the area. The whole basement became unusable as soon as I wanted to show a movie to people, all the lights had to go off (waste of space). So I demolished it 2 years ago and have been rebuilding it since. Laminate may have been a mistake, but underfloor heating does not work very well with carpet vs. laminate.

Both rooms unfortunately are relatively square, 17x17 (140" diagonal 1.78, 10.5ft wide image), and 15x15'ish (180" diagonal 2.4, 14ft wide image). Not good for acoustics, but time will tell.

Here's my main theater projector (wall), 2.4 aspect ratio:

Yes, this is separate from the LAN gaming area - although they are close. It's also adjacent to the main theater room which has not really begun yet. I double studded the framing about 2 years ago, wired up 7.1, and left it like that for now. The double doors you see above are the entrance to the main theater room and is only about 10ft away from this door.

I am crazy. The LAN area will have a lounge projector (Epson 8350 probably). It's about $1000 but spanks the pants off any TV for that same price.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Hmm... are you sure there are no acoustic-insulating but heat-conducting materials? I'm sure some materials scientist somewhere has developed it (whether it's affordable and publicly available is another problem 😛).

 

[007ELmO]

It seems to be the concrete floor that's an issue, the walls definitely help from fabricating frames on them (on top of drywall). I did use rigid foam insulation/osb board on top of that to insulate a little bit.

 

[Sleepingforest]

I'd be careful with foam simply because the pockets of air in it are an extremely effective heat insulator (which is probably why it takes an hour for the floor to get noticeably warmer).

 

[Zap]

I also installed 240V underfloor heating in this room. It seems to work OK but needs to be on for about an hour before the room will get comfortable, basements are cold.

Just get people to bundle up when getting started. After gaming for an hour or two, probably nice and toasty in there.

 

[007ELmO]

if they are females, I have no problem with cuddling up with them

 

[007ELmO]

 

[Sleepingforest]

So you replaced the theater door with the one from the earlier pictures? Is the rest going to be similarly themed.

 

[007ELmO]

Nope, the double theater door is a room right next to this one (about 10ft away). The theater door under Auditorium 1 is still there, this is just an OSB panel I fabricated to put ON the door. Easier than taking the door down (it's solid core). It won't look as nice, I'll have to trim the door to make it better I think.

There will be two (2) auditoriums. =D This is the one with the red canvas/black velvet I've shown above. I didn't attach the panel yet, just showing how it might look.

I don't know how to decorate the double door yet. Might just paint it, but no clue.

I wish I knew how to theme stuff. Like, what else could I do in that red/black room to make it more space like? The canvas fabric should have been dark blue!! I can do a star LED theme on the ceiling with shooting star, if you wish. Maybe the red walls can represent planet Mars.

What do you want me to put on this wall? As you can see, I already wired it for power (twice, incorrectly). I originally had a movie poster backlit frame here, it was giving off too much light for this area so I moved it. Now what? A backlit cove window with an image of Earth behind it?

I don't know why I chose this purple as the paint color. I was thinking it would be a "game" room type area. I guess gray would be a heck of a lot better now? (muted colors)?

 

[Sleepingforest]

I think mostly you should give a spaceship vibe. Go with chrome accents or something, but not too strong, or it's going to look cheesy. Maybe give the theater chairs a futuristic look?

 

[007ELmO]

Unfortunatly I already have some leather berkline recliners in there.

I have these Lemans (Palliser) recliners in the living room, they are not exactly living room seating...

 

[Sleepingforest]

Those are pretty good too!

 

[007ELmO]

Well, here comes the Decision. OT check was $3700. I just contacted some landscapers to work on a water feature, which will easily be 5K+.

Do I choose to continue our 4 player LAN setup in the basement with the money? It's difficult to stay focused on one project, to completion.

 

[natto fire]

Wow, can't believe I started following this thread after answering an electrical question and it has since balooned into this very well progressing and very complex build. Looks good so far, keep up the good work. As for your recent question, I would personally worry about the outdoors first in this very narrow nice weather season we have here in Ohio. There is plenty of time for gaming in the 7-9 months of grey skies during the rest of the year. 😛

 

[007ELmO]

Very true! I will take that comment to heart. Thanks for answering the electrical question, it helped me wire those two 20A circuits up into their right location. Although I don't have the full heat/vent situation figured out yet (so nothing overheats).

In Ohio, we must use these months to enjoy the outdoors. And the winter months, to work on and enjoy the indoors.