Rackmount under my desk

X-Plane does multi-monitor support differently than most computer games.  It doesn't support displaying the viewport on more than one monitor per machine which is certainly a weakness.  What it does support, however, is the ability to network multiple computers together, each with its own monitor.  the benefits are two fold.  First, you can custom build multiple machines of differing speeds to cater to what is being displayed.  side views can be a bit slower or less detailed if you like, while the main viewport is very fast and detailed due to a powerful machine.  Second, if a single computer is displaying on multiple monitors, it's usually through OpenGL or DirectX.  These technologies assume the monitors are in a single plane.  You can see more monitor if it's tilted toward you (think of being surrounded by monitors) but in most games the horizon would be slanted down on the sides.  X-Plane lets you configure exactly where a monitor is from a center point so no matter how the monitor is positioned, it still displays a view that makes sense (no funky horizon lines or anything).  You can customize offset angle left/right, up/down as well as the vertical and horizontal field of view.

I plan on having 3 monitors arranged like 3 sides of a hexagon in front of me.  This will provide a great field of view and will drastically increase the realism.  The problem to tackle is how to fit all 3 machines in my cluttered workspace.  The answer: Rackmount!

Back in the day I rackmounted my server in a little IKEA rolly-polly shelf so I have a rackmount case as well as a rackmount power conditioner/distributor.  The server has since been moved to a small nook next to a closet and was sitting on its side.  I basically had a rackmount case being used as a normal pedestal case.  I recently purchased a new main desktop and took the opportunity to take the server's guts out of its rackmount case and put it in the newly vacated desktop case.  I then installed the new desktop, which I'll use for X-Plane, in the rackmount case.

I purchased a pair of 16U rackmount rails from eBay and mounted one (with drywall screws since IKEA furniture is apparently mostly hollow) to one side of my Michael IKEA desk.  The other I installed on a piece of plywood that I cut to size (with my awesome new jigsaw, thanks dad) and painted black.  The plywood is not secured to anything but the units that are screwed into the rackmount so if I remove everything, it would just fall.  Since I'll probably have at least one thing in there at all times, this won't be an issue.

Here are some pics of the setup (pardon the mess).  The bottom 4U is my main desktop, the two 4U cases above it were purchased on sale and are empty right now but will eventually be filled with the hardware for the two side views.  The 1U above that is a shelf for holding a switch and a router that connects the machines to the rest of the network.  the next 2U are empty leaving the top 1U for my Furman power conditioner and power distributor.