The craziest, most upvoted PC setups on r/battlestations
CheckMag
r/battlestations is a pretty popular subreddit, where users flex their PC setups. Amidst hundreds of builds being posted each week, some have reached the very top of that list. Here are 8 unique, striking PC builds that have garnered some of the highest number of upvotes over the last 7-8 years.Anubhav Sharma 👁 Published 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 ...
r/battlestations is one of my favorite subreddits. You get to see more than just instances of raw computing power on there. Creativity and eccentricity are equally abundant - but most of all, it's a great showcase of all the ways people use technology for making personal statements. Forget cookie-cutter desks lined with RGB strips. The following setups are among the most celebrated on the subreddit, with tens of thousands of upvotes each.
The first of these battlestations belongs to a streamer who hand-built a faux-industrial PC console out of plywood, metal scraps, and salvaged knobs. It looks like a retro control room, with a vertical monitor, central screen, dials, switches, and a tiny atmospheric side display. The hulking machine doesn’t actually house a computer inside - it's a cleverly designed façade that hides modern monitors and hubs. The builder uses the vertical screen for chat, the main monitor for games, and the side display is purely for the sake of aesthetics. One commenter compared it to classic 90s desktop towers, which is actually pretty spot on.
If that was about form, the next battlestation is all about excess function. Redditor u/wuwica’s "completely reasonable apartment setup" features a full-sized server rack planted beside a modest desk. Inside are two separate Xeon servers, a custom router, and the main desktop tower - all mounted in rack units alongside a UPS and patch panels. The desk itself is quite traditional, with three monitors, a mechanical keyboard, studio headphones, and a VR headset for Beat Saber. The user even detailed the rack’s innards down to the drives, CPUs, and power bars. He also clarified that most of it was scavenged or purchased used.
From heavy steel to something far gentler: the third setup in this list is very green, to say the least. Surrounded on all sides by greenery - pothos, philodendrons, and a scattering of vines climbing shelves and walls - the minimalist setup uses only a single slim monitor, a compact custom keyboard, and a pair of Sennheiser HD800S headphones on the desk. The creator talked about his intent of having the contrast of man-made machines against organic environments. A lot of users were just as fascinated by the horticultural advice as they were by the PC.
Equally unconventional, setup number four came from inside a van. Redditor u/ttthefineprinttt turned full-time van life into a gaming-and-living space. Fitted with solar panels for power and four mounted fans for climate control, the van contained a bed, kitchenette, dog nook, and a mounted gaming PC. The entire build cost around $15,000 on top of the price of the new van, and everything from electricity to cooling had to be carefully planned.
Portal fans may recognize the thought process in the fifth battlestation. Built mostly from PVC boards, this white streaming pod was designed to mimic the test chambers of Valve's acclaimed puzzle franchise. Its boldest feature is a giant edge-lit LED panel with a "Test Chamber 09" decal. The panel is dimmable from faint glow to room-filling brightness. The PC itself is mounted openly within the frame and paired with a curved ultrawide monitor.
In contrast, the sixth entry is all about a retro design. u/badbeachbuggy’s "Retro Futuristic Battlestation" is reminiscent of Fallout or Mad Men more than anything. Scratch-built enclosures made to look like 1960s televisions hide modern displays, complete with period-style knobs wired to control custom lighting scenes. An old camera body was converted into a working webcam, which looks very cool. With vintage signage, mid-century furniture, and a modern PC disguised in wood paneling, the final result was a pretty cool setup that should cheer up any Fallout fan out there.
Setup number seven wasn’t made in a workshop or an apartment but inside the cab of an eighteen-wheeler. The reddit post showed a working long-haul driver who had built a gaming and productivity station into his leased 2015 Cascadia. A 3000-watt inverter tied to four truck batteries runs the system, while Verizon hotspots and truck stop Wi-Fi keep it connected. The monitor is strapped down with ratchet straps, the desk bolted to the wall to survive sudden braking. For someone who has to spend his required downtime living in his truck, this is more of a high-effort personal platform that definitely earned the subreddit’s respect.
Finally, u/deselected’s PC setup was...quite unconventional. Aptly titled "Dual 75'' 4K TV Floor Computing, it consists of two colossal 75-inch TVs, one vertical and one horizontal, with the user seated in a recliner on the floor in front of them. The idea was almost pragmatic: with smaller monitors, 4K resolution demands uncomfortable text scaling, so instead, the user opted for a large screen size, running Windows at full scale with high clarity. Driven by repurposed older hardware, paired with JBL studio speakers and a simple Microsoft keyboard and MX Ergo trackball, this is one of those few setups in the list that put productivity over looks. The OP mentioned how easy it was to run countless terminals, editors, and reference sheets side by side.
