A very definite case of Truth In Television. Computer scientists, programmers, and real-life playful hackers (who would object to using the word "hack" to mean "crack", but whatever) tend to build rooms full of electronics and computing equipment for them to fiddle with in case of boredom.

It gets even worse when you have two people on Computer Scientist/Cybernetics-related degree courses living in the same room: two desktops, three laptops, two printers, a book scanner, a tablet and a whole mess of wires...

This troper has all of that except only one printer, and he's a litmajor who really only pretends to be tech literate. It's not limited to techies.

And when two soldiers with computers are on CQ in my unit. I've seen and participated in truly bizarre combinations of co-ax cable, routers, modems, wireless routers, and Cat 5 cable. It helps we're nearly all Signal Corps.

Eight desktops, one laptop, three monitors, a printer, a scanner, a router, two switches, a KVM switch, suitable numbers of power strips, surge protectors, and [=UPSs=], and more blinkenlights than I care to count.

United Postal Service? What?

Uninterruptible power supply. Basically a battery backup.

This Troper can't hope to reach those lofty heights, but he ''is'' proud of having four functioning computers on and around his desk.

This Toper's room smells like his motherboard. He makes up for the lack of quantity with use time. Also, he is more of a software hacker/computer scientist/programmer than a home engineer.

This Troper's friend works in one set up in a former nuclear bunker. Three desks covered with computer equipment, next to a server room packed with equipment dating back to the 60s, with a full air conditioning and fire suppression system installed. This troper was taken to see it once, walked through multiple layers of security with nobody batting an eyelid, and was even very carefully shown the bricked-up door to the deeper levels of the bunker that was left when the original owners (civil servants) left.

My old laptop has one USB port. I have connected to it a gamepad, ''three'' flash drives, two external hard drives, a bluetooth dongle, a music player connection and two hubs (of course). Other peripherals are a barcode scanner, a 9-pin dot matrix printer, a PIC programmer, a connection to my ham radio, a custom audio switch (with banana posts, RCA, and seven phone jacks of various types), and sometimes a DMM. That's just one desk worth of my electronic crap. Looking at my other desk, I have a sealed beam headlight hooked to an old computer PSU, three sealed lead-acid batteries for my radio, a 4-track tape recorder, soldering iron, a 2-meter/70cm amateur radio set (I hang a sign of my nerdiness outside my window: a big copper antenna), and a stereo system that isn't hooked up.

Note to writers: If you need a Hacker Cave in a time period that pre-dates widespread computers, use an Amateur Radio operator's playroom. I visited the local Ham Radio club when they participated in the 2009 ARRL Field Day; some of these guys had campers as portable caves ham shacks. Be sure to do your homework if this is on film, as hams ''will'' know what they're looking at.

This troper's room's AC supply plug has been domineered by his handphone charger and both his DS-old and DS-lite's charges, the DVD player has been taken hostage by his Wii and the space under the TV is Gamecube Country, and his desktop has a whole table for itself AND its former scanner has its own table too. Oh, and my GBA's cartridges hand from my loft bed's side in a toolbag.

This troper has seen more than his fair share of rooms like this at MIT. Hell, there's actually an entire ''dorm'' that pretty much fits this trope to a 'T.' (Emergency Pizza Button.)

Subverted by Da_Nuke's family. They have a "media room" packed with a total of ''5'' computers: three for Da_Nuke (his old computer, his new computer and his job's laptop), two for his siblings, one in stash for his grandparents, and his dad's laptop. In addition, they also have a Playstation 2, a Gamecube, cathodic HDTV, printer, scanner, wireless ADSL gateway, two runs of UTP CAT-5 cable for both computers, and a whole stack of [=DVDs=] with 720 GB worth of anime and programs. But... this is not because everyone in the house is a hacker. No. ''It's all because, when we still had one single computer, we would fight all day long for who would use the Internet.''

This troper is particularly proud of his Hacker Cave. Sitting on the couch, you're using one of the two desktop machines. Their screens are offset from center so you can see the TV between them. The TV is driven by a bitchin' high-wattage 7.1 surround receiver, which has inputs from the (softmod-in-progress) PS2 and the (networked media center) Xbox. Most of the media is streamed from a third desktop machine, a headless heavily-encrypted server that I'm about to put a RAID 5 array in. And then there's the laptop, most powerful of the three user-friendly machines. There's a full-size arcade console under construction, too. And an old 386 mobo on the wall where most people would hang a picture. Now we just need to make the network cables ceiling mounted so the wife will stop complaining...

This troper has a homebuilt gaming PC, a netbook, an ancient Thinkpad, and an even older grapity-purple iMac that may or may not be in working order. Her boyfriend has a new HP desktop, a seven-year-old homebuilt running Windows 98, and two old Thinkpads of the same vintage as hers. He also works from home and travels for work, so there are two company computers for that (a laptop and a big graphics-dedicated renderbox). That's ten computers between two people in a two-bedroom apartment. Even though one bedroom has been converted to the computer room, and all of the desktops live in there, it feels like the whole apartment is a hacker den.

...Um, if it doesn't work out with your boyfriend...

No! Pick me!

No! Too late! I got here first!

Please allow me the honor of competing for your affections.

Er, not a complete hacker cave, but definitely budding. ThisTroper has a Frankencomputer made of several old parts, with a keyboard that is set to (Canadian) French. On top of that, he is set to receive money for 2 new laptops (a PC, which was required for my disabilities request. As well as a Mac, just because I want one). On top of that, he has half-a-dozen MurderSimulators, some parts from broken ones used to fix the old machines. On top of that, he has one (or maybe several? He can't remember) box dedicated to old pocket-sized machines (2 Gameboy Colours, several pocket calculators) as well as miscellaneous parts dedicated to pretty much everything mentioned before hand. Oh, and he has one of those toy robotic dogs floating around the house somewhere. But, he didn't build it out of the spare parts of a washing machine.

This troper is currently aspiring to this. So far she's mostly got a Gamer Cave. She has a 36-inch CRT television with a Wii, a PS2, a PS1 and an N64 hooked up to it. Her Nintendo DS is usally perched on the shelf next to her games. Her shelves are packed with PS2 games, Wii games, five PS1 games, seven anime [=DVDs=], the entire Star Wars video anthology, and some other movies. The room across from hers is packed with monitors, computer chassis, and mix-and-match parts from old computers. Her operating computer is a rental with Vista. Not much of a hacker cave? Just wait until the laptop and wireless hotspots get here.

This Troper is getting there: 2 26" monitors, desktop, 2 laptops ('97 and '05), 2 keyboards, 3 mice, video camera+tripod+webcam, 2 mics, random tapes, books, [=CDs=], and papers scattered about, wires going every which way, and a beer fridge right next to the desk. It's in a basement so it's fairly spread out though, the 36" CRT, VCR, cable box, rock band set, xbox, 360, and Wii fill up another corner though. One wall also doubles one of the (many) libraries in the house, A second wall functions as the video game library. Then there's his parents office (5 computers, over 100" of screen real-estate, the network stuff, ups's, and regular office things like filing cabinets which may or may not be filled with old computer equipment, and another wall of games), and his brother's literal closet that his computer's stuffed in (qualifies only because the mess he makes combined with the small space in the room makes it looks like one).

My dad jokes that he could start a computer shop with all the crap in this room.An open-casd tower for this computer,Another by my right leg,a printer on my left.2 modems,a phone, and a couple hard drives.Not to mention the bits-n-pieces that are scattered around.

This one is rather hard of anyone with even a passing interest in hardware to avoid. The temptation to keep bits that might come in handy risks resulting in unreasonably large collections of junk unless very firmly controlled.

I have a very good "control scheme". No space is unnecessarily left free, but if I need a place to put some new device and have none then I will remove something from my room to make the space. Though it means that my room is always full.

When this troper lived with his family, the main area of the basement was dedicated to computer equipment... a minimum of four active computers at any given point in time plus enough spare parts to be able to build at least two more, not to mention all of the supporting network equipment, printers, etc. Oh, and on the far side was a multifunction fax machine and a small TV to which whatever five year old gaming console was popular with us at the time was attached. There was an affectionate nickname for the location which has escaped this troper's memory.

This troper is majoring in accounting and explicitly intends to use the money made from his post-collegiate salary on every electronic gimcrack you can stuff into a Best Buy and/or offer on Newegg. Consoles, desktops, laptops, netbooks, cyborgs, child slaves...

This editor has a room that could be described as hacker cave. 7 [=PCs=] (all, except one, were built by me, that one is a server made in 1999) and a laptop. 3 [=UPSs=] (650, 700 and 2200VA) an 8 port KVM switch since I only have one 21" CRT monitor, lots of wires. Also I have 4 [=R2R=] tape recorders, a tube radiogramophone (made in 1964), laserdisc player, 2 VHS [=VCRs=] (I still use VHS), cassette deck and a record player. Oh, and two of my [=PCs=] (the server and my main PC) have rackmountable cases. My setup uses about 1kW of power all the time, since the computers are on 24/7. I also have a 25cm diameter fan that sucks colder air from outside to cool my room, which usually is 5C warmer than outside (yes, if there is 30C outside, then in my room is 35C). The curtains are always closed and a single 40W lightbulb illuminates the room. Almost every horizontal surface is used to place something. Oh, and I have recorded 213DVDs before realizing that they take too much space and moving to LTO-1 tapes for archiving.

This troper has a stealth hacker cave. There's only one large tower (Cooler Master Cosmos) and a 24" monitor. However the dresser next to it slides out to reveal three more microATX machines and a laptop that feed into a KVM switch to the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

This troper has three friends that moved into an apartment together. At first glance, I suspected nothing. Then came to help them unleash their electronics onto the apartment...one alone murdered her brain with his three game systems, laptop, two desktops, at least 6 USB drives (all named after his favorite characters from various anime and C&C, with an external he affectionately dubbed Cabal)...I think you get the point.

Kind of subverted with this Troper. On my desk, there is only one tower in a cabinet with cords coming out the back, a 17" monitor (two monitors would be sweet, but no room on the desk because it's a small desk), and a small printer. Oh, and various nightstand-type stuff like a flashlight and my glasses case since the desk is next to my bed. Elsewhere in the room is my dad's old NES, two DS Lites (one is DeaderThanDead because it's several years old and has a crack in the case near the power lights), a HDTV (not wall-size, but at least it's a 24" widescreen with oh so many inputs), a janky old VCR (at least it works, not that I use VHS tapes anymore), one of those bargain-basement DVD players, a Comcast Digital Transport Adapter, and a Wii. Soon to also have a PS3 up there too. My dad's garage is a bit closer to the trope in terms of quantity, but a lot of it is antiquated tech that he got from college. (He does use an XP-capable computer though.) My ultimate HackerCave would be to have a multi-monitor configuration (maybe a few side mini-monitors a la ''CodeLyoko''), some of that BadAss tech from this month's issue of ''Maximum PC'' (but please no Windows Vista), and maybe a wall display so I can play ''{{LittleBigPlanet}}'' in roughly life-size (relative to the Sackpeople, of course, who are supposedly 8cm tall.) In the meantime, I've got this as my wallpaper, so there's at least a bit of that ''CodeLyoko'' fantasy in there.

This troper is still in the process of building up his hacker cave. 2 desktop towers (custom built by himself of course), 3 monitors, a laptop, 3 external hard drives and peripherals abound. There's a motherboard, a graphics card, 3 case fans and several assorted cables sitting on top of one of the towers doing nothing. Not bad for a guy who lives alone.

This troper's room could be mistaken for one at first glance (What with umpty feet of electrical cables), but it's pretty much a subversion as the only computer is the laptop.

This troper has a HackerCave in his room. 8 Computers (each running a different OS including Mac OS Classic and Debian Linux, but is still somehow able to inter-operate and share files with each other), two KVMs (one on a regular 19" LCD display, the other on a HDCP-enabled 1080p touchscreen DVI display- and for bonus points, the KVM does switch the touch detection component of the screen as well), one networked printer, a network switch with pretty blinkenlights, and tons of computer spare parts and CD-Rs scattered around. And a few game consoles hooked up to one widescreen HD-Ready LCD TV. The entire rig is protected by '''five''' UPSes. The only subversion? A bed full of plush toys and a coin-operated kiddie ride on the ''other'' side of the room. He likes to call it ''The Geek Hole'' (after The Nerd Hole in Leela-Doo, only much geekier).

If anybody wants a few extra (usually quite old) computers, let me know. My apartment is starting to overflow. Oh, you want geek cred? In 2008 I got a tablet PC built in 1997 working. Finding drivers for that was an exercise in frustration since the maker doesn't exist any more. I just replaced the motherboard in my web server with another of similar vintage - the original Pentium, 233Mhz, same age but less time online. My main machine is also a refurb. I haven't had to buy any new computer parts in a long time - people keep giving me their old ones.

This Troper has one heck of a hacker cave going, too - firewall, storage server with 20 disks, 24-port switch, main computer, a Silicon Graphics Fuel workstation and an Octane2, two Sun Blade 2000s and an SGI Indigo2, plus all the kit owned by two techno-fiend roommates.

This Troper (Poopskin) is planning on building a Mobile Hacker Cave, consisting of 2 laptops (one with Windows, one with Ubuntu or MINT) and maybe a iPad (because Apple's actual laptops are far too expensive, and i need something to complete the Windows-Linux-MacOS trinity). ideally, all the equipment would fit in a backpack or messenger bag. I refer to it as "Project Triforce" Because it ideally has Linux, Windows and Apple hardware, and as a nod to the Nintendo-Sega-Namco Triforce arcade system.

This troper advices against the iPad as the third pillar, since the iPad runs iOS and not Mac OS X, you'll not get desktop Apple applications running on it. Look into scoring a used MacBook (not MacBook Pro) off eBay instead. And oh, you'd want to carry a 3G-capable wireless router with it to have an internet connection on-the-go.

This troper's friend claims to have won a 4chan battlestation thread with his hacker cave.

This troper's desk is currently in Redneck Technology mode. The desktop's RAM went bad (yeah, all of it) so it's sitting under the desk with both panels taken off. Two hard drives are stacked on top, and power bricks are nestled up against it. On the desk, my laptop is doing its best to fake being a desktop. Speakers, 22" flat panel held up by books, and two usb hubs connected to.... a dual ps2 gamepad #QUOTE# USB adapter, external soundblaster, keyboard, mouse, MP3 player, and three external hard drives are connected to it (the two under the desk, and one on a little storage cube).Oh yeah, and 30 ft of ethernet cable snakes down the hall. Nothing has burst into flames yet.

This troper can really only dream of having a proper HackerCave, since she can't afford to go buy five additional monitors, but it does evoke the image somewhat to have a flatscreen monitor flanked by two laptops. And my desk has a lot of wires on it, most of which are charge cords for something or other; I'm not even sure where they all came from.

It seems to be genetic with this troper. Her own room's just a monitor, a laptop and a switch, and a small box with naked hard drives, but the 'office' in the apartment is... well... it contains *counts* 4 [=PCs=] (3 of which are servers which actually do something), a laptop (including a docking station and an extra monitor), a multifunctional printer and lots of cables to connect them. Oh, and boxes filled with all kinds of spare parts. Just close the curtains and you have a real HackerCave.

Compared to most of the above, this Troper is relatively humble. Self-built gaming PC (ASUS [=P6X58D=] Premium mobo, Core i7-930 with a Zalman [=CNPS9900=] cooler, ATI Radeon [=HD5850=], ASUS Xonar Essence XT [planning on swapping this out for a USB soundcard and dropping in a second [=HD5850=]], 6GB [3x2GB] G.SKILL PI series RAM, 2x2TB Hitachi Deskstar [=HDDs=] [1 for [=Win7Prox64=], 1 for Ubuntu], 750 watt Corsair PSU, and some cheap ASUS DVD drive, all contained in a [=CoolerMaster=] [=HAF932=] case) with two monitors (24" Acer [=S243HL=]), a Logitech G19 keyboard and a Razer Mamba mouse. Audio output in the form of a pair of Audio Technica AD-700 cans (I plan on upgrading to [=BeyerDynamic=] [=DT990/600s=] once I get a decent home amp and source), input via a Logitech USB mic. Her name is Joyeuse. She's also got 3.5TB of external, portable storage (an old 500GB HDD, 1TB Western Digital, and a 2TB Western Digital, all USB). Thanatos, my Acer Aspire 8730 laptop, sometimes balances precariously on top of her; other times, he's rigged to the big-ass television (my roommate's) in the living room. Oh yeah, I've also got an Xbox 360 hooked into the secondary monitor (because why waste money on a TV that I would have to turn around to see anyhow?) and I get sound from it via Joyeuse and my headphones through the Xonar's line-in. All of my other consoles currently aren't with me,as I'm attending college very far from home. 'Net connection's not too hot, just a 100' [=CAT6=] line to the router in my roommate's room.

Oh yeah! Speaking of consoles back home, I plan on getting those plus my old desktop shipped down to me. The old desktop is going to act a personal server.

No longer do I use my AD-700s, as the right speaker died due to wiring issues. I did buy those [=DT990/600=] ohm headphones and used them for the better part of eight months or so, before picking up a pair of [=DT770/600=] ohms (from the same company, [=BeyerDynamic=]) because I much prefer closed, bassy cans; the 990s have been sold to a budding audiophile friend. Now I'm looking into getting a DAC and amp setup... and maybe a pair of Audio-Technica M50 or A700 headphones, or possible Grado [=iGrado=] cans... Audiophilia is such an expensive habit.

Also, everything's been wired into a proper UPS now, so I don't have to worry (as much) about power outages.

This troper works in a computer science lab, and recently got moved to the development room. Said room has a 100 inch HD 3D projector mounted to the computer he's using, plus six screens used by two other computers. The server machine has its own screens, and while each individual computer in the room is fuelled by the Core 2 Xeon Quad core and 16 GB of RAM, the real power comes from the fact the entire system is controlled by Xgrid. Despite being a hacker cave, it's actually empty unless the two core developers are in, or if a presentation is happening. That said, it's a ''clean'' hacker cave, since wires are all organized and sorted by wire tubes.

This troper went from a Hacker Cave to a Hacker House. I inhabited various rooms during my teen/college years, having 2-7(!) computers in each (for just me), sound systems, 3 monitors, the works. Now all the serverage is confined to a basement room in commercial-salvaged equipment racks. And there's 44 CAT6 drops in a 3 bedroom house. Every room has at least 2 network lines and the living room and rec room have as many as 14 each (why yes I do have LAN Parties, why do you ask?). Current compliment of the Cave is 4 servers, boxes full of parts, a table with 4 more frankenboxen, wireless gear, 4 UPS'es, etc. The power bill's a killer...

@/{{Fishsicles}} here. My hacker cave is presently in my parents' pantry, and contains two laptops, a synthesizer, and I will be installing an extremely powerful server this summer before I head off to college.

This troper's room is slowly turning into this as the time passes. Highlights: two sets of speakers complete with a subwoofer with a plastic skull standing on it, a laptop permanently connected to the TV above the bed (because this troper can't be bothered to record anything on DVD), two sets of headphones (one is broken and only the mic works, the other has no mic, so why not just use both of them at once?) and a closet in the back which contains two unfinished WH40k armies (Orks and 'Nids), old magazines, books and loads of useless gadgets, such as blinking safety lights, stolen science goggles, a Turkish dagger, binoculars, disassembled Transformers toys and God knows what else. At least this troper's HackerCave averts the poor illumination stereotype, as there are 3 ceiling lamps, 5 hallogen lamps, a lamp for reading and a tiny lamp behind the LCD screen for eye-ache prevention.

This troper's room is the definition of this trope. A 150" plasma screen on one wall, permanently hooked up to a N64 and a PS3, 3 flat computer monitors mounted to each of the other walls, all hooked up to different machines, a stereo in disarray on the floor but working and 3 laptops sitting on the wardrobe. Total cost? $6000, but it was the best this troper had ever spent.

Zig Zagged in this troper's case. In his bedroom he has a home-built pc (which I use almost ALL THE TIME despite having fan issues) with a Phenom and a Radeon 5850 and a PS3, both connected to a 23" monitor. Pretty basic stuff compared to whatever was mentioned before, but they can do practically everything, such as surfing TVTropes, but not call out an atomic strike or cook pizza. A room in our basement has 3 pc's, ranging from a 2002 Pentium 4 to a 2008 Athlon X2. Add to that some late 20th century biology lab gear, and it feels like a nerd haven from the past.

This troper went to a camp where they had 1 PS3, 3 Xbox 360s, 2 Wiis, a GameCube, a PSP, twelve DS's, and three GBA SP systems. Partially subverted because there was almost always something did not work any week that camp was in session (scratched discs, RRoD, controllers lacking batteries, etc.)

This troper has averted this quite deliberately. Despite being a 3D graphics major with quite a good set of soldering / electronics / computer engineering skills, he has recently thrown away all excess parts and clutter, and has even rewired his whole room to hide all the wires. Now all there is left is a pair computer sitting idly below his desk, two monitors wallmounted, and of course a PS3. Don't look in the closet, though.

This Troper has what is currently a fledgling Hacker Cave growing inside of his new room. Unfortunately its growth is limited by crap left behind by his brother. This Troper currently has 2 Desktops, a Laptop, multiple consoles and a large assortment of electronics "just in case". This behavior is only reinforced by events where his pile 'o crap does come in handy (like replacing a neighbor's blown PSU with an old one previously owned by this Troper). He hopes to one day have a Battlestation with 3 monitors minimum.

This troper's first priority upon moving into a new condo was to get the five critical computers (mailserver, fileserver, app server, desktop, and router) connected and running. The others (backup host, laptop, spare desktop, and USB extender) can wait for later. It is not expected that the computer room (former master bedroom) will need heating in the winter.

Two laptops and one desktop (which has had every part replaced more than once) but the really nice part is the two 40 inch [=TVs=]. Basically everything this troper can maintain on his salary.