I'm skipping ahead of myself here, but I didn't get around to publishing the first version, so I thought I'd catch up with this version.

Thanks to a wonderful deal misumiusa provided, I got several pieces of extruded aluminum to build v2 out of.

The panels are made out of a wood veneer that has been lazer cut to match each function.  Front has 2 holes to mount the monitor arm, right has a motherboard pattern, and the left has been left blank for future use (I'm thinking the hdd and gfx card, once i get my extender)

the base isn't as sturdy as i would have liked, so I ordered some longer extrusions to see if that helps.  I'll likely reuse the old legs as braces.