I'm currenly using the Zephyrus G14 (2021) laptop. It runs the following:
Photo credit: The Verge.
Loving it so far. I wish the display was better, but I mostly use it on a desk with other screens.
Last year I finally took the plunge and decided to build a computer from scratch. In the course of my 20 years, I've purchased and upgraded many PCs - just about every part, soundcard, RAM, PC-speakers, hard drives, etc. The reason why I never built one from scratch was I did not want the hassle of incompatibility, along with dealing with constant returns.
This all changed until I discovered PC Part Picker, along with a handful of useful YouTube videos from Paul’s Hardware:
It’s nice to see a mature community where people have tried and tested various builds, saving me the headaches. This book also came in handy, to give me a quick crash course on modern hardware:
My User Requirements for a New Machine
Basically, I built a beefier version from what’s demonstrated in those videos. The build I made is here.
Here's the build, and more stuff added:
So far this card has been holding up very well. All the games run buttery smooth with settings cranked up pretty high.
Decided to use a custom cooler to eek more performance while overclocking. The default wraith spire wasn’t enough for me. This version did not come with an AM4 bracket – realized this the hard way while building it. Not having built a computer before, I missed Paul mentioning this in his YouTube videos.
Decent for its price. Does its job. Came with the number of open ports that I needed. I wish it had come with a PC speaker or LED display that would help troubleshooting.
Vengeance LPX 16 (2x8GB) DDR4. Does the job. Can be overclocked a bit more.
Two 500GB Drives.
Had one of these lying around so I plugged it in!
Been loving this case a lot. I love the clear glass cover on the side. Of course this meant that I had to do a decent job with the cabling inside, as I didn’t want to display my traditional rat’s nest of wires that are typically inside computers.
Does the job. Not currently using that much wattage, but gave myself plenty of room.
Nothing fancy about these.
Gaming Monitor, FreeSync, QHD (2560x1440), TN Panel, 144Hz, 1ms, Height Adjustable, DisplayPort, HDMI, USB – Been loving this monitor. Great value for its price.
LED Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Brown – I’m a mechanical keyboard enthusiast and had to go with this. Feels great, lights are fully programmable for each key, media control buttons, and downloadable profiles based on games. Love it.
Basically I need to switch amongst the following: This computer, Media Server PC, Raspberry Pi, Macbook Pro 15” Retina (2013), Macbook Pro 15” with Touchbar (2017), Xbox 360, Have open ports while troubleshooting other PCs.
Fully Adjustable/Tilt/Articulating for 1 Screen up to 27" (STAND-V001) – This is handy for my second display.
This is a cheap little monitor I just have hanging from the arm mount for when I’m watching / listening to podcasts. Not the best monitor, but it does the job.
Ryzen 5 1600X
Why AMD? I get more bang for the buck, basically. This version of Ryzen does not come with integrated graphics like Intel, so you HAVE to use an external card, not the one that comes with the motherboard. I panicked a bit while testing the machine, before installing the graphics card; thought I could get away with just integrated graphics. One quick Google result told me otherwise.