over the years there have been quite a few Innovations for PC builders that
have become very popular but can sometimes be of questionable utility so
at the risk of talking smack about things you know and love here are our
picks for a few different kinds of gear that while not useless you might want to
think twice about to see if you're really getting good value for money
remember overrated doesn't necessarily mean bad first off the modular power
supply now the big advantage of the modular PSU is that it's supposed to
help you keep your system tidier as you can plug in only the cables that you're
going to be using makes sense but that doesn't mean you should automatically go
drop extra money on one for starters that modular functionality costs the
power supply manufacturers more to implement and that cost is passed on to
you the consumer as Corsair or whoever else isn't exactly running a charity but
even if money is No Object a huge number of computer cases these days have power
supply basements which you can easily use to hide any extra cables on a
non-modular PSU and did you even know
that although the power connectors on various PC components are standardized
the ports where the modular cables connect to the power supply itself
aren't standardized meaning you have to be very careful if you're buying
third-party cables or trying to reuse ones from a different PSU you could
easily damage your poor components this way so unless you have a case without a
power supply basement you you may just want to save your money and opt for a
simpler non-modular unit instead speaking of cases let's talk about the
acrylic side panel if you want to see-through case acrylic is marketed as
a more affordable option to tempered glass and bonus it's more lightweight
and doesn't have quite the risk of shattering like tempered glass does so
why are we including it in today's episode and calling it overrated
compared to the more expensive tempered glass unfortunately acrylic is far
easier to scratch than tempered glass and I'm not talking easier to scratch
with a rusty nail I mean you can scratch acrylic while cleaning it with a
freaking paper towel and to make things worse you're going to need to clean your
acrylic panel as it tends to attract dust more easily than tempered glass
does the one point acrylic does have in its favor is that its lighter weight and
shatter resistance make it better for a PC that you're hauling around often as
long as you're careful about the scratches but if you're just leaving your PC in one place most of the time it
might be worth it just to pay a little extra for tempered glass next we're
going to tell you about a component that actually affects performance or maybe it
doesn't right after we than paperlike the sponsor of this video protect your
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Google images and the search results will almost exclusively show you water
cooled systems many of which feature AIO
closed loop coolers you can buy off the shelf indeed aios have become a bit of a
default feature for folks building a mid to uper range PC but are they
necessarily the best option the main benefits of aiio you typically see
people talk about are better cooling performance lower noise and nicer
Aesthetics but that better cooling performance may not end up being very
consequential to you a good quality air
cooler should allow your CPU to hit its Max frequency on stock settings as long
as you're not running your system in some kind of abnormally hot room turns
out the house on the side of the volcano was really cheap for a reason now if
you're overclocking aios will generally allow you to push your system a bit
harder but if not keep in mind that aiio can be more annoying to install due to
having to screw the unwieldy Radiator in from the other side of your case it's
possible for the pump to be noisier than an air cooler with a well-made fan and
aios have more parts that can fail on you bottom line is that you shouldn't
feel like you have to get one unless you have a specific need or you just really
like the way they look in your case compared to an air cooler and and
finally let's really give some hot takes about the mechanical keyboard that's
right there seems to be an attitude out there that the more common membrane
keyboard can cheapen an otherwise nice setup but Mechanicals aren't necessarily
Superior to membranes in every case so
much of the argument in favor of mechanical keyboards comes down to how
they feel when typing and it's perfectly valid to prefer the feel of a rubber
Dome switch on a membrane board although some mechanical keyboards can give you
tactile and audible feedback so that you know when you've actuated a key this
isn't ideal for everyone especially if you prefer a quiet environment or others
around you find all your click clacking
distracting and Doug's mad again and for gamers there are certain switches that
actuate very shortly after you press them down which theoretically helps you
react to game events more quickly but there's a good chance you may not notice
this unless you're a super competitive player of specific specific genres and
many people have complained that these speed switches have led them to make
more errors when typing Doug can tell you all about that of course we have to
mention that quiet mechanical key switches do exist and that mechanical
keyboards do tend to be more durable than their membrane counterparts setting
aside everything we just talked about but since more basic keyboards are such
cheap commodity items it's probably a better idea to just buy whatever kind of
keyboard feels good on your little thingies with the point being that
mechanical does not automatically mean
better for you and to be clear there are some nice keyboards that use membranes
some have very good build quality and features like water resistance and there
are even some high-end laptops like MacBooks that use membranes to protect
the contacts from debris are there any other popular items for PC di wires you
think are a little overrated let us know down in the comments or scream at us if
you disagree with our takes but scream
nicely please and it's so nice of you to get to the end of this video haven't
watched the whole thing e wow hey like the video if you liked it dislike it if
you disliked it check out our video on computer parts that disappeared
completely o comment with video suggestions and don't forget to
subscribe and follow to techwick all right that's all for me I'll see you
later bye