We're Building a Gaming LAN Center!!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,985 words · ~9 min read
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So I used to go out on a fairly regular basis
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and game at LAN parties with my friends on the weekends.
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But now that I'm self-employed and I have three kids,
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I have neither weekends nor friends.
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So, the solution?
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A LAN gaming center that I don't have to travel to.
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One that has participants
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that I'm already paying to hang out with me
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here in our office.
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And thanks to our sponsorship from Intel,
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today, that dream begins to become a reality.
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Though clearly we do have some work to do.
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All right, so our not at all wild idea
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is to convert this corner of our warehouse,
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the one that we had wired up and cooled up for crypto mining,
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yeah, you can see how well that worked out,
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into a full-on gaming center, something truly useful.
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So what we're gonna need is proper power, proper cooling,
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proper networking, and most importantly,
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some solid gaming rigs so that nobody, including me,
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has lag as an excuse.
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Now, the purpose of this part one video is twofold.
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We're gonna lay out the plan, such as it is at this point,
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and we're gonna get your feedback about it
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so that we can make any necessary changes
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before going all out.
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And before even cleaning up, apparently.
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So there's our transformer box.
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There's our electrical panel.
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So then right about here is where we've got outlets times 16.
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Yep.
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Can we run 10 gig over here?
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I don't see why we wouldn't.
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Is it too long?
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It's expensive.
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So is each system gonna be 10 gig
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because we have the capability or no?
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I don't know.
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I mean, we could.
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Those cards are only like a hundred bucks.
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That would be sick.
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Yeah. Like our system would be like a hundred bucks.
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Our caching server would not be able to keep up,
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but it would be sick.
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So basically power is gonna kind of depend
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on where we want the tables.
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We could have Brian move the outlets if we wanted,
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depending on how we wanted to do.
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Okay, so here's one thing.
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This wall is really ugly.
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Also, technically that wall doesn't have to be there, right?
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It's just, it's not supporting anything.
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It is supporting the electrical panel right now.
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We could even have like a TV there or something.
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I think we should have a table, like a countertop here.
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A countertop?
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That would be nice.
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Just like, so you can put stuff there.
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Like maybe even a sink.
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Probably not a sink.
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Just a countertop would be nice.
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As part of our initial planning,
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we need to design and build up a prototype
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of the actual systems that we're gonna be rolling out
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because you wanna make sure everything about them is perfect
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before you run out and build 16 boxes.
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Oh yeah, our plan is 16 seats.
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Anyway, we wanna not only be able to game on this setup
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for a long time,
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but we'd also love to have it available
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for Linus Media Group and Floatplane Media staff
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to stream off hours,
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or maybe we could start doing some Let's Plays
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over on Channel Super Fun, resurrect that.
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Like, I don't know.
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So with that in mind,
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our builds were designed to be good enough
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for high refresh rate 1080p
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or normal refresh rate, like 60 Hertz, 1440p gaming.
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We haven't actually chosen our monitors yet.
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So we're definitely open to your feedback on that.
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What do you guys think we should go with?
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Anyway.
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With Intel sponsoring this video,
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our prototype will be using their excellent 8700K processor,
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which from our recent testing is untouchable
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when it comes to gaming performance.
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The only thing faster than this
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is Intel's own limited edition 8086K,
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but well, Cannot has 16 of those.
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Now for our boot drives,
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we're gonna be using Intel's 760 series NVMe SSDs.
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These are 512 gigs with read speeds
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of up to 3,230 megabytes per seconds.
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And then about half of that on writes.
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Then we're gonna be using an Optane module accelerated
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12 terabyte Barracuda Pro in each of our systems
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to give our game drive.
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So our entire Steam libraries will have SSD like performance.
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You can actually check out our recent video
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about that up here.
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We need to figure out how,
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like let's say everyone comes down
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at the end of the day or whatever,
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and wants to play the same game.
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And we don't have it.
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We need a way for everyone to be able
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to download the game really quickly.
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The caching server.
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But if we already have one,
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I think we should make a second one.
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A second one?
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I don't think our VM one is gonna be able to support this.
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Oh, come on.
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No, there's no way.
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We only have like two gigs read.
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What's your performance goal?
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Gigabit each.
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That's not even that unreasonable, is it?
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Yeah, so we need two 10 gigs into the server.
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But there's not like a compression overhead
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on the caching server, is there?
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So we just need to have like two 10 gigs.
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We need lots of network.
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Lots of network.
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RAM would be good.
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What if it could be a dedicated server
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for, you know, like running our own?
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Yeah, that could work.
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Okay, oh yes.
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So now that makes sense.
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And then we just have dedicated servers running all the time
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and then it can also act as a cache.
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Yeah.
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I want it to be quiet!.
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That's fine.
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So yeah, we'll have to like water cool it or something.
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It doesn't have to be that quiet.
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Hell yeah.
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The rest of our machine is a solid balance of mostly dash,
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but with a touch of flash.
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So we chose the ASUS.
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ROG Strix Z370G MATX board,
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in part thanks to its compact size and dual M.2 slots.
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And we went with a matching Strix GTX 1070,
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not wanting to overdo our prototype,
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just in case NVIDIA dropped a new GPU on us.
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And we ended up wanting to go with something else.
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Each station, we're gonna have a limited amount
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of actual floor space to allocate to each one.
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But obviously,
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better to have the system up on top
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from a dust management perspective.
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So one way or another, not on the floor though.
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Remember what the Wancho PC looked like after a year?
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At DreamHack, they put all the PCs above the monitors.
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Where did you come from?
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I just walked in
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because it seemed like you guys were coming
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to the wrong conclusion, so.
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So here's where we're at.
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Towers either behind the side or on top, but not ghetto,
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but not down here.
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Since the systems are gonna be highly visible,
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we hit up our buds over at Corsair,
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send us over their new 280X micro ATX chassis.
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It's compact, it's got tempered glass,
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and it's compatible
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with their new iCUE RGB lighting control software.
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For that matter,
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so is the Vengeance Pro RGB RAM that they sent over.
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And in white to match this gorgeous color scheme.
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So what are we looking at here?
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So right now,
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we have a very poorly designed fresh air cooling system.
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One that brings fresh air in, but has no exhaust for it.
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Do we roughly know
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how many feet we have in the system?
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Probably 5,000 watts total.
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So we have 350 per,
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and then like what, a 500-watt server?
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Yeah, sure.
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Oh God. Oh my God.
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Oh God.
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I don't know how.
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I don't think it's fair.
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This would be a six, wouldn't it?
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Okay, you know what?
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Whatever, 5,000.
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Yeah, screw it.
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Screw it.
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Screw mask, right?
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The final components of the system are the power supply.
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So for this, we went with an RM650X.
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It doesn't have any kind of flashy RGB or anything like that,
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but it's got it where it counts,
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providing enough power for any config
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that we could put in here.
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And it's got a modular interface.
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So go ahead and get that installed.
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And for CPU cooling,
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we've gone with the H100i Pro, but with a twist.
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We took off the maglev fans that are included,
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sacrificing a little bit of performance,
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and swapped on light loops.
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This cooler zero RPM mode,
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which can be configured in Corsair software,
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means that we can actually have the systems,
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when they're idle, be completely silent.
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So if there's only a couple of people gaming,
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there won't be any noise pollution.
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So what I'm proposing is we turn this area
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into like console gaming zone.
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Honestly, what I would like, ideally,
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is to kind of have two couches,
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and I'd like to have a big old CRT
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that we could have on like a rolling cart
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with some old consoles or an emulation box.
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And then you could have like,
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cause realistically, if you're playing more modern games,
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they're not that sensitive, too.
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They're not gonna put a leg anyway.
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So you play those on the projector,
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and then you could have a big CRT for anything else.
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You're still missing a huge category of games.
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It's like any first person shooter.
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You're not gonna wanna play in a CRT.
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Well, you're gonna wanna play first person shooter
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over here, idiot.
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So here's our finished prototype rig.
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It's not over the top or anything,
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but I still think it looks really good.
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And because of IQ, we'll have functionality,
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like having the whole thing turn red
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when someone dies or whatever.
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And then in terms of the layout of the room,
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basically,
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this is the wall where we wanna put the projector.
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Jake will have to move his paint booth.
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Here's where I want kinda like couches
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for console gaming or CRT gaming.
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Here is where we're gonna put the,
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I don't think we're gonna get three rows in here.
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So I think it's gonna end up being probably two rows
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of gaming machines with the chairs in the middle,
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back to back or something along those lines.
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I don't know.
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I think three feet per person,
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we're gonna kinda have to make it work.
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You know, we really wanna get
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a bunch of ideas from you guys.
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Do you guys have any ideas for monitors, peripherals?
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Is there any feature that you think we're missing
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from like a networking or power or cooling perspective?
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We are wanting to do this like crazy awesome.
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So don't be afraid to give us your wacky ideas
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in the comments below.
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So huge thanks to Intel for sponsoring part one
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of this project as part of their Gamer Days initiative.
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Gamer Days 2018, which runs from September 1st
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until September 16th is more than just a great time
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to shop for gaming gear.
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And like you saw in this video,
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it'll also include prizes, giveaways
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and other amazing experiences.
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So make sure you click the link
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in the video description to check it out.
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So thanks for watching guys.
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If you disliked this video, you can hit that button.
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But if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed
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or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff
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we featured at the link in the video description.
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Also down there is our merch store,
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which has cool shirts like this one
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and our community forum, which you should definitely join.