The COOLEST Box I’ve EVER Opened
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
2,145 words · ~10 min read
0:00
So the backstory for this box,
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all right, I guess it's more of a crate really,
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is pretty interesting.
0:07
So Intel brought me, Sevedis, and Ann Munition,
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who you may or may not be familiar with,
0:12
but we'll link those guys down below,
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down to do a video about their 8086 processor.
0:18
And we thought it was just kind of like
0:19
we were on a panel about PC gaming and game streaming.
0:24
And then they brought us down again
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and actually surprised us with computers
0:30
that were based on sort of what we imagined
0:33
as our dream PCs.
0:35
And I was particularly surprised
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because it is a formidable challenge
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coming up with the PC system
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for the guy who literally already has every PC system.
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This is the wall of video cards.
0:55
So what did they come up with?
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I guess we're about to find out, aren't we?
1:00
After I tell you about our sponsor for this video, Synergy.
1:04
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1:07
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1:08
and it's even compatible with Windows,
1:10
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1:12
Check it out at the link in the video description.
1:23
Okay, so first things first,
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let's get this moved somewhere a little more picturesque.
1:29
Okay, that seems better.
1:31
So there were a couple of sort of guiding things
1:34
that I had said in the video,
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obviously, I love quiet systems
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because in my mind,
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there's just no reason to have a loud system anymore
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now that cooling technology has advanced
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to the point that it has.
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Another thing that I mentioned
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was my love of retro machines
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and not retro in the sense
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that they have really old hardware inside,
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retro in the sense that they're kind of like,
2:00
like classic machines that have been updated.
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So one of my favorite things that we've done
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in the last couple of years
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has actually been the sleeper series
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that Alex has worked on.
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Those, these are just kind of like random boxes
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that we've found at the local free geek
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and then converted into, you know, bang in gaming rigs.
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I was gonna do all these by hand
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just to like add to the suspense of the video,
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but I saw how many there were.
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I don't think they can handle that much suspense.
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You know, the thing about the internet
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is somewhere, someone is into it.
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No matter what it is, somewhere,
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someone is like, oh yeah,
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taking out screws and putting them in.
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Could watch that all day.
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So what's really interesting is that
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instead of going to the usual suspects,
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you know, BS Mods or Lee Harrington or whoever else
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in the PC modding scene,
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Intel actually solicited the help of a company
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that's more into like Hollywood props building
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and less into computers.
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And so they were basically just given the footage
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of us describing our dream machines
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and told to make them come to life.
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Oh, uh oh.
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So when we set up this space,
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I actually forgot that there's a monitor
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that goes with the system.
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So I'm gonna go ahead and get this out of the way
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as much as it pains me to do so,
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because this is an amazing, amazing computer.
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This is an amazing monitor right here,
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which isn't to say that in spite of what it looks like,
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this one is the worst gaming monitor ever.
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And you'll see what I mean in a minute here.
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I get such a kick out of this thing.
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I've seen it before and I'm still,
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like I'm laughing inside just in anticipation.
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So that's it.
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It's not the most practical approach
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to skinning up a monitor
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that I could have possibly imagined,
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because as you guys might already know,
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I already suspect,
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yes, the front cover here does in fact
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cover up the corners of the monitor.
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So it's actually kind of hard to use.
4:30
And these dials, these dials don't do anything.
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But this is definitely the most complete attempt
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at retroizing a modern display
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that I think I've ever seen.
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So they're using like a high density
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kind of prop foam here that they've shaped and painted.
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And then they've painted the back of the display.
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And what I think is a really great,
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really close approximation to the kind of ugly,
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greeny, browny, tan color
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that you'd often find on older systems.
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I don't know if that plastic was just cheaper
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or if they actually thought that looked space age
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or whatever, but.
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So I'm sure you guys are eagerly anticipating the system now
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that you've seen this.
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This thing is unbelievably cool.
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I mean here, actually under this very table
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we're opening it on,
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this is an example of why it's impossible
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to send Linus a dream system.
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I already have a murder box.
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Like, now I should preface this
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by saying that while some people are going to love this,
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there are going to be others
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who are actually kind of upset at what happened here.
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Because the case that was chosen
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for this particular retro sleeper, well,
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let's just say there aren't a lot
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of good condition IBM 5150s left out in the wild.
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And now there's one fewer
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because this is what they sent over.
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And absolutely tricked out.
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And you can't really call it a sleeper anymore
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because of this gorgeous acrylic window on the top.
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But it's a tricked out IBM 5150 chassis.
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And the level of attention to detail
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in this thing is unfreaking real.
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I'm going to walk you guys through it here.
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Before we fire it up for the first time,
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we first have to appreciate one of the finest details here.
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So you can see, obviously this old chassis
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was not designed for modern standard ATX components.
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So they had to create their own acrylic back plate.
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So basically the whole thing came with, check this out,
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those are WAN logos cut into the the grill for the radiator.
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And then also our motherboard and our GPU,
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which is mounted using a PCI express riser.
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The most impressive part to me though is this.
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They actually integrated the original power switch.
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So instead of having a chintzy little
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power flippity do that on the back,
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switch for the power supply.
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and they redid all the internal wiring.
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Have a look here.
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So that it actually functions as the switch
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for the back of the power supply.
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So sick.
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So sick.
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So check this out.
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Not only does the original power button work
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and have an LED behind it to indicate that the system's on.
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So even though these floppy disk bays aren't functional,
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check this out.
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Drive activity is still handled
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by the original LEDs.
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And then these slits down the middle
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are actually functioning as an intake
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for cooling the graphics card.
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No, it's fine.
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Real flop.
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Oh no, you can't.
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That's cool though.
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You're ruining everything, Brandon.
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What, what, what?
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You're supposed to talk about it on camera.
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Oh.
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Wow.
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Okay.
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Anyway, the cooling system's actually pretty ingenious.
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So to keep dust from getting in,
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they've got an intake here
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and an intake here.
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And then the whole thing just kind of blows out the top.
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So they've got like, I don't know, whatever that is,
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about three quarters of an inch.
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The CPU.
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Now this was interesting because everyone else
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got 7980XEs.
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And so I was kind of like, yo, I got an 8086K.
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Like, what's the deal with that?
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And they were like, well,
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we thought the 8086K made perfect sense
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given that this is an original IBM 5150 chassis,
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which had the original 8086K chassis.
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Which had the original 8086K chassis.
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Which had the original 8086K chassis.
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Which had the original 8086K chassis.
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Which had the original 8086K chassis.
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You know what we should do?
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We should get Alex to look at this
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and see if he thinks he can beat it.
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Yeah.
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So I told Intel that one of the coolest projects
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I think we've done over the last little while,
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or some of the coolest projects
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have been the sleeper machines.
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And this was kind of their take on fusing retro with new.
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No, those don't do anything.
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Okay.
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We didn't grade the Intel level.
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You can go.
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So I've already found one unexpected side effect of.
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Turn down brightness on the monitor.
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Yeah, sure.
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How's that?
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Oh, that's fine.
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Okay.
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Just put that back on there.
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So this is cool.
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Because the 8086K is the highest performance
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single thread processor on the market.
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Check this out.
10:10
Our local steam cache is actually working
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better than ever before.
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So when we tested it,
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we were having a hard time getting such impressive numbers
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on titles that have a lot of performance.
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But we actually ran into CPU bottlenecks.
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But on this one,
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81 megabytes per second downloading Grand Theft Auto 5
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from our local cache.
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That's really good for that title.
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Yeah, Grand Theft Auto 5 over 80.
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That single thread performance.
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Goddamn.
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No matter how cool your system is,
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you can't get anything done when Windows decides.
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Hey, how about now?
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And I actually have an IBM Model M from 1980.
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From 1986 that I can hook up to it here.
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That looks so good.
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Like so good.
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Oh, well this blows.
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I actually don't have my PS2 adapter here.
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So disappointing.
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I am not very familiar with ASRock's bio style.
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Let's just go for five gigahertz full auto
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and see if it manages that.
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Boom.
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Speed, five gigahertz.
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I'll be curious to see
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if that download goes even faster now.
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Yup.
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We just hit 85 peak.
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Pretty sure that's the best we've seen so far.
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All right.
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So let's see how she performs.
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FPS max, zero.
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And we are sitting somewhere in the neighborhood
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of 250 to 300 frames per second at any given moment here.
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I mean, it still doesn't help me aim at anything,
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but it is what it is.
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Man, that's butter smooth.
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So there's a TN panel.
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So frankly, not the most color accurate experience ever,
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but this thing's running at 144 Hertz.
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Of course we expected that with like an 8086K
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and a GTX 1080 TI, but man bots suck.
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Oh.
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Oh, they still suck.
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They still suck.
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I just, I own that I'm also not very good.
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So that's pretty much it.
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What we've got so far is the coolest retro themed
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gaming system that I have ever seen.
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But I really don't think this is the last
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you're gonna see of this.
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And I'd love to hear from you guys.
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What would you like to see us do to this thing
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to take it to the next level?
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Please leave your comments below
12:52
because we've already got some ideas on our own,
12:55
but we're definitely interested in what you guys think.
13:01
And we're also interested in telling you guys
13:03
about Thermaltake.
13:04
Thermaltake is celebrating 20 years of Thermaltake
13:07
with their level 20 cases.
13:09
They've got four styles to choose from the VT, the XT,
13:12
the GT, and an updated version
13:14
of their triple chambered full tower case.
13:16
They all feature sleek modern design
13:17
with rounded front corners and tempered glass.
13:19
And they've got ample room for cable management
13:21
and radiators if you're into water cooling.
13:24
They also feature USB type C connections for the IO
13:26
and you can check out the link in the video description
13:28
to get yours on amazon.com.
13:31
So thanks for watching guys.
13:32
If you disliked this video, please hit the like button.
13:33
I'll see you in the next one. Bye.
13:33
If you disliked this video,
13:35
then you must not like fun,
13:36
but you can hit that button.
13:37
That is your right.
13:38
But if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed,
13:40
or maybe consider checking out
13:40
where to buy the stuff we featured.
13:41
Ha ha, good luck.
13:42
At the link in the video description.
13:44
You could get an 8086K or a GTX 1080 TI or a 2080.
13:48
So as far as most people can tell,
13:49
it's pretty similar until RTX comes.
13:52
Also down there is our merch storage,
13:53
has cool shirts like this one and our community forum,
13:55
which you should definitely join.
13:57
One thing's for sure,
13:58
this mouse has to go a little more off-white.