- Even I'm tired of watching me upgrade the TV
in my living room at this point,
which is why today's video is very exciting.
This is the very first in what I'm planning to be
a very long running series sponsored by Intel.
I'm calling it Intel Extreme Tech Upgrade,
and the premise is simple.
One by one each of my team members
is gonna get a 5,000 U.S dollar budget
to tech makeover their space.
First up, Anthony.
Let's see how he spent it.
(upbeat electronic music)
Now you might be thinking, $5,000?
With that, you could buy the most balling gaming PC ever,
but the PC is only one part of a setup upgrade.
So Anthony had to make some tough choices.
- An obvious path would have been to just build
a top of the line gaming PC courtesy of Intel
and call it a day.
But I already have a pretty sweet gaming setup,
and this is an opportunity to splurge on something
I wouldn't normally buy for myself.
Now, I've never been thin.
And while I lost a fair amount of weight
before moving to BC, the early days of the move
caused a shift in my habits,
no pots and no pans meant no cooking.
So the solution was often to eat out, but it became a habit.
And while my job isn't stressful in and of itself,
my mind still finds ways to make it that way sometimes.
And when I'm stressed,
the thing I've always turned to has been food.
So one of my plans was to use the HTC VIVE
that Linus lent me so that I could game-ify exercise
a little bit as part of a plan that I had to be more active.
But the VIVE is still in the bin.
Not for lack of trying,
I'd been putting together a little ITX rig piece by piece,
it just hasn't happened yet.
I managed to lose some of what I gained,
even though I haven't been using the VIVE,
but it's not happening fast enough,
and I fear I've plateaued.
So my tech upgrade is going to revolve around
transforming my media setup.
I'm talking new TV, new stand, new soundbar.
And of course finally installing a sick new VR gaming PC,
powered by Intel of course.
- The gaming PC is still at the heart of the setup here.
So, Anthony, do you wanna walk me through
some of your parts choices here?
Starting of course, with the CPU.
So you've gone with a Core i5-10600K.
- I chose the Intel Core i5-10600K
for its high clock speeds, which should help in VR.
- For RAM, you've gone with 16 gigs of DDR4 3200 C16,
I noticed there's no RGB,
not only on the RAM, but anywhere in this system.
- Yeah, if it's gonna be a living room PC,
I don't especially need RGB
and I don't really want it either.
I don't really need lights distracting me from the TV
or anything else I might be doing in the living room.
- That makes sense and I can actually see
those aesthetic choices throughout the build here.
So if you wanna un-box the case
and maybe get the power supply installed,
I'll take this over here.
Then we don't have to wear these annoying masks.
- The Phantex P400 is actually from what I can gather
a really good case for noise to performance ratio.
- And the same can be said for the Noctua NH-U12S.
This is a compact air cooler,
but still gives up very little in terms of performance.
I'm expecting the CPU to be running at max turbo
all the time with a cooler like this one.
- I really appreciate the understated look of this case.
And the fact that the front mesh here is extremely fine.
So what this allows me to do is
have the machine set up in the living room
with good air flow, so the fans don't have to ramp up.
I'm just checking to see if I've got enough fan headers
to run these fans without using the internal fan controller,
that could save me from running an additional cable
from the power supply.
One fan header here.
This one is for AIO pump,
I don't think that can be used for a fan.
- I'm a big fan. (laughs)
Sorry, of having fan headers along this edge of the board,
but this is a more value oriented Z490,
so, you don't have anything, unfortunately, along this edge.
I think you missed one though,
there's actually two at the bottom,
chassis fan two and three are down here.
- [Anthony] Oh, I did miss one.
- Then you wouldn't have to fool around
with any of the profiling nonsense.
You could just go one, two, three,
and use all chassis fan headers.
- These fan cables are very short though.
- Only one way to find out, here you go, boss.
So far, everything you've chosen has been purely practical.
It's amazing how the choices change
once they're spending their own money, right?
The one exception is the all black version
of the Noctua cooler that costs about an extra 10 bucks.
But I also noticed that your power supply,
you went with a modular model
instead of just a fixed cable one,
what would be the rationale behind that.
- Cable management.
I mean, to be fair, a semi-modular would be perfectly fine
because everybody needs the ATX 24 pin,
at least until the ATX 12-volt becomes a thing.
But-
- Oh, you know we have one of those, right?
- Oh.
- I got a board and power supply.
So, guys get subscribed, you're gonna see a video
on the new motherboard power standard.
Carry on.
- The reason I went with the RMx 2018 650 watt actually,
is because I don't need that much power.
And it's one of the better rated power supplies
on our forum thread, the PSU tier list.
They're actually considered one of the best in class.
Okay, I think this is a job for your tiny fingers.
- [Linus] I did prove that I'm a faster PC builder
than Anthony.
Oh yeah, and better gamer.
- I don't know about that.
But the RTX 2080 SUPER is basically,
I think the best value for like high end VR right now.
Since I'm going to be using it with a VIVE,
it's a probably not actually even going to be used
to its full potential.
So with it, I should be able to handle anything
that I throw at it.
- Oh yeah.
I'm gonna plug in his case RGB.
Just gotta get, yep, okay, sh.
- [David] Hey, Anthony.
- That's it, right?
- Yeah, I guess so.
We don't necessarily need to cable manage the back,
I can do that later.
- That looks about as cable managed as I would make it.
- [Anthony] Yeah, the best cable managed
as you would make it.
- [Linus] Yeah, yeah.
- Now, my basement apartment isn't exactly in great shape
and it's pretty cramped too.
So that informed a lot of my decision making.
Because I don't have much space for high end audio,
a good soundbar is what I was after.
While I wanted to use the Sonos Arc
as a standalone bar, I just couldn't get one in time.
So I went for the Samsung HW-Q90R.
Which comes with a subwoofer and satellites.
Reviews place it among the best soundbars
that can handle Dolby Atmos right now.
And while I'm not sure if it's strictly an upgrade
in terms of sound quality
over my Audioengine A5+ bookshelf speakers.
In terms of sound stage, it should be a huge step up.
The TV is rather special.
I originally was looking at the LG NANO90
but it lacked some features that I really wanted,
like multiple HDMI 2.1 ports and more than 32 dimming zones.
And then Vizio launched their 2021 lineup
and their new P-series Quantum X ticked all the boxes.
Four HDMI 2.1 ports, eARC, 480 local dimming zones,
auto-game mode with quick response time,
120 hertz native panel speed with variable refresh rate
from 48 to 120 hertz.
I mean, basically for my use case of mixed gaming
and content streaming it's perfect.
The only problem is it's not for sale yet.
So we managed to get a pre-production model
straight from Vizio themselves.
- All right, buddy, got your delivery, where you want it?
- Oh, well that's rude.
That's a very good question.
- [Linus] This is kind of a lot of stuff here.
Like is this TV even gonna fit?
- No.
- Tell you what, why don't we build the stand
and see where that gets us?
- [Anthony] Okay.
- This is going faster than it was that's for sure.
I still have my doubts about
whether anyone's gonna be able to get past this stand
if it's installed here.
So we may have no choice,
but to go with our backup TV location plan there, Anthony.
Why don't we leave the VR space here then?
- Okay.
- What I might do though, is take off that mount
and do it this corner to that corner though,
because that way you could actually go
all the way from here, all the way over to here.
If you wanted to play like a bigger game like GORN
is a ton of fun to play with a little bit of room
to move around so you can punch guys.
It's like a physics based arena brawler.
My location here is actually really good
to watch this whole space here.
Little bit tighty tighten there.
There we go.
While Matthias finishes up the TV stand,
I think what you and I need to do is clear some space.
Apparently we're taking it one step further
and we are disassembling the desk.
Now I'm really glad I don't have to be part
of that conversation.
Even if we're gonna make it better
after we temporarily destroy this home office setup.
It's worth pointing out by the way,
Intel's not just giving us special treatment.
They've been helping their staff transition
to working from home, with budget for tools, equipment,
and resources so that they can keep working
through these tough times as well.
And where the crap am I supposed to put this exactly?
- Wherever it fits.
- Okay.
And...
That's where it goes.
- [Anthony] We'll figure out the clean up afterwards.
- Yeah, that's not my problem, I guess.
Not my problem, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
The good news is we're making progress.
Matthias, are we ready for me to unbox the TV
so we can put it on this mount?
How close are you?
- Believe we are quite close.
Looking pretty good.
Oh.
Oh (beeps)
- Oh.
- Did I catch it?
All good, everything's fine.
I stomped on the back of the packaging
and that bought enough time for Anthony and David
to get over and stop it from whacking on the counter.
Cool.
Now all we need to do is actually mount the TV to it.
This whole assembly is gonna weigh like 150 pounds
by the time we're done.
Should we center it a bit?
Yeah, that would be better.
- That is massive. (chuckles)
Yeah.
Wow.
- (giggles) Okay.
Ooh, not bad, okay.
- There's a lot of range of motion on that amount actually.
- A do-do.
Oh yeah.
Gaming rig time.
A UPS isn't the most glamorous piece of hardware ever.
You know, leave it to Anthony to pick smart things
to spend his budget on.
It's a great idea when you have unstable power
and apparently they get frequent brownouts here.
So this is just a wonderful way to protect the gear
that's attached to it.
So how heavy is this puppy?
- It's pretty heavy, I don't think you're gonna lift it.
it's in three pieces.
Probably best to like, kind of-
- [Linus] yeah, sure, okay, here we go.
(Linus groans)
- [Anthony] Oh, whoa, hang on.
- [Linus] Oh boy, it's plugged in, isn't it?
- [Anthony] Yep.
- You know you must be at Anthony's house,
when under the couch you might find normal things
like popcorn debris, but also a key cap puller.
we can run power for the couch off the island now,
which means all we gotta do
is kinda shove these bad boys under here,
and cable managed.
- [David] Now that's a tech tip.
- [Linus] That's a free tech tip for you.
- [Anthony] Tech tip, if you can't see them,
they're managed.
- That's right, that's management.
For a soundbar, this thing is pretty crazy town.
It's all Atmos-y and all that, so it's 7.1.4.
And basically that means you've got like
four channels up top, one subwoofer,
and then seven either virtual or true channels.
The soundbar itself, which Anthony has over there,
the subwoofer, and then this right here
is a couple of rear satellites
that we're planning to put on these speaker stands.
I've got three things that I just brought over here
that need to plug into the wall.
Both of the rear satellites.
And then I've also got that VIVE lighthouse.
Unfortunately, I think that means this shelf
has gotta kind of shovel off a little bit
away from the wall, so, here we go.
Oh boy.
Here we go again.
Ooh boy.
Oh, okay.
I'll try not to break your PS3.
- That's a first model too, it's got PS2.
- [Linus] Ooh.
- And the card reader and stuff.
- Yeah, I really gotta be careful
not to break that one then.
- I've repaired it myself and I'm very proud of that.
- Yep, there we go, oh, yep.
if it's back here and we can't see it, then it's good.
Okay there, bud.
It's TV AF.
- You ever seen a TV as TV as this TV?
- [David] Nah, this is the TV-est TV I ever TV'ed.
- I've got the subwoofer packed back here behind the couch.
I know that's not ideal for acoustics,
but Anthony preferred it in terms of looks.
So we're gonna at least give it a shot.
The soundbar itself, I haven't actually plugged
into the eARC port on the TV yet,
but I'll do that in just a moment.
And I was just about to plug in power to the UPS.
I did move a network switch over here though,
so we should be good to go for networking
for all the gear that Anthony is about to cart over.
- If you have electronics that take five volts,
get one of these things, USB to barrel plug,
plug it into a USB port somewhere
and you can power these things.
So you don't have as many wallboards
and it's a lot more efficient.
- I'm accepting all the terms and conditions.
Your life is now signed away to Vizio.
- [Anthony] Sounds good.
I am gonna use literally none of its smart functions,
I'm pretty sure.
- [David] Anthony, why do you have three Super Nintendos.
- I don't, those are Luke's.
- [David] Why do you have three of Luke's Super Nintendos?
- I don't, I have four.
(David laughs)
One of them is in pieces in a bag,
and yeah, basically he wanted me to fix them up,
but I haven't ever really gotten around
to setting up my soldering station.
- I was surprised to see those too,
I thought you were a Sega loser.
- Well...
I was a Sega kid, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate
other things unlike Nintendo fans.
- Oh, yeah.
Okay, So I need a keyboard and mouse, if you don't mind.
- [Anthony] Well, one moment.
- Getting all the foxes together
to cover up those patched holes in the wall.
Hey, wait a minute.
Hey, that's not a fox!
No, you're done, it's out.
- [Anthony] All right.
- This one's ugly.
- [David] That's a red panda.
- Oh, okay.
Hey, what the, get outta here, red panda.
Deceiving me.
Polar bear.
Oh.
- Well, look, red pandas are called fire foxes.
- Nope, they're out.
Look at all my friends.
This is the closest thing I have to them.
Where did that Red Panda go?
- Oh, you dropped kicked it.
- I take it back, the red Panda can return
and the Pokemon can come back.
I need a solution for the patches on the walls,
but like, hey, look at that.
- This is something very special
that I've been waiting for a long time to get my hands on.
It's the Open Source Scan Converter.
And it's not something we've like had a need
to cover on the channel.
Basically what it does is it takes component video
or European SCART, which can either carry a component
or a composite signal,
and converts it into HDMI.
It can also take a VGA here.
And it can line double it.
So basically if it's an old game
that runs at 240p for example,
newer TVs don't know what to do with that.
So this will line double that, output it at 480p
and the TV will basically just accept it happily.
It also, I think can upscale further than that.
And it has open source firmware as well.
So it can actually apply other things like filters,
different kinds of scan lines, that kind of thing.
So I'm looking forward to adding this
and kind of making it the centerpiece
of my retro game collection as I expand upon it.
Most of it's still in Newfoundland,
but it's a small detail.
This HDMI switch, what I'm gonna use that with
is this mCable Gaming on the output end.
What that lets it do is any of these four inputs
can then be pushed through the mCable
without having to, you know, unplug and re-plug
and all that kind of stuff.
And yeah, so I'll just plug the PS4
or Wii U or PS3 or anything like that into this,
and it'll be upscaled for me.
No need to worry about the internal upscale in the TV.
The only problem with this thing
is that it's a little bit like loud color wise.
I guess I could like Plasti Dip it or something,
I've already put some capped on tape on the front of this
to kind of take the edge off of these lights,
they get really bright.
So we've got the Quantum X P-series TV from Vizio,
75-inch 2021 edition or whatever they're calling it now.
We've got this Samsung Atmos soundbar.
We've got all of Anthony's console set up here.
He's probably gonna add more, but you know how it is.
And most importantly,
we've got the wireless VR set up
that theoretically, I should be able to pair now.
So do you wanna hold on to that?
Have you ever done this before?
- Nope.
- Okay, cool.
So basically how it works is,
nope, you don't put that on yet.
I know, I know, it's exciting, but you can't yet, you can't.
So you just walk around the room
and just draw where there's no obstructions.
So where the safe space will be.
Achievement unlocked, you're ready?
- Cool.
- Give it a shot, Anthony.
Boy's a gamer.
- Ah.
- But it's harder than looks. (laughs)
How's the experience though, how's the wireless?
- It's good, like I'm not impeded whatsoever.
- You can tell he's got music in his ears a little loud.
We've got the VR working.
Do you wanna also experience the soundbar?
Maybe throw like some kind of content up
on the Apple TV before we go?
- [Anthony] Sure.
- Okay.
Not bad.
- Yeah.
- All right, well...
I'm gonna go ahead and turn it down a little bit.
- We're definitely not gonna have it that high.
- Yeah, I think the upstairs
probably wouldn't appreciate that too much,
but hey, at least it's got the capability.
So...
Thanks for letting us destroy and also upgrade your house,
and thanks to Intel for sponsoring this episode.
Guys, you can always find out more
about the latest Intel 10th Gen processors
and all their other great technology
at the link down below.
Stay tuned, make sure you're subscribed,
'cause we're gonna have more of these coming.
And I already know that at least the next four or five
are gonna have utterly unique spins
because every person at Linus Media Group is,
let me just put it this way,
they're all a little special.