Thanks Surfshark for sponsoring this video.
This is my YouTbe studio where I spend most of my time. I will be doing a proper studio tour soon,
and today I will take you through my gaming and streaming setup..
By the way, I am camera-shy but not that camera-shy! I just wanted
today to be a little bit more about the gear.
This setup is split into this desk area and a TV area at the back of the studio.
I love having a dedicated space for content creation.
If you’ve been following the channel for a while,
you know I started off from a tiny room at home and about a year ago, I moved into this space.
The space itself has had quite a few building issues recently but I am almost
happy with how it is now. I will share more on that in my full studio tour coming up.
This is my gaming PC. It’s been a dream of mine for many years to have a dedicated gaming rig. It
took me months and months of research and lots of stress putting it together but here it is.
There are a couple of things I’d like to upgrade still but
it’s coming along nicely, it’s about 90% complete.
The case I went with is the wonderful Hyte Y60, I love the shape and this fish tank look. The glass
makes it look ultra modern and it’s super cool to be able to show off al the internal components.
This Hyte Y60 has plenty of room for expansion, and it looks great. And if I am really honest,
as a total noob building a PC, I enjoyed the extra space that this has.
I am building another PC using this beautiful Fractal case but that will be another video.
For this build, I went with the Intel i9 13900K processor,
and an MSI SUPRIM RTX 4090 graphics card.
This combo makes this PC an absolute beast! It handles all my gaming without breaking a sweat.
I do have another desk setup where I do my video editing from, which is powered by my Apple,
M1 Max MacBook Pro, but I’d love to see how this PC would handle my video editing workflow.
The RTX 4090 is the most powerful graphics card on the market. It can
run the most demanding games at ULTRA settings. This means that I can enjoy
the best possible graphics and performance in my games.
I tested this gaming PC with a variety of games, as you can see here.
The graphics were amazing, and the frame rates were extremely
smooth. I was also able to stream these games without any issues too.
As you can probably tell, I am super happy with this PC and paired up with this Alienware
Ultrawide gaming monitor, that I’ve got behind me here, the entire experience is sublime.
The Alienware Ultrawide, is a curved QD-OLED monitor. This bad
boy was named by many reviewers the best gaming monitor of 2022.
After a year… some still regard this monitor as one of the best still and…
because it’s not as new, you may be able to find it for a much more reasonable price.
And while I share with you some information
about today’s sponsor you can appreciate the display quality.
Surfshark has been a great app for me. Extremely robust, but also very simple to use.
One of my favourite features is how easy it is to share the subscription across all my devices.
I have lots of Apple devices but I also use Android and
of course this gaming PC now which is Windows.
Every device is protected the same way, at no extra cost to me.
In today’s world, right? I think it’s super important to have as many protection barriers
as possible… and Surfshark offers more than one way of protection.
There’s the VPN aspect which helps you.. when I am accessing a public WiFi.
You know, you never really know if there’s someone monitoring your usage or trying to
steal your information. It might be a cafe or a hotel…
We rely so much on storing our credit card details, usernames and passwords…
So I love how Surfshark VPN puts… a mask, if you like, encrypting your connection.
Which means any hackers out there would have a hard time snooping on you,
to find out what you’re doing or where you’re doing it from.
And it doesn’t stop there! Another two great ways Surfshark helps me,
is when I am online shopping or watching content.
I can very easily change my IP address to a different country and look for the best online
deals, or I can browse streaming services and watch content that is country-specific.
And the great news for you?
With my code ALEXGTECH, you get an exclusive deal and 3 extra months for free.
Just use the link in the description with the promo code, to get started.
It’s strictly speaking a gaming monitor, but every time I used it for admin work
or to record video podcasts and things like that I had no issues. In a previous
video I even hooked this up to an M2 Mac Mini which I still use from time to time.
I’ve been using this monitor since December 2022 and after 7 months,
there is absolutely no burn-in.
I love how you can route all the cables behind it…
and despite the feet being quite large, it fits well in my setup.
I might mount it to a monitor arm in future but for now it just sits
here under my Hexcal Studio. More about the Hexcal later in the video.
The only issue with this monitor I found is how you’re not able to
upgrade the firmware yourself. It hasn’t been an issue for me… but
if I stick with this monitor for another year or so, this could become an issue.
These lovely cables you are seeing here are the incredible AOHI cable set. Honestly,
it’s a small thing but these cables make such a big difference to my setup.
This is their future creative power cable set. I love how great they look but more importantly,
I love the build quality of these cables.
They are able to support up to 240W of power delivery through
USB-C…and if you have Apple devices or Android devices,
these cables are perfect for both, and comes with both USB-C and Lightning connections.
Check this out though, you can use the small parts of the cable,
but the great thing about these cables is how you can extend any part of the setup.
They are super flexible, allowing me to connect them to a charger,
and even power up my MacBook when I am sitting in the couch.
They look awesome and much better than the mess of cabling I had before. The other cool thing about
these cables is that they have a colour code to tell you how fast your device is being charged.
It will go Green for low current,
Blue for standard charging and Blinking yellow for Fast charging.
I’ve tested this with Android tablets, iPads,
iPhones and Android smartphones of all kinds. It works perfectly every time.
It’s even good enough for data transfer. Superb quality really.
Every now and then you come across a product that really makes a difference. Like I said,
it’s only a small thing but makes me happy when I look at the aesthetics on the desk.
My desk mat is this gorgeous felt mat by Grovemade, and the mouse
mat is from Glorious. I love glorious mats for gaming, especially the XL sized ones.
Not the best looking, I gotta say, but they feel amazing.
I actually really like the mouse pad that came with my graphics
card… but it wasn’t big enough and I spilled some coffee on it as well,
so I had to upgrade to this one from Glorious. They really understand gaming you know?
The mouse I have is the Logitech Gaming mouse which has been a
great revelation for me. I bought it for Gaming but I’ve found it to be
superb for other tasks too like admin work or even video and photo editing.
The battery lasts a really long time and it feels super light. Lots of customisable
buttons via the Logitech software and… just a really satisfying feel to it.
Talking about satisfying, I will shut up for a moment so you can hear the beautiful
sound of the Glorious keyboard I am using. For reference, this is the GMMK 2 model.
Amazing right? The keycaps feel great to the touch. It’s only my second
mechanical keyboard ever… but this thing got me hooked into mechanical keyboards.
I can’t live without my numerical keypad so I went
with a full keyboard… but they also do a compact version which looks lovely too.
These keycaps and switches are completely hot swappable so you can customise it further.
Maybe I will build a custom one next, but for now I am super happy with it.
My only criticism is that when using this keyboard with a Mac, you kinda have to guess where the Mac
keys are, but 90% of the time I am using it for gaming anyway so not that big of an issue.
The top frame material is aluminium and which gives it a nice weight,
it has a nice sturdiness to it.
I love the contrasty colours against my desk, and I think
it really compliments my setup really well.
If you don’t like the Glorious logo on the escape keycap,
they send you a spare keycap so you can replace it, if you want to.
Coming over to my audio setup, this is my trusty Focusrite 2i2 audio interface. Not
the most expensive out there but the reason I love it so much is how it makes the Shure SM7B sound.
Since starting the channel, I have tried many configurations with the SM7B. I tried the
Rodecaster Pro, the Rodecaster Pro II, which is ok actually, with and without cloud lifter, and for
me, the best I managed to make this microphone sound is with the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
They have a nice 4 channel version version too,
but for this setup, 2 inputs and 2 outputs is all I needed really.
My headphones of choice are not actually gaming headphones but
I love how comfortable they are and of course, how they sound.
This is the Rode NTH-100 over the ear headphones. They’re fairly new
in the market and I’ve been using them since launch and I take them with me everywhere.
I’ve tried the beyerdynamics, Apple AirPods Max but the one I use the most is the Rode NTH-100.
The ear cups are made with Alcantara material and the comfort it gives is second to none really.
You can use the cable on the left or right hand side, which is really convenient.
The cable itself is of great quality and allows for connecting straight to
your computer or to the audio interface by using the 3.5mm to quarter inch adaptor.
When I am feeling a bit more adventurous though,
I use my monitor speakers for gaming which are just… incredible.
These are the Rokit 5, monitor speakers from KRK. You can manually control them
at the back for specific Audio profiles, but I use pretty much out of the box,
you know, the default settings here and I am always so impressed by good they sound.
I bought some stands for them but I quite like to have them on the desk itself. This way,
whenever I move the desk to standing position, the speakers stay at my ear level which is great.
And actually, just before I talk about my streaming setup,
a quick reminder to like this video if you are enjoying it of course and have
a look on the channel after this video and if you like my stuff, it would be awesome
if you subscribed. I am here at least once a week with a down to earth tech video for you.
Coming over to my streaming setup, it’s actually quite straight forward despite
how much gear it’s involved. I have my main video camera on a rolling stand.
This cover you see around the camera is basically my teleprompter because
I am pretty useless without a telepromter.
The rolling stand is from Neewer, it’s fairly heavy-duty, and I have to add, I have a bit of
an obsession for them. I just love how I can easily move the entire setup if I wanted to.
There’s a lot of natural light coming into the studio which can be a blessing but also
a curse. So being able to slightly adjust the angle sometimes is really
useful. And without those wheels it would be really painful to do.
I have three cameras in this setup, the Sony A7Siii which is my main camera for
the last couple of years, and the camera I use to record all of the footage you are seeing now.
I also have a Sony ZV-e10 which is a fantastic camera for vlogging but because it has the same
colour profiles as my Sony A7S iii it made sense to me to use it as my second angle.
I have a few lenses here, the 24mm which is the main one for my A-roll setup,
but I also have a Tamron lens, a 28-75mm and a 35mm anamorphic lens form SIRUI.
For closer looks into products, I use a Sony 90mm 2.8 macro lens.
The third camera is a 4K webcam by Insta360. Superb camera for running
online meetings for work, but I use this camera a lot when I don’t feel
like firing up the entire streaming setup. It really is good enough for anything.
I reviewed this camera on the channel before and I use it on a daily basis. It has lots of smart
features and I get so many comments from people at work, because the quality is just so good.
I have to take my hats off to people who do streaming on a daily basis because there is
so much gear involved and even though I’ve been doing this for about 3 years,
I still find streaming a little bit daunting.
Using something like a Hexcal studio is super helpful though,
when hiding the power cables and all the mess that I’ve got here. And I also have
a cable tray under the desk for anything that is not in the Hexcal.
The Hexcal studio is an awesome product that serves so many purposes. It’s quite
a unique product, and quite expensive too.
I’ve had it for about 6-7 months now and I still love it. It has a builtin ambient light,
lots of storage inside, plenty of power connectors, USB-C connectivity and even
a built-in wireless charger which you can use to charge two devices at once.
With streaming and recording videos in general,
one thing that is extremely useful to have on the desk is a docking station.
On this desk I am using the CalDigit TS4 which is one of the stars of the show here.
This is their 4th generation and it’s fast becoming a must have for
any setup that needs the ULTIMATE connectivity.
It has 18 ports which is insane. In fact, that’s the most of any thunderbolt docks out there.
It’s made out of solid aluminium, and I just love how clean it looks on my setup.
All USB ports on this dock are 10 Gigabit ports. None of that cheap 5GB stuff that we see in some
other options! And the Ethernet is 2.5 gigs per second! Which is great for gaming and streaming!
One of these ports on the TS4 can be used to fast charging devices too, like a tablet or smartphone.
And the SD card slot is pretty satisfying…Not many will have
this spring lock mechanism and it’s a tiny detail, but I really like it.
I will probably hide it under the desk at some point but because of
the material used here, it doesn’t look out of place.
My desk itself is a standing desk very similar to ergonofis in North America,
this is from a company called Friska desk who are a Swedish company. Extremely sturdy
desk. I love them so much that I have two of them.
I also have a Flexispot smaller desk here in the studio, for my son’s gaming setup,
and I will leave a link to a video where I featured all of them.
Now, one of the most important parts of the setup is my gaming chair. This
is the Secret Lab Titan gaming chair. I will be reviewing this more fully
in a separate video but this has been another revelation for me.
I gotta be honest, I never really saw the fascination with gaming
chairs and didn’t really like the way they looked.
But Secret Labs seem to have evolved so much and you are able to find some great designs
now. You can adjust the tension, the backrest and they really go quite some way down. I find
this great for whenever I am having a break. It’s great for relaxing. Extremely comfortable.
Most importantly: It feels great for those longer gaming sessions.
Right at the back here I have my console gaming area. I am constantly changing
this area but it’s got to a point where I am happy to share with you.
The cabinet is a very basic one from IKEA and the TV which is the
main attraction is a 65” Samsung Neo QLED 8K TV. Incredible TV for gaming.
Because of its 8K features I actually use it a lot
for my video backdrops now. Gaming on this feels incredibly immersive.
I have a lot of daylight here in the studio but the TV is bright enough
that I can play during the day without problems.
But of course the TV really comes to life when it’s a bit darker. Because it’s a 2022
model the price has come down considerably, almost to the same price as a decent 4K TV.
It has a dedicated gaming mode which will prioritise refresh rate
and really push the performance a little further.
The framed prints in the background are from a company called East of Nowhere
and they do some incredible maps. I have the Brazil and United Kingdom
representing where I live and where I come from.
And if you’re wondering where I will be…I am here at least once
a week with a down to earth tech video for you and will be doing
more of these setup videos so make sure you are subscribed for more.
See you soon!