- You can't build a gaming PC right now,
but that's okay.
We all know just how difficult it is
to get your hands on PC gaming hardware right now.
Which is why we've teamed up with EPOS,
the sponsors of today's video.
So what exactly is our secret?
A gaming laptop.
Now I know, before you click away and say,
"Oh, I don't care about gaming laptops."
Hear me out here, because gaming laptops
have gotten very, very good.
And I honestly think that they're an excellent alternative
to building your own gaming PC at the moment.
But trust me when I say,
we're certainly not just going to be putting a laptop
on a desk and calling it a day for the setup.
I'm gonna start out with, of course,
we've got ourselves
our EPOS Gaming B20 streaming microphone.
But before we get into that,
we've got just a little bit of set up building to do,
starting with our table top.
So, I'm gonna build this now, huh?
I just have to screw legs in!
They already have my holes.
I just have to screw it.
(drill buzzes)
That was very frightening.
(drill buzzes)
One of the things with the setup that we're trying to do
is build it in a way which is not going to cost $400,000,
like some other setups that we may have done in the past.
(clears throat)
This tabletop, $22.99.
- [Ken] Wow. - Yeah, pretty good deal.
How many Overclock Media employees
does it take to build an IKEA cabinet?
- [Ken] None, we quit.
What are you doing?
- Oh God.
Oh, that's great.
- [Ken] You know what would be great?
- You know what would be great?
Is if everyone keeps their comments to theirselves
while I screw.
- [Ken] You know,
we've been rolling for 10 minutes.
- How long does it take to screw in four legs?
- [Ken] Well, at this rate, 40 minutes.
- Look at that, secure legs.
(leg clicks)
Secure legs.
After a little bit of editing magic,
the setup is basically complete.
I mean, now that we have our $60 IKEA table
with wheels.
(stool vibrating)
- [Matt] Oh my god, what are you doing?
- [Ken] No!
- It has wheels.
Looks great!
Look how supportive it is.
So before we get too far in the setup,
I actually wanna get our main components
out of the box and kinda roughly lined up.
So one of the issues that I think we would normally have,
is, while, a monitor like this is nice,
there's actually a pretty big footprint here,
so we can get it off of the desk
and connect it to this VESA mount,
I think it'll save us some space,
especially because we're using that gaming laptop.
I think what will be nice
is if we have the monitor say
in the back middle here,
and we can actually raise it up enough
so we can put the laptop in front of it.
So we essentially have our dual screen setup.
So one thing I'm realizing,
the height adjustability of this,
I just put it all the way to the top.
I think that, that should be enough space, right?
Or do I actually want to lower that?
Something like this?
- [Ken] Oh yeah, there you go.
- But we've got to put it on a little riser, right?
We can also put it on the riser over here,
and it might look really nice.
All right. So, oh, you know what, no,
we're going to definitely have to put this off to the side,
'cause we've got a full mouse and keyboard we're using.
So we're actually not going to be using
the input on the laptop.
So we've got to toss it off to the side here.
- [Ken] If you wanted to save money,
you could just use what's on the laptop, but
- I'll say for my editing setup,
both at home and at work,
I use my laptop keyboard paired with an external mouse.
But I like that because it kind of
keeps everything nice and tight.
So in true budget fashion,
we've got ourselves a relatively affordable desk pad
that costs,
- [Ken] $12?
- $12.
- That's a relative bargain!
Oh my, are you guys just buying mouse pads
for yourselves at this point? - [Ken] Yes.
- Okay, okay, fine, fine, fine, red, red, red,
okay, okay I've got the red here. Go ahead.
- Oh, that's nice. That's nice.
- [Ken] So that is our actual
laptop stand in pieces.
Ooh, it looks so good in person.
- So a neat trick to undo anything that is
curled up like this poster or mat,
whatever it is, you roll in reverse.
Let your body heat just kind of-
- [Austin] What!? (dramatic musical note)
- Let your body heat just kind of help form this.
- [Austin] Excuse me?
- Yeah.
- [Austin] What does this have to do with body?
Oh, okay.
We don't need body heat and that
whatever you're doing right now.
- [Matt] Can you sensor that?
- [Austin] Your body heat was very successful.
- All right.
This is actually looking pretty good.
I feel like we rotate that just a little bit.
That started to come together as a setup.
- You know the kids say
SHEEEEEEEEESH
SHEEEEEEEEEESH SHEEEEEEEEEEEEESSH
SHEESH [Austin laughs]
- What's wrong?
- I'm gonna throw you.
(Austin sheeshes)
- [Austin] I'm not afraid of you.
(Austin sheeshes) - He's so light.
- I'm compact and portable size.
- He's so light.
- Why? Hello there and welcome to the setup,
which is now making some serious gains.
So, not only do I have our EPOS mounted on a nice boom arm
which means that we have lots of flexibility
while we're streaming or recording or whatever.
But on top of that, we also have a couple
of additional things to help the laptop work better.
First of all, we have ourselves a dock,
I just Linused that, didn't I?
So we have ourselves a dock.
Now, the astute of you may have noticed
that we were using the G14,
which does not have Thunderbolt.
If we had Thunderbolt,
it would've made this a little bit easier
but regardless, this is a USB-C dock.
Now we're going to be able to plug in all
of our USB ports and whatnot with the single cable.
We'll also be able to go out via DisplayPort.
And on top of that, it also supports an M.2 SSD.
So this is wild overkill, and I wouldn't really
recommend you to do this because there are much
cheaper options, but we're using a Samsung 980 Pro
which is going to be mounted in here.
We also do have a Logitech C922x webcam.
The G14 does not have a webcam, which is fine.
This will be a great webcam so that we can see as we stream.
Dude, look how many things you get, how much was this?
- $120.
- That's pretty good.
- It's actually one of the cheaper docks that you can find.
And it has an M2 slot.
So I'm actually really stoked about this and it may
or may not end up at my house after we were done.
- Of course, like everything
Now to install our wild overkill 980 Pro SSD.
It's a great SSD.
You're just not getting that full PCI 4.0 speed over USB.
You install it upside down. That's so weird.
Oh, that's really tight in there.
But I guess we'll just say, that's fine, right?
This is starting to come together.
It's not a super complicated setup.
It's not a super expensive setup.
What it is, is pretty much everything you need
to game and stream all
in not only a reasonable sized package,
but reasonable priced package as well.
I'm actually really happy with how this looks.
There's some real aesthetic game going on here
short of all the trash and whatnot I need to clean up.
And so we have our gaming setup complete.
I am really happy with how this came out
but especially when it comes to the aesthetics
before we show you all of the details
let's talk a little bit about the sponsor of today's video
the EPOS gaming B20 microphone
that you're listening to me on right now.
You can see when I get up nice and close to the microphone
doesn't it sound lovely when I'm right
on top of the microphone.
If you've never heard of EPOS, it's a new brand that comes
from the demerger of Sennheiser and Demont.
And they're entirely dedicated
to building high-end audio hardware for gamers.
So what I'm using right now is the EPOS B20.
This is a USB microphone that is meant
for streaming, as well as for audio recording.
One of the nice things is it delivers a high quality sound
without needing a lot of additional hardware to drive it.
So think about things like having that full 24-bit support
as well as 48kHz sample rate.
And on top of that, it is super easy to set up.
Now, right now, I have it set with its cardioid patterns.
So you actually have a couple
of different pickup patterns that you could adjust
on the back. One of the nice things is for streamers,
you actually have a couple of options
on the microphone itself.
So not only do I have myself the volume knob
so I can adjust the levels in my headphones.
So right now I have my headphones plugged in below the desk
but I'm just running it out
of the cable on the top of the microphone.
But on top of that,
you also have the gain control in the back.
So you can really tweak it exactly the way you want
and you can get that playback
So you can mix in your Discord audio
or whatever you want while you're streaming
as well as being able to hear yourself
so you know that you can get nice
and close to the mic and it'll sound extra crispy.
And if you look behind me you'll also see the
EPOS gaming suite.
Now, this is nice because it allows you to not only
adjust something like the EQ,
as well as being able to adjust your headphones.
But you also have additional features,
such as noise cancellation.
I might be a little biased,
but I think the B20 looks pretty nice on camera.
It's got that full metal construction.
And on top of that, there are a ton
of knobs and buttons that can make your life a lot easier.
Something like having a physical mute button right up front.
You also have a knob for, not only the headphone volume,
which is nice because this actually is
passed directly through to Windows,
so as you move the volume,
it actually is adjusting your full Windows volume
so you don't have to deal with that.
And on top of that,
you also have a physical gain knob on the back.
The good thing here is that you don't have to dive
into software if you don't want to.
If you want to make a quick adjustment
grab the knob, spin it, turn it on, turn it off
whatever you want.
For cable management and flexibility,
I do have the B20 on a boom arm,
but it does come with a stand right in the box.
So if you're interested and you want to up your audio game,
definitely be sure to go check out the EPOS
gaming B20 microphone at the link in the description.
Now the question I think most people are asking is
why would I want to build an entire setup
around a gaming laptop?
Now, hear me out.
First of all, it is really hard to get your hands
on any new piece of gaming hardware,
specifically graphics card related.
Sure, if you're incredibly lucky and you grab
something at retail, good job!
But it is hard to find anything, and it's hard to find
stuff even if you're willing to pay at 2-3 times markup.
Now, what I would argue would be a better solution
for a lot of people,
is to buy something like this, the Zephyrus G14.
Now this is a 14 inch gaming laptop.
And while it might not look that impressive,
this thing is packing some serious power.
Not only do you have an 8 core Ryzen 9
5900 HS processor, but importantly
you also have yourself an RTX 3060.
So, I don't know if you've looked
at the price of an RTX 3060 recently but,
this laptop is not that much more
and you get the entire package.
The other advantage to going with a gaming laptop
for something like this,
is that you have the power
to run a setup like this really easily.
As you'll see in a minute,
you have not only plenty of GPU performance,
but you have enough CPU performance
to do things like streaming.
You can do editing.
You can use it as a full-blown desktop PC
without losing a ton of performance.
And then when you're done gaming, when you're ready to go
to work or school or anything, you unplug two cables,
technically three because I put the webcam on top
cause I like the angle, but obviously that can go
somewhere else. But, you unplug a couple of cables
and then you've got the battery life to last you
all day long, come home, plug it into a couple of things
get it back up and running with the monitor and the dock.
And you've got yourself a full gaming setup.
Now, if you've got yourself
an RTX 3080 lying around, congratulations.
I hope you enjoy having one kidney.
(clears throat)
But I really do think that a gaming laptop
makes a lot of sense for a set up like this.
And that's why I'm really happy
with how clean we were able to get this entire setup.
Some of the stuff we're using is a little unorthodox.
So, to try to save a little bit of money
we are using the SteelSeries Apex 3 keyboard.
It actually looks very expensive, right?
You've got the RGB backlight
and you've got yourself the magnetic rest.
But the thing is, this is only a $50 keyboard.
The reason it's $50 is (keyboard clicking)
it is technically a membrane keyboard.
I know, I know shock, awe, surprise, but
for 50 bucks this is actually one
of the nicest feeling keyboards I've ever used.
Now, Ken and I may have had a little argument
over whether it would have been better to just get one
of those cheap, cherry blue switch keyboards
that are slightly cheaper,
that don't have all the extra features.
[Ken] This is fine. This is fine.
- This is fine, it's fine.
[Ken] This sounds and feels better
than any of those.
- This is the Pwnage ultra custom symmetrical.
Now, if it looks slightly like a certain glorious mouse
that you may or may not know, that's because it is.
It's both wired and wireless, it is super lightweight.
And the main reason why we purchased it is
because the glorious wasn't in stock.
So, it's basically the same
and it costs about the same as well, right?
[Ken] Yeah, about maybe five-ish dollars more.
- Okay, all right, I mean it's 69 euros.
So, how could you argue with a nice deal like that?
To give ourselves some more screen real estate,
especially when it comes to something like streaming,
we are using an AOC 27 inch monitor with a QHD resolution.
And importantly, it can go all the way up to 165 Hertz.
Now, at only $280,
this is a pretty reasonably priced monitor.
It doesn't really have a lot of extra features,
like USB hubs and whatnot, but importantly
it has that frame rate.
And especially with this resolution,
it matches up nicely with the ROG G14.
This is running at 144 Hertz, this is running at 165 Hertz.
It gives you a nice seamless experience
going between the monitors.
On top of that, it's also a pretty large panel.
Now we are using a VESA arm
to kind of free up a little bit of space, but,
it really does a good job of not only matching
the look of the setup, but importantly
giving ourselves plenty of screen real estate
for gaming, streaming, whatever.
So now, I think it's enough talking about the setup.
Why don't we actually see how it performs when
we're gaming and streaming at the same time?
Be funny if we spent all this time
building the setup and telling you how great it is,
and then it's like, "Oh, this is kind of,
this is kind of whatever".
Pretty sure it'll be okay though.
And so this is what the setup looks like
once we're up and running.
So, not only do you hearing me on the B20 right now,
but importantly we're also recording
using our Logitech webcam.
So, I hop over here into Valorant.
Let's see how well I can do with talking
and gaming at the same time, not my strongest suit.
But what's nice about this, is that we have the performance
to back this up, right?
So we're playing right now at 1440p.
We also have pretty much all the settings set
to high and we're able to record at the same time,
although this would be the same performance
if we were streaming live.
The nice thing about this setup is that while,
yes you hear the laptop, there's a little bit
of noise from the fans, but the EPOS actually
does a really good job of knocking that out.
And on top of that, I've got myself, well,
what I would say is almost an overkill setup.
Like, this 27 inch monitor, I almost want to be
farther back from it, it's so huge and immersive.
All right.
So I'm getting a solid 200 frames per second right now.
It feels pretty good.
That was, okay, well come on over.
(gunshot) - Dominated
(laughing)
- Saw that one coming
One of the nice things about having my audio
routed like this is right now I can,
now I can die,
but I can hear the game audio, but I also
can hear my own audio.
So, if there's any issues or whatever, I know exactly
what it's like and I can tell when I get
right up on top of the mic.
That was really slow reaction time.
(gunshots)
There we go, look at that!
That was an MLG play right there.
I'm gonna stop making MLG references.
No one knows what MLG is anymore.
All right, I'm up to 9 and 13
See, for Austin Evans, that's pretty good.
That's like basically flawless.
I've got to say the setup is working really well though.
I mean, I might not be working really well,
but the setup actually, it feels super comfy, right?
The display, nice and high refresh rate
I've got myself, some, okay kills, I guess.
[Ken] And you have
more or less 0% drop frames too.
- I don't have any drop frames right now?
[Ken] You have 45,
but that's just normal OBS encoding lag.
- I have 45 dropped frames in the last 13 minutes.
And I think that's almost entirely
between switching, switching windows.
So, I feel pretty good about that.
Hey, that was a pretty good one, look at that!
Austin, steal your kills Evans.
All right, I gotta say,
this actually is pretty solid.
It might seem scary to use a gaming laptop and
not to use a desktop PC, but with something like this
we have, not only the portability,
but we have the performance, right?
That RTX 3060 has plenty of power for gaming.
And with the NVENC encoding, we can stream no problem.
So thank you very much for watching.
Make sure to go check out the EPOS B20 gaming microphone
at the link in the description.
Of course, huge shout out to them for sponsoring
this video. Until the next time we build some
questionable setup out of some questionable ideas,
Thank you very much for watching.