Surprising Nick With a PC Upgrade at Micro Center

PC Build at Micro Center

• 🎯 The video documents the process of building a new workstation/gaming PC for Nick at Micro Center, upgrading his older system.
• 💡 The existing PC was running Windows 10 and likely had SSD issues, prompting the need for an upgrade.

Component Selection and Upgrades

• 🚀 Nick's current rig features a 5950X CPU and a water-cooled 6800 XT GPU.
• ⚡ A significant upgrade was approved: an RTX 4080 (5080 in transcript) Gaming Trio, a substantial leap from the 6800 XT.
• 🧠 The chosen CPU for the new build is the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, selected for its gaming performance.
• 🛠️ For the motherboard, the team opted for an MSI Tomahawk board due to its aesthetic appeal, despite it not being part of a standard bundle.
• 💡 RAM selected is G.Skill Ripjaws S5 (Neo Expo) 32GB DDR5 6000MHz CL28, though it wasn't initially on the motherboard's QVL.

Case and Cooling Choices

• 📦 The Lian Li NV5 case was chosen for its balance of size and features, offering good space for components and cooling.
• 💨 Nick selected Lian Li TL120 fans, including reverse blade models for intake, and a Lian Li Galahad II Trinity Performance AIO cooler.
• ⚠️ A point of discussion was the Lian Li AIO's fans not matching the separately sold TL fans, creating a potential aesthetic mismatch.

Storage and Final Costs

• 💾 Storage for the build is a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD, noted for its controller.
• 💰 The total cost for the build, including tax, came to approximately $3,227.72.
• 📊 The GPU alone accounted for about $1,200 of the total cost, aligning with the advice to allocate roughly one-third of a build budget to the graphics card.

Build Completion and Aesthetics

• ✅ Nick successfully built the PC, with the presenter critiquing the fan configuration (front intake, side intakes, top AIO exhaust).
• 🎨 The color scheme was influenced by the green accents on the MSI Tomahawk motherboard, leading to a green and white theme, despite a debate about whether tennis balls are yellow or green.
• 📈 The build was designed with future upgrades in mind, including a 1000W power supply to accommodate potential future GPU upgrades like a 5090 or a new 'super' card.