If you pay attention to the stock market, you probably know that Nike’s stock has tanked following their latest earnings report and forward guidance. If you didn’t know, the decline marks the worst trading day EVER in its history as a publicly traded company.

 

Unusual to say the least, or is it? With the 2024 Olympics in Paris just weeks away and Nike being a primary supplier of performance kits to Paris, it raises great concerns for anyone invested in the brand, on and off the field. Stock prices go up and down, and consumers change their preferences all the time, but Nike is facing an existential crisis that has everyone asking; are they invested in the athletes they serve?

 

So what happened to this illustrious, most premier sports brand in the world? Stock market analysts and pundits of all stripes will probably tell you that it’s due to a lack of “innovation” even though that’s what Nike claims to have been doing the last five years. It’s been an emphasized part of the corporate restructuring they’ve been undergoing since 2019 that led with the resignation of long time designer turned CEO Mark Parker. Parker, another victim of the “go woke, go broke” movement suffered great criticism for his support of Colin Kappernick’s on-field civil rights protest. The vacancy of Parker led to the hiring of John Donahoe, formerly of e-Bay.

 

I’ll just stop right here and point out that this might be where things actually went south for Nike. I understand that Nike hasn’t been without its marketing controversies over the years but “c’mon man”. E-Bay is a company that facilitated the sale of Pet Rocks, and thousand dollar Happy Meal toys during the Pandemic, but heaven forbid a Nike sponsored athlete has something to say about civil rights. The point is Nike’s board f**k’ed up. Inclusion, integrity, and passion for sports are the hallmarks of Nike that should be shared by everyone working there from the top to bottom. Hence, “Just Do It.” Instead, they got a board with no spine, no virtue, and a flawed business model that doesn’t care to understand the needs of the modern athlete. Those needs do go beyond just the form and function. The truth is athletes are the core business, not the commercial masses. Loyalty to your base does matter, as Nike’s stock is currently finding out the hard way.

 

At present, they are fighting several controversies surrounding the professional apparel they have supplied to athletes for use on the field. The latest feud coming between Fanatics (the global digital sports platform that supplies officially licensed gear and apparel to both fans and athletes for every major professional sports league in America), and Major League Baseball (MLB). Some MLB teams have openly complained about the quality of the Nike branded uniforms they have been given for use in the field. Some of those complaints involved aesthetic design but others complained of functional problems like rips and tears, sweat stains, and even pants that are too transparent.

Yet another offense made by Nike came when they unveiled their lineup of track-and-field uniforms for the Olympics. One of those uniforms, featured on a female mannequin during their big reveal, showed a one-piece bathing suit design that had a particularly revealing bottom half, leading some athletes to poke fun at their own grooming protocols ahead of the Paris games. Nike pushed back on the concerns, blaming the mannequin, for the bad presentation. Nike does have many options to choose from but unfortunately the ridicule for this one design was swift, harsh, and looks to set Nike back on the issue of sexism in corporate culture. I understand that s**t happens but blaming the mannequin…really? The decision to present the mannequin in the first place is the real issue and raises many ancillary questions like; is Nike just lazy?

 

The final straw that broke the camel’s back has to do with the UK’s Olympic soccer uniforms that were supposed to feature a classical display of the Union Jack. Instead, designers apparently acting without any consideration to public critique, completely turned the flag into a multicolor geometric logo from circa 1984. This change to the flag has caused uproar across Great Britain and even has parliamentary officials chiming in.

 

My advice to Nike: stop listening to critics, the haters, the trolls, and just do you. Get back to the fundamentals that made Nike the most prolific athletics company in the world. Currently, they’re more interested in style than substance. At the end of the day, people don’t care about Nike innovation. They want a brand that's focused, reliable, and exhibits a steadfastness that doesn’t include folding like a cheap suit anytime someone challenges tradition.

As someone who’s been given the pink slip before, I know it doesn’t feel good. So, I can only imagine how much worse it is when you hear that the mega tech corporation that just showed you the door has just seen their stock price go up. Unfortunately, for the hundreds of thousands of people around the world, this has become a reality, and for the ones who haven’t been let go, they’re counting their days. The Silicon Valley bloodbath doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

 

The “first” round of tech layoffs actually started in Q4 of 2022. It’s estimated that just within the tech sector, firms downsized their workforce somewhere to the tune of 120,000 people. These layoffs were purported to be due to “uncertain economic conditions” but according to Jeffrey Pfeffer of The Stanford Report, the real reason has to do with what he calls “copycat behavior.” According to Pfeffer, businesses are “mindlessly” following what others are doing.

 

What makes his analysis so interesting is that it was made two years ago. In 2024 Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Google, and Tesla continue to site an unclear future and a slowing economy, but is that the real reason for the continued layoffs? After all, these companies have plenty of money as professor Pfeffer points out.

 

As we now know, what Main Street didn’t hear too much about was AI. Specifically, what CEOs were willing to do, or not do, to transition their companies, as fast and as cost efficient as possible. In hindsight, my opinion with what transpired in 2022 and what continues to happen today is the biggest productivity and information siphoning in human history. Essentially, workers were used to gather data to feed the super computers that ultimately ended them. The money referred to earlier was directed away from human resources and used to fund an AI race with the only prize being not being the last to the party.

 

Some people will say the rise of the machines was always inevitable. Some very smart people like Seth Godin have been talking about “a race to the bottom” for a long time. The idea is that business will nickel-and-dime to the point that the quality of goods and services will diminish so much that they become “unremarkable” and thus cheaper. He talks about how the manufacturing of the last 50 years will slowly become extinct and replaced by the next technological revolution, which looks to be AI automation.

 

Obviously, to the person who was just laid off, none of this is conciliation and it’s likely that AI will be born under some of the worst human conditions imaginable: greed, jealousy, envy, and a whole lot of resentment. Let’s just say I’ve seen The Social Network, so I’m not terribly optimistic about the future of AI in the hands of some of these companies. Be that as it may, the race to the bottom started a while ago and now we’re seeing the degeneration finally reach society at large.

 

For anyone who lost their job, keep your head up. I’m sure some will take whatever knowledge they obtained and start new firms, but I’d bet for the greater majority, it’s going to sting for a while. Perhaps there’s light at the end of the tunnel in the form of independents and bespoke designers like myself, fighting the good fight. I may not be able to do things like an AI but then again, I’m not sure I want to. In a world that’s quickly becoming unremarkable, I’d rather be remarkable.

The old creators - traditional artists like drawers, painters, sculptors, photographers, videographers, and designers working in multimedia, have been systematically replaced by the “new creators” who don’t make art. These new creators are the likes of data scientists, social engineers, and tech disrupters, that fashion widgets together to form a framework that other people use to construct on top of. I must be old if that’s what constitutes creation now and days. Don’t even get me started on AI generated images masquerading as art. As someone who is trained to care about every line or stroke, I find the whole concept offensive. Well, minorly offensive. It is kind of cool to bear witness to the capability, but I wouldn’t exactly say the image has a soul.

 

When I was in college, I took an intermediate oil painting class. Our professor told us to go out and buy lumber, nails, a hammer, a heavy-duty staple gun, and canvas from the local art supply store. After returning with our haul, we all started building the frame we would need to stretch our canvas over it. Once we had our finished frame, we were still looking at a blank canvas and knew that our work had just begun. Creation doesn’t come until we make that first communicative stroke.

 

They credit themselves for creating something new and take on the moniker of creator but lack the discipline that comes from years of art training, and therefore don’t have any wisdom to pass on to the actual artist who is trying to navigate a career in a world that has been made unrecognizable by impatience, and an intolerance for the traditions that helped western societies gain our culture of freedom in the first place. Hard work, responsibility, and sacrifice, used to be a thing when it came to making art. I’ll digress from associating advertisers as content creators, as artists, but again therein lies the confusion. Sometimes it’s hard to see the art behind the pitch.

 

Just another trite opinion from yours truly, but it seems at our present time, “creators” are regurgitating the same, tired themes, brands, and fashions. Even Zuckerberg managed to show us, literally, a worse impression of ourselves in the Metaverse. The collapse of Crypto, NFT art as even a thing, and tech companies getting financially bludgeoned on the scale not seen since the great dot-com bubble burst of 2000. It doesn’t bold well for the Web 3.0 revolution that is supposed to be underway, maybe, possibly? Just looking around it doesn’t feel very 3.0 to me.

 

I think these are all symptoms of the same problem, an imbalance. The root of the problem exists within the art industry and is not a problem that scientists or salesman can solve, no matter how good the camera. Artists need to use digital technology and social media to give the public at large, a holistic vision of the future where tech and culture reside on the same plane. For us, it’s at street level. Where mother nature, human nature, and technology are connected by pavement. It’s where our rubber meets the road.

On August 14th, 2023, the social media tech scene woke up to a bombshell. Damning allegations regarding the internet's biggest source for tech news and reviews, Linus Tech Tips (LTT).

 

If you've caught the story already then you're already familiar with what's going on and you know there's no shortage of opinions out there. If you're not familiar, basically, another YouTube tech review channel called GamersNexus (GN) released a 45-minute video accusing LTT of willingly releasing inaccurate product testing data in their published content for years, conflicts of interests centered around sponsorships, and other ethical concerns which took place recently at their popular LTX expo just a week prior. To make matters worse for LTT, this news also comes on the heels of allegations of workplace sexual harassment made by a former employee of Linus Media Group (LMG), the parent company of LTT.

 

In response to the allegations, LTT would release a final video before pausing their operations to "regroup". Ironically, the video is titled "What do we do now." Well, I know what's happening right now. The woosh sound is so deafening it fades dully into the background. That sound is the suction from the power vacuum that's taken hold as more and more mid-to-low level tech content creators climb over themselves to gain viewership. Some have even speculated as to the motivation of GN's release, indicating it has something to do with the growing popularity of the LTT brand and their movement into direct pc hardware testing being in competition with their own, newly created, testing lab. Regardless of this being true or not, I don't think it really matters because if it's not GN, it's going to be someone else.

 

I think the larger takeaway from this disappointing and unfortunate series of events is the toxic sentiment and persistent pessimism that has been allowed to pervade every facet of the social media tech space. Technology is the real victim here. The content creators and influencers bear the blame because it's supposed to be their job to cultivate their community. The problem with LTT is the way they've been molding theirs since their inception in 2008. Behind the pc enthusiasm is a diffused layer of sociopathy, misogyny, homophobia, place-ism, sexism, and just about every other ism there is. Stereotyped and used as video fodder to butter up the audience into believing the "every-man" routine of the well-spoken, videogenic frontman. I guess all the innuendoes have finally caught up to them.

 

I don't believe this was a one-off. I also don't believe this is really about one person or one company gone bad. I think we are seeing the result of a systemic problem that has existed within the TechTuber space for the last two decades. It used to be that societies would go to museums and libraries for culture and education. Now they go to YouTube and Reddit and what they're finding are charlatans masquerading as professionals.

 

I think the emperor never had any clothes. But fortunately, we do.

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As someone that’s been working out of their home for the past few years, I know how valuable space can be. I’ve lived in large homes, small apartments, and everything in between and regardless of the size of the home, I’ve always found myself doing the same thing, which is trying to make my work area more efficient because, really, your work area is your world.

 

Over the years, I’ve been both privileged and cursed with setups at home and at the office. Setups that either worked remarkably well or not at all. I even took to working outside on my back patio for most of 2020 because I didn’t have an actual desk to use. During that time, I started to think about what kind of workspace I would like to have…once I got back inside of course. The problem was I didn’t know exactly what to do. When horizontal space becomes limited, one starts to look at verticality. So, that’s what I did.

 

Unless you have a desktop computer and it’s sitting on your desk, the largest thing on your desk is probably a monitor or was in my case later on, a flat-screen TV. Maybe it’s just your notebook. Whatever the case, think about all of the little components that has to be connected to your device to make that device function as intended. Everything from the power cable, the power brick, to the dongles attached to your laptop (and I bet there’s a lot of them if you’re like me), to the communications equipment like your router, modem, or TV/cable box. Maybe you have a docking station or external hard drive on your desk adding even more cables to the long list of cables you already have to manage. Heaven forbid you have a gaming console on your desk too. Now you’re in real trouble because you can’t actually use or even get to your desk. I bet you’ve already forgotten what color it is underneath all of that tech clutter.

 

To sound exactly like an infomercial, “I’ve got the solution for you!” What it actually is is just a new way of thinking about how to eliminate clutter on your desk that doesn’t impact the ease of plug-and-play. In fact, it may even make it easier for you to operate the tech you utilize every day. Thinking about tech clutter is obviously not a new concept but I think I have a new or perhaps new-ish idea of what to do about it, and that takes me back to the monitor or TV sitting on the desk. That TV monitor is probably sitting vertical because of a stand, so why isn’t there a stand for standard technology. Well as it turned out, there is but there isn’t. You see, most monitor stands are obviously designed to support flat-screens, their size and weight, not the size and weight of a console or compact PC. Now imagine putting multiple consoles, multiple NUCs, or multiple external hard drives on that stand at the same time, including all their prospective cables and even those annoying power bricks. If you could, all of those devices combined would now have a footprint the size of a small-to-medium potted plant. Note that I said “most stands” above because as it turns out, I do know of one that can support all of that weight. It’s been my old/new favorite product over the last few years because of its low cost, accessibility, and ease of assembly. I know from experience, having one right next to me that it could be the last base setup you’ll ever need.

 

More details to come.

In 2019 my partner and I decided to launch a series of websites to put on display our passion for art, design, and technology. It started out as personal blogging but as we began to create content, we came to realize that we were also filling a void. A void that is hard to explain, but not hard enough to not recognize. That void is the gap that exists between culture and technology.

 

This is not just a business but a tale of our lives: born from creation, sculpted by the masters, and tempered by life. We do not view art through rose-colored glasses. Regardless of whether it is client, corporate, or commercial. In art, everything is relative because everything is. A trained artist, a good designer, will always consider the social impact even if they don’t intend for their work to ever be seen. This is the discipline and the artist’s responsibility.

 

I don’t know what the future holds for technology, but I do know it is a tool and not a replacement for culture. We live in a brave new world. A world where fact and fiction, myth, and reality, all comingle in a sea of chaos that has left everyone stranded on a vessel of fear and despair. Sometimes it even takes an artist to remind other artists that it’s not about winning awards, it’s about communicating the nature of things and what’s important to our lives.

 

When we started, we asked ourselves one fundamental question; can we make it? can a completely unknown designer and a disabled artist come together to create something special and be successful. We have no social media following, no business prospects, no deals, or contracts. The only thing we have is our skills and our determination. So, can two people like us make even a little difference without getting caught up in the dogma and woke pessimism that seems to be so prevalent in the world today? I guess we’re about to find out. #tekethos4life

We want to help break the negative stereotype about social media merch, specifically within the tech influencer space where there seems to be such a low standard or expectation which is that it’s just another way for influencers to monetize, and they don’t really care about any of the social impact, let alone the environmental impact, of what they are putting out. We’re of the belief that if someone is going to make the decision to design something as visceral as a piece of clothing to be worn in the real world, they should also make the decision to think about the end user and how they’re going to be viewed. I love all things art and design, and fashion is certainly part of that sphere.

 

I understand that brands must promote but they should care what goes on the stuff and why. Let me be clear, when it comes to social media fashion, there’s the Kardashians and then there’s everyone else. We don’t expect to be the Gaultier of YouTube. We just want the opportunity to design good merch that transcends social media design, fashion, and traditional art mediums. In doing so, the result will be merch that makes people feel that they are a part of a universal tech community and not part of a cult.

 

You want to feel confident on the street, but you shouldn’t have to compromise your intellect to do it. We want you to feel comfortable wearing the clothes you see in front of the camera, even when you’re not in your bedroom or in the studio. You, the fan, are not just a spectator but a part of the social media fabric, regardless of your tech knowledge or enthusiasm level.

I know, I know, it sounds like a catch-22 and this contrariety is not lost on me but for when I stop to think about it. For years, professional PC builders, setup artists, and even IT, have been using “cable management” as a catch phrase for why they can do their jobs better. The phrase is so worn out that I myself cringe a little when forced to say it. The truth is that cable management has become another way of saying “hiding”. So, the next time someone says, “I’m going to cable manage for you”, be sure to repeat back, “oh, you mean you’re going to hide them for me.”

 

Managing cables is not just about moving or masking things to make them esthetically pleasing. It’s also about; can you actually reach your cable when you need to or does it turn out to be a small construction project. If you have ever encountered the latter then you now have the full perspective on the phrase “cable management.”

 

From my long experience dealing with PC related tech, I’ve found it’s almost always better to have cables managed in way that puts accessibility first, rather than aesthetics. That’s because I believe if you solve accessibility, you will solve aesthetics. Think about pruning a plant. You are removing dead material to make room for something new to grow. Really, all you are doing is cleaning up, and the plant does the rest. The pruning process can happen frequently or not, but it is always a different experience each time. What you clean may be different and the result may be as well.

 

To be able to treat technology with the flexibility of something natural like a plant means that you get both beauty and a properly managed workstation environment. I think this concept fits perfectly with the concept of Metal Flower and it really has been a positive game changer in the way that I am able to operate as an Artist. I have three Metal Flower stands currently setup around my home and they all provide unique functionality. The truly great thing about them is the peace of mind I get from knowing that I can service any cable, component, or device with ease.

 

All of the Metal Flowers have their own dedicated power running to them. Specifically, each one is powered by a single high-wattage Tripp Lite extension cable attached to a CyberPower UPS Battery Backup or Solar Inverter like a Jackery or EcoFlow. Each of the Flowers have a 4-Port Defiant surge protector attached to them which means I can cut the power to each stand individually when I need to.

 

The stand is so universal that it can act as a small enterprise solution, workstation, or kiosk that you can walk up to and interact with day or night thanks to always-on LCD lights by JellyBean. It can also be the notebook docking station of your dreams. The station that helps you charge and clear your storage onto external hard drives with at-the-ready cables and, by the way, why not check out that presentation, watch the latest movie, or fire up that console for some gaming on a best-in-class 4k Anker Nebula projector.

I watch a lot more YouTube than one probably should although it has really opened my eyes to the way people think about the technology in their everyday space. Whenever I watch videos about some epic setup or some ultimate tech upgrade I start to wonder why there is so much emphasis on creating a pretty space by making it more difficult for the user to actually reach their technology let alone use it. One pro tip about regular cable management, if you are moving furniture around, putting holes in your walls, or reaching for your staple gun, all to hide a cable, maybe there is another way to go about it.

We are not a creative agency or firm. We’re just two artists trying to make professional content for the internet and beyond. Though we are small, we are tech-centric and operate an integrated micro-business based out of the WeWork Warner Center in beautiful Woodland Hills California.

 

We are a dedicated team and work seven days a week to develop and publish unique art items and apparel. Now, we need your support to grow our client and customer base. Your donations are very much appreciated and will go directly to our operations. You can also purchase something from our merch store. Because we run a product-on-demand digital service, you would be supporting sustainable production that has a very low carbon footprint and virtually no waste.

 

Your support will also allow us to produce more chartable work for good causes here in Los Angeles and beyond. A couple of organizations we love to support are the ASPCA, and The Arc programs that help people with disabilities. This is particularly important to us because my partner was born with disabilities including being mostly blind. She uses what little vision she has, sometimes painfully, to draw and produce fantastic fine art. She has demonstrated to me what perseverance is and to not take anything for granted.

 

Thank you very much for your time and support as we strive to continue to serve the public by making quality art for people to enjoy while hopefully making a difference within the communities we serve. Please use one of the links below to donate to us or visit our merch store.

 

Paypal

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Send a donation direct with Zelle to jdhcmedia@outlook.com

 

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If you've been following computer part prices over the last few months then you've probably noticed the outlook doesn't look good. The virus has now spread across the globe and while China, the epicenter of the outbreak, has reported seeing a significant decrease in cases recently; America and Western Europe are seeing an increase and the fear of more reported cases has caused public concern that we are about to enter a state of doomsday. Pirates and greedy third-party sellers seeing the increase in reported cases and its impact on the worldwide economy are starting to profiteer.

 

So what does all this have to do with gaming and tech? Well...everything. If you haven't heard by now the public health crisis has led many factories in China to close temporarily causing a cascade effect all the way up the supply chain of the global economy. With new computer parts and component production halted, demand for existing inventory has skyrocketed causing some sellers to try to capitalize on this high demand. Fears of a global shortage have forced large retailers like Amazon and Newegg to pull PC parts off the shelf in order to stabilize prices and prevent price gauging and hoarding. Many tech influencers and YouTube pundits have already reported that prices have risen significantly amongst third party sellers. Unfortunately, it doesn't look good for builders and is likely they will have to wait a considerable amount of time for production to return to peak capacity and for major retailers to get their shelves restocked before prices will stabilize. Even if factories do come back online I imagine they will not be running at full capacity while the contagion continues to spread in the West and it is likely prices will not return to a normal state until economies stabilize.

 

Prior to the economy taking a downturn, I was considering waiting for the new Gen 3 CPUs to drop before purchasing Gen 2 parts for our next build with the expectation that the price would drop on these older parts. I have been targeting the Ryzen 2700x for some time and saw the processor selling on Amazon for as low as $150.00 in mid February but by the end of February had risen to as high as $300.00. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I found the CPU for $230.00 and decided to buy it jaded of course knowing that I could have gotten it before the price increased had I decided to buy a month earlier. Several days after making my purchase from Amazon, I received a notification from Newegg that they just received the 2700x in stock and were offering it at the more typical price of $170.00. As you can imagine, this stock did not last long and were gone faster than rims on a Honda Civic. Since then, the price has risen back up to $270.00. The fluctuating price seems to be synonymous with all gaming desktop CPUs on the market currently. However, I was surprised that the cost of gaming motherboards, RAM, and power supplies have not fluctuated nearly as much indicating that there is still a healthy volume of existing inventory for those products but you can expect those prices to rise eventually over time as inventory becomes scarce.

 

In summary, if you absolutely need to build a computer now you should experience normal to slightly above normal prices for just about everything except CPUs. If you are purchasing a CPU but can't find one available from your big-box retailer, you may want to consider waiting and make sure you sign-up to be auto notified when the part becomes available. Be ready to act immediatly as it is likely big-box retailers are controlling their inventory and there will be a lot of competition for the same part. Realize that if you decide to buy a CPU from a third-party retailer, as I did, it is likely you will be purchasing at inflated prices.

I recently decided to pull the trigger on our second high-performance gaming PC build and if you haven't been hiding under a rock for the last few months, or happen to have read our last article, you'll know that I probably picked the worst time to build. Unfortunately, if you're a heavy PC user like me, sometimes the timing can't be helped and you have to do the best you can to mitigate the expense of buying parts at inflated prices. Since I've already opened up that assortment of problems in our last article I thought I'd talk about the build itself because I just happen to be sitting on a case that purchased over a year ago and is still in the box. This case was featured heavily by tech Youtubers at the time it was released but it was Wendell from LVL1 Techs that got me really thinking about building a high-performance gaming and productivity pc in this case. The build has to be open-air, low maintenance, and be able to stay running for long periods and this case helps to check those boxes. The case I'm referring to is the Antec Torque. It's okay if you're not familiar with this case because all you have to think about is the Apple Mac Pro...now think of its exact polar opposite and you have the Torque. It's a racecar, meets industrial design, of a case with a precision cut, aircraft grade aluminum, chassis that screams PC master race.

 

It might be a good time to discuss exactly why someone would spend a good percentage of the total budget on the case instead of throwing all that money towards performance. Well, the simple answer is that typically from a owner's perspective, the case is the first thing you see and the last thing you replace. When your motherboard goes into the case, the case becomes an extension of that motherboard and not just something to cover bad cable management. Strict builders on a budget will want to put more towards components rather than the case but if you are a buyer, you'll want to consider that you will be stuck with this "box" for quite some time, possibly years. Having a case that can endure while looking good at the same time may be unavoidable to your bottom line. With the benefit of hindsight, I would recommend that if you want to build a more practical high-performance gaming pc, slash workstation, now, just buy a third-party Mac Pro case for PCs.

 

For this build, I decided to go with the AMD Ryzen lineup of desktop-class processors again but I'm sticking with a 2nd generation processor for maximum compatibility and less headache. By now, Ryzen Gen 3 is in full effect and I could have easily matched a Gen 3 with a Gen 3 motherboard like an X570 but opted instead for Asus' ROG Strix X470 Gaming F for its all-purpose nature, high performance, and of course the most important feature - RGB. The reason I did not choose a Gen 3 processor has nothing do with the collection of CPUs but the current generation motherboards designed for it. Ryzen Gen 3 released in mid 2019 and enthusiasts were mostly apathetic with a slight undertone of worry as next generation motherboards rolled out featuring an active heat sink over the PCH (Platform Controller Hub). If you're not vaguely familiar with what that is, that's okay, just consider a very small, semi-fragile fan, spinning millimeters away from very important electrical components and failure of the heat sink could damage your board permanently. This active heat sink may indeed be necessary for current designs but I see it as another point of failure, long term monitoring, and something I can do without if I can get close to the same performance overall of a Ryzen Gen 3 motherboard with a Ryzen Gen 2 chipset.

 

Anyways, stay tuned because parts are on the way. This build won't win any awards but I think my girlfriend is going to love it and should certainly get the job done for the least amount of money possible today.

On March 18th, 2020 Sony released their anticipated "deep dive" video on the Playstation 5, Sony's next generation gaming console. Since its reveal last April, many reviewers and influencers have been clamoring for a performance comparison with the Xbox Series X, which released its spec sheet several days prior. While Sony did follow suit in this regard, what they didn't do is realease pictures of the internal components. With the Series X, Microsoft took a much more PC-centric tact to marketing by having pictures of the internal components and talked about each component's features on their website. Conversely, Sony in its hour long slide-show presentation did not show a single image of the chassis or the internals electing instead to demonstrate performance with charts and graphs and not any actual game play or live benchmarking. This lack of transparency doesn't mean that the Playstation 5 is somehow inferior or lacking, it's just unhelpful to Sony's case about the performance of the Playstation 5 that is expecting to stay on top of Microsoft's Xbox Series X as the premier selling gaming console.

 

We are entering into a world where consoles are starting to rival PCs in performance...on paper. As a PC builder and user of consoles, I know of at least one common law that governs performance across both platforms and that's heat. Appropriate to the principal of diminishing returns due to thermal throttling it's possible that in reality those performance benchmarks mentioned in the "deep dive," would skew. Thermal throttling is a state that your computer's components undergo when it has reached its temperature threshold. Once the temperature reaches a threshold, the computer's cooling solutions will begin to work harder to dispel the heat until its component's temperature is brought down to a nominal level. What also happens is that the component itself stops operating at full-speed, hence a throttle back of performance. It is possible to eliminate this throttle-back if the cooling solution is enough to do the job on its own however, the solution tends to be non-traditional. Traditional CPU and GPU cooling solutions involve a fin-stack or heat pipes made of aluminum or copper attached to a cooling fan that drives heat away. Non-traditional cooling involves liquid coolant or water, or in the case of the Xbox Series X, a vapor-chamber cooler - a combination of both traditional and non-tradional methods. Suffice to say, vapor-chamber technology inside the Series X means a more robust cooling solution that should keep thermal throttling to a minimum or eliminated altogether. It means that the beastly 8-core, 16 thread, custom AMD Ryzen processor and custom Series X graphics will sustain their maximum frequencies without any performance loss.

 

Unfortunately, we don't know the cooling solutions utilized in the Sony Playstation 5 but they are using a very similar AMD Ryzen processor. Even if the new Playstation does not have a sophisticated cooling solution, it has to at least, work well enough to sustain its maximum core frequencies. Whatever Sony ultimately puts out to market remains unknown in my opinion and only real world thermal testing will tell how closely the two consoles will align with each other on performance. Interestingly, cost may be the great equalizer here for Sony since some in the tech-sphere have opinionated that the Xbox Series X will be a very costly product due to its component specifications, possibly even going beyond the price of the Playstation 5. Whatever the opening price, both consoles have taken a giant leap forward in terms of progress and there's no doubt both console makers are responding to customer demands for a console to rival, or even beat, what a gaming PC can do for the same price. Both consoles are set to drop later this year.

JDHC Media Group is a small multimedia production and technology business. We operate primarily as an independent web publisher in which we design, produce, and post original content for our domain of websites and social media channels.

 

As content creators, we have a close relationship with technology and that bond has led us to developing TEKETHOS.COM - a website devoted to video games and computer hardware. Two areas we focus on primarily because we live the “creator by day, gamer by night” mantra, so we feel we are in a unique position of being able to deliver valuable information and insight in both areas.

 

So, allow me to welcome you to TEKETHOS.COM, the site designed by gamers for gamers like you. Dedicated to all things gaming and we strive to bring you original content including articles about gaming culture, video games, and gaming tech. We review technology and test out video games on custom PC and console apparatuses. If you are like me and bleed pixels then you need to keep up with the latest and greatest the gaming and tech-verse have to offer, but if however you have an actual life and are too busy to spend hundreds of hours scouring websites looking for the tech you need to get started. Look no further because we’re here to help.

 

Along with being a portal to all things gaming, TEKETHOS.COM simultaneously serves as a buyer's guide. We introduce carefully crafted lists of products if they can bring performance or value to the gamer. Many people who want to get into gaming often purchase tech without considering all their options and sometimes just looking at a spec sheet alone will not tell you everything you need to know. We’ve experienced this first hand, so we've took to researching, writing, and reviewing tech and delivering the information we've gathered to you in the best way we can so you can make an informed buying decision. Along the way, we’ve learned what to buy and how to buy but perhaps more importantly, we understand what it’s like spending countless hours building and troubleshooting technology. That’s why we’re happy to be able to recommend products based on our hands-on operations at our Studio.

 

If you are a tech head like me you are probably saturated with the over-abundance of video game and tech review channels already out there. While I enjoy being fed my gaming victuals and geeking out on the latest hardware bluster, we are also busy with other projects (#YOLO) so on TEKETHOS.COM we like to cut through the clutter and get right to the brass tacks so you don't have to spend countless hours disseminating information. We've done all that for you and assembled that information all in one place so you don't need to spend any time getting to the gaming products you want.

With the release of the PLAYSTATION 4 Pro, the XBOX ONE X, and some amazing pre-built small form-factor pc gaming systems like the Corsair One and Intel's NUC, there's no doubt that manufactures are investing a lot into filling the high-demand for powerful complete mini gaming systems. There seems to be a sense within the pc gaming tech community that the future of driver setups will completely evolve into a modular arrangement whereby a notebook, compact pc, or console is docked or tethered to other peripheral devices via Thunderbolt 3, or some future high bandwidth, high speed connection. The super high speed and bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 allows supported devices and peripherals to be daisy-chained together to form a complete setup. This setup allows the gamer a much greater flexibility when on the-go and when swapping out for upgrades and repairs.

 

The introduction of External Graphics Processing Units (eGPU) has only added to the potential expandability of all drivers but particularly handheld devices like tablets and smart-phones. Note the word “potential”, because while Thunderbolt 3 has more than enough speed and bandwidth necessary to carry graphics, almost all handhelds and some notebooks with a Thunderbolt 3 port do not work with external GPUs. So what gives? As it turns out the Thunderbolt 3 port has to be enabled with an alternate display mode, or “alt mode” which basically allows the device’s graphics processor (GPU) data to pass-through the Thunderbolt 3 port. So if you are interested in getting an eGPU, make sure your device(s) has this display mode enabled and can support the eGPU you are planning to use. Hopefully this feature will be adopted more by handheld device manufactures in the future but for now we’ll have to settle for some really good eGPU-ready notebooks like the 2019 HP Spectre 360-13t and the Dell XPS 13 9380 that we’re recommending on our products page. Two brilliantly designed business-class notebooks with real gaming performance. These notebooks were specifically chosen because they do not have a discreet graphics card which almost seems counter-intuitive, but makes sense if you are connecting to an eGPU. If you are interested in small form factors and modular setups, then these notebooks tethered with an eGPU may be the solution for you. It does come with some caveats however since driver compatibility has been an issue in the past and there will be diminishing returns depending on the graphics card and display you are utilizing.

 

Regardless, there's no doubt that today is a great time to be into video games as there are so many potential ways to get a modular high-fidelity gaming experience, relatively-affordably. The eGPU and powerful small form factors are an increasing trend and will continue to gain both manufacturer and consumer support into the future.

Gamers and pc-tech enthusiasts breathed a cautionary sigh of relief as 2018 unceremoniously gave way to 2019. Having just gone through so much the previous year with inflated PC component prices, crypto mining, and several failed launches, the question leading up to CES 2019 was would fans be fed re-packaged, overpriced, and “Overpowered” technology from the previous year or would vendors actually deliver true innovation and value, and who would that vendor be? While most of the buzz was centered on Samsung’s foldable smart-phone dubbed the Galaxy Fold, the real story if you are a gamer or enthusiast came from a vendor that everyone knows but no one suspected. A team with a long and storied tradition of building high-end, high-performance gaming PCs, but have been overlooked and perhaps even under-appreciated for many years. So what team am I talking about? Well let’s just say even aliens would be impressed by what this team has been able to deliver. I’m talking about Dell’s Alienware and the absolutely stunning Area-51M. A high-performance gaming laptop, or desktop replacement, that is truly out of this world. On the high-end skew, the Area-51M boasts a full-size desktop-class, overclockable, Core I-9-9900K that can run at a staggering 5.0GHz with Turbo Boost straight out of the box. Paired with an overclockable NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and a 17.3 inch, 144Hz, G-Sync enabled display, this laptop will easily chew through any video game on the market today at ultra settings.

 

The magnesium alloy exo-skeleton has a stealth-like industrial design fused with a tail exhaust that is expertly lit with AlienFX RGB LED lighting since there is a rear I/O that could actually benefit from this additional lighting. By this point you might be wondering; where is the innovation and value? Sure, it’s a sexy laptop but it’s just another boutique system. Well one thing Alienware has always done well is with their chassis design and the Area-51M is no exception. You see, Alienware has actually designed this laptop with almost full upgradability of the internals in mind which is still unheard of in any laptop space. This kind of upgradability makes the Area-51M a terrific value and when you consider that a single desktop-class GTX 2080ti on Amazon can be well over a thousand dollars, the $4,000 price tag for the high-end skew suddenly makes a lot of sense, or cents. Getting back to what made Alienware an iconic brand in the first place is also why they will continue to be at the forefront of performance gaming laptop design and innovation for the foreseeable future.