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It's funny how fast you stop paying much attention to your car or sofa. First you spend reasonable amount of money on it. Then they just exist as everyday items. Then, slowly but surely, there is the urge: Should I get a new one?

Exactly the same thing happens with your PC. Maybe one of those precious resources starts running out, SSD or RAM. Maybe CPU or GPU starts feeling bit slow. Then you remember how good everything was when you first got the thing. Yup, the urge is there. Must obtain new.

Roughly five years ago, I was doing my PC on Twitch. As Larpdog doesn't stream anymore, no public appearances this time. I did assemble a new rig, though.

During those years, things have evolved. This happens all the time.

• EATX is a real thing, see Wikipedia for ATX info
  • The fact that both cases and motherboard are sold is a big deal.
  • This is not a real standard!
• CPU is LGA1700
  • Back in the days, I thought 1200 pins connecting my CPU to motherboard was a lot.
• DDR-5
  • Having slight overclock on DDR-4 made it pretty fast.
  • Now slowest DDR-5 begins way above OCd DDR-4.
• PCIe is 5.0
  • I don't own any extension cards supporting 5.0. Good thing 4.0 and 3.0 cards work ok.
  • M.2 NMVe with 5.0 is generally available.
• Every single case has a plexi-glass side
  • What! Why? For what purpose!!
  • If I wanted to see into my PC, I'd also wanted to see into my own stomach and would install plexiglass 6-pack into myself.
  • Well. I don't want either. Stupid idea!
• There are almost no USB-connectors in cases
  • There used to be. Plenty of those connectors.
• Motherboard box contains coded messages in swag

I ordered the first case I found without ridiculous see-through side. It is from Swedish manufacturer Fractal, Meshify 2. The entire case is steel mesh. Like full of tiny holes. It's bad if you'd spill Pepsi into it, but it's good for ventilation.
This is what Republic of Games mobo box has in it, some swag with a message:

The first thing I had to do is put 25°07'29.5"N 121°28'15.6"E into Google Maps. It results in this link: https://goo.gl/maps/diiBipMcFfz5oBgz7

Ah! Those coordinates point to Asus headquarters in Taiwan. It was a nice gift. Also, it was a fun "spy game" trying to figure out what those numbers translate into. 👍

I/O performance of M.2 is satisfactory:

Those ATTO Benchmark results are very good! I'm happy with my investment.

This is a solid PC for my next 5-year period. I know I will upgrade the GPU in next couple years. At the moment, my existing ATI does a fine job running Dead Island 2.