Everything I use
So often am I asked what microphone, computer and other hardware I use. Well, here is everything I currently use as well as links to where you can pick them up yourself.
I aim to keep this page as up-to-date as possible, but things may change. If I miss something, let me know!
This is everything I use to create the high-quality content on my YouTube channels. From powerful AI programs to benchmarking games and more, the hardware I have is near the top of what it could be - and needs to be so to keep up. Every item here was carefully looked into and purchased for a reason. From microphones that suit my voice, to processors that work well with the software I use.
Everything is split into categories, and includes short descriptions of why I have included them on this list.
Do note: Prices are taken from Amazon. While I would love to include Rands for my local South African chommies: it fluctuates so often it’s almost pointless.
Audio Hardware
View this full setup as an Amazon list
Audio Interface - Audient iD14
I have the original model, which isn’t available anymore. I have linked the MK II above as it is no longer available. I have looked at upgrading for a while, but as this item has remained in perfect condition I’ve left it as is.
The Audient iD14 does an incredible job of taking high-quality line audio input from my preamp processor and converting it to crystal clear audio at 24bit/96kHz
Microphone - Shure SM7B
This microphone is beyond amazing.
While it’s not perfect for everyone, it is found everywhere. The Shure SM7B gives incredible presence and beautiful proximity effect. I saw its reliability as it’s used almost everywhere - on stream, podcasts and more… But fell in love when I heard Markiplier and other people with similar, golden and deep voices using this. It is truly a perfect match for my voice, and I can not see myself using a different microphone for the foreseeable future.
Preamp Processor - dbx 286s
While I do most of my microphone processing digitally now using iZotope RX plugins, the dbx 286s does an amazing job of gating background noises and performing light compression on my voice, as well as some minor EQ for livestreaming.
At the time of writing I find cleaner results removing noise with RX, and having the physical expander/gate disabled for recordings.
Microphone Preamp - Triton Audio FetHead
Some may consider this unnecessary as I already have enough gain in my audio chain, but I find that this gives incredibly clean gain of a quality that surpasses my dbx286s, so when used in-line I get the best possible boost required by the power-hungry SM7B, and the powerful processing of my dbx286s.
Pop Filter - (any brand) Pop Filter
There are as many brands of pop filters as there are grains of sand. Most of them function exactly the same unless you blow tons of cash on something fancy or snake oil. Linked is a random popular brand on Amazon that’s also on sale at the time of writing.
Get yourself a bendy-boi and place it somewhere between you and the mic (leaving at least a little space either side) and you’ll rid your recordings of Plosives.
Windscreen - SM7B Windscreen Replacement
The original foam for the Shure SM7B lasts… but not forever. Finding a replacement is hard in a country without Amazon - so I had to order these and ship them in myself to South Africa. They work exactly the same as the originals from what I can hear.
I bought a second one at the same time just to keep as a spare for the future as well.
The thick windscreen muffles the sound too much to be a replacement, even temporarily.
Computer Hardware
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I recently had to redo my entire setup due to sudden hardware failure in my previous setup, which you can find further below. This is my current, updated system. Heaps faster.
Processor - Intel i9-13900k
This is a powerful GPU. Huge speeds, huge performance – but also huge heat… One small downside for the newer Intel chips, but boy do these things go fast. It’s a great choice for getting things done fast.
Why the iGPU? It helps a TON with Premiere Pro performance.
Why “K”? Better ability to over and underclock, allowing better performance, heat management and even power savings. Should also be better chances of scoring well in the silicon lottery.
Motherboard - GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Master
Top quality and stability. DDR5. 10GbE LAN. Great power management, cooling and tons of expandability. 5x NVMe M.2 slots. Heavy as a car engine.
This motherboard has everything I wanted, and so much more. Tons of future-proofing.
![G.Skill RipJaws 2x(2x32G) [128GB]](https://hub.tcno.co/faq/my-hardware/gskill-ripjaws.webp)
RAM - G.Skill RipJaws 2x(2x32G) [128GB]
High performance and quality. Unfortunately no 128GB kits were available, so I grabbed 2x 64GB kits. Why not RGB? Well, it was the cheaper and best option available in South Africa. At least they’re low-profile and don’t stick up like my previous Trident Z Neo kit did.
Unfortunately, I can’t get them to run a lick above 4800MHz - But should you get a kit then XMP/DOCP should work just fine, giving you the full speed. When mixing RAM kits you’ll barely ever get the speeds you pay for.
Water cooler - Corsair H150i 360mm AIO
Plenty of cooling is required to cool the Intel i9-13900k beast. This happily supplies ample. Why not RBG? Price, that’s all.
I would have loved to use my NZXT Kraken on this build, but this has a different aesthetic that has grown on me. I do like the square cooler, and the fans are just as quiet, so it’s been great.
GPU - MSI 3080Ti Gaming X Trio
This is the third Gaming X card I’ve bought, my previous was the MSI 1080Ti Gaming X 11G and MSI 1080 Gaming X 8G.
Great cooling performance, as well as overclocking and undervolting results as well. This was a great choice for me. I’ll be sticking with it for a while to come, as much as I crave new generation hardware.
Not to mention 12GB is great, but nowhere near 24GB for AI workloads. A 4090 would be perfect!
Power Supply - Antec Signature Series SP1300
This is a seriously powerful power supply that’s just as quiet to match. Barely ever makes noise and has been super reliable for me since I swapped to it from my Corsair RM1000i.
80+ Platinum. Better than the 80+ Gold my previous was.
I can not for the life of me find this anywhere on Amazon, so I have linked to the next most popular 80+ Platinum 1300W power supply, the GAMEMAX 1300W Power Supply.
Case - Corsair Graphite 760T
Big, tons of hard drive space, lots of airflow, and a detachable magnetic lid. I’ve never had it on, it’s just kept a portion of my cupboards free from dust for years. Just be careful not to spill anything in the top.
Also, like most things I have, discontinued. I suppose the Corsair 7000D Airflow is the closest match they still produce.
Drives
View this full setup as an Amazon list
Backup/Cold Storage HDD - Seagate IronWolf 12TB
A massive 12TB NAS drive. This holds a full backup of my other drive where my projects and the rest are stored. A local, cloud and offsite backups are always good to have! It also stores large LLM, Stable Diffusion and other AI models, as well as large files I symlink to elsewhere on my computer. This was most important before I upgraded my Windows drive.
Don’t buy NAS drives if you’re sitting next to them. This screeches randomly, and can be very annoying. I don’t know if this is just mine, or a common thing with NAS drives meant to be running in a server room. This happened almost since day 1.
5400 RPM. Up to ~220MB/s Read, ~200MB/s Write. Avg 133MB/s (via UserBenchmark)
Main HDDs - 2x Seagate BarraCuda 4TB
2x large 4TB drives. One is for all my projects, programs that I don’t want on my SSD, large games where load speed doesn’t matter that much, etc.
The other is a recording drive where hours and hours of recordings are dumped, as well as lots of AI exports, Stable Diffusion images, and more.
5400 RPM. UserBenchmark: (Sequential) Up to ~180MB/s Read, ~160MB/s Write. Avg 120MB/s
Boot NVMe SSD - Corsair MP600 PRO XT 2TB
My main OS drive. Recently upgraded from the Samsung drive below, and it’s been great. Super high performance makes anything in Windows snappy - when Windows 11 isn’t having issues…
Super reliable, and incredible heat management. I unfortunately had to remove the case to fit it into the new motherboard, but it has a similarly powerful cooling ability from what I’ve seen. Will definitely use this with another SSD in another motherboard when the time comes.
Up to 7,100MB/s Sequential Read, 5,800MB/s Sequential Write
UserBenchmark: (Sequential) Up to ~3,000MB/s Read, ~4,900MB/s Write. Avg 3,136MB/s
Should you be inclined, you can even grab this with a freaking water cooler!?!!?
The MP600 PRO NH 2TB seems to have the closest specs to this, if you’re looking for a $180 version without the fancy heat sink.
Scratch NVMe SSD - Hikvision E2000 2TB
Yet another product you’re unlikely to find… A brand sold in South Africa a lot. Hikvision do tons, and the E2000 was a cheap, fast NVMe SSD. I needed this as a scratch disk for After Effects, Premiere Pro and other software. Also acted as a T2 cache for my hard drives for a while.
I bought this because it was cheap, and I’ve beat the ever living heck out of it with overwrites as a scratch disk, and it’s still kicking. I bought this knowing I would abuse it until it breaks and probably need to replace it, and it’s still in perfect condition years later.
2TB, 95% Health. “PERFECT S.M.A.R.T score”, 89.98TB written as of right now.
UserBenchmark: (Sequential) Up to ~1,700MB/s Read, ~2,200MB/s Write. Avg 1,203MB/s – Also all the recent tests seem to be ZAF (South African) computers.
Get yourself any old 2TB NVMe SSD, such as the Samsung 980 PRO 2TB (Cheaper at $139.99) or go crazy with the South African exchange rate equivalent - the Gen 5 WD Black 2TB at $200.00.
Extra NVMe SSD - Samsung 960 Evo 256GB
This is my original boot drive. It’s been with me for years since NVMe drives started taking off. It was expensive, and tiny - how things change…
This is, I’m sure, old tech that has been far superseded now. You can get a 980 PRO 1TB for $79.99 which is MUCH better than this.
I don’t have much use for this at the moment… All it’s doing is populating one of the many slots I now have on my motherboard.
UserBenchmark: (Sequential) Up to ~1,753MB/s Read, ~1,260MB/s Write. Avg 985MB/s
Displays
View this full setup as an Amazon list
As much as I would love to have one or two kinds of monitors, I’ve collected 3 over the years that have stuck with me… All with different resolutions – but same vertical heights - and widths as well on the side monitors! I unfortunately do not have a calibration device, so all of my displays have just been tuned slightly to match each other - mostly just brightness.
Center Display - AOC CU34G3S 34" Curved 165Hz
A wonderful curved monitor with consistent backlight, no visible motion blur or other issues, and good color recreation.
I’ve had no issues with this, other than the weight being too much for my cheap display stand. At least I have a homemade wood shelf I converted to a sort of rack to place my audio hardware in that props it up to the exact right height. Ultrawides are very heavy.
34" (but as high as a 24") 3440x1440 165Hz 1ms
Left Display - Dell S2417DG 24" 165Hz
I love this display. I thoroughly enjoyed the 165Hz response and crystal clear display… But for some reason the Display Port just stopped working, so now I’m stuck with HDMI - and 60Hz…
24" 2560x1440 (was) 165Hz 1ms
Right Display - Dell ST2421L 24"
Do not ask where I bought this, I can’t answer… I’ve just always had it. No VESA support. This thing is only here because I have it, and it’s the same size as my other monitor.
I don’t know how I have this, but I do, and the only thing stopping me replacing it is money.
24" 1920x1080 60Hz, and turns on so that’s good.
Monitor stand (Center) - VIVO Single Monitor Stand
The South African brand-version of this that I have looks the same as this popular VIVO arm on Amazon, so here’s a link to that!
(Just make sure to verify the weight of your monitor before purchasing an arm/stand)
Monitor stand (Left, Right) - NB North Bayou Monitor Arm
The previous monitor stand I had did not hold up to the weight of my ultrawide, however this handles it like an absolute champ. 0 sag. This works perfectly and I wish I invested in North Bayou monitor stands and arms as they’re just that much better.
Peripherals
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Mouse - Logitech MX Vertical
As much as I love the G502, I’ve had to take this mouse in hopes it would help RSI developed from osu! and other repetitive tasks. It did exactly that, and I truly cannot see myself using a normal mouse comfortably in day-to-day life again.
The experience was life-changing, and I’ve ordered switches to replace the slowly failing ones in my years old MX Vertical.
Mechanical Keyboard - Corsair K95 Platinum XT
I previously had the Corsair K95 Platinum (non-XT), but the RGB failed after a while. Luckily it could be RMA’d, and I scored a brand-new Corsair K95 Platinum XT instead (They no longer produce the non-XT variant). The only thing I miss is the reversible wrist rest, but I suppose the cushion was a good improvement.
The cushion fabric is starting to show its age around my left hand, but I’ll still have it for years to come happily.
Headphones - Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 Ohm
Built like tanks, incredible quality and soundstage for closed-back headphones. Used everywhere for a reason.
These are my daily drivers, and require almost no EQ to get them going exactly how I love them.
I have the 250 Ohm version, which require some power to run… But you can get these in 32 Ohm and 80 Ohm variants as well.
Headphones - Sennheiser HD 700
These are amazing. The soundstage is fantastic. I personally like to boost the bass with a little EQ in software, but other than that, these are a dream.
The story of how I got these, far from that. Originally I had the Sennheiser HD650 VB, which are now discontinued…
Oh, and speaking of, these are discontinued as well.
Replacement Cable - NewFantasia Replacement HD700 Audio Cable
The original HD 700 audio cable is cool and all, but the randomly squared-off side of the small plug that goes into your headphones makes creating a replacement at a local music shop a nightmare when everything is metal… “Order an original cable” Yeah right, $173.28 + tax and importing (KBL - HD 700), no, thanks.
These work just fine, and I can’t tell the difference, other than I have a lot of money saved.
Replacement Pads - Dekoni Replacement HD700 Pads (Elite Velour)
The original earphone pads are probably the same as the above cable… I never bothered approaching Sennheiser and just imported replacements straight from Amazon to South Africa. These work just as good as the original, and even felt a little better – but I can’t make a fair comparison… My original pads were falling apart at the time.
The glue on these did eventually start to lose its grip around the back of the pads, so using fabric glue was nessecary a few years into using these.
Nothing lasts forever.
Webcam - Logitech Brio 4K
This camera performs incredibly well and has lasted many multi-hour streams, months on standby and still works as good as the day I bought it.
Webcams rarely live up to expectations, but after purchasing another cheaper “4K webcam” I found out just how many features this has, and how it really tops the competition. Good on you Logitech.
Accessories
Mousepad - Glorious 3XL Stealth
Large, tons of smooth material covering most of my desk. Amazing feel, and great to place just about anywhere. Kick back, or lean forward while focusing in intense moments - there’s enough space to play just about anywhere on your desk in any position.
The picture is it rolled up to give a better look at the material. The entire thing is just a black rectangle otherwise - hence the “stealth”.
3XL is 24"x48", but you can get this as XX-Large Extended 18"x36", XL Heavy 16"x18", X-Large Extended 14"x24", X-Large 16"x18", Large Extended 11"x36", Large 11"x13" - From $39.99 to $14.99
Mic Boom Arm - Samson MBA38-38"
A simple mic arm that does the job. Any would do, to be honest.
I currently have it attached to the back of my desk, under my center monitor straight to me. It used to get in the way, but I’m used to it. I would much rather have it go under a monitor, rather than coming from the side, occluding my vision of a monitor.
I did overtighten the heck out of the screw, stripping the screw thread in the tapped hole, so I ended up using a few nuts on either side to hold it in place. Works fine.
Portable
View this full setup as an Amazon list
Laptop - Lenovo Legion Y520 Gaming Laptop
Lenovo Legion Y520 Gaming Laptop - Intel i7-7700HQ, 24GB RAM, GTX 1050 4GB Mobile.
This laptop was okay out the door, and even less okay now. The 1050 was a TERRIBLE choice. I “saved” a few thousand Rand, but ultimately cost myself the entire price of the laptop as almost waste. It can BARELY run ANYTHING. Should you think about getting a gaming laptop? If it suits you.
BUT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CHEAP OUT ON THE GRAPHICS CARD. This WILL bite you in the backside and make you regret picking an underspecced computer.
This was a local South African build with RAM customizations, a different SSD. The linked laptop is just similar in specs, but not the same.
Phone - Samsung S22 Ultra 512GB - Phantom White
I was ready to get the S22 Ultra 1TB, but apparently you couldn’t get them in South Africa. To be honest, I’m only close to filling this up because I have many, many GB of YouTube videos downloaded for the many trips and holidays… And my entire Spotify liked library… And tons and tons of photos, videos, memes and more.
This thing kicks ass, and I’m so happy that I invested in it. The camera is amazing, but the S23 Ultra doesn’t offer anything I would consider upgrading for, and I think I’ll be sticking with this for some time to come.
Apple
Now, for some Apple products. While I’m not the biggest fan of buying Apple, see anything Louis Rossmann - Apple do have tech that people buy, and covering it is a nessecary evil. When there is demand, I should create content that may help others. Most of these Apple products are mainly used by my Girlfriend, but will appear in videos often.
Most of these were recently acquired, so should appear in future videos.
Tablet - 12.9" iPad Pro M1 Wi-Fi 512GB - Silver
It’s an iPad. There’s not much to say.
While Apple may be overpriced with some items, I haven’t come across a reason not to love the iPad Pro. It works wonderfully with the Apple Pencil, and getting the M1 version was definitely what to do in my opinion. Cheaper, and you really don’t lose out on much when this is going to be more of a tool than a gaming device.
Obviously very fragile to dropping, but for travelling it’s great to have. It’s pretty much the same size as our Macbook Air, which is cool. Fits in the same bag snugly for travel.
Phone - Apple iPhone 14 Pro 256GB - Deep Purple
This isn’t my daily driver, but should appear in videos here and there.
This phone works, as you’d expect. Face ID is amazing, and features on par with other Apple devices.
The camera is noticeably lackluster when zooming compared to the Samsung S22 Ultra, and for some reason Wi-Fi calling just does not work for me… This is incredibly annoying with Loadshedding (Country-wide Rolling blackouts in South Africa // Google it) - as the towers go down so often.
Also, no idea why only refurbished are listed on Amazon, but here’s the link regardless. PS. Why do Apple make it so damned hard to change your ringtone and message notification sound to something you want?!
Watch - Apple Watch Series 8 GPS 45mm 256GB - Midnight
An amazing feature set with Siri.
While this isn’t my daily driver watch, it has a great feature set that does everything you’d hope for and more. Great ECG, and other useful features if you’re a nerd for learning about your body.
MacBook - Apple MacBook Air M1 256GB - Silver
This little device works great. I love the touchpad capabilities for multitasking and more, and the fingerprint sensor to log in and more.
This has taken over holidays and trips for me because it’s just that much more usable than my Lenovo laptop. While I love Windows, and have to get used to Mac, and it’s strange quirks, this has been no challenge for me with this MacBook Air. Light, easy to travel with.
I would absolutely recommend getting the 512GB version if you plan on using this thing for more than work here and there.
I do miss a numpad.
Honorable mentions
These were a part of my setup at some stage, and are a great place to get started, or great items to have in general.
Mouse - Logitech G502
I don’t use this mouse anymore, but I have to include it here. The weight and feel of this is unmatched by (I’m sure) any other mouse. This fits my freakishly large hands perfectly and is what I look for in mouses.
If I were to buy it again, I’d probably buy the G502 Lightspeed (Wireless version) of it.
Previous setup
View this full setup as an Amazon list
These items are from my previous setup that was sadly replaced due to sudden hardware failure. Most of the parts above are the same below, so I’ve only got what’s different here.
I hope to get this computer back to a working state because it was a beast. Would be great to have around.
CPU - AMD RYZEN 9 3900X
Man, this processor kicks ass in multithreaded workloads. Rendering videos, 3D scenes and so much more. Great thermals and consistent powerful speeds. This seriously took my system to another level upgrading to this from normal mid-tier hardware. This was and still is an incredible choice.
Of course, superseded by newer AMD Ryzen 9 5900X ($325.73) and others
Motherboard - ASUS ROG Strix X570-E
A superb budget motherboard for high-performance AMD Ryzen processors. This was a good match and lasted years before either this or the CPU gave out. I will update this once we find out what happened.
2.5Gbps LAN, tons of I/O, and great cooling - heck even a little fan for the NVMe SSD.
RAM - G.Skill Trident Z RGB 2x(2x32GB)
4000Mhz. Great for the time, and still kicks today. This kit served me well over the years doing everything I needed and more. Using RAM caches with the extra space all the time - to loading Battlefield on a RAM disk and getting into games before the server practically.
NOTE: For the most stable experience I recommend getting the 128GB kit, instead of mixing 2 64GB kits G.Skill Trident Z NEO Series 128GB 3600 (4 x 32GB) - $329.99
Water cooler - NZXT Kraken X72 360mm AIO
I absolutely love the design of this cooler. It worked amazingly, and still does – But upgrading to new hardware, as much as I could have probably got it to work, I thought it safer to replace it outright being years old already. It’s still sitting around and will probably do the job for years to come, but better safe than sorry with expensive hardware.
Power Supply - Corsair 1000W RM1000i
When the listing says “Silence”, it’s not messing about. The only time I’ve ever heard this thing is when I maxed out the fan speed in iCUE just to see what would happen. This thing has stayed dead silent even under the harshest loads on my 3900X and now i7-13900k. An incredible power supply.
Also, get yourself a micro USB cable to plug in the information port and link it with iCUE. There are tons of interesting data you can get from this thing!
80+ Gold, and reliable. There are likely newer “better” power supplies. This one works and is super trusty, so I’ve stuck with it.
Monitor stand (Center) - VIVO Single Monitor Stand
The South African brand-version of this that I have looks the same as this popular VIVO arm on Amazon, so here’s a link to that!
(Just make sure to verify the weight of your monitor before purchasing an arm/stand)
This was replaced in my setup as it could not hold the weight of my ultrawide monitor.
Please note: The links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. I get a small kickback should you choose to purchase something you like, at no cost to you. Should you be interested in grabbing any of this gear, please consider clicking the links above before doing so from Amazon!
