Meet a Modder: TechYESCity (Bryan Bilowol Interview) @IntelANZ #Modding @TechYESCity
PC modding takes many forms, from highly detailed cases bursting with RGB and customised fabrication to simple ITX-mini designs that somehow fit components that look like they simply shouldn’t work.
TechYESCity has found incredible success in PC modding, amassing 539,000 YouTube subscribers with his tech reviews, custom builds and fascinating trips through Japan’s second-hand tech markets.
In this final entry in this series on PC modding, Intel sits down with the creator and host of the channel, Bryan Bilowol, who shares his long and winding journey in modding and takes us behind the scenes of his process.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hey there, my name is Bryan and I am TechYESCity’s YES MAN! I was born on the Gold Coast, QLD and have lived most my life here, as well as living abroad in Japan for quite some time.
My whole schooling life was done on the Gold Coast, then I had a year off to take a step back and figure out what I wanted to do in life. I was planning to get into IT programming, but I realised that playing games and coding them were two completely different beasts. So, I switched to business and finance. I ended up graduating with honours and went on to use that degree to… get a visa in Japan. I started to teach English and I was keen to just enjoy life a bit.
While I was in Japan I saw a great business opportunity – buying and selling car parts from Japan to Australia. The biggest money to be made here ended up being used parts, mainly the parts that no one wanted. I’d clean them up and make some money. It was tough, time consuming and you had to know which parts to buy and sell… but it was rewarding in its own way.
Tell us about YechYESCity – When did you start your channel, what was the process like, how has it grown, what have been some highlights?
If we fast forward to 2010, I was buying a gaming mouse to play some Starcraft 2 and Heroes of Newerth. While I was looking around for the right mouse, I found out no one had reviewed either of the two I was interested in – the Razer Abyssus and the Logitech G3. I decided to buy both and that was when my YouTube videos started to take off. It was a bit of a shock that the money from the videos paid for both the mice, and people seemed to want to see more videos about tech. So, I started my first channel, bryaneasy.
I decided there was just so much content to make within tech, teaching people how to build PCs, overclocking and getting the best value for their dollar. I stuck with it, made a little bit of money as a side hustle. In 2015 that I found a cheap Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550 in a junk PC for $20. I thought “Wow, I can sell this for $80 alone!” and I made a video on it. People absolutely loved it, and that’s what really began TechYESCity as we all know it.
From there I just got passionate about YouTube, learning to better my recording, my audio and other techniques. The channel continued to grow and now I review new products, compare used VS new and act as an avenue for people to enjoy enthusiast tech.
What is your background with PCs, PC gaming and PC building like?
My love for building PCs was always just ‘there’, to be honest. I didn’t have a whole lot of money when I was younger, so I always built my own PCs and PCs for my close friends.
My first PC was a K6 450mhz machine. This was great for playing Starcraft: Brood War, which was the game that I was playing the most with my friends at the time. Other games I loved were Diablo and Warcraft 2, but Brood War was the game that got me started on my true love for PCs. At one point I was the number one seed for Australia! There were lots of good players and it was a great scene to be in.
Has the modding process gotten easier over time?
In terms of modding PCs, I just love the budget stuff. Price performance is a hobby in itself, and I feel tech has a big open market for it. Anything around modding that involves getting the best price performance is hugely exciting for me.
What is your favourite mod?
In terms of full custom mods, I prefer to build those with friends, notably Corey from Designs by IFR and Ethan from TAGmods – they are both good friends and do great work. They have streamlined their process to the nth degree, so whenever I want to go full custom, I go see the boys and see what we can do.
My favourite mod would be my current build, actually. I used a cheap mini-ITX case from Aliexpress, undervolted a 12th gen Intel Core i9-12900k CPU, added 64GB of DDR5 RAM and finally undervolting an Nvidia RTX 3080ti. I even took the heatsink off the motherboard to accommodate the Noctua low profile cooler. It’s such a functional yet powerful build, and it’s what I use to edit my videos and do everything PC.
Modding seems to be equal parts image and performance. What are you looking for in a CPU when building a case mod to reach those performance highs?
When it comes to computers, I had a big binge on aesthetics, but now it’s changed back to pure performance. I prefer a build to be the most efficient, while still retaining high performance. The 3080ti/12900k undervolted combo I mentioned above does this extremely well, coming in under 300 watts when I’m editing videos, which is incredible for the performance it produces.
By-lined to Intel
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