YouTuber spent 14 months building a gaming laptop using desktop parts

You've probably thought to yourself, "Damn I wish I had built this myself over the last 14 months." I don't either, but where would we be if there weren't those who were willing to go where others wouldn’t?

YouTuber Socket science spent over a whole year building a DIY gaming laptop. Not only does it look great, but it also seems to run games quite well. Socket Science and I are both surprised by this, as they say that they're "still amazed" that it all worked.

Socket Science explains why they chose to do this by pointing out an open secret about gaming laptop graphics cards: they are not as good as desktop graphics cards with the same name.

A laptop RTX is not as powerful as a desktop RTX. A laptop RTX4080 uses the same AD104 graphics card as a desktop RTX4070 Ti. Add in mobile power limits and you get a chip that is not insignificantly inferior.

What does Socket Science have to say about this? They do indeed re-fashion desktop components into gaming laptops. The parts are an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and an XFX Radeon RX6600, a Gigabyte ITX board, "very low-profile RAM", a QHD 120 Hz portable gaming monitor, a thin keypad, a touchpad and a DC to DC power supply.

It is obvious that building a laptop differs from building a PC. It's easy to build a PC: You just order the parts, and then fit them together with plenty of space left over. Laptops are different. The parts need to be tightly packed with densely packed cooling, and laid out very carefully. It is not a job that home enthusiasts can do.

I won't give away all the details because it's worth watching. But the general idea is that Socket Science made everything thin enough to fit in laptop format by desoldering the motherboard and snipping the wires. Then they took apart the graphics card so that the PCB with GPU was used.

Then, you'll need to assemble copper, heatsinks and heatpipes. Finally, you'll have to put it all in a 3D-printed case with some 3D-printed fans. The base of the build includes popsicle and fishing line, according to reports.

The LCD is then removed from the portable monitor, installed in a 3D-printed lid, and the keyboard/touchpad is placed into the base. All of this is without mentioning the mottled finish.

I was overwhelmed just writing my very simplified version. I can see why Socket Science took 14 months. Was it worth it? I'll probably stick to a laptop that has a chip with a misnomer, but I am glad to have seen a gaming laptop built in a DIY fashion.