gamersnexus
patreon
A Photo of Where GN Started
🕑 Added 2019-10-22 17:06:16 +0000 UTCI thought I'd share this so people could appreciate where we are now with some more perspective. I took this photo in 2013. GamersNexus officially started c. 2007 or 2008, depending on how you count it, but 2012-2013 was when I started changing course to focus more on computer hardware and less on purely gaming. Everything was started in my bedroom. You might notice there's no bed in there -- that's because, by this point, GN had gotten enough initial success that I had moved the bed into the dining room and brought in another work table to the bedroom. I'm pretty sure I wasn't making a profit yet, but it sure felt like things were moving in the right direction.
I worked alone at this point, though had contractors (like Keegan, Andrew, Patrick, and some others) who contributed articles or logo art remotely. Keegan was going to shows with me at this point, I think, though wasn't officially a camera person and acted more as a reporter at the time.
In this shot, you can see the Rosewill... Thor V2 or Throne (not sure) on the left, featuring an NZXT 1250W PSU that we still use today, alongside an NZXT Phanteks 820 on the floor. That system in the 820 is the initial case review test bench, and was the first official GN test bench ever. It seems commonplace now, but I had never considered the need to buy a completely separate "test bench" set of components until around the time of this photo. Before then, I used my personal system for all testing, but this proved problematic as test data accuracy was suspect and it was also just a huge pain in the ass. I'd have to build and unbuild my own computer in different cases every few months, and that sort of sucked because it created downtime.
You can also see a Thermaltake Armor in the bottom right, my first "lighting" (that bendy lamp) atop some other case -- maybe Antec, not sure -- and what looks to be either our Sony A300 or Sony A55, whatever was out at the time. That was used for photos, I had a different camera for initial video. The rest of the room was a mix of old personal things, which were slowly being forced out and into storage in other rooms or the attic, and necessary computer hardware for the job. I later took over another room in the house to become the studio (which also featured our cooler test bench and initial fold-out "build table," which allowed me to remove the folding card table from the middle of this room and clean up the tables a little bit. Andrew and Keegan ended up working in that back-left corner to do video edits. A few years later, Patrick began working at the right-most table. I worked at a desk slightly left of where the photo was taken. The distance from one person to the next was about 2' at least, maybe 4-5' corner-to-corner.
I used to have to do all my builds on the floor, because there just wasn't space for other stuff. As things got more flooded, I came up with better solutions for packing everything in (you can see them in part 1 of our moving vlog), but this came with the struggle of having to re-arrange a house into a business. It was sometimes hard to act on a necessary change because that means restructuring how you live, but it was obviously worth it and did pay off.
I'm happy to say that things haven't really been this messy ever since, but I'm also happy that it was like this. I was very proud of this build space and was excited to get new hardware to write reviews on, even if it meant changing everything about daily life to do it.
Thought I'd share some GN history and give you all perspective of where things started!
Comments
Been there! Every great idea starts in a small cramped over stuffed room tripping over everything. Then when you finally get to a full size "shop" you never want to go back lol.
Abheek Gulati
Thank you for sharing this Steve, definitely inspiring stuff!
I remember watching the fury x teardown in that room. That seemed so ballsy at the time. I became an instant sub from that and love that you still keep it real just the same. Keep it up!
To be fair, that's organised chaos. The state of my room when I am tinkering or building multiple systems at once. If there's space, it belongs to the side panel, ah that space looks like a front panel. It's like playing Tetris with case parts.
I love these type of member berries. Please provide more when you can. I was a late starter of yours. Oct 2017 after ltt wasn't detailed enough for me.
ZarconDeeGrissom
I was guessing the computer case on the lower left, or more likely the brown cardboard box far-right, many cats do like boxes. has it been that long, guess it has.
GamersNexus
Thanks! The dining room was not suitable for a lot of other reasons, mostly being near high traffic areas for the actual house (kitchen). It was harder to get it quiet for acoustic tests and not really isolated enough from the rest of the house to serve as a business operation. Also, the dining room had nowhere to expand, whereas the bedroom had two adjacent rooms to expand into. Made more sense to crawl outward.
You have a lot to be proud of Steve. I think starting on a "dirt floor" project and building up is the only way to really do well. I've managed where I was the replacement and found reasonable which felt good. It's the nitty, shove crap aside to gain space and build up is the really satisfying launch to success. Hell you built up from the floor when you moved to where you are now. Look around yourself now, you've done very well. Keep that picture, put in your office, and most of all remember that room with cases basically stacked everywhere. Sit back in the dark with your favorite intoxicant and look around where you are now. Well done Steve, very well done.
So obvious question: Why did you move your bed into the dining room, instead of moving the work room to the dining room? But seriously, congratulations on how far you have taken the business from small beginnings!
Richard Williams
Just shows you gotta start somewhere, but also you can start somewhere and make things work as long as you have the passion and energy (and maybe money to eat). Be proud of what you've accomplished, you're doing great! :) (and post moar Snakeflake content plz thx :p)
Ian Washish
Yeah remember you moving vlog, you presented quite well how the before and after changes came along. I think you know you can be proud by your GN project, still I just want to remind you how well you manage growing your business. I would like to know if their are any choices you would make differently, I mean one of the significative ones. My nickname is an "i" so it is ianochez. Thank you for your reading.
GamersNexus
Snowflake wasn't even born yet!
Nory R
Where is snowflakes bed?
Liking the gen 2 Pokemon poster up there
