Scrapyard Wars 2019

[IYBSPSBW]

Scrapyard Wars 2019 needs to happen!

The problem is Linus is out of interesting ideas for it so probably won't do it (Announced on the WAN show Feb 1st)

My Idea: Get two of you less tech savvy employees such as Dennis to do it and they are allowed 3 questions.

 

If you have any other ideas put them below. Thanks!

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, IYBSPSBW said:

My Idea: Get two of you less tech savvy employees such as Dennis to do it and they are allowed 3 questions.

This is pretty clever, a lot like secret shopper but for a competition. @LinusTech what do you think?

[mxk]

I agree with fasauceome. I like this idea a lot, and I'm sure people would like to see Janice from accounting participate in this. @LinusTech consider it!!

[Guest]

Still waiting for the Macintosh episode. 

[Antistatic12]

LTT VS TTL
Been saying it for years, maybe one day.

 

I would like to see Linus and Anthony VS Luke and James in some type of Scrapyard Wars.

[Kedohawyr]

IMO for Scrapyard Wars to work well it needs a good relationship between the competitors and not just an artificial rivalry. The purely Linus vs Luke seasons have felt more engaging then the ones with guests, however I think it could work with the LTT staff that have established themselves on camera.

 

One complaint I've had is the scoring has become too complex and it bogs down the final episode because you don't have a strong idea of what's actually happening (who is winning); it's really telling how bad it is when they've have to correct themselves midway through judging. Better scoring or a persistent score overlay would help. That said I've got two so-so ideas for mixing things up.

 

The first idea doesn't deviate too far from the usual formula but brings up a statement they've made in a few seasons: "on a budget it's always cheaper to buy used". I think it would interesting to put that to the test with a unique third competitor. For now let's call this extra competitor "Dennis". Dennis will build a budget PC using only new parts (opportunity for a helpful sponsor like MemoryExpress to be his guide in selecting components?). The new PC is presented in the first episode though the only firm detail will be the price tag.

 

The two regular competitors are then tasked with assembling a cheaper PC, the builder of the cheapest PC at the end of the competition will be the winner. The scoring system is simple, there is no score but the price tag. But each system will be benchmarked using Dennis's PC as a baseline. If their build falls below the baseline they must pay a penalty that is added to the price of their system. To win the competitors will need to guess how powerful Dennis's new PC is and then build something that is at least as powerful, making the season feel much more like building a truely useful PC and not an exercise in number crunching.

 

The second idea is less normal and might have some filming challenges depending on how it was approached. It would also be best filmed so it could be released during the holiday season. This idea is to have an upgrade focused Scrapyard Wars. Both competitors are given a PC to start with and a fixed budget. They must upgrade it into the most powerful PC they can without replacing the case or the motherboard. But how will they get their starting PC? I would love to see Luke and Linus set loose in a place like Bestbuy with the goal of buying each other a prebuilt PC as a "gift". This PC must have socketed CPU/RAM and at least one 16x expansion slot so it can be upgraded.

 

They can spend whatever they want and whatever they spend they will get back as their upgrade budget. So if Luke spends $1000 on a PC for Linus then Luke will have a budget of $1000 to upgrade whatever PC he is gifted by Linus. If Linus only spends $500 on a PC for Luke then he'll have a budget of $500 to upgrade the $1000 PC he received from Luke. This poses a lot of filming challenges but I think it would be fun because it asks them to find the worst performance per dollar PC they can so that they get the highest upgrade budget while giving their competitor the worst starting position.

 

 

[Worstcaster]

How about a drawing of 2 names at LTX?  Each "winner" gets either Luke or Linus to help them build a budget PC.

[NineEyeRon]

How about they do it in another country, like UK?

[unreal89x]

I feel like a Scrapyard Wars London might be a good option (full disclosure: I'm based in London). Leaving Linus and Luke struggling with different websites, markets etc would give a new element (the US and Canada are quite financially integrated so markets aren't radically different). Just doing it in one city would keep costs down from the Eurotrip idea spitballed on the Wan show but still be novel.

 

It would probably make sense to make the trip coincide with other London based videos, such as doing a UK secret shopper - which could be compared with the original version to see how different it is to the North American market. I'm sure there are plenty of other videos that they could do in London as well. 

I do agree with Kedohawyr on clarifying the scoring system more from the start. Sometimes they do it but other times you are left wondering why they are doing things a certain way.

Linus if you need help organising this hit me up.

[3 Lions]

10 minutes ago, unreal89x said:

I feel like a Scrapyard Wars London might be a good option (full disclosure: I'm based in London). Leaving Linus and Luke struggling with different websites, markets etc would give a new element (the US and Canada are quite financially integrated so markets aren't radically different). Just doing it in one city would keep costs down from the Eurotrip idea spitballed on the Wan show but still be novel.

 

It would probably make sense to make the trip coincide with other London based videos, such as doing a UK secret shopper - which could be compared with the original version to see how different it is to the North American market. I'm sure there are plenty of other videos that they could do in London as well. 

I do agree with Kedohawyr on clarifying the scoring system more from the start. Sometimes they do it but other times you are left wondering why they are doing things a certain way.

Linus if you need help organising this hit me up.

Here's an idea, lets say Linus stays in London and the other contestant (most likely Luke) goes to another major city in the UK. They would be both looking at deals in their respected areas and it would mean there would be no chance of them bumping into each other. 

[acerayl]

Yea, I would like to see them do Scrapyard Wars in another area. Like in AZ or FL where there are different kinds of Tech reselling companies who have more than just used computers. I know a place in FL that sells used stuff from aeronautics companies. Just something a bit different in a place that would not expect a Scrapyard Wars to happen. 

[PianoPlayer88Key]

I'd like to see another SYW in southern California ... But this time, emphasize performance per some combination of watt, decibel and degree.

• Watt - electricity can be pretty expensive - at my parents' house near San Diego, last summer's on-peak rate (after a quota was reached each billing cycle) was 67¢/kWh.
• dB & ° - Some places in SoCal can reach 48-50+°C (118-122+°F) in summer.  Keeping a system cool AND quiet in that environment would be a challenge.  (Bonus points for acheiving 0 dB, passive cooling with heatsinks they make themselves that, WITH the rest of the system including the GPU, would fit in a 1U case no bigger than a thin mini ITX board.)

[hanshenp]

What about a retro oriented scrap yard wars, it is getting increasingly difficult and expensive to find retro parts, because it is getting more and more popular.

 

Set a max date on parts, add some titles as goals, topped off with the synthetic benchmarks of the time. Could be fun I think. It would at least bring the participants out of their comfort zones. 

[ianspy1]

Make a episode in the EU since pricing is far diffrent

[Cypher-Jackson]

Make a crypto-mining version where you compete to see who can lose the least amount of money

[theAdataspecial]

bring SCRAPYARD WARS BACK!

[PianoPlayer88Key]

On 7/15/2019 at 4:04 PM, hanshenp said:

What about a retro oriented scrap yard wars, it is getting increasingly difficult and expensive to find retro parts, because it is getting more and more popular.

 

Set a max date on parts, add some titles as goals, topped off with the synthetic benchmarks of the time. Could be fun I think. It would at least bring the participants out of their comfort zones. 

I would love to see this!

And no, Core 2 Duo, or Pentium 4, isn't nearly retro enough.

The system should be running something like DOS (or at most Windows 2 or 3).

As for hardware, at the newest, I'm thinking something like

 

  

 

 

    

 

  

 

  

 

 

I want to see them struggle with manually configure things like IRQ, DMA, I/O, heads, cylinders (incl. first/last), write pre-compensation, landing zone, interleave, etc, on ISA slots, serial ports, MFM hard drives, etc.

 

[Tom Swinden]

Do It @LinusTech

[enigmakahn]

On this episode of scrapyard wars, who is the real king of raw power, Intel Pentium processors or the hot new competitor the all new AMDs K5 series! Now with the latest in VooDoo 4Mb Graphics card!

[NotImportant]

Scarp-yard Wars Season 8 (Out the Country Edition 

suppose u have 7 days 

No Local Language 

No idea of local stores 

No Local Pricing 

and Mainly ni Grailist or whatever it call 

Pure - Internet and Hardwork is needed 

ps- We Need Judges for Competition 

like MKPH for Raw Power ,ijustin for Looks and Unbox therapy for over all the winner getting 2 votes win  

And amount  is unlimited but price per dollar count 

[Porthos1998]

I liked the ones where it was Linus vs Luke more than the ones with the guests or teams if i am to be honest.

[pizapower]

I still remember Dimitri and his catchphrase ''I need my water''

[JohnMc45]

On 2/1/2019 at 10:04 PM, Antistatic12 said:

I would like to see Linus and Anthony VS Luke and James in some type of Scrapyard Wars.

How about Linus and Anthony VS. Luke and Alex. 

On 2/1/2019 at 10:54 PM, Kedohawyr said:

The first idea doesn't deviate too far from the usual formula but brings up a statement they've made in a few seasons: "on a budget it's always cheaper to buy used". I think it would interesting to put that to the test with a unique third competitor. For now let's call this extra competitor "Dennis". Dennis will build a budget PC using only new parts (opportunity for a helpful sponsor like MemoryExpress to be his guide in selecting components?). The new PC is presented in the first episode though the only firm detail will be the price tag.

 

The two regular competitors are then tasked with assembling a cheaper PC, the builder of the cheapest PC at the end of the competition will be the winner. The scoring system is simple, there is no score but the price tag. But each system will be benchmarked using Dennis's PC as a baseline. If their build falls below the baseline they must pay a penalty that is added to the price of their system. To win the competitors will need to guess how powerful Dennis's new PC is and then build something that is at least as powerful, making the season feel much more like building a truely useful PC and not an exercise in number crunching.

 

Good idea. Another take would be to get say Anthony to find a prebuilt and the only changes he can make are free. OC, updates, Clean up Windows or maybe even run it on linux 

On 2/2/2019 at 11:12 AM, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

Here's an idea, lets say Linus stays in London and the other contestant (most likely Luke) goes to another major city in the UK. They would be both looking at deals in their respected areas and it would mean there would be no chance of them bumping into each other. 

Do you think Manchester might work as the second city?

 

Couple ideas I have had are No name components.  Other then the CPU.  Maybe they could just get that from the LMG stash. Everything has to be no name like aliexppress or banggood parts. Couple problems I see are shipping. Probably have to give them like 6 months time.  Early videos would probably be more vlog like. give Linus and Luke a camera to shoot them finding and buying parts. Then have a  different editor cut together each's footage into there part of the biweekly? video. That way they can fake each other out and stuff.  The second is calculating the budget. Some parts are bound not to show up or not work. I think there needs to be the max system as built price. Then a total max you can spend. If not I could see Linus ordering way more then what makes it into the final system.

 

The second idea is Scrapyard wars even jankier addition. Give them the same budget PC or budget pc parts to start. Then they have a budget to mod it. The catch is they can't use any actual computer parts. So things like automotive and Christmas light RGB. Homedepot water cooling. Using USB fans as case fans. Then have them judged on looks, performance and uniqueness.          

[Antistatic12]

3 hours ago, JohnMc45 said:

How about Linus and Anthony VS. Luke and Alex.

Yeah that would be good. I would enjoy that. If the next scrapyard wars doesn't have Anthony I would be surprised.

[PianoPlayer88Key]

11 hours ago, JohnMc45 said:

Couple ideas I have had are No name components.  Other then the CPU.  Maybe they could just get that from the LMG stash. Everything has to be no name like aliexppress or banggood parts. 

 

The second idea is Scrapyard wars even jankier addition. Give them the same budget PC or budget pc parts to start. Then they have a budget to mod it. The catch is they can't use any actual computer parts. So things like automotive and Christmas light RGB. Homedepot water cooling. Using USB fans as case fans. Then have them judged on looks, performance and uniqueness.          

I like the "no name" / "janky" ideas.   I'm thinking of a few ideas for some rules / challenges for a few of the parts categories ....

 

Case:

• no cutout in the motherboard tray (which is also not painted)
• pci-e slot covers are the break-out kind
• no cable management space behind the tray (and no access either, except where there's access for drive bay screws)
• must not be new enough to not have external 3.5" bays
• must not be wider than... (idk exactly, but 5.25" bays would take up almost the entire width.  A Hyper 212 Evo would absolutely NOT fit.)
• only one fan can be included, and the rear fan mount can't be larger than 80 mm
• PSU mounted on top
• any other specs / etc I may have missed that were typical of cases in the 1990s and earlier.

PSU (if not included with case):

• cannot appear higher than Tier D on the PSU tier list, if it appears there at all.
• cannot have 80+ certification of any type, or even active PFC.  (must have the voltage selector switch)
• cannot have any PCIe connectors, or more than 2 SATA connectors.
• cannot have more than about 8-10A on the 12V rail, if it has that rail at all (or whatever would have been typical for a pre-Pentium III PSU)

Motherboard:

• no heatsinks on the VRMs, no more than 4 chokes (or whatever those things are).
• (adjust as necessary in case I"m forgetting how motherboards before Pentium 4 or whenever were made)
• should have at least one ISA slot, or, no more than 2 PCIe slots (only one may be x16, and not newer than 1.1)
• should have onboard IDE, or be older.
• bonus points for using AT (not ATX; same goes for the case)

CPU:

• 64-bit not allowed
• ideally old enough so that they typically didn't come with a heatsink or fan when they were new

Storage:

• no SSDs allowed.
• SATA HDDs can't be faster than 5400 rpm if used, preferably use PATA HDDs.
• bonus points for using MFM (ST-412 interface) or SCSI or similar hard drives.

RAM:

• no heatsinks allowed (unless it's the type of older generation ECC that had them, like DDR2 FB-DIMMs for example, although....)
• preferably uses SIMMs, not DIMMs.  (Or even individual DIP chips on the motherboard)

GPU:

• either an ISA or PCI (not express) single-slot card with NO heatsinks at all, OR,
• retailed for no more than $40 when it was new

 

I'm sure I could come up with other ideas, but .... basically, my idea boils down to either using parts that have features that 99.99% of enthusiasts would freak out if someone used that in a normal build today (because they're very undesirable, etc), or is old enough so it doesn't have any of the auto-setup capabilities we've gotten used to in the last 20-25 years or so.