The Weeknd's $8,000 PC Explained
Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, is chasing off his 2021 post-Super Bowl performance victory lap with a new custom gaming PC. The top of the line rig, which Dexerto estimates to be worth around $8,000, features some of the best components money can buy, all tucked inside a beautifully designed case that most gamers can only dream of.
The Canadian-born singer received his new gaming PC as a gift from Paradox Customs, who said in the caption for the build video, "It is an honor to build this Rig for him, paired with some of the best specs available." That caption also lists the components installed in the video, and they are impressive.
The entire system is structured around an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, the twelve-core flagship of the AMD processor line. In the clip, which is something in between an unboxing video and a build guide, viewers can see Arpit Manaktala, founder of Paradox Customs, personally install the processor on the Asus X570-E Motherboard that forms the backbone of the PC. As the video continues (all set to The Weeknd's music, of course) Manaktala installs the Mushkin 2TB SSD, an incredibly fast storage device that is key to reducing load times for increasingly large games.
After the storage is in place, Manaktala begins building out the gaming rig's interior to support the next major component he installs, the NZXT Kraken Z73. This customizable liquid cooling system helps a gaming rig with as much power as the one Tesfaye received regulate temperatures with hyper-specific customization settings. The video even shows how the cooling unit is attached directly to the AMD Ryzen CPU, which allows it to deliver heat relief to the system's most vulnerable point.
Next, Manaktala begins to unpack the more conventional cooling system, a six-piece Corsair QL120 fan set, which is capable of displaying a full range of RGB colors, as well as the Lian Li O11 case, which also has full RGB display capabilities. This large case, coupled with the complete set of fans, gives components room to breathe and reach peak performance. From there, Manaktala gets to work placing the motherboard in the case while mounting hardware such as the LINKUP riser cable and the Maingear 1200W power supply, which regulates electricity flowing through the system.
After all those pieces are set, it is time for Manaktala to install what is arguably the crown jewel of the entire build: an EVGA RTX 3090 24GB GPU. This Nvidia-based graphics card, which is not only extremely expensive but also very difficult to acquire, is capable of delivering some of the highest quality graphics achievable in games that require a high-end set-up, like the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077.
As the video draws to a close, gamers can see the PlayStation and Xbox controllers provided to Tesfaye to use with the system as Manaktala puts the finishing touches on the gaming rig. When all is said and done, the lights go off and the system powers up in a red and orange pattern — one that is highly reminiscent of The Weeknd's Super Bowl light show.