The Hardware Asylum Podcast

When it comes to trade shows for the computer hardware enthusiast there are two major ones. First is the Consumer Electronics Show followed by Computex in Taiwan. While CES is not a showcase for computer hardware the Computex show puts computer hardware front and center, so much that now it has started to become a spectacle.

For the past few weeks Dennis has been testing the Looki L1 wearable AI device. This proactive wearable AI was making headlines during CES and has quickly become a talking point in AI circles. The real question isn’t what it can do now but rather what it could do with good software and a strong agent behind the glass.

Streaming games on Twitch has become really simple with the variety of tools available, capture cards and streaming software. In this episode the duo talk about the involved process of streaming retro games using period correct retro hardware

We get gaming PC questions quite often and decided to revisit the process of building a budget gaming pc for the most popular games of 2025. As of this Podcast we are still in the middle of a memory shortage which can alter prices considerably.

It is not uncommon for board games to become a video game, one famous example is Dungeons and Dragons where the tabletop experience and adventure were ported to the PC to extend the universe. As it would turn out, quite a few games have been ported to the Board Game genre including titles such as Doom, Pac Man and Slay the Spire.

Recently there have been changes to the import rules for routers due to prolific security issues that shouldn’t have been there to begin with. Of course, this issue is not new but there is finally a governmental regulation in place to minimize the risk.

Over the past several years we have watched as the motherboard audio solution slowly started to become less advanced in favor of a two-port analog USB solution that nobody uses. Creative stepped up with the Audigy Fx Pro sound card as a solution but, does anyone want it?

One of the constants in the enthusiast PC world is that builds change and in this episode the duo discuss the recent cooling upgrades made to the Podcast and Stream Machine used in the Hardware Asylum Labs followed by an introduction to a new keyboard project for the cyberdeck build.

While the Retro PC projects have slowed, we still get excited for when old hardware happens to show up. In this episode we do another blind unboxing of a Retro PC care package with some interesting hardware from motherboards to coolers.

One of the biggest challenges related to AI is finding something to use it for. The most popular option are chatbots but many find success with machine learning or system automation. In this episode the duo talk about building a local LLM voice assistant with a Raspberry Pi Zero and some open source software.

The enthusiast PC world is full of early innovation that shaped later products and even trends in the industry. In this episode we talk with Dewayne from Modders-Inc about computer cases along with the impact casemodding had on the pc industry and how those roads lead to QuakeCon.

In this episode the we talk about a very interesting question that was sent in related to the current PC component prices and if it makes sense to sell unused build parts for a profit or keep them and actually finish a new build.

As gaming enthusiasts, we have all bought games that never lived up to the hype. Sure, the reviews were good but once it was installed it turned out to be a huge dud. In this episode the duo explores the top 10 biggest disasters in gaming history and number one will surprise you.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the largest tech focused trade show in the US and happens right after New Years. While PC hardware is rather scarce at recent events there is still plenty of cutting-edge tech to see from autos to AI and robots.

In this episode we get and overview of some of the latest games that Darren has been playing, the challenges associated with them and how best to play them this holiday season. Titles include Battlefield 6 and Borderlands 4 either on the PC or Console.

It has been fifteen years since the first Ninjalane Podcast went live and while we have grown as content creators so has our equipment choices. In this episode we talk about recent upgrades while reflecting on how things have changed over the years.

Kickstarter is an interesting platform that allows designers and developers to obtain the funding they need to build the things they find of value. Some of them are total scams while others can give us amazing things like Zombie Survival games, 3d printed products and how high-quality modular audio hubs

In this Podcast Extra we bring on a special guest and former Hackfort director and local event organizer, Mike Taylor. Mike has been a friend of the website for many years and helped Hardware Asylum get featured during several Boise Hackfort events due in part to the passion that Dennis has for overclocking. Sit back as the two discuss tech events and then take a deep dive into the challenges of b...

Motherboard form factors have been driving the PC market since the beginning with the IBM PC and everything after that has been based on this original design. So, what happens when a new form factor is released? Does everything reset or are there some standards that everyone still follows.

As gamers and hardware enthusiasts we often create attachments to certain gear in our arsenal. In this episode the duo discusses the pain and problems associated with replacing beloved gaming components when they are no longer available.

Hydroponic gardening has been around for quite some time and is really effective when done correctly. You can speed up the growing cycle and supercharge your plants to produce more when compared to traditional methods. As with overclocking a computer it just takes a little more effort to get the best results.

There is a trend in the retro pc community to highlight popular platforms and technologies. For instance things like DOScember would celebrate all things DOS while SEPTandy would focus on Tandy computers. These trends typically start as a marketing campaign to promote content and videos, the good ones stick around while others may get lost to time. Dennis is looking to take advantage starting with...

In addition to computer hardware the hosts of the Hardware Asylum Podcast are also rather passionate gamers and with the exciting launch of Battlefield 6 the duo couldn’t help but talk about some of the new features and graphical updates. Later in the show Dennis dives into a new feature on the website targeted at giving something back to our loyal readers and

People are always looking for ways to save money and while the practice of buying used computer parts to save money has largely fallen out of favor it can sometimes be the deciding factor between building mid-range system over a high-end one. In this episode the duo discuss the option of buying used computer parts and what to consider before spending a single cent.

There is nothing worse than sitting down at your desk only to find that your PC has stopped working. What you do next will not only define you as a true computer hardware enthusiast but can help get you answers quickly if you have to “phone a friend”. In this episode Dennis talks about the troubleshooting process he went through to figure out what went wrong with his latest PC build.