Whenever I attend a LAN party- and I’ve been to dozens- there’s always this moment when I ask myself why the hell I’m even going. Invariably, this moment occurs when I’m about to wrest my tempered glass and extruded aluminum Phanteks Enthoo Evolv case, crammed with a kilowatt power supply, triple-slot graphics card, dual HDDs, and a 280mm closed-loop AIO from its comfy home on my desk. Then there’s my full-size keyboard with a built-in wrist rest and 28-inch monitor. And my gaming chair. Like Princess Vespa from Space Balls, I CAN’T. LIVE. WITHOUT IT!

Nothing about my carefully-built gaming setup was designed to be easy to move. When I built it, I agonized over every component, but my priorities were performance, an ever-constrained budget, and (embarrassingly) aesthetics, not how well it all would fit into the backseat of my Honda Accord. And that’s just the first of several hurdles. Getting it from the backseat into the event can be harrowing. Like most of the rest of the Midwest, Nebraska is cursed with spastic weather, and wouldn’t you know it, our bi-annual LAN party occurs in rainy November and snowy February. Do you have a poncho for your PC? Because I do. To date, I always just grit my teeth and set about the laborious task. It’s worth it in the end, but those pre-LAN reservations hit me every time.