Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

My name is Amanda, and I am a young woman trying to figure out who she is and what she’ll do. I live with my little family, which is me, my husband, and our two male cats, Wally and JJ. I am about to graduate again with my master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice, and I have no idea what I’ll do with my degree or in general. I don’t currently have a job, but I am considering freelance editing since I’m skilled in writing. I have also considered freelance photography on the side since I have photography experience and my own Fujifilm camera.

Outside of school, I enjoy playing a plethora of video games, many on my computer, but I also enjoy playing on consoles. I’m not particularly loyal to computer gaming or a certain console; most are good to me, especially classic consoles! One specific thing I like is optimizing and modding old games on my computer, such as The Sims games and The Elder Scrolls games. I also enjoy painting, Dungeons & Dragons, learning fantasy lore, fashion and styling, and the art of makeup. I love cats, I love traveling, and I think it’d be fun to try making scented wax.

What hardware do you use?

I chose each part for my build and put it together with the help of my husband, and I often have a lot of fun putting builds together. I even have one planned for my sister at the moment!

My PC’s current parts list goes as follows:

• Fractal Design Meshify C ATX mid-tower case,
• Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi ATX AM4 motherboard,
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600X six-core processor (this is the next part to be replaced),
• G.SKILL Sniper X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 memory,
• Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5” 5400 RPM internal hard drive,
• Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB 2.5” solid state drive, and
• XFX Speedster QICK 319 Radeon RX 7800 XT core 16 GB video card.

I don’t remember what power supply I have; at some point, my husband and I switched power supplies, and I lost track.

Besides parts, I have the following peripherals and accessories: LG 29WL500-B 29.0” 2560 x 1080 75 Hz Monitor, Logitech MX Vertical wireless optical mouse, Logitech Z323 30 W 2.1-channel speakers, Logitech BRIO STREAM webcam, EPOS | Sennheiser GSP 601 gaming headset, Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma gamepad—and, of course, my ZSA Moonlander keyboard!

And what software?

I realized I don’t use a lot of specialized software, but do I use my computer often! I run Microsoft Windows 10, and I use Microsoft Word for my schoolwork. I haven’t decided on one editing software program for photos, so I have a few of them, plus multiple game launchers and mod managers.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

My Moonlander keyboard has been with me for almost a year now, and I love it every day. I don’t have a specific layout; I’ve been mostly using the default layout since I’m familiar with that. This is my first customizable mechanical keyboard, so it’s still new to me. I was drawn to the ergonomics and customization options, especially choosing my own switches. I would love to add some custom keycaps to this keyboard in the future.

What would be your dream setup?

My current build is close to my dream setup; I always wanted something that could easily play any game I wanted to play. I’d probably install a more powerful processor for editing and processing photos, upgrade my monitor, and add a decent second monitor. I also have this idea of building a custom wooden desktop to install on a sit-stand desk frame with some adjustable monitor arms to create lots of desk space. The idea is an adjustable, versatile workspace.

Thanks for reading!