Gaming
Games
Twitch star iamfallfromgrace showcases her epic streaming setup
Grace reveals her favourite components, recounts her streaming history and gives tips for people starting out.
Elden Ring fans don't come any bigger than Grace 'iamfallfromgrace', and you'll often find the Australian streaming about her beloved game.
"I got to play it during the Network Test thanks to Bandai Namco," she says. "It was like three days it was open, and I think I played 17 hours of it non-stop, so I played through the demo that had 12 bosses in it three times in total. Kept replaying it over and over!"
The 'Soulsborne' title is a challenge for Grace – who says she previously, "shied away from hard games" – and one she's risen to on her Twitch since its release in February 2020.
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01
Gaming setup
Whatever does stop her in her tracks in Elden Ring, it won't be her setup, because Grace is rocking a typically resplendent streaming and gaming dual PC combo that she thinks of as her "battlestation", where she feels very comfortable.
Her gaming PC is an Intel i7 10700KF with an NVIDIA RTX 3080 FE graphics card and 32GB RAM, and getting the right keyboard and mouse at her fingertips was a critical part of the build. Grace is a fan of the Logitech G502 mouse and G915 keyboard, both of which are wireless, which might not be every gamer's choice, but Grace has prioritised comfort.
I have a standing desk, I like to have the freedom to roam a little bit.
"I'm not like a pro gamer, I don't minmax every tiny thing," she says. "So I know a lot of people really go for the super light route, but I actually like something with a bit of weight, so the G502 is pretty hefty and you can add weights in the bottom. I just like a little bit chunkier as well and it's very ergonomic with the thumb grip, and it's got really good placement for the thumb buttons which I use in the PUBG stuff for healing items and vaulting and whatnot. I also have really high DPI, so if I use lighter ones then I'm just, like, off the side of the desk!"
The keyboard choice evolved along similar lines.
"I just like that it's wireless, mostly. I feel like, for gaming, because I'm not a crazy competitive player, I'm not going for the tiny little millisecond response time, I definitely go for the more aesthetic kind of thing, and for me the lack of cables is amazing. That's why I love wireless everything. The slim form factor as well, just the ease of moving it around, because I have a standing desk, I like to have the freedom to roam a little bit."
02
Streaming setup
Her Red Bull streaming PC is no slouch either, with an Intel i7 11700K, an AORUS RTX 3080 Ti Master and 32GB RAM, in addition to the obligatory Elgato 4K60 Pro through which her gameplay is relayed to thousands of viewers around the world.
Her surroundings and peripherals are all curated to make sure she's in optimal conditions, from the carefully placed Elgato Key Lights and the Stream Deck XL, the Sony A5100 w/ Sigma 16mm 1.4 and ZV-1 Compact Mirrorless cameras, nano leaf lighting displays and, judging by the backdrop to our call, more Ikea furniture stuffed with gaming mementos than the average player could assemble in a lifetime!
Plus there's the obligatory Stream Deck, and just as her friend PaladinAmber told us last week, it really is obligatory!
"Stream Deck is one of those things where I think a lot of people see it as a luxury item that you don't really need, but then you have to stream on the go and all of a sudden you don't have it and you're like, 'Oh my god, I don't have a part of my body, a limb is missing!'" she says. "With streaming, because you're a one-person show, you have to switch scenes or do sound effects to amp people up; it's everything. I've got the XL so there's 32 buttons, but I still have like five pages here with different configurations of buttons to do all on the go."
Another thing that has become a vital part of Grace's streaming setup is the daily routine.
"My morning is a bit of ritual at this point, just putting on my make-up and a fun outfit or whatever, getting the headset on," she says. "It's not a mask, because I'm still me, but I'm definitely a way more amped-up version of myself; that ritual and getting my game face on for streaming is most important."
03
Streaming advice
Grace 'IamFallFromGrace'
© David Solm/Red Bull Content Pool
What if Grace could give one piece of advice to her younger self about streaming? "Have a great microphone!" she says. "No question. One hundred percent. Because Twitch has a very big lurker culture as well, so literally all they are doing is hearing your voice, so voice has to come first. So if I go into a stream and the video's a little bit choppy or not always super well lit, that's OK, but if the audio's bad, then I'm out, I've clicked off already. So audio number one, 100%, for podcasting too. Visual's always second. And that's how you're going to stand out -- people who come in and are like, 'Wow, your audio's amazing,' that's the best compliment!"
Grace also has some experience to share on how people can get the best out of Stream Deck.
"The main thing is for Stream Deck setup, it's really personalised," she says. "I've had people come to me and be like, 'Can I pay you to set mine up?' and honestly it's so personal, I don't know what you're going to need, and if you don't know how to use it as well, it's just not going to be useful for you to have someone else set it up.
"So I think taking the time to figure out when you're live, maybe while you're streaming, and you're like, 'Oh I wish I could do that thing,' write it down, put it on a priority list, and make sure you have it on your homepage because you do that all the time. Like, I want a button that can make a replay buffer so I have a clip to put it on Twitter later, or I want to mute my mic quickly, or we've got smoke machines in here, so make the light and smoke go off. Really prioritising the inputs you need on your main page, and figuring out the other things later, because you'll never have a complete Stream Deck. It'll always be a work in progress!"
04
Good vibes
Playing games is a huge part of streaming, obviously, but the community that streamers build along the way is as critical a part of their 'setup' as anything. You wouldn't want to sit and play games with a bunch of people you didn't like, and playing them with people who respect and care about you is a wonderful privilege that Grace clearly appreciates. Asked about her favourite moments streaming, we half expect to hear about a time she killed 10 dudes in PUBG and walked off with the Chicken Dinner, but instead she talks about the four-year anniversary Kudoboard whipped up by her community.
"They'd all written like how they found the channel, all the best times they'd had, and it was just me reading for two hours, almost in tears, like, 'Oh my god, you're all so sweet!' And the fact that no one spoiled it! All these people on the internet came together and nobody spoiled it." That certainly does sound unique in the history of the internet!
She's also full of admiration for her fellow Australian streamers.
"hexsteph has always been my idol in the gaming community," she says, "as a woman in 2022 we're still kind of a minority and we're still treated a bit differently than the average cis male on the internet. I think it's really special having myself, Amber and Steph – three strong gaming personalities – as Red Bull players is really special. I think it sets a good precedent for all gamers to be like, 'yeah, cool, we're all gamers, it doesn't matter if you're a cis woman or man or transgender or whatever, we love games, and that's what we do'.
"I think Steph, particularly, coming from the background of TV, the way she presents is just so natural – I respect and love everything she does. We got to hang out a couple of weeks ago and it was the best thing ever!"
05
Grace's gaming PC specs
- Intel i7 10700KF
- NVIDIA RTX3080FE
- 32GB DDR4 RAM
- 2x AORUS F127Q-X QHD 240Hz
- Logitech G915 Wireless Keyboard
- Logitech G502 Wireless Mouse
- Logitech G733 Lilac Wireless Headset
06
Grace's Red Bull streaming PC specs
- Intel i7 11700K
- AORUS z590 XTREME
- AORUS RTX3080TI Master
- AORUS Waterforce X 360
- 32GB DDR4 RAM
- Elgato 4K60 Pro
- 1x AORUS F127Q-X QHD 240Hz (main game + stream)
- 1x AORUS F125F 240Hz (in portrait mode for chat)
- 1x AORUS FV43U (for display and console gameplay)
- Elgato Cam Link Pro
- Elgato HD60S+
- Elgato Key Lights x2
- Elgato Multi-Mount Systems
- Elgato Stream Deck XL
- Elgato Wave XLR
- Elgato Wave Arm LP
- Sony A5100 w/ Sigma 16mm 1.4
- Sony ZV-1 Compact Mirrorless Camera
- Shure SM7B Microphone
- Tascam Mixcast 4 Interface
