The Verge's 'Infamous' PC Build Gets Fixed (kotaku.com) 51
Luke Plunkett, writing at Kotaku: Back in 2018, The Verge released a guide to building a new PC that was, well, from where I was sitting it was not ideal. From where some angry PC nerds were sitting, though, it was an outrage. How bad was the video? It has its own knowyourmeme page, that's how bad. The guide was full of glaring omissions and bizarre tips, from a strange obsession with power usage to the most liberal use of thermal paste you've ever seen. The original video guide was eventually removed by The Verge (though you can see it here, and the written portion remains online), with the site claiming that it didn't meet their "editorial standards." Things took a turn for the worse when folks' initial bemusement with the guide quickly morphed into outright harassment from others, with author Stefan Etienne receiving a ton of racial abuse and The Verge issuing takedown notices on a couple of videos critical of the situation.
Anyway, that was 2018. We're not here to drag up bad old content and the ramblings of internet shitheads, we're here for the redemptive arc in this tale. That comes in the form of this new Linus Tech Tips video, where the host gets Etienne on to "fix" his old build, going through the same basic overall process as the original, making some changes (or just adding some extra information) at stops along the way. Etienne is a great sport throughout (and interestingly claims that The Verge's editorial basically threw him under the bus with the video section of the guide). The pair go through the original guide point by point, not just explaining how they'd improve things in 2021, but also allowing Etienne to break down just what was going on during the creation of the video as well. [H/T UnknowingFool.]
Anyway, that was 2018. We're not here to drag up bad old content and the ramblings of internet shitheads, we're here for the redemptive arc in this tale. That comes in the form of this new Linus Tech Tips video, where the host gets Etienne on to "fix" his old build, going through the same basic overall process as the original, making some changes (or just adding some extra information) at stops along the way. Etienne is a great sport throughout (and interestingly claims that The Verge's editorial basically threw him under the bus with the video section of the guide). The pair go through the original guide point by point, not just explaining how they'd improve things in 2021, but also allowing Etienne to break down just what was going on during the creation of the video as well. [H/T UnknowingFool.]
You can't fix the past. (Score:2, Funny)
Yes, all that racial abuse (Score:5, Informative)
Particularly ugly and vulgar was Lyle.
In all seriousness however, of the 14 different youtube responses I remember watching there was zero racial abuse. Instead it was abuse of the completely shatastic video which was well deserved, since until that abuse happened The Verge refused to take it down and there were very much issues with the construction that could have ruined hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of hardware had it been watched by a first time PC builder and followed. This was the functional equivalent of someone posting a car restoration guide and ignoring torque specs on the exhaust manifold and cylinder block and not tightening the wheel lugs fully and stating everything was fine and proper.
As for any racial abuse in any comment sections, it's the internet. Anything remotely popular or controversial attracts trolls. Learn to ignore it.
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+1
>The only thing more "shatastic" than that video is you making this entire redundant comment just to downplay racism
It's like the GP saying to a guy or girl star, hey it was offstage, the bizz is full of predators and rapist, when it happens to you, you gotta just learn to ignore it.
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No, that analogy would be if The Verge's editors themselves were heaping the abuse on him. Instead this would be a couple of douchebags in a crowd of 30,000+ yelling about how badly they wanted to fuck the star.
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The Verge equals onstage or out in the open in front of others, internet abuse would equal offstage in private or off in some nightclub.
But yeah, I get the emphasis of your example, and my analogy was a bit strong. I'd say reality is somewhere in between your first example and the coward's one.
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Re:Yes, all that racial abuse (Score:5, Informative)
I think the abuse might have come later after Stefan Etienne reaction to the critique. HE is the asshole who started by calling everyone saying anything about him virgin loser nolifes, very angry nerds, jealous, or racists. His attitude for 2 years afterwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Lets not forget - dude promoted scams like "wireless antistatic wristband" and refused to correct any mistakes.
RE: "wireless antistatic wristband" (Score:2)
Does it run Linux?
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I think the abuse might have come later after Stefan Etienne reaction to the critique.
Because you've tracked the timestamps on every comment all over the internet that was made?
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It's a perfect example of the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
For "news" like the verge, the only important criteria is to look the part, but not actually have a clue about what they vocer in the videos. I suspect that these journalists only get involved in the tech industry, because for the most part, it's one of the few that seems to be doing relatively ok, while all other classic media is being constantly decimated.
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what they vocer in the videos
My covfefe moment. It should have been 'cover'.
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Your mother was a dog and your father was a pig.
Learn to ignore it.
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Pigs smell like elderberries now?
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and there were very much issues with the construction that could have ruined hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of hardware had it been watched by a first time PC builder and followed.
Hyperbole gets you no where. The PC hardware would have been just fine despite not being ideal. It will most probably would work without the user ever noticing the shortcomings as well like the performance issues from incorrect RAM placement.
Basically every complaint about the actual video were incorrect hardware placement (RAM in wrong slots), or just got lucky (saying he chose top slot for the GPU because of the SSD location), and bullshit like the chassis will short out if the PSU touches it, but the rea
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It's not like using long screws on the radiator could have potentially caused a slow leak causing a system short or anything.
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Yep indeed. Because there's two types of radiators, those that don't run water channels directly under the screw and those with strike plates. The potential for causing a leak is incredibly small. In fact the exception is an NZXT cooler which had its design changed after users reported the ability to cause a leak.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Was he recently in charge of getting the US out of a country with a name that rhymes with Afghanistan?
Hey, maybe he can go work in a troll booth?
Ahem...that's exactly what you did... (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh...then every link in the first paragraph is unnecessary and could've been sufficed to say, "Hey, remember when The Verge did that really bad computer build (maybe link here)? Linus Tech Tips gave the original author an opportunity to redeem himself.
But that wouldn't have had nearly the clickbait potential, would it.
Re: Ahem...that's exactly what you did... (Score:2)
who in their right mind goes to Linus tech tips? (Score:2)
So we go to Linus who claims his father is a plumber but didn't know to make the Coolant feed pipes larger than the pipe to each individual PC to allow for equal water flow to each when designing a room sized water cooling system? How they never figured out why that didn't work is beyond me.
Linus seems like one of the less clued in "experts" out there
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Large parts of Linus's entire career is based on living the Peter Principle and videotaping himself while he does it.
He has some wacky idea that he's clear probably won't work, he moves heaven and earth to try it, and turns the entire thing into a Youtube video. He never claims to actually know what he's doing, he just tries, and hires somebody else to fix it when he fails miserably.
But in terms of building a PC in an industry standard case he's great. He's done it hundreds of times.
As bad as the video was, The Verge made it worse (Score:5, Informative)
40+ errors in the original video (Score:4, Informative)
It wasn't that the original video was bad, it was utter garbage. It had over 40 errors [imgur.com]. They actually missed one of the screws [wp.com] on the CPU waterblock cooler. That's how incompetent [youtube.com] they were.
One question: Why did it takes 2+ years to fix the video???
Linus Tech Tips offered [twitter.com] to help the first time:
The Verge editors replied with this snarky [twitter.com] comment:
Obviously, the internet responded with:
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There is so much worthless and horrible wrong shit on Youtube, Instagram, whatever that I've grown to not be as offended by this travesty as I once was. When someone can get 20M views for a fake life hack on making chocolate popcorn that is 100% camera tricks and utter deception, it makes the Verge's PC build seem rather accurate. At least half the steps were not only actually done, but correct. A 50% grade is not the worst you can do it turns out, and if we're grading on a curve it might even be passing.
Re:40+ errors in the original video (Score:4)
One question: Why did it takes 2+ years to fix the video???
Because The Verge did not fix it. Etienne went on Linus Techtips himself. He is no longer with The Verge.
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And he couldn't have done that earlier??
Instead he was too busy blaming others [youtube.com] for his fuck up.
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It had over 40 errors [imgur.com]
To be fair, some of those "errors" are just the author being overly pedantic.
1.49 - I'm assuming he meant video streaming in the context of a Emby/Plex/Jellyfin server. You can use a friggen Raspberry Pi for this if you don't need transcoding, and anything with Intel QuickSync will work if you do need transcoding. To be fair, what a streaming server does need is lots of storage and you can skimp big time on the CPU and RAM.
2.20 - You're not going to confuse a video card with your RAM or vise versa. There
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The problem was that Stefan was a complete fucking idiot along with the Verge "editors".
* Who the hell uses a wireless anti-static wrist bracelet? What is the point of being grounded if you aren't even grounded ??
* Where in the build did they actually use the Allen wrench mentioned @0:32 ?
* Where in the build did he actually use the tweezers? Yes, zip/cable ties were actually called "tweezers" @0:34
* Where in the video did they mention they fixed the RAM or PSU installed wrong? Instead we get the excuse [twitter.com]
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Yep, lots of complaints that if the instructions were followed would result in users having a functional computer.
You think this is bad, try buying a computer from an SI. Most of those pre-built PCs that find their home into houses all over the world were built by someone who saw this video and said "hold my beer". And those PCs work just fine as well. Not idea, likely with performance shortcomings, but ultimately the initial outcry for this was widely overblown.
OMG HE CALLED IT TWEEZERS. Who the fuck cares
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Friend of mine went and bought a prebuilt gaming PC from Microcenter recently. He couldn't get it to display to a monitor regardless of the type of cable/connector he used with a variety of monitors. Took it back and lo' and behold the 3080 gfx card wasn't installed properly, wasn't seated all the way. They couldn't be sure that it hadn't borked the card without spending a lot more time testing the card, so they just handed him another. Before he left the store he asked to test it with one of their monitors
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> ultimately the initial outcry for this was widely overblown
If he just admitted he made mistakes no one would care. Instead his stupidity is immortalized as a meme.
> OMG HE CALLED IT TWEEZERS. Who the fuck cares.
Obviously you do or you wouldn't have mentioned it.
You are focusing on a single tree (incident) and missing the entire forest (of mistakes.)
If someone is making a "guide" and they can't even be bothered to use correct terminology on parts that they don't even use then why would we even trust
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If he just admitted he made mistakes no one would care. Instead his stupidity is immortalized as a meme.
Indeed. So focus your issues on the right area.
Obviously you do or you wouldn't have mentioned it.
You must be confused. You think I care about mocking the video? Let me clear this up for you. I'm mocking you since you're the one who mentioned it. Please try and follow a conversation.
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What's the Big Deal? (Score:2)
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Phillip DeFranco is a Youtube personality who has some presence in other media.
Vox/The Verge is a fairly sizable media conglomerate that has some presence on Youtube.
When they posted video that was a terrible guide to building a PC it got criticized quickly. The thing that made it legendary were the copyright takedowns afterwards.
The Verge of collapse. (Score:2)
oh great LTT (Score:1)
let me guess it will have a 850 watt power supply and 1 single stick of ram
Cancel culture (Score:4, Insightful)
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Tweezers (Score:1)
The dude identified zip ties as tweezers, there's no redeeming that.
Linus was just as bad (Score:1)
He goes "now we can use a single cable for this" doesnt explain why. Yeah perhaps this gpu didnt need more than 150 watts. But he didnt clarfiy. If you plug in a 3080 with the 1 cable with 2 end, you WILL potentially cause a fire.
"some builders are preferring to use 2 separate 8 pin cables". Uh no they arent preferring it like its a cosmetic choice. Why not say WHY and WHE