This was a difficult video to make. We ask that you listen to our concerns, commentary, and statements with an open mind. We would not have made this video if we didn't view it as important and necessary. Thank you. Update: Linus has posted a response. Here it is and here are our comments (you'll need to watch this first video before though to have the context): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jpmSrN1k2d7Uo6M.html

Steve and crew, I waited to watch this video until after finishing my creative for the day so I could go into it with a clear open mind. As someone who has made many many mistakes and honestly am working hard to limit them as much as possible have to say that I genuinely appreciated your attention to detail regarding examples and the insight not only from your perspective and expertise but the insight presented in various clips from LMG... but also your offering of advice on how to be a better reviewer overall. As someone who simply cannot provide the level of detail that you do it gives me something to constantly strive for. I sincerely hope that LMG doesnt take this as an attack but a real eye opener on a broader problem they may not be as evident from their end. As the Walmart Greeter to the tech world, Im glad you are managing the Service Department!

Linus' statement he is not willing to spend 500 dollars to not destroy someone's business is just disappointing.

LTT was my first tech tips channel and was my go to for several years. Unfortunately, even I began to notice errors and inconsistencies, some of which I pointed out in comments. I recently unsubscribed from LTT and it's sister channels as I no longer trust their reviews. Thank you and your crew for the hard work and dedication to honest unbiased reviews.

the asterisk key at LTT is the busiest member of their staff

This is informative, and unfortunate

Linus' attitude for the guys who made this prototype watercooling system is just outrageous.

I'll be honest, I don't know anything about tech, so half this stuff goes over my head. But I do have a degree in statistics. And their decision to retest the same things over and over again *and ignoring the past data* is absolutely insane. That's straight up just ASKING to make mistakes. It is a fundamental flaw in their *entire process* that'll basically doom them until they change it. It's no wonder they're always getting their numbers wrong. That's what happens when you test something too often and ignore *the vast majority of the data you've collected*. Someone needs to go in there and start slapping everyone in management.

I feel bad for Billet Labs especially... They should sue, then Linus might rethink that comment about not wanting to spend that $500 to properly test the product and then AUCTION IT OFF. GN always has my full respect for not being afraid of backlash or reprisal from any burnt bridges they make to reveal the truth to us all. Thank you for your constant great content.

Their treatment of billet labs is absolutely unbelievable. Not only does it disqualify them from being taken seriously as reviewers. But the fact that they would sell their prototype after agreeing to send it back after spitting in their face...... That's insane

As a big LTT fan, the fact that they auctioned off the prototype water block that Billet labs very much needed AFTER they promised to send it back is despicable TBH. Absolutely zero excuse for doing that.

I stopped watching LTT a long time ago based on what you've shown here and the personality deficits. The making of THIS video is long overdue! Thank You.

My heart goes out to Billet Lab. Each of these points individually would have been bad enough. Misrepresenting the product because they used it on a part which it wasn't designed for. The audacity for a company of this size to not correct their wrong test results because "it's too expensive". So many disrespectful comments to a startup and their product which is still in active development. Even if they came to the same conclusion after doing the test correctly these comments would be very mean and frankly unacceptable. They, in all their glory and with their years of "technical knowledge" should be capable of constructive feedback. Nothing wrong with saying that in it's for a niche or enthusiast market and clarifying that it's still in the prototype stage. And then having the glorious idea to auction a prototype of a product that's in active development, without a single word to the owners. It's baffling how anyone came up with this. Even if they didn't need it back, the idea to sell actively developed prototypes is criminal. I hope Billet Labs doesn't get impacted too much over this. If I were Linus and this happened. (Only about the sold prototype) I would take every possible action to get the prototype back as fast as possible and return it back to BL together with a huge apology, and probably a hefty compensation for the unacceptable actions of my company. Plus the offer if they would like to make a new video where someone of their team comes over and demonstrate the product as intendiert. If they would even still be interested with working with LMG. Very good video and super important to show all of this. Thanks Steve and thank you Gamers Nexus team!

The Billet Labs thing was vile. They didn't follow the instructions from BL, tested on a different card, and didn't contact BL before releasing the video. Then they publicly shamed BL for issues caused by LTT's own mistakes. And if that wasn't enough, they sold the prototype even though they agreed - twice - to return it. The whole "it was for charity" excuse makes it seem that they don't believe they can be held accountable for their actions.

This isn’t drama or an attack. This is peer review. It’s necessary and professional.

Steve thank you for having the courage to do this, i know it's not easy. Stay strong my brother! I have bought GN merch all the way to Indonesia to support what you do!

The irony of LTT naming specific channels and then going "some people in the creator space didn't handle it very well," is certainly something.

2M + views in 24 hours is big. Steve solo writing, hosting, and editing so no one else on the team could be under fire is also exactly the type of move you want to see from a leader.

"I'm not willing to spend money to correct mistakes" Mistakes cost money. You make a mistake, you should be willing to pay to correct it. If you can't afford it, do it right the first time. Some of these mistakes, I suspect, will eventually end in a lawsuit that they will try and crowd fund for.

Demonetized a video that got over 5.4 million views. I am impressed.

Very professional and informative video. Thank you for integrity and for taking the time to compile and present this in an objective way.

The fact they sold a small company's best prototype just breaks my heart

The stuff with Billet is actually so incredibly fucked up To have their prototype grossly misrepresented, slandered based on that misrepresentation and then to have their best prototype essentialy stolen and completely fucking up their R&D is honestly beyond words. LTT legitimately deserve to be sued for that

Love the little cut out it's perfect 26:47

My time in the pc building social media space has been greatly improved since dropping LTT entirely when I watched this video when it came out Thanks again

Insane that Linus admitted that a few hundred bucks kept them from doing a proper test

The Billet Labs story was devastating to hear especially as someone who knows first hand how giant companies stomp all over small startups trying to provide new innovative products. Linus’s casual dismissal of actually trying to properly test the product by saying “it’ll cost money” is the most asinine thing I ever heard.

4 months past, i didn't watch LTT since.

The irony of Linus admitting he would like more time to make quality content, and then actively denying someone that exact thing when requested.

This video is peer review at its best. No personal attack, only facts and the deep desire for everyone to be better - all for the consumer.

I ended up sinking money into a laptop they recommended and basically got a laptop that spends more time being broken and sent in under warranty to be fixed then actually used by me for anything other then trying to re-install applications before it breaks again.

"this video is not monetized" 9 months later, 6M views. steve: "fuck..."

The fact that they not only kept but auctioned the prototype that they bashed is actually horrific.

Selling the cooling block without consent and potentially giving it too their competitor all the while they sent it too you in the first place under good faith is such a deep cut. They just killed someone else's idea and potential lively hood because they couldn't be fucked giving a damn.

14:07 thank you for pointing this out. *im not the most technical guy out there, and this had me worried about my new 8gb video card because i didn't have "re-bar" or something

I would have liked to see Gamers Nexus try to recreate supposed downfalls of the items that were "unboxed" by LTT like the mouse or watercooler if possible.

The billet labs situation sounds like a massive lawsuit to me. A company loaning a proprietary prototype under assumption and assurance of getting said prototype back. And then finding out, after 2 separate promises to return it, that it has been sold off on auction to a potential competitor?? Might be multi million dollar lawsuit.

The billet labs chain of events was infuriating to watch. Can't believe they were that irresponsible with a startup's prototype.

I could listen to you for hours. It helps that I learn something every time, but you got a good voice for this.

It's amusing to me-I'm a 53-year-old who has been an avid KZfaq viewer since its early days. Despite being a small creator with minimal success (which isn't my main point), I find it curious that I've never encountered your videos on KZfaq. Videos from LTT always populate my homepage. While I'm subscribed to LTT, I haven't actively searched for their content. KZfaq simply suggests their videos, and I watch, like, and subscribe. Yet, why haven't they recommended your content? That's my first query. Moreover, after listening to your insights, I've realized that many creators are actually companies employing numerous moderators. Some of these moderators can be remarkably rude and unfair. I encountered a significant issue with a large creator/company where, if you comment something they disagree with, your comment gets deleted. That's fine, but they reported it as spam, prompting a severe warning from KZfaq. It felt disproportionate, as though I'd committed a serious offense. My comment wasn't against their content but simply expanded on a topic they mentioned. I'm still unsure what they disliked in my comment, yet it led to this unexpected reaction." Experiencing such events has made me fearful of commenting anywhere on KZfaq. It's disheartening that seven years of hard work as a small creator could be erased in an instant just because someone doesn't agree with something I've said. I've always maintained a respectful approach in my comments, simply adding information or pointing out something that might have been missed. Yet, I fear the repercussions. Thank you for this video; it echoes sentiments I've harbored for a long time regarding LTT. However, I feel powerless to voice my opinion against such a big creator, fearing KZfaq might silence me without allowing any defense. I genuinely appreciated your entire video and thank you for expressing what I've been feeling for so long.

Holy crap the situation with Billet labs is insane. Horrifying how terribly Billet labs were treated hope things have turned around for them.

The Billet Labs situation is simply inexcusable. Like I can let a lot of other stuff slide, but they not only screwed up the testing and refused to acknowledge it, they illegally sold the prototype. And acted like total pricks on top of that. WTF is the deal?

I've binge watched LTT from time to time over the years and have found this video rings true with what I've suspected for some time. I have been watching LTT for a couple days after not watching him for several years and I commented to my 22y/o nerd son that his channel has changed and that I found his old material much more trustworthy; I had this conversation with him before watching any video commentary such as this. I even told my son that Linus is a grown man with a slightly post pubescent maturity level; nothing personal, it's just what I see in him. I guess pushing 60y/o gives one an experiential perspective, haha. Bravo to you for speaking the truth.

You'd have to call this the video of the year.......no one has had a bigger impact on the tech community than this one video.......that helped raise the standard again.

The timing on this video is really interesting since Linus just talked about, on the LAN show, how content creators don't get held accountable for unethical behavior because their fan base enables them to live in their own little echo chamber.

No words can describe the anger and disapoinment I felt when hearing about Billet Labs' waterblock. I can't begin to imagine how those guys felt..

Appreciate the time and courage taken to make this video. Actually was not all that familiar with you guys prior to this, but you've earned a sub. Really disappointed in LTT for all this.

This video needs more views. The spread of inaccurate information needs to be addressed and stopped. Also the responses from LTT were disgusting

The Billet Labs bit was absolutely outrageous. How on earth can Linus defend selling someone else's prototype despite agreeing twice they'd return it?!

MY heart sank when I heard that they auctioned off the prototype of the cooling block. A small company can die with mishaps that they had no control over and communicated several times that the protype needed to be sent back.

after KZfaq suggested these guys for 2 videos it then suggested this video. Im thankful for you making this.

I used to love LTT but after watching correction after correction come up as a simple "*" on screen, I began to realise that they aren't doing retakes. If you are looking for data and reading one set of points while they are saying another set of numbers makes it difficult when you think they are being accurate and diligent. Also, him not doing the billet labs test correctly or even trying to get it right while doubling down just makes me want to order a block from billet labs to support them since I trust them more then I do LMG now. There are countless examples why as you yourself pointed out quite excellently.

I love how it’s always obvious when Luke realizes Linus is going off the rails.

Been watching LTT for about ten years. Went from learning to build my first PC from them to becoming a cpu design engineer at AMD. In the past year or so, I had felt like that content had started to go down hill, but couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. This video does a good job summing up information in the least inflammatory way.

I always enjoy watching your videos. I've been working on PC's since 8086 and 8088 cpu's were out (XT form factor for motherboards). I hope you guys have some sort of reconciliation down the road..

As not super tech person, I will never build my own pc. Some of nexus stuff goes over my head. So i sometimes watch other people. But nexus always summeries and trys to make it clear on what the average person should steer towards and trust the graphs that nexus puts up. Appreciate you guys, steering clear of ltt forever.

Damn as a small business owner the waterblock part hit hard . I can’t imagine them seeing that video. They must of been so damn happy to get LTT to make a video and then they see what they did and never talked to them … wow.

Mad Respect for being what they gamers actually need. A well spoken, highly attentive, and critically eyed consumer advocate.

I know I’m late to the party, but this was my first watch through of this video and wanted to add my long story. I got into PC building because of LTT and still really enjoy their material as an entertainment company. When I first heard of this controversy, it sounded like mostly KZfaq drama and I never watched this video and hadn’t watched this channel previously. As a biology researcher, I really appreciate your point about the data and testing inaccuracies. As a consumer, it is important to know the accurate data or components along with the real world application. I appreciate your informative take, even when it includes people that you have a personal relationship with. I still really enjoy LTT content and believe that there are many intelligent people working there and hope that this whole situation helps the company improve internal business practices. I won’t pretend to understand the business of a media group, but for me the key fact is that if you position yourself as a reviewer offering data driven reviews the data should be accurate and the test methods flushed out. I know the growing pains of a young lab and this conversation is important. Thank you for your willingness to have this difficult conversation. Subscribed.

I got to know about this "situation" only now, wasn't aware such unfortunate issues happening...

Its strange that they justify misinformation by saying "nobody should buy it anyway" like that's LTT's choice to make.

LTT can't spend hundreds to correct a video but Steve can make and release a video that's gonna get millions of views and not even monetize it in any way and get paid for his bold efforts. Truly exceptional.

It's like LTT/LMG have gone "The Verge" route...

Bro pulled out all the receipts im impressed and worried about how much i have to unlearn from all the ltt videos iv digested

As a huge LTT fan. This video was sorely needed and professionally brought attention to stuff i didnt even notice. Ive felt something has been off with ltt but paid no mind. Stellar video.

The most impactful thing from this video to me was the whole billet labs water block situation, it actually breaks my heart

This is way most considerate to feelings than I expected. Thank you for legitimizing what a lot of people have been recognizing. Great coverage folks

Great video. It is so crucial that bad practices are called out. Whenever I want to pick out hardware for my personal use, I always watch several channels on the topic. If the product is good, and the reviewers are genuine, they will arrive at a similar conclusion. Or in some cases, one reviewer may point out interesting facts that the others may have missed and thus, depending on the application, make the product unsuitable to use in specific scenarios or in a specific way. However, to do so takes time and personal (brain) effort of the viewer to actually think if what is said on youtube is valid and maybe look a bit closer at the data here and there. I think a problem with LTT-supporters is that they are among the kind of people not willing to put in that kind of effort. Clearly, this is no problem limited to LTT/LMG but can also occur for reviewing about any kind of topic. I get the feeling that a lot of people watching reviews or tech-advice channels, do not have the intent to form a own opinion but just want a "ready to use opinion" for them to adapt to. You can spot those people by becoming offended when valid criticism with proof is given, since they seem to feel personally attacked. I think you are doing an exceptional job in staying direct, friendly and honest in your criticism. I think this kind of work is extremely important for us viewers.

Thank you for the information. The days of LTT trying to put out quality information and videos are basically over. Sad days we live in. Hope your company never goes through this.

This is tragic for the guys at Billet Labs. Hopefully they can recover from all of this.

I dont care if I've been a linus fan for a long time, accountability is important. thank you for bringing this to light.

I am only 7 1/2 minutes into this video and I already want to leave a comment. Thank you so much for doing this. There are a lot of times that I will go to LMG and watch their videos and just take what they say as word. I knew that there had to be mistakes made because in some of their videos, they do make mistakes. However, some of those mistakes they do fix on camera while they’re doing what they’re doing. But even someone with as many channels as LMG has, mistakesare made and it’s good to see somebody paying attention. Good call, fellas. You have a new subscriber today.

They used to be decent but I noticed the quality dipping around the time they started with the reaction image thumbnails. If a channel has to resort to gimmicks, it tends to mean their content alone isn't quality enough to draw attention.

The odd thing about them raffling off the Billet Labs prototype is in the latest WAN show, Linus was complaining about someone giving out their prototype LMG backpack as he said it's a "misrepresentation of the product" and can damage their brand if someone who gets that prototype thinks it's the actual product. lmao

Drama aside, I think it's important that competing reviewers hold each other accountable for the sake of the consumer.

Thanks for the video! I have an idea for a computer build, let me know if this is the right place for posting such an idea. High performance "very-compact" build: Micro atx mainboard. On board ram, m.2 ssd and probably water cooled cpu. Kabinet should probably have water/coffee-proof top, have one side/end air out and other end air in. PSU will pull air out, not sure if cpu-water-cooler-fan will pull air in or out. Its an option to build without room for graphics card to improve compactness. Maybe the room for graphics card could be used for PSU, then if graphics card is added later, PSU could be moved outside the cabinet. Cabinet is consideres to be custom build, fx bend metal-plate. Any ideas or suggestions?

The biggest problem is they’re always trying to sell you a 70 dollar screwdriver

As a fan of LTT, this video was a real eye opener for me. Thank you for your effort in holding the industry and community accountable. The Billet Labs situation is heartbreaking, and I hope they will be able to obtain some legal help to combat this injustice. You’ve gained my respect and I’ll definitely be tuning into your content more often.

The way this video has blown up in just 24 hours tells me this is something the community felt / was aware of in varying degrees but couldn't quantify. You've laid it all out here. Thank you.

Sometimes when people (Companies) get to the top of the pile... In a specific industry, they assume they can change said parameters and won't be challenged because of their standing and skill in said space, were all human and we make mistakes, however when you are at the top, you are expected to perform like a top performer. So this should be a good measuring point for LMG to take a deep look at themselves. Step back and take stock of what the issues are and correct them. I am happy that this sort of oversight is being caught and they are called to task. So when GN called LMG out on this, LMG should not take this as a slight, but as a checksum to show that they do make mistakes and they should correct these and own up to it. Thanks for explaining this in detail. As a tester and enthusiast in the said space (Not even close to being a professional), I had questions about the huge gaps but LMG being the leaders they are I didn't question it. Now I will review all this data myself to confirm it myself no matter what the source is. (PS Still love you all guys, keep striving to do the best you can do). Well done calling this out @GamerNexus

It's quite simple, I view GN as the old school Discovery Channel and LTT as the current Discovery. There for entertainment, but the days of learning anything are long gone.

Linus Tech Tips made a massively erroneous video about antivirus vs anti-malware, claiming that anti-malware was something different you needed when in truth antivirus is simply an antiquated term that vendors use (even though every product is technically anti-malware these days). Not only that, they used this misinformation to promote a sponsored product under false pretenses, you needed this product because 'antivirus' wasn't enough. It was such B.S that I made a correction video and reached out to them to help correct the factual issues in that sponsored content, but they never responded and ignored our emails.

Imagine saying that a product is bad when you misuse it completely then selling it in an auction... insane.

The one with the water block was the worst. That is being copied somewhere now.

I am a tech I enjoy the fact that when I watch your videos on a motherboard or any part of a PC parts am getting the best data and testing to know the facts of that part. Like most people, I can't spend big money on parts, but I do want to know what is the best for my dollar and the downfalls of these parts. Too many like you said are pushing thur without caring about the errors and like these new cars and trucks were getting a lot of junk than great things we spend our money on to find out down the line it with make problems which we can't for see without someone like you doing the fact-checking and hard data on these parts. Keep up the good work and I hope the others will understand its more important to us the viewers.

We can't antagonize videogame companies for releasing unfinished products (which we are justified to do) while accepting LMG releasing unfinished and known erroneous tests. Creators like GN have shown you can be ethical and thorough, we must demand better.

I've noticed that over the last couple of years LTT seems to be moving further and further away from serious review and more and more toward being an entertainment channel. I get it. Entertainment is where the most money is but they're still purporting themselves to be a serious channel so it definitely has the potential to be problematic.

Been watching LTT for years and while I’ve noticed several small inaccuracies, I had no idea there were this many, nor so many grossly exaggerated ones. And the cooling block was just sad. 🤨

Sólo puedo decir que Steve es un ejemplo a seguir. Si esta actitud, detalle en la crítica, buena y positiva argumentación fuera mucho más habitual por parte de todo el mundo que se expone públicamente, evolucionaríamos mucho más rápido y de forma mucho más sana. La crítica bien hecha es la mejor gasolina para superarte. I can only say that Steve is an example to follow. If this attitude, detail in criticism, good and positive argumentation were much more common on the part of everyone who exposes themselves publicly, we would evolve much faster and in a much healthier way. Criticism done well is the best fuel for self-improvement.

Even ignoring bad data, their way of "Just push out the video" drives me nuts. Projects that would have been that much cooler by taking the extra time seem to end in "oh well, could have worked if we just bought the right part." (For example, the latest pool heating video)

The way Linus handled Billet Labs prototype is beyond fucked up.

I've noticed a lot of this sort of thing in LTT's videos most recently. I'm disappointed and have searching for other venues that try wild things with tech...still looking. Do you have any suggestions?

the fact that billet lab did not sue ltt should let them know that they got off lucky

Shocked about the story of that water block startup. His stubborness on the flawed review aside, auctioning off a prototype product without permission, potentially leaking it to the competitors, is stright-up legally actionable.

Let's face it: The waterblock thing borders on criminal. How can they just not give it back and probably sell valuable R&D like in a garage sale?

You've definitely gained a new hardcore viewer/fan from this video.

I've been watching your channel for over a decade. This is the video that made me a subscriber. I love your take on everything! You are the reason I got into PCs and I cannot thank you enough.

If a single video could be transcribed into 1 word. This would be "oof" Excellent video GN

When Linus addresses this on WAN show, he better have already taken steps to rectify the situation with Billet Labs. That was beyond egregious, especially auctioning off the prototype.

Gotta be the most legendary video on yt at this point