[The Verge] How we built a $2000 custom gaming PC (Horribly)

[RadioactiveLobster]

EDIT: Video has been pulled



EDIT #2: Highly recommend watching this video as he breaks down the problems in much greater detail



Original Post:

So I was clued into the this recent train wreck of misinformation by BitWit Kyle's (as Lyle) reaction to it. EDIT: Should mention that Lyle is a character (think Francis by BOOGIE2988) , Bitwit's regular videos are not like this.

I'm only linking the original so there is a source but honestly, don't give them the views. They don't deserve them. They've already disabled Comments and Likes/Dislikes on it.

There are a couple other tech YouTuber's who actually know what they are talking about giving their thoughts on this as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jciJ39djxC4​

There is so much wrong in the original The Verge video I am honestly surprised it ever got approved for release. We are talking about basic stuff here. Literally 10 minutes of research would have solved the majority of the basic problems in this video. He calls zip ties "tweezers" ffs. He recommends using a Swiss Army Knife that he hopes has a screwdriver in it. It's like a video that was made by The Onion. Don't even get me started on the anti static wrist band.

Imagine a new gamer just getting ready to build their first PC and they find this video and think it is a proper tutorial for how to build your first PC.

The fact it even booted is a miracle in of itself.

Any editor with any integrity would have scrapped this video before it went live but now that it's up, it should have been pulled down right away after it became clear just how bad the original video is. This is spreading misinformation and could realistically cause someone to damage their expensive hardware.

 

[D65]

I mean... The whole "they don't deserve views" thing is a bit...

That being said, was it MSI that made that hilariously bad video on repasting? That never fails at making me laugh.

 

[shadowhaxor]

OMG. I mean, if you're going to do that then don't freaking use a windowed case. That's just ugly as sin. The Verge of all places should know better. Also, holy shit. Thermal paste on top of paste already applied to the IHS was cringe-worthy.

 

[m29a]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

 

[signal]

Forwarding this to DSP

 

[Toad King]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

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If people follow the Verge's video, especially the part about applying thermal paste, they can damage their system. A tech website should not have this issue.

 

[Wamb0wneD]

If people follow the Verge's video, especially the part about applying thermal paste, they can damage their system. A tech website should not have this issue.

Click to shrink...

The fan pointing inwards is also hilarious lol.

 

[oneils]

That bitwit video is...something else.

 

[SteveWinwood]

that's... A lot of thermal paste

 

[JusDoIt]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

Basically. This attitude makes the PC gaming scene even more unwelcoming than the gaming scene in general.

 

[shadowhaxor]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

And you've completely missed the point, especially if you game on the PC. If I was someone who was building a PC for the first time and followed their recommendations, I would have hosed my PC. Thermal paste on top of the IHS with the original thermal tape already on the heatsink? What's that going to do? I 'll tell you, cause your shit to overheat. He also placed the GPU right smack against the ram, which can cause issues. Telling people that placing their PSU into a case without isolation grommets are going to cause your PSU to short circuit. What?

Yeah, you've missed the point completely. Bad advice and a bad how to build a PC from a website/organization that is known for its tech know-how and is built around tech enthusiasts, that video is a bad look. So, telling people how to do something that is completely wrong is ok?

Being elitist is going around saying or acting like I'm better than you and this is why. Pointing out mistakes that were made by someone how should have at least know the basics of computer building isn't elitist. He didn't go call him an idiot or tell him to die in a fire. He pointed out huge issues and last I checked, calling out a problem isn't considered elitist.

 

[capnjazz]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. I built my PC at 2AM on a bunch of xanax while watching random YouTube videos, that was in 2016 and my PC is still going strong. I'm also primarily a PC gamer and the elitism in the community is annoying to say the least.

 

[Ragnorok64]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

Elitist? How?

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

He advised to use the long radiator screws that are designed for use when mounting 25mm fans to the radiator to secure it to the case (without the fans I might add) and said they were designed to go all the way through, which is blatantly false. He damaged radiator fins at minimum and at worse poked holes into the channels in the radiator that could cause fluid to leak out and damage components.

 

[GLHFGodbless]

Yeah, yeesh, the thermal paste was bad, and so was the fan, and the "tweezer" bit....well, I wanna say this video really isn't as bad as the OP and those other dudes are making it out to be....but this is The Verge for Christ sakes....that was some really shoddy PC building.

 

[Deleted member 25108]

The guy looks like a intern that was in way over his head.

But if this the general level of technical expertise at the Verge, no wonder they shill for Apple so much.

 

[Drain You]

Holy shit. I was gonna wait till I finished to comment but that thermal paste.

 

[timmbp]

We should start a GoFundMe to buy the Verge a screwdriver.

 

[signal]

Kind of interesting to watch since I've never build a PC. Didn't know some things (like the ram slots) were that particular.

This guy is overusing "cringey" though. Who is cringing at incorrectly placed RAM lol.

 

[Sexy Fish]

Holy fuck what a disaster. If anyone followed this I'd feel real bad.

 

[spam musubi]

Sure, there's elitism in the PC community for sure, but a major tech journalism site shouldn't be giving explicitly bad advice in a video. At least when someone like Giant Bomb make a "let's build a PC" video they acknowledge that they don't know much and they turn that into comedy instead.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

While I'm bothered by The Verge videos, that response was unnecessarily mean.

 

[Spectone]

Insulating pads so your PSU doesn't short circuit? WTF?

 

[No Depth]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

The build video has the RAM placed in the improper slots and the power supply facing the wrong direction. Not to mention the thermal paste issue.

Is it not irresponsible to be more accurate when potential audiences may be trusting such instructions on $$$ equipment? The Verge should know better.

 

[funky]

Verge need to contact the experts at Giant Bomb NYC

(This gif is like watching teeth being pulled to me)


Oh god. I just got to the thermal paste part. Oh god. Oh god the cable management.

 

[Deleted member 11093]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

Basically. This attitude makes the PC gaming scene even more unwelcoming than the gaming scene in general.

Click to shrink...

I mean OP is trying to give people like you guys a heads up that you shouldn't watch this PC building video because it's filled with so much errors.. and your reaction to this... is that he's being elitist? lol.

 

[signal]

Pretty ghastly honestly.

 

[Ja-]

That bitwit video is...something else.

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Yeah, the reaction video is more unbearable than the video hes reacting to

 

[Sexy Fish]

And the Verge disabled comments and the like/dislike bar, so if you want to read comments and make sure the advice is good, you can't. Yikes.

 

[Ragnorok64]

Their video is especially absurd when you consider they attacked Tech Youtubers.

 

[capnjazz]

I mean OP is trying to give people like you guys a heads up that you shouldn't watch this PC building video because it's filled with so much errors.. and you reaction to this... is that he's being elitist? lol.

Click to shrink...

The guy in the video makes a lot of mistakes, for sure. It reminds me of the MSI tutorial with thermal paste, but the reaction comes off as elitist, at least to me. It reminds me of the "incompetent game journalism" thread we had a few days ago.

 

[Deleted member 3038]

Pretty ghastly honestly.

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I can't come up with anything other than "Yikes" for that finished build.

 

[Deleted member 25108]

Basically. This attitude makes the PC gaming scene even more unwelcoming than the gaming scene in general.

Click to shrink...

Nonsense. The guy is talking from a position of authority and building a PC badly. No different from a chef cooking a meal wrong or a gym bro giving out bad squat advice.

YouTube is already full of awful advice and when you have a somewhat respected outlet giving out such bad advice, it deserves to be called out.

The build for the most part wasn't that bad..For someone's first build. But to serve as a tutorial to anyone is not useful at all.

 

[SteveWinwood]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. I built my PC at 2AM on a bunch of xanax while watching random YouTube videos, that was in 2016 and my PC is still going strong. I'm also primarily a PC gamer and the elitism in the community is annoying to say the least.

Click to shrink...

well good thing you watched random youtube videos over this one then

you wouldn't have a computer anymore lol

 

[dimb]

Kind of interesting to watch since I've never build a PC. Didn't know some things (like the ram slots) were that particular.

This guy is overusing "cringey" though. Who is cringing at incorrectly placed RAM lol.

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There is not actually a universal method for where RAM should be slotted. Varies based on the motherboard and people should always refer to its manual when building their computer.

 

[TheTrain]

Verge need to contact the experts at Giant Bomb NYC

(This gif is like watching teeth being pulled to me)


Oh god. I just got to the thermal past part. Oh god.

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That really hurts :/

 

[Drain You]

The reaction video came off as trying to be informative not elitist. Atleast IMO. Glad there are plenty of good guides for this all over the web. I was 15 when I built my first computer and it really was just a couple hours of research before you start to become more confident with the idea of getting everything together.

 

[capnjazz]

well good thing you watched random youtube videos over this one then

you wouldn't have a computer anymore lol

Click to shrink...

I mean, if people actually did research before toying around with their expensive equipment, there wouldn't be an issue. I read a lot about building PCs and made sure I went in somewhat prepared. The YouTube videos I searched were mainly about where to plug in on the motherboard and cable management. The point is that I don't think people will watch this one video and go "Ok, yeah, this is all the information I need!" so I think a lot of the reactions are overblown.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

That bitwit video is...something else.

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Yeah, the reaction video is more unbearable than the video hes reacting to

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I should mention that this video is suppose to be like that. "Lyle" is a character, same as how Francis is a Boogie character.

 

[Deleted member 25108]

I will say this though. Some things just come with experience. It wasn't until my current (3rd) PC build that I realised my life would be alot easier if I built the system on the motherboard box first and tested it, before I installed it in the case. Alot of the issues I see with the actual build here can be chalked down to there not much finger room in the case to work properly.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

I mean OP is trying to give people like you guys a heads up that you shouldn't watch this PC building video because it's filled with so much errors.. and your reaction to this... is that he's being elitist? lol.

Click to shrink...

Reminds me of uninformed voters getting angry at people that are exposing corruption, because it seems like a mean thing to do.

Verge blocked comments, a lot of people will see it, and learn bad information.

 

[Deleted member 1067]

To be completely honest, this thread and that video comes off as incredibly elitist. This is the side of PC gaming/building that I don't like at all, speaking as someone who primarily games on the PC.

Click to shrink...

Get that bullshit outta here. The dude is working for a tech friendly oriented website with a pretty high level of activity and readership, and is putting out a video with building "advice" that will straight up damage your parts if followed. The Verge deserves to be reamed for this, should have pulled from YT instead of disabling ratings to mask how idiotic the video is, and is frankly an embarrassment to journalism that it even passed the editor's desk.

 

[Deleted member 30365]

Yikes.

 

[opticalmace]

Pretty ghastly honestly.

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jesus christ.

i watched the video... okay the paste job was hilariously bad but otherwise i expected worse tbh. I would do a lot of things differently but most of them aren't critical.

edit: they should really pull the video down before someone tries to reproduce their thermal paste application. :lol

edit2: just noticed he put the dimms beside each other... ~_~

if I keep going I'll be up to edit10, there are a lot of things I didn't notice him saying the first time I watched the video. Just saw the bit about the PSU short circuiting based on touching the case...????? I need to stop editing this. :P

 

[Toadofsky]

I should say that I'm surprised that The Verge would let a video like this be released, but then again, it wouldn't surprise me in the least for them to post a video like this solely to get attention for themselves. And that's probably the whole point of the video.

 

[Amiablepercy]

That bitwit video is...something else.

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Is that what his/their content is usually like? 9 minutes of bombs/thuds tells me Bitwit needs to hit those comedy books as much The Verge needs to learn more of the basics of system building. I can only imagine Bitwit's audience is mostly 10-14 year old boys and 32-45 year old white dudes who like their stereotypes 90s stand up comedy style. Thanks Lyle!

 

[LQX]

He has confidence and knows how to fake it like he knows what he is doing...I'll give him that. This was most likely his first time building a PC after reading how to do it as I doubt he watched any tutorials, and in the end it is working so I guess that is all that matters.

Also, that dudes face is going to end up a meme.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I should say that I'm surprised that The Verge would let a video like this be released, but then again, it wouldn't surprise me in the least for them to post a video like this solely to get attention for themselves. And that's probably the whole point of the video.

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Oh come now.

The Verge's video isn't that bad. If you've built a PC before you'll see a number of things that are wrong, but I doubt 90% of their primary audience will notice. It's slick and clean and well produced.

The Verge is for iPhones and smart homes and stuff. That's not to excuse putting out inadequately researched content, per se, but this wasn't some conspiracy for attention. They were out of their domain of expertise and they just did less groundwork than they should have.

 

[Ragnorok64]

I find it hilarious that they managed to, in earnest, put together a worse build and guide than the one JayzTwoCents intentionally did wrong to prove a point.

Is that what his/their content is usually like? 9 minutes of bombs/thuds tells me Bitwit needs to hit those comedy books as much The Verge needs to learn more of the basics of system building. I can only imagine Bitwit's audience is mostly 10-14 year old boys and 32-45 year old white dudes who like their stereotypes 90s stand up comedy style. Thanks Lyle!

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"Lyle" is an intentionally bad character that he uses from time to time. I tend to skip and Lyle vids.

 

[Deleted member 2840]

The guy in the video makes a lot of mistakes, for sure. It reminds me of the MSI tutorial with thermal paste, but the reaction comes off as elitist, at least to me. It reminds me of the "incompetent game journalism" thread we had a few days ago.

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An "incompetent game journalist" doesn't come nowhere near as close as the damages a video like The Verge did can do.

How the hell ERA's takeaway from this situation is "PC gaming is elitist" is making my mind unravel.