YouTuber Linus Tech Tips defends ‘unprofessional’ review of tech startup’s product

Famed YouTube tech channel Linus Tech Tips and its creator Linus Sebastian are in for a massive controversy following their Billet Labs review. Things got even more serious after fellow YouTubers Gamers Nexus accused them of poor ethical practices in their videos.

Linus Tech Tips is one of the most famous technology channels on YouTube. The channel has a huge subscriber base of 15.6 million. The enormous success also led to the creation of the entertainment company Linus Media Group by the creator Linus Sebastian. The YouTube channel has built a huge following over the years. However, Linus Tech Tips (LTT) recently ran into trouble for reviewing Billet Labs’ 3090ti block. The controversy peaked after fellow YouTuber Gamers Nexus released a controversial video. The title of the video was “The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics & Responsibility”. One of the issues Gamers Nexus raised was LTT’s handling of the Billet Labs monoblock review.

Linus Tech Tips gives Billet Labs a bad rating

Billet Labs, a fledgling computer hardware company, sent Linus Tech Tips a 3090ti monoblock for testing. Linus Tech Tips (LTT) has submitted a review with Billet Lab’s water block is said to cool both the CPU and GPU in June 2023.

Linus Sebastian gave his product a rating that many found very harsh. A fan too gained weight Twitter calls it “unprofessional”. The LTT creator tried to make it work on a 4090 graphics card. One of the company owners even called LTT’s review a “misrepresentation” of its product. The co-owner stated that the product was intended for the 3090ti, which he had apparently already passed on to the LTT crew.

Eventually, after the prototype failed to work properly on the 4090 iteration, Sebastian concluded that it was a “bad product”. “It’s a cool product, but it’s a bad product,” he said.

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He went on to say that it’s bad because “it makes absolutely no sense and no one should buy it.”

Not only was the Billet Labs product “misrepresented” by LTT, but it was also auctioned off at a trade show. The cooler was given away despite Billet asking LTT to return the cooler. Naturally, this set off a massive hailstorm in the tech community.

Billet Labs creator responds to LTT’s ‘misrepresentation’ of his product

One of Billet Labs’ founders, Felix Lure, commented on the tech channel’s video, saying, “We love LTT, but it was difficult to heed their criticism as pretty much every design issue Linus addressed was solved for a reason was explained to Adam (a crew member) weeks ago.”

Felix went on to say that they told LTT that the cooler “might” fit a 4090 version, “but we didn’t have a 4090 at the time and they were welcome to try it.” He goes on to say that the company later confirmed to them that it “does not match the 4090 graphics card”.

He went on to explain that they also sent a full instruction manual “which appears not to have been used”. The founder also said, “We felt that we had a chance to answer and explain any issues raised before they were publicly misrepresented.”

Linus Tech Tips responds to the Billet Labs controversy

LTT’s Sebastian visited their forum and commented on the Billet Labs controversy. Sebastian made it clear to fans and informed fans that LTT was not “selling” the monoblock as many had assumed. He stated that they auctioned it off for a charity.

Sebastian noted that the monoblock was not returned to Billet Labs “due to a miscommunication.” He further announced that they had agreed to reimburse the company for their prototype.

The YouTube creator also contradicted claims that there was an “accuracy issue” in his review of Billet Labs coolers.

Sebastian clarified his opinion, stating, “I wanted to evaluate it as a product, and IF as a product it could compete with the temperatures of the highest end blocks on the planet, it still wouldn’t make sense to buy it…” From my point of view, has so it didn’t affect the conclusion to test it again and find that it actually ran cooler, so it didn’t really make a difference.” He also clarified that LTT’s intention was never to “take Billet Labs damage”.

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YouTuber Linus Tech Tips defends ‘unprofessional’ review of tech startup’s product first appeared on HITC.