The All AliExpress PC

Linus Tech TipsPC buildAliExpressDIY PCcomputer hardwareunboxingtech reviewbudget buildgaming PCPC building challengeacrylic case

Linus from Linus Tech Tips attempts to build a powerful gaming PC using only parts sourced from AliExpress. He unboxes a variety of components, including a DIY acrylic case, a suspiciously cheap Ryzen CPU, and a questionable 1000W power supply. Throughout the build, he and his colleague Alex encounter numerous challenges, from parts not fitting together correctly to the final build being unstable and continuously rebooting, likely due to a faulty power supply. The video serves as a humorous and cautionary tale about the risks and quirks of buying budget PC hardware from the online marketplace.

Transcription

One of our favorite pastimes here at Linus Tech Tips is buying weird technology off AliExpress, waiting the requisite four to 12 weeks for it to arrive, and opening it up for all of you because, I mean, let's be honest, it's an adventure every time. Which raises the question, Linus, how is it even possible that you guys haven't thought to build an entire computer with nothing but parts off AliExpress? Well, we did, and we're doing it. What the hell is this? And why is it brought to you by GlassWire? With GlassWire, you can keep track of the weird stuff that's connecting to your PC even when you're not using it, and you can see if a strange device joins your Wi-Fi and block it instantly. Get 25% off today using code LINUS at the link in the video description. The ground rules for our little experiment today were pretty simple. Build a pretty powerful gaming rig without spending so much money that you could have bought it somewhere other than AliExpress. We went for the best bang for the buck components that we could find, and in cases where there was a tie, we went with the more AliExpress option. We don't actually have all of the parts that we ordered back on June the 3rd because, as I alluded to before, shipping time was anywhere from around a week to four months to after five months, just canceling our order out of nowhere. But you don't wait to build your PC because your fans didn't arrive. So we just grabbed a handful of fans we had kicking around that looked kind of AliExpress-y, and we're going to get this going. We actually have to build our own case, which, of course, means that we get some very AliExpress instructions. Oh, they must have printed this with their, um, definitely legit version of Autodesk. Andy: That's education, like education like version. This is a virtual water cooling computer case. Good cooling function. Has a good DIY transform space. Fantastic. So it offers for $5 the option to customize it. Yeah. But they didn't customize it and just gave us our money back. But Sarah had already created the design and we own a laser cutter, so... Nerd. They included gloves. That's actually very important for an acrylic case because otherwise, it is going to look disgusting by the time you're done. I think there is about a 95% chance that I'm going to finish building the whole rest of the computer before you do that. Not because you suck, because that looks terrible. Over here, I'm going to begin with the motherboard. This is the Battle Axe B450M HD from Colorful. This puppy was 87.54 with shipping, which is not actually a great deal since MATX B450 boards can be had for like 80 bucks on Newegg, but uh it was the best we could do for a motherboard from AliExpress. We're actually off to a pretty good start in terms of fit and finish. Fits. Nice. It doesn't come out or anything. So far I have peeled off one of these. I think the longest part of this whole thing is going to be just removing the stupid protective tape. Our CPU is a really funny one. Now obviously, this is a B450 board, so we're going to be putting a regular old AMD CPU in it. That doesn't sound particularly AliExpress until you consider that this Ryzen 7 2700 is $10 cheaper than according to PC part picker, that has ever been sold for. The seller offers a lifetime warranty and from the listing, it seems like it might be refurbished or not. We don't know. You know what? No, this looks brand new. Oh. Like it doesn't come with a cooler. That's probably that $10 price delta. Oh. Now RAM, I am expecting to be able to find some very, very Chinese RAM. This comes with a little tiny broom. Curiously, the broom is probably the most Chinese thing about this memory because it's clearly using Micron chips, which to my knowledge are not manufactured in China. So only the module assembly is probably done there. Superior quality, lifetime warranty, factory wholesale, professional service. What is 163.com? Andy: A website you can go on there and look at news and they also have like their email service. So this is just like a free email? Oh yeah, I'm sure that lifetime warranty is going to work out great for you. Tanbash. Wow, it's actually rated at 3200 MHz CL16. That's not bad. But then 16 gigs of RAM for about $60 and change is about par for the course off sites like Newegg, so the lesson here is don't buy RAM off AliExpress. Not because this isn't going to work, it'll probably work. It's Micron chips, but just cuz why? So far the instructions are actually not too bad. So I feel like this is going to go relatively smoothly. The biggest thing is if you're not experienced putting stuff like this together, it would be really easy to like over-tighten one of these screws and just blow up all the acrylic. So, just be careful with that and it should be fine. Is this just completely not the same thing you ordered at all? I'm so confused. Did you order two coolers? I'm going to go see if we have the actual cooler. Okay, bye-bye. Hey, we got the snowman. This puppy will run you just under $40 with shipping, and that's if you select the with deer option. But I'm not actually sure... oh, it's a it's a picture with a picture of a deer. Sure. That's better. This is weird. So each of these fans actually has five conductors, and then two of them are just terminated with heat shrink and just hanging off over here, and the other four are hardwired into a single four-pin power connector. So you don't need a Y adapter or anything like that to mount it, which is pretty cool. But I also just, I wonder what that wire was for. This says right on the package, AMD and Intel, but this is clearly an AMD-only mount right here, and I don't see any other accessories. The good thing we went AMD for our system. How little would you have to pay yourself to justify assembling your own case versus just paying the little bit extra and getting one that's already built? I don't know. Like for something like this, I'd prefer to build it myself because then I know that like it's all built correctly. I'd say it mostly just depends on if like you think this looks cool for some reason. What is a bit interesting is that all of these, they kind of slide into like the 80/20 rails that we have here, and then they like have little notches that hold it together, except for the bottom one, which instead of sliding in, just lays on the bottom. Oh, I understand why. It's so that there's additional intake room on the bottom. It's a foot. Oh, yeah. I see. That's not a great approach, but They also could have just had this come down further. They definitely could have. The last piece we can assemble before Alex is done with the case is the SSD. At 60 bucks, this can be anywhere from a great deal all the way to a total rip-off, and we have no way of knowing because the website for Goldenfir's 512-gig NVMe SSD says, ahem, the PCB color, flash chips type, flash chip number, may different depend on each batch. One thing I really do want to know is if this is a DRAM-less design, so that's why I'm peeling the sticker off here. And it is. So, it's not great. Dang it, I think I lost the bet. I lost the game. I'm going to do it tool-less style. What does this go in? Hey, so I won then. Nice. Man, I love working here. Not from the work, the work is, it's work. But I love you guys. All right, let's uh... Let's go ahead and put this IO shield in. Does it only stick in from the one side? It definitely doesn't grab as well as it did on the other side, but it's in. Uh... Oh... Yay! Fortunately, we've got that uh... that other cooler, the Alseye that we thought was for this build, but actually we don't know what it's for. We can use this. Yay! That worked out. Also RGB. Okay. No, I'm good, Alex. No zip ties required. It's beautiful. Hey, there it is. This motherboard has two fan headers, including the CPU header, but it does have an RGB header on board. Oh, sick. This lack of fan headers has unexpected consequences. So I had to string together one Molex to four-pin and then two Y-splitters in order to get the four fan connectors that I need to plug in all the rest of my fans here. The best part is that we're not really saving any money. The only thing I know for sure is that the power supply is either going to make this less stable or more stable. Now, we're not sure yet if this is 800 watts or 1,000 watts. We do know that it is non-modular, and we are expecting it to have all of the cables and connectors we need, and, wow, be incredibly classy. This don't hate the game, hate the game player. You ready for the weight comparison? 1,200 grams. All right. Um, 1,900 grams. Also, the cables are supported by the table. Also, that's an 850. Also, it's an 850-watt power supply. Dare me to plug this into an RTX 3090? No! Theoretically, it'll run it. Actually, it won't. So much for my theory about it helping with the structural rigidity at all. This I'm expecting to actually be fine. Once again, Colorful is the only real like decent brand over in China that I can think of that we don't also have access to either in Europe or North America. So this was the most AliExpress thing we could find. As for why we went 2000 series instead of 3000 series, well, like I said, we waited a long time for these parts, and the 2000 series was relevant when we ordered this. In fairness, I don't think I can get the card out without tearing apart the case, but truthfully, that's not saying much. Oh. After some scrubbing, it looks like the laser did go through. Hey, there. How's that? Can you see it? Can you see the shirt? lttstore.com. Got him. Alex? Yeah? You done goofed. It's keyed. It only goes on one way. The last thing I want to see before we try out the whole AliExpress gaming experience. Yeah, there's peripherals too, guys. Is if adding this other side panel helps the rigidity a little bit. Theoretically, it should. This is now a box instead of a whatever we had before. It's better. It's a lot better. Hey, you know, it's not even coming apart at all. Yeah, that's a case, right? Yeah. Remember my theory about the air intake under the power supply there, huh? All we got is this little sliver right here. The rest of it, the acrylic goes all the way down to the table. Oh, these are these are liar RGB fans. Like you were talking about. LED light and mouse pad. Oh my god. Look at this graphic. What even is this? Did you know this had like a giant like undead dragon thing on it? Oh yeah. Thick and smooth, waterproof and comfortable. I think that about describes it. I've got a keyboard with uh, G-shan blue clicky switches. But when you press it, it does definitely have the kakaka sound. Yes. That's not a bad onomatopoeia for it. You know, this is far from the worst like cheap AliExpress gaming mouse that I've encountered. A PMW3360 sensor. Yeah. Compatible with all kinds of motherboard, Windows XP, 7, 8, 10 operating system. Dang. This is $27. It actually feels like pretty good. Rubber grip, like, huh. This is a little less confidence-inspiring. But hey, at least it's got a braided cable. This is the most hardcore braided cable that I have ever encountered. AliExpress gaming time. We ready, boys and girls? Give it the old reach around here. Whoop, is that plugged into the wall? Did you hit the power button? Oh, hey, there we go. Oh no. I don't think it plugs in all the way, Alex, because of a clearance issue with the acrylic. It's like almost, it almost goes in. Wait, I think the mic is... wait, what just happened? Computer reset. We are we are rebooting, sir. Okay, forget it. We're just we're just not going to have audio. All right, well, one thing down already. Oh, is it just giving audio to the monitors? No, I checked. Yeah, it is supposed to be RGB. What's going on? Oh, hey, there it is. Oh, wow, that's really not very bright. Um, I mean, in the dark, we'd be able to see it. You'll have to come get a close-up of that. I doubt you'll be able to see it otherwise. Wait, did this just reboot again? What the crap? I don't think it was from plugging in the front panel audio. I just rebooted again. I'm back on the sign-in screen. You think it's the power supply? I think there's a very solid chance it's the power supply. Yes. Yeah, it makes sense as soon as we'd start to pull from the GPU, this thing probably just can't keep up. I mean, do we have hardware info? Can we... And that, my friends, is why you don't buy your power supply on AliExpress.com. In fact, there's really no good reason to buy any of this stuff on AliExpress, is there? I mean, if you absolutely had to have this case, I guess it is unlike other cases on the market, and so that would be the place to get it. But everything else here is available for the same price and or less on reputable sites like Newegg, Amazon, or Micro Center, and you don't run the risk of waiting, you know, four months or even never for your product to arrive. So, there you have it. AliExpress. It's a thing. And that's about the strongest endorsement that I can give to it. Unlike our sponsor, FreshBooks is the all-in-one business invoicing and accounting solution that is built for owners. It's designed to be simple and intuitive so you can spend less time on paperwork and more time running your business. With FreshBooks, you can automate tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time, and following up with clients. And you can accept credit card and ACH payments right on the invoices to get paid up to two times faster. The best part is that everything is stored in the cloud so you can switch from the PC to your mobile device with ease and pick up exactly where you left off. Pricing starts at just $15 a month with their $25 a month package handling up to 50 billable clients. So don't wait, get 50% off your first three months of FreshBooks when you sign up for a paid plan at freshbooks.com/techtips. It's amazing the kind of stuff you have to clarify. You can only get 50% off on a paid plan. If you guys enjoyed this video, you might also enjoy our allwish.com PC, which last time I checked is actually our top-viewed video of all time. So, you know, what was our agenda for doing an all AliExpress PC? Gee, I wonder. I've been accused of making videos for views before, you know. Wow. Let you in on a secret. You don't make videos to not get watched. Was it full Taobao PC? Was it full Taobao PC? Bring this hand up to cover myself and I whack the bottom of the table. Oh, so great. Really hard. No, it's okay. Ow. Like I dented my hand. Oh man. All right.

Visual Timeline

0:00
medium shot eye-level Enthusiastic and humorous.

A man stands behind a white workbench in a workshop, smiling and talking to the camera.

"One of our favorite pastimes here at Linus Tech Tips is buying weird technology off AliExpress, waiting the requisite four to 12 weeks for it to arrive,"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright, even studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing behind a workbench., wearing Black t-shirt with a geometric design and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking directly at the camera.

Colors:white, black, grey, red, blue
0:10
medium shot eye-level Excited and adventurous.

The man turns to his right, picks up a large cardboard box, and places it on the workbench in front of him.

"and opening it up for all of you because, I mean, let's be honest, it's an adventure every time."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing, leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking at the box.

cardboard box (brown)
Colors:white, brown, black, red, blue
0:22
medium shot eye-level Playful and dramatic.

The man ducks down behind the workbench, then reappears carrying a large blue plastic bin full of smaller boxes.

"to build an entire computer with nothing but parts off AliExpress? Well, we did,"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing up from behind the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling excitedly, looking at the camera.

plastic bin (blue)cardboard box (brown)
Colors:white, blue, black, brown, red
0:28
medium shot eye-level Chaotic and exciting.

The man dramatically dumps the contents of the blue bin onto the workbench, creating a large pile of computer component boxes.

"and we're doing it."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking down at the pile of boxes.

computer part boxes (various)plastic bin (blue)
Colors:black, white, green, blue, brown
0:37
full screen graphic straight-on Informational and promotional.

A sponsor screen for GlassWire appears, showing the software's user interface.

Setting: Digital graphic — Digital, bright.

Text: "GlassWire", "Reveal bandwidth wasters and malware!"

Colors:light blue, white, yellow, pink, dark blue
0:50
full screen animation various Energetic and high-tech.

The Linus Tech Tips intro animation plays, featuring fast-paced graphics of computer components and logos.

Setting: Animated graphic — Animated, dynamic.

Text: "LINUS TECH TIPS"

Colors:white, orange, black, red, magenta
0:59
medium shot eye-level Informative and engaging.

Linus stands behind the workbench, which is now covered in boxes of computer parts, and gestures towards them while talking.

"The ground rules for our little experiment today were pretty simple. Build a pretty powerful gaming rig"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing behind the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Talking, expressive.

Colorful GPU box (black and red)Gamenote box (black)cardboard box (brown)
Colors:white, black, red, brown, grey
1:51
close-up, panning shot slightly high Anticipatory, showing off the haul.

A close-up shot pans across the various boxes and packages of computer components laid out on the white workbench.

"We went for the best bang for the buck components that we could find,"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright, even lighting.

Battle-AX motherboard box (grey/black)Alseye CPU cooler box (blue/black)Colorful GPU box (black)
Colors:black, white, blue, red, yellow
2:00
medium shot eye-level Explanatory and slightly frustrated.

Linus stands behind the table of parts, explaining the situation with shipping times, using hand gestures for emphasis.

"We don't actually have all of the parts that we ordered back on June the 3rd because, as I alluded to before, shipping time was anywhere from around a week to"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing, leaning slightly on the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Serious, explaining a problem.

computer part boxes (various)
Colors:white, black, brown, red, grey
2:17
medium close-up eye-level Improvisational and humorous.

Linus holds up three different, somewhat old-looking computer fans with blue translucent plastic.

"we just grabbed a handful of fans we had kicking around that looked kind of AliExpress-y,"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing behind the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Slightly smiling, looking at the fans.

computer fans (translucent blue)
Colors:blue, black, white, red, grey
2:23
medium shot eye-level Amused and curious.

Linus opens a large flat cardboard box and pulls out a sheet of paper with instructions, looking at it with amusement.

"We actually have to build our own case, which, of course, means that we get some very AliExpress instructions."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the open box., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, reading the instructions.

cardboard box (brown)instruction sheet (white)
Colors:brown, white, black, red, grey
2:30
extreme close-up high angle Humorous, highlighting the poor quality.

A close-up shot of the instruction sheet shows poorly translated English and Chinese characters, with 'Autodesk' visible at the top.

"Oh, they must have printed this with their, um, definitely legit version of Autodesk."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright.

instruction sheet (white)

Text: "Autodesk"

Colors:white, black, grey
2:38
close-up eye-level Sarcastic and funny.

Linus reads from the poorly translated instruction sheet with a comically serious expression, then gives a thumbs up to the camera.

"This is a virtual water cooling computer case. Good cooling function. Has a good DIY transform space."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Reading with a straight face, then smiles and gives a thumbs up.

instruction sheet (white)
Colors:white, black, red, brown, skin tone
3:26
medium shot eye-level Collaborative and conversational.

A second person (Alex) wearing a face mask joins Linus. They are unboxing the acrylic case parts, which are covered in brown protective paper.

"So it offers for $5 the option to customize it. Yeah. But they didn't customize it and just gave us our money back."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (2):

• Standing on the right., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking at the parts, talking to Alex.

• Standing on the left., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Blond/light brown. hair — Partially obscured by mask, looking at the parts.

acrylic case parts (brown)
Colors:brown, white, black, blue, red
3:42
close-up straight-on Humorous, meme-like.

A close-up on one of the acrylic panels reveals a custom laser engraving of Linus's face and a meme phrase.

"I showed you my AliExpress case, pls respond"

Setting: Tech workshop — Even, bright.

acrylic panel (tan)

Text: "I showed you my AliExpress case, pls respond"

Colors:tan, brown, black
3:52
medium shot with depth eye-level Teasing and competitive.

Linus watches Alex, who is now at a separate workbench in the background, starting to peel the protective paper off the acrylic case parts.

"I think there is about a 95% chance that I'm going to finish building the whole rest of the computer before you do that."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (2):

• Standing in the foreground., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smirking, looking towards Alex.

• Standing at a workbench in the background., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Blond/light brown. hair — Focused on the task.

computer part boxes (various)
Colors:white, black, blue, red, grey
4:05
close-up eye-level Informative.

Linus holds up a black computer motherboard, showing it to the camera.

"This is the Battle Axe B450M HD from Colorful."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Holding up an object., wearing Black t-shirt — Only hands and torso are visible.

motherboard (black)
Colors:black, grey, silver, white
4:14
extreme close-up straight-on Detailed and technical.

A close-up shot of the back I/O ports of the motherboard, showing various connectors like USB, HDMI, and audio jacks.

"since MATX B450 boards can be had for like 80 bucks on Newegg, but uh it was the best we could do for a motherboard from AliExpress."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright lighting.

motherboard (black)
Colors:black, silver, blue, green, pink
5:02
medium close-up eye-level Surprised and pleased.

Linus holds up a partially assembled piece of the acrylic case, showing how a front panel with buttons fits into the frame.

"We're actually off to a pretty good start in terms of fit and finish. Fits."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking at the case part with a satisfied expression.

PC case panel (brown paper-covered acrylic)
Colors:brown, black, white, red
5:10
medium shot eye-level Tedious and slightly frustrated.

Alex, at his workbench, painstakingly peels the brown protective paper off a large, clear acrylic panel.

"So far I have peeled off one of these. I think the longest part of this whole thing is going to be just removing the stupid protective tape."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing, leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Blond/light brown. hair — Looking down, focused on peeling the paper.

acrylic panel (clear/brown)
Colors:brown, black, white, wood tones
5:25
close-up eye-level Intrigued and suspicious.

Linus unboxes a small package containing an AMD Ryzen CPU, holding up the small black box with the CPU visible.

"That doesn't sound particularly AliExpress until you consider that this Ryzen 7 2700 is $10 cheaper than according to PC part picker, that has ever been sold for."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking at the CPU box, talking to the camera.

CPU box (black)
Colors:black, white, silver, red
5:51
close-up high angle, slightly to the side Focused and technical.

Linus carefully places the AMD Ryzen CPU into the socket on the motherboard.

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright, direct lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the motherboard., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Not visible. hair — Not visible.

AMD Ryzen 7 2700 CPU (silver)motherboard (black)
Colors:black, silver, grey, skin tone
5:54
full screen graphic straight-on Informational.

A purple graphic overlay appears, showing the running total price of the PC build. The RAM price is added.

"Now RAM, I am expecting to be able to find some very, very Chinese RAM."

Setting: Digital graphic — Digital glow.

Text: "AliExpress.com Computer", "TOTAL PRICE", "346.44"

Colors:purple, white, pink, blue
6:41
close-up eye-level Baffled and humorous.

Linus holds up a tiny white plastic brush that came with the RAM, looking at it with a confused and amused expression.

"This comes with a little tiny broom."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting or standing., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Eyebrows raised, looking at the brush.

tiny brush (white)
Colors:black, white, skin tone, brown
7:01
medium close-up eye-level Curious.

Linus is on his phone, looking up the website printed on the RAM packaging, while Alex explains what it is from off-screen.

"Andy: A website you can go on there and look at news and they also have like their email service."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning on the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Concentrating, looking down at his phone.

smartphone (black)
Colors:black, white, skin tone, pink
7:24
close-up high angle Pragmatic and instructional.

Linus installs the two sticks of RAM into the motherboard slots.

"The lesson here is don't buy RAM off AliExpress. Not because this isn't going to work, it'll probably work."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright, direct lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Not visible. hair — Not visible.

RAM sticks (black)motherboard (black)
Colors:black, grey, skin tone, blue
8:15
medium shot eye-level Confused and surprised.

Linus holds a CPU cooler that is out of its box, while Alex holds the box, and they realize the product doesn't match the packaging.

"Is this just completely not the same thing you ordered at all? I'm so confused. Did you order two coolers?"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (2):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Confused expression, looking at Alex.

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt with graphic and not visible, Blond/light brown. hair — Confused, looking at the box.

CPU cooler (white and copper)CPU cooler box (blue and black)
Colors:white, black, blue, copper
8:43
medium close-up eye-level Relieved and triumphant.

Alex returns with the correct CPU cooler, the 'Snowman' model, which has two large white fans and copper heat pipes.

"Hey, we got the snowman."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking at the cooler.

Snowman CPU cooler (white and copper)
Colors:white, black, copper, grey
8:57
extreme close-up overhead, close-up Precise and technical.

Linus applies a line of thermal paste from a small syringe onto the surface of the installed CPU.

Setting: Tech workshop — Direct, bright.

People (1):

• Hand in frame., not visible hair — not visible

CPU (silver)thermal paste (white)
Colors:black, silver, white, grey
9:01
close-up eye-level Confused and analytical.

Linus examines the wiring on the Snowman CPU cooler, pointing out the strange 5-wire cable with two wires terminated in heat shrink.

"This is weird. So each of these fans actually has five conductors, and then two of them are just terminated with heat shrink and just hanging off over here,"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Frowning in concentration, looking at the wires.

Snowman CPU cooler (white and copper)
Colors:white, black, copper, skin tone
10:07
extreme close-up low angle Technical and illustrative.

A close-up shot shows the mounting mechanism on the bottom of the CPU cooler, which has clips designed only for AMD sockets.

"but this is clearly an AMD-only mount right here, and I don't see any other accessories."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright.

People (1):

• hands in frame, not visible hair — not visible

CPU cooler base (copper and silver)
Colors:copper, silver, white, black
10:22
medium shot eye-level Thoughtful and focused.

Alex, wearing a black t-shirt with a vinyl record graphic, continues assembling the clear acrylic PC case at his workbench.

"I don't know. Like for something like this, I'd prefer to build it myself because then I know that like it's all built correctly."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing, leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt with a circular orange and white graphic and jeans, Blond/light brown. hair — Looking down at his work, speaking to Linus.

acrylic PC case (clear)
Colors:black, white, wood tones, clear
10:42
close-up high angle Illustrative and slightly critical of the design.

A close-up of Alex's hands shows how the acrylic panels slot into aluminum extrusions, but the bottom panel just rests on top.

"except for the bottom one, which instead of sliding in, just lays on the bottom."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright lighting.

People (1):

• hands in frame, wearing Black t-shirt, not visible hair — not visible

acrylic PC case panels (clear)aluminum extrusions (silver)
Colors:clear, silver, white, black
11:45
close-up eye-level Suspenseful and humorous.

Linus opens a tiny, crumpled yellow cardboard box labeled 'SSD' and pulls out a small anti-static bag.

"is the SSD. At 60 bucks, this can be anywhere from a great deal all the way to a total rip-off, and we have no way of knowing because the website for"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing at the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking down at the box, speaking.

cardboard box (yellow)anti-static bag (silver)

Text: "SSD"

Colors:white, yellow, black, silver
12:12
extreme close-up straight-on Disappointed and technical.

A close-up shot shows the NVMe SSD with the sticker peeled off, revealing the controller and NAND flash chips. There is no DRAM cache chip visible.

"And it is. So, it's not great."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright.

NVMe SSD (black)
Colors:black, grey, gold, silver
12:17
medium shot eye-level Humorous defeat.

Alex carries the now-assembled clear acrylic case over to Linus's workbench. Linus looks defeated.

"Dang it, I think I lost the bet. I lost the game."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (2):

• Sitting/leaning at workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking down, feigning disappointment.

• Walking towards Linus's workbench., wearing Black t-shirt with graphic and jeans, Blond/light brown. hair — Looking at Linus.

acrylic PC case (clear)
Colors:white, black, clear, blue
12:31
medium shot eye-level Focused.

Linus attempts to install the metal I/O shield into the back of the clear acrylic case.

"All right, let's uh... Let's go ahead and put this IO shield in."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the case., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Concentrating on the task.

acrylic PC case (clear)I/O shield (silver)
Colors:clear, silver, black, blue
13:25
medium close-up eye-level Frustrated and defeated.

Linus has installed the motherboard and CPU cooler into the case, but realizes the cooler is too tall and is hitting the side panel. He puts his head in his hands in despair.

"Uh..."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning on the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Head in hands, eyes closed in frustration.

acrylic PC case (clear)
Colors:clear, white, black, silver
13:33
medium shot eye-level Hopeful and relieved.

Linus happily holds up the other, smaller CPU cooler box, realizing he can use it as a replacement.

"that other cooler, the Alseye that we thought was for this build, but actually we don't know what it's for. We can use this."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking at the box.

Alseye CPU cooler box (blue and black)
Colors:blue, black, white, red
13:50
medium shot eye-level Satisfied and proud.

The PC case is now assembled with the new, smaller CPU cooler installed, which fits properly. Linus gestures to it proudly.

"Hey, there it is."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing next to the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling broadly.

acrylic PC case (clear)
Colors:clear, black, white, silver, blue
14:02
medium close-up eye-level Amused by the absurdity of the wiring.

Linus holds up a messy tangle of black fan splitter cables and adapters, explaining the complicated wiring required.

"So I had to string together one Molex to four-pin and then two Y-splitters in order to get the four fan connectors that I need"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking at the camera.

fan splitter cables (black)
Colors:black, white, skin tone, grey
14:18
medium shot eye-level Suspenseful and humorous.

Linus holds up a black box for the power supply, having just opened a grey shipping bag.

"The only thing I know for sure is that the power supply is either going to make this less stable or more stable."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking at the box with a skeptical expression.

power supply box (black)PC case (clear)
Colors:black, white, grey, red
15:25
close-up straight-on Cheesy and questionable.

A close-up shot of the power supply unit. It is black with a red fan grille and a label that says 'Game player 1000W'.

"Don't hate the game, hate the game player."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright lighting.

power supply unit (black and red)

Text: "Game player 1000W"

Colors:black, red, yellow, white
15:43
medium shot eye-level Mischievous and funny.

Linus holds the questionable power supply and laughs, jokingly offering to test it with an expensive GPU. Alex, off-screen, shouts 'No!'

"Dare me to plug this into an RTX 3090? No!"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Laughing, looking off-screen.

power supply unit (black and red)
Colors:black, red, yellow, white
15:59
medium shot eye-level Confident and informative.

Linus unboxes the final major component, a Colorful GeForce RTX 2070 Super graphics card.

"This, I'm expecting to actually be fine. Once again, Colorful is the only real like decent brand over in China that I can think of"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing behind the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Talking to the camera while opening the box.

Colorful GPU box (black)
Colors:black, grey, white, green
17:00
close-up side view, close-up Tense and delicate.

Linus carefully installs the large graphics card into the PCI-e slot on the motherboard inside the tight acrylic case.

"In fairness, I don't think I can get the card out without tearing apart the case,"

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright.

People (1):

• hands in frame, not visible hair — not visible

graphics card (black)PC case (clear)
Colors:clear, black, silver, white
17:15
medium shot high angle Satisfying and revelatory.

Linus peels the protective brown paper off the final side panel, revealing the custom laser engraving underneath.

"Oh."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the workbench., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking down at the panel.

acrylic side panel (clear/brown)
Colors:brown, clear, white, black
17:23
medium shot with picture-in-picture eye-level Playful and self-promotional.

Linus holds the clear, engraved side panel in front of his chest, showing how you can see his t-shirt through it. A product shot of the t-shirt appears on screen.

"Can you see the shirt? lttstore.com."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Standing., wearing Black t-shirt with geometric design and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, winking.

acrylic side panel (clear)

Text: "lttstore.com", "Processor T", "$19.99 USD"

Colors:black, white, clear, green
17:32
medium shot eye-level Finalizing and triumphant.

Linus attaches the final side panel to the PC case, carefully aligning it and screwing it in place.

"It's keyed. It only goes on one way."

Setting: Tech workshop — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning over the case., wearing Black t-shirt and jeans, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, focused on the task.

acrylic PC case (clear)
Colors:clear, black, white, silver
18:20
medium shot eye-level Surprised and impressed by the artwork.

The fully assembled PC is now on a desk. Linus unrolls a large, colorful mousepad with a dragon-like creature on it.

"Yeah, there's peripherals too, guys. Is if adding this other side panel helps the rigidity a little bit."

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at a desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, looking at the mousepad.

mousepad (multi-colored)monitor (black)
Colors:purple, red, blue, yellow, white
18:38
medium shot eye-level Setting up for testing.

Linus places a black tenkeyless mechanical keyboard on the colorful mousepad.

"I've got a keyboard with uh, G-shan blue clicky switches."

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at a desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking down at the keyboard.

keyboard (black)mousepad (multi-colored)PC case (clear)
Colors:black, purple, red, white
18:54
close-up eye-level Surprised and analytical.

Linus examines a black gaming mouse, noting its features and expressing surprise at its decent quality.

"You know, this is far from the worst like cheap AliExpress gaming mouse that I've encountered."

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at a desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking at the mouse, talking.

gaming mouse (black)
Colors:black, grey, skin tone, purple
19:52
various shots from wide to close-up various, dynamic Celebratory, energetic, and silly.

A montage of the fully built, glowing PC from different angles, set to upbeat electronic music. Various people from the office dance around it.

"Oh, is it just giving audio to the monitors? No, I checked."

Setting: Studio set — Colorful, flashing party lights.

People (1):

• Dancing energetically., wearing Black t-shirt, Rainbow wig. hair — Excited, dancing.

PC case (clear)
Colors:blue, purple, black, green, red
20:10
medium shot eye-level Troubleshooting.

Linus sits at the desk with the full setup, attempting to use the PC. He plugs in the headset.

"What even is this? Did you know this had like a giant like undead dragon thing on it?"

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at the desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Focused, looking at the connections.

headset (black)PC (clear)
Colors:black, purple, red, blue
20:26
close-up eye-level Shocked and frustrated.

As soon as the headset is plugged in, the PC abruptly reboots. Linus looks at the camera in disbelief.

"Computer reset. We are we are rebooting, sir."

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at the desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Eyes wide, mouth open in shock.

PC (clear)
Colors:black, white, purple, blue
20:48
medium shot eye-level Frustrated, problematic.

The PC screen shows a blue Windows Recovery screen, indicating it failed to start properly. Linus looks at it with exasperation.

"Dang. This is $27. It actually feels like pretty good. Rubber grip, like, huh."

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at the desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Tired, leaning his head on his hand.

monitor (black)PC (clear)

Text: "Recovery", "It looks like Windows didn't load correctly"

Colors:blue, white, black
21:05
close-up eye-level Cautionary and conclusive.

Linus leans into the camera, pointing his finger, to make a final point about the dangers of buying cheap power supplies.

"And that, my friends, is why you don't buy your power supply on AliExpress.com."

Setting: Office/studio — Bright studio lighting.

People (1):

• Leaning forward., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Serious, making a point directly to the camera.

Colors:black, white, skin tone, pink
21:15
medium shot eye-level Resigned and summarizing.

Linus gestures towards the problematic but unique-looking PC, summarizing his thoughts on the build.

"I mean, if you absolutely had to have this case, I guess it is unlike other cases on the market, and so that would be the place to get it."

Setting: Office/studio — Studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at the desk., wearing Black t-shirt and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Shrugging, speaking to the camera.

PC (clear)

Text: "Recovery"

Colors:black, white, clear, blue, green
21:41
medium shot eye-level Promotional and friendly.

A sponsor segment begins. Linus is sitting at a different desk with a plant and a lamp in the background, talking to the camera.

"Unlike our sponsor, FreshBooks is the all-in-one business invoicing and accounting solution that is built for owners."

Setting: Studio set — Soft, warm studio lighting.

People (1):

• Sitting at a desk., wearing Black t-shirt with graphic and not visible, Brown, short with a beard. hair — Smiling, speaking earnestly.

potted plant (green)

Text: "FRESHBOOKS cloud accounting", "Visit www.freshbooks.com/techtips for a free trial"

Colors:white, black, green, skin tone
22:34
full screen graphic straight-on Informational, outro.

The video ends on a yellow screen with social media links and an advertisement for the LTT store.

"If you guys enjoyed this video, you might also enjoy our allwish.com PC, which last time I checked is actually our top-viewed video of all time."

Setting: End screen graphic — Digital.

People (1):

• Sitting at the desk., Brown, short with a beard. hair — Looking at the PC.

Text: "www.lttstore.com", "@LinusTech"

Colors:yellow, black, white, pink