Upgrading Our WORST Gaming Rigs

Linus stands in front of the Linus Media Group building, gesturing with his hands as he speaks to the camera. He moves his hands expressively to emphasize his points.

"Okay, so given that everyone at Linus Media Group spends their day playing with and making videos about the latest and greatest technology toys, you'd probably think that our entire team here has like sick AF gaming machines at home, right? State of the art."

Setting: outdoor parking lot — bright, natural daylight

Text: "Sponsored by Intel"

Linus laughs, then points a finger at the camera with a playful, stern expression.

"You'd think wrong."

Setting: outdoor parking lot — bright, natural daylight

Linus is now inside the office, standing between two desks with computer components. He gestures with his hands as he explains the premise of the video.

"So I had everyone in the company submit photos and specs of their personal setups to me without telling them why I wanted to see them. And some folks were pretty reluctant to show them. I mean, don't you guys trust me?"

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Linus turns his head to the right, smiling slightly, then looks back at the camera. A text overlay appears with the word "no".

"No."

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Text: "no"

Linus stands next to an employee seated at a desk. He leans against the back of the chair, then gestures dramatically with his arms outstretched as he announces the "Wall of Shame" and the surprise twist.

"Well, it turns out they should have trusted their instincts not to trust me because the plan was to pick the worst three and subject them to a healthy dose of public shaming. Welcome to the Linus Media Group Wall of Shame. But with a surprise twist, the worst rig, as determined by our highly qualified panel of judges, gets an upgrade courtesy of Intel, who sponsored this video."

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Linus claps his hands together, then gestures towards the employee at the desk before walking away to the left. The employee remains focused on his computer.

"So let's get this show on the road."

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Linus walks past the employee, smiling. The video then transitions to an animated sequence of tech items assembling into the Linus Tech Tips logo.

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Linus stands in a parking lot, leaning against a pink graffiti-covered car. He gestures with his hands as he talks about the submitted computer setups.

"Some of the submissions actually weren't half bad and some of them were pretty darn nice. I mean, let me know in the comments if you guys want to see a follow-up Wall of Fame. Um some of them contained totally unnecessary details like Ivan for example, apparently games by candlelight, but his was far from the worst."

Setting: outdoor parking lot — bright, natural daylight

Linus stands in a dimly lit hallway, leaning against a dark door. He speaks to the camera, then opens the door to reveal a bright apartment interior.

"Let's begin our journey with someone that you are just meeting for the first time because he only recently passed his probation. This is Lloyd's setup. He's our new graphic designer/merchandise manager. So to his credit, he has done some pretty amazing work so far for the company, including our new logo. You can let him know what you think of that in the comments below. But brace yourselves, my friends, because this is going to be a shocker."

Setting: apartment hallway and entrance — dim hallway, then bright natural light from apartment windows

A red circular logo with white 'LTT' letters appears against a white background.

Setting: digital — bright, even

Linus stands in the doorway, looking at Lloyd who is visible in the background. Lloyd smiles and steps forward. Linus claps his hands together.

"So, what do you got? What's going on?"

Setting: apartment entrance — bright, natural daylight

Text: "@LloydPan"

Linus stands in front of a white wall, gesturing excitedly at a framed display containing a yellow Game Boy Color and a Game Boy cartridge. He turns his head to ask Lloyd a question.

"Okay. He does win some bonus points because this is some of the most amazing shadowbox decor that I think I have ever seen. Is this your Game Boy Color?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, even

Linus turns his head to the left, then back to the right, pointing at another framed display with an original Game Boy and red and blue cartridges. He looks at Lloyd for confirmation.

"Yeah. Yeah. All right. And this is this is your original Game Boy with your red and blue?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, even

Linus looks at Lloyd, then points at the display again, his expression shifting to surprise as Lloyd answers.

"Uh, no. Oh."

Setting: apartment room — bright, even

Linus picks up a film camera from the desk, examining it. He then turns to Lloyd, asking if he's a photography enthusiast.

"This is a film camera. That's a film camera. Okay, so you're so you're kind of a photography nerd?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, natural daylight

Lloyd smiles and nods, confirming he's a photographer. Linus then leans over the desk, pointing at a collection of camera lenses and other items, asking the camera crew to get a shot.

"I am a photographer. Okay. Right. Cuz I there's so many lenses back here I can't even tell. You got to get a got to get a shot of this. Look at this."

Setting: apartment room — bright, natural daylight

Text: "right"

Linus stands next to Lloyd, who is now seated at his desk. Linus gestures towards the iMac and asks about its cost.

"So you have an iMac. You have an iMac 5K. How much did this bad boy cost you?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, natural daylight

Lloyd smiles and answers. Linus expresses surprise and compliments his parents, then leans closer to the screen, reading out the iMac's specifications. He looks at Lloyd, impressed.

"Um my parents gave it to me as a gift. Wow. Nice parents. So you got a 4 GHz Core i7. You've got 32 gigs of RAM. This is a pretty tricked out machine I think actually. Oh, yeah?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, natural daylight

Text: "Wow!"

Linus leans over the desk, looking under it. He then pulls out a stack of Nintendo DS game cases, revealing Lloyd's gaming collection.

"You guys might be wondering how this guy even got a job here. And the answer is at least he's a gamer."

Setting: apartment room — bright, natural daylight

Linus pulls out more Pokémon game cases, his eyes widening in surprise and amusement. He places them on the floor.

"All the Oh, oh, oh. The Pokémon fandom is real."

Setting: apartment room floor — bright, natural daylight

Linus stands up, holding the stack of games, then places them back on the desk. He then turns to the camera, speaking, and crouches down to remove his shoes from a shoe rack.

"All right, so at least he gets some street cred points for that. Who's next for the Wall of Shame? Well, I'm going to give you one hint as I take off my feet to take off my feet, goddammit. As I remove my shoes to enter his domicile."

Setting: apartment entrance — bright, even

Linus stands up from crouching, looking at the camera with a wide, excited grin. He gestures dramatically with his hands as he introduces Dennis.

"Yes, my friends, it is Dennis. You might know him as Denny is Hung from his gaming and cooking streams."

Setting: apartment entrance — bright, even

A split screen shows Dennis in his kitchen, wearing a headset, attempting to crack an egg into a metal bowl. A small white dog watches from the counter. His friend then tries to help, but Dennis accidentally smashes the egg.

"Okay, you need four eggs. Where's this so hard? Look, I know how to do it. Ah!"

Setting: kitchen — bright, overhead

Text: "dennyishung", "First time making a cake for my BD."

Linus stands in Dennis's apartment, looking at the camera with a disappointed expression. He then walks over to a table covered with blue and red plastic cups, picking them up and examining them.

"But uh when it comes to his PC setup, he comes up a little short. Dennis, do you just not do dishes? Like are these just do you use disposable cups for everything?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, even

Dennis laughs in the background as Linus discovers the cups are dirty. Linus then asks if Dennis plays a lot of beer pong, gesturing with the cups.

"No. Oh my god, they're dirty. I washed them and Or do you just play a lot of beer pong?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, even

Linus holds up a disassembled kayak paddle, then puts it back on a shelf above the TV. Dennis watches, amused.

"It's quite the system for your uh for your paddle storage. Up here. I didn't know you were into boating."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, even

Linus turns to Dennis, making a sarcastic comment about his organization. Dennis smiles and nods, then laughs.

"Well, at least you're consistent because your kayak setup is every bit as uh clean and organized as your PC. Yeah, you will you will love it."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, even

Linus walks into a small, cluttered room, gesturing around. Dennis follows, smiling and gesturing excitedly at his desk setup.

"So here it is. This is the gaming corner of shame. Yes. Look at this."

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Text: "YES"

Dennis picks up a fake cockroach from the shelf, showing it to Linus. Linus looks at it, then at Dennis.

"So you got a fake cockroach."

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Dennis holds up a tangled mess of white cables, then gestures. Linus then leans in, looking for stolen office items. Dennis laughs and tries to push Linus away.

"One of this cable is not working. But you don't know which one. I have a lot of money. So I I can flee anytime. Let's see if I can find anything that was stolen from the office. No. That's always"

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

A brief static screen with color bars, then Linus laughs and points at a small projector on the shelf, asking Dennis about it.

"Yes. Why do you have this projector?"

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Text: "YES"

Dennis, seated, explains he won the projector at a Christmas party. Linus, standing, acknowledges this, then bends down to look under the desk again.

"Hi, I won that from the Christmas party. Oh, you won that at the Christmas party. Yes. Okay, all right, all right. Okay."

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Linus pulls out a small, orange USB drive, accusing Dennis of stealing it. Dennis vehemently denies it, claiming he bought it. Linus then pulls out a webcam, making a similar accusation. Dennis again denies it, saying he bought it from Best Buy.

"I also stole I guarantee you didn't buy this. No, I bought it. I I paid for this. I I went to Best Buy to buy this."

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Linus asks Dennis to describe his setup. Dennis gestures enthusiastically, explaining his simple setup, then jokes about stealing office equipment. Linus looks at the camera, then back at Dennis.

"Walk me through your setup. What do you got? Okay, so my setup is very simple, very easy. Everyone can do it at home. Basically steal your uh steal your the keyboard and mouse from your work. I don't know where you work, but"

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Text: "don't", "but"

Dennis lifts his laptop, revealing four coasters underneath. He explains their purpose for ventilation. Linus is impressed by the coasters' quality, jokingly asking if they were stolen from the office. Dennis denies it, claiming they are his. Linus then mockingly asks if he asked Brendan for permission to take 'his' stuff.

"And I have four coasters that I used to live on my laptop so the fan the heat can come up from here. That's actually not the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And these are like fancy Wow, these are like marble or something. Did you steal these from the office? Look, they match. No, no. This is mine. No. Yeah, this is not Linus Media Group property. No, no, no. I asked Brendan. No."

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Text: "m'nah"

Linus leans over Dennis's shoulder, looking at the laptop screen and reading out the specifications. Dennis continues to smile, seemingly proud of his setup.

"So this is actually pretty good hardware. Dennis is rocking a 6700HQ. He's got a GTX 1060."

Setting: apartment room — bright, overhead

Linus and Dennis are on the floor, rummaging through items under a TV stand. Linus pulls out a box and accuses Dennis of stealing more. Dennis denies it, claiming he paid for it. Linus then pulls out a karaoke microphone, making another accusation. Dennis again denies it, saying he paid for it, to which Linus exclaims he reimbursed him.

"I just found more. No, you stole more stuff. Okay, I wasn't even looking for non-tech items. I bet you took all these games. Oh, so the karaoke microphone. Okay, I paid for this. I paid for this. I reimbursed you."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, even

Linus walks through a doorway into a bright apartment. He turns to the camera, speaking, then walks further into the room. James is seen sitting on a couch in the background.

"This is the apartment of Laser James."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

James holds a Google Home Mini, asking it a question. The device responds, and James looks at the camera with a smirk.

"What's my name? You told me your name was Big Papa. I could never forget that."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

Linus walks into the apartment, looking around. He turns to the camera, making a sarcastic comment about James, then asks James where his computer is. James is still seated on the couch in the background.

"I probably wouldn't have hired this guy if I'd known the state of his computer. Where where is your computer?"

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

James stands up and gestures with his hand, leading Linus to another part of the apartment. Linus turns to follow, a smirk on his face.

"Right this way."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

James walks ahead of Linus, gesturing to various smart home devices as they pass them in the hallway. Linus follows, looking around.

"So you walk past the Google Home and the Chromecast and all the Philips Hue lights and the smart lock and the kitty litter."

Setting: apartment hallway — bright, even

Linus stands in the hallway, speaking to the camera with a serious expression. He then turns and walks into a small, cluttered storage room, where James's computer is found hidden under a box.

"It's not about having the greatest spec in the world. That's not what PC Master Race is. PCMR is proper respect for the PC and the hardware in it such as it is. This is not Yeah, right under the Starbucks. Proper respect for the for the PC."

Setting: apartment hallway and storage room — bright, even

Linus holds up James's computer tower, covered in dust, with a disappointed expression. He looks at the camera, then at James.

"Collecting dust. Really?"

Setting: apartment storage room — bright, even

James walks into the hallway, looking at Linus, and explains he uses a Microsoft Surface Pro. A shot of the Surface Pro on a couch is shown.

"I have a Microsoft Surface Pro. That's my daily driver."

Setting: apartment hallway — bright, natural daylight

Linus stands next to a white smart home device, picking up its lid. He asks James if he stole it from the office. A previous clip of Linus, James, and another person in a green screen suit is shown.

"Speaking of all your smart home device crap, uh, did you steal this from the office?"

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

Text: "How Nerds Watch Sportsball", "Linus Tech Tips"

Linus looks at James, who denies stealing the device. A text overlay appears with the word "no".

"No."

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

Text: "no"

Linus opens the smart home device, revealing dog kibble inside. He then jokingly asks James if he wants him to throw it in his mouth. James is seen in the background, walking towards the kitchen.

"Oh, it's kibble. Do you still want me to throw it in your mouth?"

Setting: apartment living room — bright, natural daylight

Linus tastes a piece of kibble, making a disgusted face. He then walks into the kitchen to wash his mouth out. James is seen in the background, picking up his Surface Pro.

"Oh, it smell it tastes like dog breath. Gonna wash out my mouth here."

Setting: apartment living room and kitchen — bright, natural daylight

Linus stands on a balcony, gesturing at a wooden coop containing several quails. He expresses surprise and asks about the birds.

"Okay, so you have no room for a gaming PC, but you've got like a bunch of quail. I mean, look at the Oh, wow. What if they get out? Like can they fly? Are they wing clipped or?"

Setting: apartment balcony — bright, natural daylight

James reaches into the coop, picking up a quail. He then picks up a small, speckled quail egg, showing it to Linus. Linus asks if it's covered in poo, then acknowledges the answer.

"They probably won't. C'mere Fogger. Is that that one's name? Yeah, this is Fogger. Okay. And you eat the eggs? There you go. Is that covered in poo or is that just the color? Nah, that's just what they look like. Okay, cool."

Setting: apartment balcony — bright, natural daylight

Linus carries James's dusty computer tower through the apartment and places it on a wooden dining table. He opens the side panel, revealing the internal components, and expresses disappointment at James for abandoning his rig.

"X58. So you had a decent rig at one point and you abandoned us."

Setting: apartment living room and dining area — bright, natural daylight

James, standing next to the computer, explains he stopped gaming because he's married now, gesturing with his hands. Linus watches him, a smirk on his face.

"I didn't really I stopped gaming. Hey man, I'm married now, okay? It's a different world."

Setting: apartment living room and dining area — bright, natural daylight

Linus leans on the table, asking James if he'll use the computer if it's fixed. James enthusiastically agrees, saying he wants to play more video games. Linus then removes a component from the computer.

"If we fix this up, will you hook it up? I've actually been wanting to watch less Netflix and play more video games. I think it's a good uh husband-wife activity."

Setting: apartment living room and dining area — bright, natural daylight

Linus leans over the computer, looking at James with a disappointed and slightly scolding expression. He gestures at the computer, emphasizing its neglected state.

"Do you know how many people out there have socket 1366 chips and would die for a working X58 motherboard and yours is just sitting collecting dust?"

Setting: apartment living room and dining area — bright, natural daylight

Linus tries to open the apartment door, but James, holding his phone, locks it remotely using a smart lock app. James laughs mischievously, and Linus looks back at him with a surprised and frustrated expression.

"You don't know that it works. You may never leave, Linus. Oh. Oh my god, that's"

Setting: apartment hallway — bright, even

Linus carries James's computer tower into the Linus Media Group office. He instructs James to stand there and look ashamed. James enters, blindfolded, with another employee guiding him.

"Okay, so your job for this part is to stand there and look ashamed."

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Linus instructs James to look ashamed, guiding him to lower his head. James complies, and Linus thanks him for his "good shame."

"Okay. Look at Yeah, head down. More ashamed. More like full on. Thank you, James. That's good shame."

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

Linus carries James's computer tower and hands it over to Ivan, who is seated at a desk. Ivan takes the computer, smiling.

"We're handing James's machine over to Ivan, who is going to be revitalizing it."

Setting: Linus Media Group office — bright, overhead fluorescent lighting

A computer tower with its side panel open is shown on a wooden table. The internal components are visible, including a CPU cooler, RAM, and a graphics card.

Setting: workshop — bright, focused

Ivan, wearing a bandana, works on the computer tower, removing and installing components. He is seen from behind, then from the side, as he diligently upgrades the machine.

Setting: workshop — bright, overhead

Linus, now wearing a grey t-shirt, stands next to the upgraded computer. He congratulates James, who is brought in blindfolded by another employee. Linus then reaches to remove James's blindfold.

"All right, bring him in. So, congratulations, James. You suck, but it worked out for you because we just can't have someone on staff who's not able to hone their gaming skills. So, we're going to take this off and"

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Linus removes James's blindfold, revealing the upgraded computer. James's eyes widen in surprise and delight. Linus smiles triumphantly.

"Ah, yes."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Linus gestures at the computer, explaining the extensive upgrades. James looks on with a wide, impressed grin. Linus then removes the side panel of the computer, revealing the glowing RGB components.

"So Intel, and actually some of our other partners, went all out. I thought you were just getting a CPU, motherboard, and RAM upgrade. But, this thing is actually tricked the math right out."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Close-up shots of the upgraded computer's components, including the Intel Core i7 processor, NVMe SSD, Asus Strix motherboard, Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB memory, and H60 cooler. The RGB lighting cycles through various colors. Linus points at the hard drive, explaining its Optane acceleration.

"So, you got a Core i7 8700K, a 760 series NVMe SSD. You've got an Asus Strix motherboard. You've got 16 gigs of Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB memory. You've got an H60 cooler. So, this is their new upgraded one with the new fans and all that kind of stuff. You've got RGB lighting courtesy of Corsair and a GTX 1070 Strix from Asus. Oh, yeah. And by the way, your hard drive is now Optane accelerated."

Setting: workshop — RGB lighting, focused

Linus stands next to the upgraded computer, explaining the benefits of the Optane accelerated hard drive. James stands next to him, smiling and nodding.

"So, you've got two M.2s. So, even though this hard drive is like ghetto AF, 640 gigs, you should still actually get good loading times off of the games that you put on it."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Linus gestures at the computer, then smiles at James. James laughs in response.

"You didn't get a power supply upgrade though, cuz that was still good enough."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Linus boasts that the upgraded computer is now better than his own. He then explains that the original case was kept for a "sleeper" look, and the RGB lights can be disabled. James smiles and nods, then laughs.

"So this thing will actually game better than my machine now. And of course, in true LTT fashion, we left the case as is, so you can go full sleeper style. You can actually disable these lights in software if you want no one to be able to tell what's under the hood. Night night."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Linus and James laugh. Linus then makes a self-deprecating comment about his joke and transitions to benchmark scores. The screen displays a graph comparing gaming performance of different CPUs.

"That was awkward. Sleeper. Oh. Wow, there is no segue on earth that can get me from that awful joke to this. So, let's just close this out with some benchmark scores."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Text: "(intel) GAMER DAYS 2018"

The screen displays a series of benchmark graphs comparing the performance of different CPUs in various games and synthetic tests. The graphs show significant improvements with the newer i7 processor. Linus then appears on screen, standing next to the upgraded computer, explaining the Intel Gamer Days sale and encouraging viewers to check it out.

"This machine is looking pretty beast. So for those of you thinking, you know, an i7 is an i7, because technically we did upgrade our i7 to an i7. We'd recommend that you keep in mind how much better a new i7 can be than an old one during Intel's Gamer Days 2018 sale. It runs from September 1st to September 16th and we'll have more links to details below, but basically, what it is is not only one of the best times of the year to get upgraded with gaming gear from top brands like the ones seen in this video, but it's also a great way to participate in tons of giveaways and prize draws. So, again, check that out below."

Setting: workshop — dim, with computer RGB lighting

Text: "(intel) GAMER DAYS 2018"

Linus stands next to the upgraded computer, thanking viewers and encouraging them to like, subscribe, and check out the links in the description. He gestures to a dislike button, then a like button, then a subscribe button, then a merch store icon, a Twitter icon, and a shopping cart icon.

"So thanks for watching, guys. If you disliked this video, you can hit that button. But if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed, and maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video description. Also down there is our merch store which has cool shirts like this one and our community forum, which you should definitely join."

Setting: digital — bright, even

Text: "LIKE/DISLIKE", "SUBSCRIBE"

Linus leans on the computer, looking at it with a surprised and impressed expression. The screen displays the video's end card with credits and social media links.

"I can't believe how balls to the wall this machine ended up being."

Setting: digital — bright, even

Text: "THANKS FOR WATCHING", "Host Linus Sebastian - @LinusGSebastian", "Writer Ivan Metelitsa - @Shtoi_Daaaawg", "Editor Alexandre Potvin - @Aprime", "Shooter Mike McGusta", "Shooter Brandon Lee - @Brandon_Y_Lee", "Production Manager Edzel Yago - @edzelyago", "Edit Manager Taran Van Hemert - @TaranVH"