XionEternum

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

Huh, cool, my account still works.

Anyway, I figured I'ld chip in my two cents on this like so, so very many already. Albeit it seems most posts have degenerated into otherwise opinionated anecdotal nonsense regarding allegations of workplace harassment from a former employee. Here's hoping this thread can get back on topic.
 
First and foremost I'll make the claim that I've been following and subscribed since the NCIX days. It was in-fact the Phenom II 1100T review video IIRC that I subscribed for. Something in that era, but minor details. I've certainly seen most if not all content since, probably in the 99% range. In that time, I've seen a very passionate drive to see how far and how fast LMG can go on YouTube. Lots of looking back to see where they've come from as well, but not so much lately. I even still remember when on WAN Show Linus said they would likely never review server components due to lack of interest in their community. Then reviewing them became content as they scaled up with server equipment. I don't know if Canadian tax law is the same as the US regarding rebates on business related expenses, but I remember a joke made way back in the initial setup of the warehouse that now that it's in a video it can be a tax write-off. Whether or not that's true is beside the point though, so let me cut myself off here and get to that point.

GN didn't contact you privately because LMG burned that bridge already with the whole "backpack warranty" drama. GN said then that they would going forward treat LMG as a corporation like any other selling product. Any further contact going forward has likely been either professional or journalistic. You were warned, and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

I've defended the intent behind not having or needing a warranty. Unlike the binary Red VS Blue mentality that is your typical drama or flame war, I saw both sides rather evenly valid. No, LMG did not need to warranty their products if they were consistently making things right by their customers. Even a 90% satisfaction rate from an entire company's merchandise lineup is impressive. LMG has better than that. Yes, LMG did need to warranty their products because some of their potential customers were holding out over the lack of a warranty, regardless of how good the service was. See, this is the crux.

Yes, Linus is right. Yes, Linus is wrong. That's part of being human. Mistakes can and will be made, but when so many are being made so quickly, where are the brakes? Linus has never had brakes. He is crunch incarnate. He is a dudebro. He can be humble or he wouldn't be letting someone else take over as CEO, and he can be arrogant by gaslighting his community and thinking it's okay to make so very many mistakes. I'm actually rather happy I wasn't hired to work at LMG because frankly, I'm making more as entry-level IT if the rumors are true. I have recent college education in IT, and almost two decades of experience in tech. I only did the college for the pay raise. I could single-handedly crush the effective accuracy of hardware testing LMG does, as does Steve from HUB and Steve from GN. I've also got two decades of management experience, so I can see when people are pushing their limits and when they're getting lax in their effort. LMG staff, at least those who have been on camera, all appear stretched thin. I can see and feel the effects of crunch building in them. Even if they are only working a standard 40-hour full-time workweek, the effect is still there. As Steve(GN) has highlighted rather heavily in their initial video on this; I'll put it bluntly: EVERYONE IS BEING WORKED TOO HARD! Not likely because of coercion, but because of example. I'm also willing to bet, that Linus knows this already. He likely already knows that his personal standards are making his team want to push themselves too hard. This is also likely a part of his choice to hire a replacement CEO. Speculating though, so... take all this for what you will.

Linus, like anyone else, wants to defend himself as a first instinct. "I've already made these justifications for having made these choices. Here are all my justifications." rather than pause, step back, and observe the effects of those choices without those justifications. Anyone with any reasonable healthy amount of arrogance will do this. Nobody is a perfect self-reflecting monk. I do it too, and I've been praised more than once for how well I self-reflect on my choices and opinions. So, here's my attempt at calling him out to re-read his original response as if he didn't write it. Something he should've done before posting it, but hindsight is 20/20.

Linus, you're response was riddled with deflection, attempted psychological manipulation, and gaslighting. I sincerely hope you do not use this kind of verbiage with your own employees. It is tantamount to cult-indoctrination tactics. Film Theory on YouTube did a great video breaking down how Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey used these tactics on the protagonist. I challenge you to watch it, and see if you can catch similarities in your own treatment of your employees. I don't know if you are, I just feel you need a lot of self-reflection now, and I'm offering suggestions. I also invite all LMG staff to watch that video as well, see if you can spot any similarities yourselves. The reason this is such a concern in my eyes is because I'm immune to it. One of my former Store Managers (I was a fresh Assistant Manager) defied the ethical treatment of employees policies our own company's training program taught us - all things I already knew and practiced - by telling me one day, "I toured your crew, and you know what I saw? I saw no fear in their eyes." I gave him a puzzled look. "They should be working like they are afraid of losing their jobs." This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This made me want to deck him outright. Normally I have my recorder app recording for private conversations with my superiors, but this was in public, on the floor so I didn't think I needed to. Hard regret. I tell you this because if there's one thing to avoid as a superior is treating anyone as either inferior or more than a casual friend. Getting too buddy-buddy can lead to unfair treatment of others. Lording your role over someone can lead to deeper arrogance and lack of introspection. Your response oozes "abusive boyfriend" levels of guilt-tripping, attempted emotional/psychological manipulation, deflection, and gaslighting while not even accounting for more important aspects of the criticism. If this is your reactive response to fair and factual criticism, then I worry for you, your staff, and honestly your family. Your response sounded like the typical non-pology video from the likes of Artisian Builds. Your response to something like this should never be anything but professional, factual, and humble. Claim there won't be any discussion about this on the WAN show all you want; your response here should effectively be void after all the self-reflection you need over this. There will be discussion on the WAN show, or at least a direct video response of some kind. If not... well... Rome may not have been built in a day, but it fell far faster than it was built. LMG will too. Don't turn this into The Fine Brothers trademarking the word React.

Thank you kindly everyone who read this.

No, you are. See below.
  Here is where you claim explicitly that a tool that doesn't do something on it's own, isn't a tool. Could you without this, or anything like it, do what it's made to help you do? More to the point of things not doing anything more than providing information: A ruler is a tool. A multimeter is a tool. A kill-a-watt is a tool. All of these merely provide information. So why can't programs that tell you whether or not your GPU has shaders that can be unlocked; be a tool?
You were almost every step trying to say the links provided are not tools for unlocking the shaders. Whether merely providing information or aiding in performing the task itself; they are.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tool

Apologies, I was not looking in the right place. I've actually never seen a method for changing msinfo32.exe information. Let me dig some more and reply again.

Painting the GPU will void the warranty. I'ld sooner get the Sapphire Nitro version as it won't clash by default. PSU is fine, but I agree on preferring SeaSonic OEM PSUs over the Flextronic OEM that EVGA uses. I have a 7y/o SeaSonic OEM (Antec NeoPower 650 Blue) still kicking when the EVGA Supernova G1000 died on me in 9 months and took out my motherboard too. Doesn't happen to everyone, but does happen.
 
EDIT: You can nix the fans too. The stock fans will work fine and are quiet even at full RPM.

It's not perfect, not in the least. The Define R5 is generally considered par-for-the-course. It's the standard everything is weighed against because it's a well-priced and generally functional chassis. Believe it or not; few cases exceed or improve on its design for its price bracket. Some are more functional in certain ways while having drawbacks in others. There are also many different qualities for acrylic windows. Some scratch easily; others don't. Tempered glass is expensive and impractical. It also reflects more unless internal lighting is stronger than external. Can turn a glass window near invisible with the right lighting. Personally I always keep some liquid screen protector for cellphones and tablets on hand to seal the acrylic window. Helps dramatically.

The mic is at the minimum mediocre. It's yet another 100Hz minimum response that veils the bassy undertones of most voices which will always make it sound like just-another-headset-mic. If they had gone with a 50Hz or less minimum pickup it would've sounded palatable, and worthwhile compared to most headset mics. Reason I pointed at a $20 (non-gaming branded) headset having a better mic, and obfuscated the fact its 50mm drivers are actually impressive for the price too. The Arctic Sound P301 is par for me and less than a handful of headsets match it in terms of performance for the cost.
 
The buttons seem gimmicky to me to be honest, but that's my personal bias and taste. I wouldn't have a use for them at all, but someone else might. They could be mapped to media-player controls. The volume knob was done best by Sennhieser on their enthusiast headsets. Both functions however become redundant and near useless when your keyboard has those functions too.
 
Don't forget about Windows audio settings. The vast majority of negative reviews on Amazon and Newegg stem from not tuning both Windows and device utility settings. Also true of sound quality reviews for many headsets too.
 
The only headset mics that sound good to me (bassy voice) are typically 50Hz minimum response or less. So rare is the 50Hz or less that my options for acceptable headset mics to even test let alone wind up using regularly are quite limited. I loath the ModMic for this reason, but now they have a 10Hz minimum response omni-directional I'ld like to try.

no audio sample ?
oh nvm it just was not on vessel

is it just becoming a "publish now - fix later" platform for the videos ?


perhaps I have to re-watch all the videos on youtube now ?

Uninterrupted Power Supply. Essentially a rechargeable battery pack capable of keeping a PC on and running during power loss, but only for a very limited time if under 100%CPU/GPU load.

The 600w was based on the 1000VA suggested for a UPS.

Nvidia are media manipulative in the sense they are really tight when sending out samples to all the reviewers, and they do it one or two cards at a time staggered across several months. This keeps the brand name in the public space much longer compared to AMD's inability to get samples out to everyone at the same time and try to launch entire generations all at once. This puts their mid-range cards on everyone's back burner and reviews come out for those cards in a complete mess across the board. Plus you have forum manipulation and hearsay. I can't count how many times I hear a 970 recommended over the 390. I also can't count how many times I hear people say "Nvidia does more fps for the money... AMD is too expensive for what you get..." something not based on any actual reviews available even from Nvidia-centric reviewers like LMG. Just thought I'ld clear up the full scope of this statement.

Nvidia are media manipulative in the sense they are really tight when sending out samples to all the reviewers, and they do it one or two cards at a time staggered across several months. This keeps the brand name in the public space much longer compared to AMD's inability to get samples out to everyone at the same time and try to launch entire generations all at once. This puts their mid-range cards on everyone's back burner and reviews come out for those cards in a complete mess across the board. Plus you have forum manipulation and hearsay. I can't count how many times I hear a 970 recommended over the 390. I also can't count how many times I hear people say "Nvidia does more fps for the money... AMD is too expensive for what you get..." something not based on any actual reviews available even from Nvidia-centric reviewers like LMG. Just thought I'ld clear up the full scope of this statement.

From what I've seen in benchmarks (both mine and others) the TitanX can push that resolution and refresh with some minor tweaking starting with AA reduction in almost all current published games. Will it provide that minimum 50% performance difference? More than likely depending on the game and your OS optimizations. So no my original SLI two TitanX still relates to the 144Hz as stated. Now your current setup is no slouch either since it's noticeably better than my single 290 (stock Frestrike scores are in my signature with my personal Win7-64bit optimizations) in games that support CFX. That is the key caveat though "in games that support CFX" which are most when it comes to those that need the extra power, but not all. And in most cases you will have to wait for a driver update after game launch before it's optimal to play it due to AMD/nVidia needing to code in optimizations for at least single-GPU performance.
(rant)I swear, if game developers actually knew how to code their games correctly this would not need done; but the real heroes of game optimization are the AMD/nVidia driver coders adding key fixes via calls to redirects and other basic stuff to fix how broken developers leave their games at launch. And I'm not even talking about the obviously broken things like every major Ubisoft game of 2014; I mean ALL games. GTAV is a prime example of getting as close to optimized as possible, yet still not fully optimized. It's almost like it's hard-coded to not take full advantage of the system hardware if it's hitting 60fps+ because there are constant <100% loads across the board on high-end PCs. I've seen two SLI 980s hovering around the 60% load with a 5960X hovering around 40% load on the physical cores. This would imply a DRAM bottleneck, but in a game? Even with as little as I personally know about coding that shouldn't be possible.
(rant over)
Hopefully DX12 (and alternatives) will put an end to that nonesense. Which again leads back into: Should you save your money and wait for DX12 before investing in an upgrade if one is even needed? And again that's up to you.

Key points to consider:
1; Just how much performance you're getting from two 7970s (280Xs). This should be akin to trading blows with a single 980 or two 960s in SLI.
2; You are not going 4K, but you are going 144Hz 21:9 1440p. To get even modern games to push that monitor's pixel count and refresh would require two TitanX in SLI. However, even then you are relying on SLI optimizations and the resolution to be supported by the games. Also, your price to performance ratio is very poor at this level. No... no matter your setup in this case you will not be maxing out ALL games (AA should always be the first to go) with current available hardware on that display and get that sweet spot of 40+ as your minimum. So let's focus on that.
3; What does your budget allow after that monitor? Is there a limit? Or are you more concerned with optimal price to performance? If you are in the latter, then oddly enough you already have a decent amount of power that gets expensive to match in those two 7970s. Again, it takes a single 980 to even trade blows with that. Does a minimum $600 investment to even start improving your graphical performance sound fiscally viable to you? My rule of thumb here is; "If you don't see a 50% MINIMUM improvement, you will likely not notice a performance gain."
4; What uses more than 3GB of VRAM and how? Well GTAV and Shadow of Mordor do as far as I know in all the testing I've seen and done. But these tests like all testing done by reviewers are with ALL settings maxed out. At 1440p and higher resolutions one of the most demanding options of all becomes far less relevant and far more demanding. I myself run a single 290 on a 1440p 16:9 27" display and only ever use the bare minimum AA if I can spare the framerate. Reducing AA also heavily reduces VRAM usage. Other obvious options like texture detail use VRAM. nVidia's new resolution scaling (which AMD can now do too, but aren't boasting about it) also uses fairly large amounts of VRAM due to storing each frame in memory to be scaled. This also plays into frame buffering; more frames buffered means more VRAM usage. V-sync (and by extension G/free-sync) on its own does not store more than one frame. Some games do obfuscate frame buffering into V-sync though. Really the only way to see for sure is to install/run MSI Afterburner and set the VRAM to graph and to your max VRAM capacity. Load up your most demanding games and play around in some taxing areas. Alt-tab out and see what your VRAM is pulling. You'ld be surprised how little is actually used in most modern games right now. Especially after my VRAM usage tweaks.
5; Last thing to consider is likely the most controversial. G-sync monitor with AMD graphics cards. I can hear the angry mob already... but here is the truth: Static refresh vs G/free-sync is largely dependant on the max refresh. Results differ greatly comparing a 60Hz static refresh to G/free-sync vs 144Hz to the same and here's why. When a newly rendered frame misses a refresh, it's sitting there waiting for the next. Actually let me reiterate; when a new refresh happens and the monitor hasn't received any new frame data it refreshes with the old frame until it does. It'll also refresh while the GPU is overwriting the old frame in some cases. Not all monitors do that and will wait until the frame is completely overwritten. These tend to be slightly higher input latency though. Now let's consider where these new frames end up after 'missing' a certain number of refreshes. Let's keep this simple with 1-10 missed refreshes and keep in mind that this plays just like raw fractions. So 3 missed refreshes is 1/3rd and 6 missed refreshes is 1/6th of the display's maximum refresh rate. This also means that 1/10th which is our comparative maximum frame delay is a mere 100ms or 0.1 seconds. 60Hz breaks down like this: 60, 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, 8.6, 7.5, 6.7, and 6. 144Hz on the other hand breaks down like this: 144, 72, 48, 36, 28.8, 24, 20.6, 18, 16, and 14.4. Now what does this mean? This means that these are the respective visible framerates of these refresh rates. Due to a higher maximum refresh rate, the jumps down on a 144Hz display are nowhere near as severe below 60 as a 60Hz display. Most actually find 40+ acceptable and 36 isn't far below that. Is this an argument against G/free-sync? Not at all. I fully support and encourage free-sync, and I'll nod my head at G-sync just for pushing an open standard into the market. This is merely meant as a sort of 'fully informed what to expect' realist's perspective.

Ultimately the choice still remains yours. I stand by my claim you'll need to spend at least $600 just to side-grade, and it only grows quickly after that for any viable improvement. I won't argue with bragging rights though; if you can get a TitanX and you do you will NOT be disappointed. Two 970s in SLI (or two 290Xs without the following caveat) have been seen to outperform the TitanX in most SLI supported games for less money, but only have 512MB of usable VRAM over your current setup. Also consider that DX12 is around the corner and your 7970s are very likely compatible. Do check on that though as this will likely drastically extend the lifespan of your two 7970s if I'm correct.

EDIT: Hadn't refreshed replies before posting. 75Hz breaks down like so: 75, 37.5, 25, 18.75, 15, 12.5, 10.7, 9.4, 8.3, and 7.5.

This is an unknown (EDIT: To claim otherwise is both presumptuous and speculation at best). GTA 5 isn't even out yet. Will it run in CFX? Depends on whether or not AMD gets to sample the game before release so CFX drivers come out with it. Otherwise, likely not until AMD can make CFX drivers for it after release. This will eventually happen if not before release. Until it does though, can disable CFX specifically for GTA 5 until a driver update that states CFX support added.

This is why I said "usually" after already stating what you're pointing out.
EDIT: This is also why I mention setting the control panel to disable CFX/SLI on a per application basis. Application profiles; they are a thing we use to automate this sort of nonsense. Could also add that windowed mode will ALWAYS run single-GPU for AMD graphics cards. I think SLI works windowed in some cases with diminished performance, but citation needed here as this is rumor-mill level info.

Issues with CFX and SLI pertain only to drivers and internal optimization within the game itself.
However it is better to have CFX/SLI than not to since when it works correctly it's always much better. When it doesn't work correctly you can configure your control panel to disable CFX/SLI on a per application basis as needed for stability. When CFX/SLI is not being utilized correctly, it usually just defaults to single-GPU mode anyway.
EDIT: In a nutshell? No. There haven't been universal global issues with either for going on years now.

*sighs* You WANT drama and petty bickering don't you OP? That's all this is; trying to start a flame war between Linus and Jay fans.

*sighs* You WANT drama and petty bickering don't you OP? That's all this is; trying to start a flame war between Linus and Jay fans.

*sighs* You WANT drama and petty bickering don't you OP? That's all this is; trying to start a flame war between Linus and Jay fans.