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Lennart van de Merwe

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  1. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to LinusTech in Gamers Nexus alleges LMG has insufficient ethics and integrity   
    There won't be a big WAN Show segment about this or anything. Most of what I have to say, I've already said, and I've done so privately.

    To Steve, I expressed my disappointment that he didn't go through proper journalistic practices in creating this piece. He has my email and number (along with numerous other members of our team) and could have asked me for context that may have proven to be valuable (like the fact that we didn't 'sell' the monoblock, but rather auctioned it for charity due to a miscommunication... AND the fact that while we haven't sent payment yet, we have already agreed to compensate Billet Labs for the cost of their prototype). There are other issues, but I've told him that I won't be drawn into a public sniping match over this and that I'll be continuing to move forward in good faith as part of 'Team Media'. When/if he's ready to do so again I'll be ready.

    To my team (and my CEO's team, but realistically I was at the helm for all of these errors, so I need to own it), I stressed the importance of diligence in our work because there are so many eyes on us. We are going through some growing pains - we've been very public about them in the interest of transparency - and it's clear we have some work to do on internal processes and communication. We have already been doing a lot of work internally to clean up our processes, but these things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, but that's no excuse for sloppiness.

    Now, for my community, all I can say is the same things I always say. We know that we're not perfect. We wear our imperfection on our sleeves in the interest of ensuring that we stay accountable to you. But it's sad and unfortunate when this transparency gets warped into a bad thing. The Labs team is hard at work hard creating processes and tools to generate data that will benefit all consumers - a work in progress that is very much not done and that we've communicated needs to be treated as such. Do we have notes under some videos? Yes. Is it because we are striving for transparency/improvement? Yeah... What we're doing hasn't been in many years, if ever.. and we would make a much larger correction if the circumstances merited it. Listing the wrong amount of cache on a table for a CPU review is sloppy, but given that our conclusions are drawn based on our testing, not the spec sheet, it doesn't materially change the recommendation. That doesn't mean these things don't matter. We've set KPIs for our writing/labs team around accuracy, and we are continually installing new checks and balances to ensure that things continue to get better. If you haven't seen the improvement, frankly I wonder if you're really looking for it... The thoroughness that we managed on our last handful of GPU videos is getting really incredible given the limited time we have for these embargoes. I'm REALLY excited about what the future will hold.
     
    With all of that said, I still disagree that the Billet Labs video (not the situation with the return, which I've already addressed above) is an 'accuracy' issue. It's more like I just read the room wrong. We COULD have re-tested it with perfect accuracy, but to do so PROPERLY - accounting for which cases it could be installed in (none) and which radiators it would be plumbed with (again... mystery) would have been impossible... and also didn't affect the conclusion of the video... OR SO I THOUGHT...
     
    I wanted to evaluate it as a product, and as a product, IF it could manage to compete with the temperatures of the highest end blocks on the planet, it still wouldn't make sense to buy... so from my point of view, re-testing it and finding out that yes, it did in fact run cooler made no difference to the conclusion, so it didn't really make a difference.
     
    Adam and I were talking about this today. He advocated for re-testing it regardless of how non-viable it was as a product at the time and I think he expressed really well today why it mattered. It was like making a video about a supercar. It doesn't mater if no one watching will buy it. They just wanna see it rip.  I missed that, but it wasn't because I didn't care about the consumer.. it was because I was so focused on how this product impacted a potential buyer. Either way, clearly my bad, but my intention was never to harm Billet Labs. I specifically called out their incredible machining skills because I wanted to see them create something with a viable market for it and was hoping others would appreciate the fineness of the craftsmanship even if the product was impractical. I still hope they move forward building something else because they obviously have talent and I've watched countless niche water cooling vendors come and go. It's an astonishingly unforgiving market.
     
    Either way, I'm sorry I got the community's priorities mixed-up on this one, and that we didn't show the Billet in the best light. Our intention wasn't to hurt anyone. We wanted no one to buy it (because it's an egregious waste of money no matter what temps it runs at) and we wanted Billet to make something marketable (so they can, y'know, eat).
     
    With all of this in mind, it saddens me how quickly the pitchforks were raised over this. It also comes across a touch hypocritical when some basic due diligence could have helped clarify much of it. I have a LONG history of meeting issues head on and I've never been afraid to answer questions, which lands me in hot water regularly, but helps keep me in tune with my peers and with the community. The only reason I can think of not to ask me is because my honest response might be inconvenient. 
     
    We can test that... with this post. Will the "It was a mistake (a bad one, but a mistake) and they're taking care of it" reality manage to have the same reach? Let's see if anyone actually wants to know what happened. I hope so, but it's been disheartening seeing how many people were willing to jump on us here. Believe it or not, I'm a real person and so is the rest of my team. We are trying our best, and if what we were doing was easy, everyone would do it. Today sucks.
     
    Thanks for reading this.
  2. Informative
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Thomas4 in Is there anyway to change base google account verification to a single phone   
    This MAY work:
    https://support.google.com/a/answer/9288157?hl=en
  3. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to KairuiWang in Civ5 game instability on win11? And other win11 pains   
    In my opinion, windows 11's only selling point is ui that looks a little better overall, with some niche features like auto hdr, and optimisation for intel 12th gen. The rest of it is just windows10 but with worse compatibility for older hardware. For me, win11 got me for its asthetics (yeah I know) and its been mostly a smooth experience, especially on my desktop newly built.
    However, things are less nice for my new laptop. Like what you had, I often have the wifi "connected, no internet". Its just frustrating being forced to fight with the wifi panel for a min before actually surfing on the internet. For contrast, My desktop can connect to wifi in an instant so smooth. So, I would have to suspect that this is some sort of win11 incompatibility when it comes to different WNIC solutions.
    And then in my own thread you can see how my latop's SSD powers on 2700 times in 36 hrs of use. Way to go Macrohard.
    All I can say is, Microsoft is just what it is, a company with great products that just cant help pinching your arse when you actually use it, who just never manages to do thing right first try. The even sadder part is, what else can you do other than waiting for macrohard to grant you the solutions and fixes? What, go and use Macs (or Linux)? NOT FOR ME.
  4. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from da na in BeamNG.Drive as possible new benchmark   
    yeah seems interesting. Especially since Beam can practically blow up any hardware set if you give it enough cars to crunch through. Should be interesting.
  5. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to HanZie82 in Motherboard giving single beeps like there's no tomorrow   
    That is exactly what i wouldve recommended.
    Get the data off as fast as possible and only turn it on when you really need to.

    But if the files are not important, use it until it dies, or use it for something else, like external HDD. (Buy a case and put it in).
  6. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from HanZie82 in Motherboard giving single beeps like there's no tomorrow   
    Okay I've tried that and it appears to have worked - I do feel kinda silly for it though. Do you reckon I could still get a new hard drive and copy the old drive files to the new one or is this one too far gone despite that it has no corrupted data?
  7. Informative
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to HanZie82 in Motherboard giving single beeps like there's no tomorrow   
    Just to make sure its not your HDD unplug it and turn the system on to hear if it still does it.
  8. Informative
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Noodle 1 in I need a thin and light laptop under 1000 euros, any suggestions?   
    Look at ultrabooks such as the Dell XPS, Lenovo ThinkPad, and Framework laptop. The CPU performance will be there and if you need a GPU, there are some models with low to mid range discrete graphics. The XPS and Framework PC look the same but Lenovo has a dozen lines of their ThinkPad series so there's one for your need no matter how specialized. A late 2020 Dell XPS onward is pretty sweet but if you're on a budget, then a used ThinkPad or new Framework (DIY version) is your friend. Like someone else said, ThinkPads are basically mini tanks, NASA uses them  and they are (or were) iconic for professionals for a long time for good reason. 
     
    As for frame.work, get the DIY config with a base CPU and wifi card (it's actually a good deal compared to US Amazon prices) and buy your own used (or on sale) RAM, SSD, and bootleg Windows 10 license and that should keep you under $1000. It's under $800 USD for the laptop plus $60 for 16gb of used RAM and another $100-120 for an nvme SSD and $15 or so for a bootleg Windows 10 license.
     
    https://frame.work/products/laptop-diy-edition/configuration/edit
  9. Informative
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Eigenvektor in Unity C# error CS0201   
    To give a bit more context:
    // assignment variableName = someValue; // call, e.g. a method methodName(); // increment variableName++; variableName = variableName + 1; // await, e.g. a method await methodName(); // new object expression variableName = new SomeObject();  
    If you don't know what the line is supposed to do, then sure.
  10. Informative
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to minibois in Unity C# error CS0201   
    Maybe it will work, maybe not. Without knowing the context, I have no idea what "BCFC" is, what "BCFC.instance" is supposed to do, etc. 
  11. Like
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to AbydosOne in Error C6385 in C++ (AES)   
    See here.
     
    Basically, it's just warning you there's a chance that 'x' might be a larger value than the declared length of 'decryptedMessage'. Check that x < decryptedMessageLength in your for loop.
  12. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from BTGbullseye in RX 570 vs 580 for i7 3770   
    Now, how will a 3770 bottleneck an rx570.
  13. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from BTGbullseye in RX 570 vs 580 for i7 3770   
    The i7 3770, will be bottlenecked by an rx 570 (also, BF5 on an rx570 seems like a bad investment, especially if you're looking 2 years ahead). 
    I myself had an i7 2600 + gtx 970 (gtx 970 = ~rx580 -depends on the game), by this logic the i7 3770 will not bottleneck an rx580 or an rx590. 

    Now, I think, especially with your golden electricity, the gtx 1660 will be the best. If I'm to guess, the 1660 will be bottlenecked a little bit by the i7-3770, but not by much.

    Edit: note: the i7 2600 did not bottleneck the gtx 970.
  14. Like
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from Akira Shimazu in RX 570 vs 580 for i7 3770   
    The i7 3770, will be bottlenecked by an rx 570 (also, BF5 on an rx570 seems like a bad investment, especially if you're looking 2 years ahead). 
    I myself had an i7 2600 + gtx 970 (gtx 970 = ~rx580 -depends on the game), by this logic the i7 3770 will not bottleneck an rx580 or an rx590. 

    Now, I think, especially with your golden electricity, the gtx 1660 will be the best. If I'm to guess, the 1660 will be bottlenecked a little bit by the i7-3770, but not by much.

    Edit: note: the i7 2600 did not bottleneck the gtx 970.
  15. Like
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from Origami Cactus in Need help choosing between 2 similar laptops?   
    Aight chief, choose the ryzen 7 model. You aren't going to be doing heavy AutoCAD on either, but it's possible. If it is possible, you can upgrade to 16 gigs later.
  16. Like
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from AhICanNotThinkOfAUsername in Need help choosing between 2 similar laptops?   
    Aight chief, choose the ryzen 7 model. You aren't going to be doing heavy AutoCAD on either, but it's possible. If it is possible, you can upgrade to 16 gigs later.
  17. Like
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from AhICanNotThinkOfAUsername in Need help choosing between 2 similar laptops?   
    The left laptop for sure, mainly because it has SSD storage and quite a bit extra CPU headroom.

    You aren't going to be using more then 8gb with gaming on this laptop. Middleload to heavyload video editing isn't really gonna work out either way, so just stick with 8 gb ram laptop that has the better CPU and storage.

    If you want more specific advice tell us what you're gonna be doing with the laptop.
  18. Funny
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Stormseeker9 in What should I buy an SSD or upgrade CPU?   
    Getting ahead of yourself here ?
  19. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Jurrunio in What should I buy an SSD or upgrade CPU?   
    HOW TF DID YOU GET THE 2200G TO WORK ???
     
    Dual channel?
     
    then get SSD. streaming Switch games means even lower CPU load for running the game (since the PC isn't running it) so more power can go to encoding.
  20. Like
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from Edi.00 in Ryzen build for 1500$   
    Not a whole lot of details, so here's a vague sketch to get you on the way.
     
    Either go with a ryzen 5 3600x or ryzen 7 model depending on your workload (gaming or next to gaming also video editing and multicore workloads)

    Bequited dark rock cooler for the r7 and for the r5 a pure rock.

    Get an X570 asus strix mobo, cuz ya can't go wrong with those.

    2 x 8 gbs or 4 x 4 gbs of 3600 Mhz ram if your budget allows it and do not go below 3000 Mhzs.
     
    Depending on your workload I recommend either gtx 1660 if you don't plan on gaming, but I assume you will, so go for an rtx 2070 -supe- if your budget allows it. 

    128 gb SSD for Win10 and frequently used programs such as chrome and word. 

    HDD for mass storage

    ATX case.

    PSU that can handle the required power draw from your system, get like a corsair CX series -the newer ones- PSU. (I dunno a whole lot about PSUs so feel free to post a new topic once you got your other components sorted out).
  21. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from TVwazhere in Headphones to Monitor or Case   
    Plug them into your PC directly for now. When you have the budget get an AMP or DAC AMP. You'll already start hearing a clear difference when buying DAC AMPs from around 50 - 60 euros (that'd be 55 - 65 US dollars). This difference does depend on how good your headphones are.
  22. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Jurrunio in Ryzen build for 1500$   
    Way too little info.
     
     
  23. Informative
    Lennart van de Merwe got a reaction from Yasin40 in Budget rig for a friend   
    Yes
  24. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Fasauceome in how to diagnose a graphic problem   
    See now these are the specs people always forget to post
     
    Did you check and make sure your ram is running at the proper speed?
  25. Agree
    Lennart van de Merwe reacted to Princess Luna in I3 9100F (80€) v Ryzen 5 2600 (125€)   
    If there's any way for you to save up and afford the R5 2600 + GTX 1660 combo that'd be the best experience possible since you want this to last so much.
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