NZXT PODCAST - #142 - Mr. Matt Lee!

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

On this week's NZXT Podcast, we have Mr. Matt Lee, photographer/filmmaker/custom PC builder talking about his past work, favorite custom builds, and skateboarding! Also, please go to the hospital if you injure yourself skateboarding. Especially if you live half a mile away from home... You'll understand when you listen. Follow Matt on Twitter! twitter.com/mr_matt_lee Tune in live every Thursday at 10AM PT on twitch.tv/NZXT and send your questions to: [e-mail]

everyone and welcome to episode 142 of the NZ60 podcast, the official podcast of the NZC community. This podcast recorded live every Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on the official NCC Twitch is available to stream on demand on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. My name is Mike. Sadly, Ivan is out for today since he's taking care of his daughter. However, I have a guest that have been waiting for months to have, months to have on the podcast. Here is Mr. Matt Lee. Mr. Matt, how are you doing today? I'm very well

How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing amazing So for those that don't know who you are, especially in the audience, who are you in? What do you do? Oh man. So I'm Mr. Matt Lee and I build computers and make things look awesome with my cameras. That's probably the short version of the long. I like that.

Let me go ahead and show off your Instagram real quick to show. Look at all this. stuff that he does. Like, guys, please go to, there is a Mr. Matt Lee command in the Twitch. Please go ahead and double check like all this amazing stuff that he does.

Look at all the stuff that, like look at all these custom PCs, the photography to film. Everything is amazing in this thing. Like, oh my gosh. I also really like the hand. Where did you guys, where'd you get the hand? Yeah, it's actually really bizarre.

There's like an arts and craft shop and not too far from where I live. And one day I walked in and it was just literally that one all by itself on the shelf. And I was like, I'm having that. And it was actually initially just to hold like CPUs for like product photography. But then I just ended up utilizing it for so much other stuff. And it just works so well. Oh, interesting.

Okay. So to kind of go along with this, let's start from beforehand. How, what did you do before ending up as like this custom piece? kind of film photographer? I actually worked in the supercar industry as a filmmaker and photographer. So, who's travel around the country and the far, sort of capturing promotional content with new upcoming supercars and sports cars doesn't necessarily sort of stop there. It's like with BMW and then high Hyundai and Toyota and all that kind of stuff.

So yeah, it was quite an interesting journey leading up to. here and a total, I mean, like a total transformation coming into this industry from that as well. So, so two questions. How did, what made you want to do this with supercars? And it also, what type of cars have you like done? Like, what was your favorite car that you've like filmed and photographed? Oh, man, that's a really difficult question. I came into this accidentally, in all honesty, because.

when the pandemic happened, same thing worldwide, like all of the car dealerships and the automotive industry basically stopped. And that kind of left me in a bit of a position like, okay, if the industry for automotive stops, what do I do for work? Like, because that is my work. So I just decided it was a good idea to kind of like diversify, I guess. And through a common friend, I got introduced to a guy called Paul who owns battle rigs shout out and he introduced us to together to work together he said you know if you if you're looking for some studio work then why don't you two kind of like join forces and i was like okay pc industry sounds fun um i could explore that why not um so we we got studio together and then started exploring it but we'll get into that later but from the

perspective of like my my favorite cars to have worked with there's been so many dude. Like so many. I think the most iconic moment was probably the Porsche G20 RS when that came out. And what made that so iconic was it was the first one in this country and the person that bought it was actually JK, the lead

singer of Jemiriqui. And he turned up to collect his cow by I was still in the middle of filming it. Wait, really? Yeah. So I didn't even, I he was coming that day, but he actually turned up really early. So I'm there with my cameras, like, filming this really cool kind of sweeping shot across the front bumper.

And then I get this on the shoulder, you must be mad. I'm like, I'm just like, oh my God, that literally JK from Jamiriqui is like, here on my shoulder. And then we just ended up hanging for the rest of the afternoon, having coffee and talking about cars and all that kind of thing. So it's like the Porsche GT2RS is now really iconic for that reason. honestly, that's an amazing thing. I always like it when you meet, like, celebrities, basically, and they, you know,

if they don't let the ego get to them, they are actually, like, down to earth good human beings. It's such a cool thing to hear, man. Yeah, I completely agree, and he's, like, obsessed with cars. Like, he has a car collection like no other. So at the time, you know, we kind of had this really strong, like, common ground to talk about cars and talk about his private collection. and I was there saying, you know,

I should be filming the next to a Miracle Yule music video, hint, hint, waggle, waggle. But it was good fun. It was really good fun. I love that. So going along with getting into the industry, so how has like photography film changed and evolved since you basically now went from supercarce to now PC?

Like what changed? I don't think it was necessarily about how my skills changed it. I think it was more, how do I adapt that same kind of level of, it's not about like the professionalism or the quality, but it's about being able to hardware, PC hardware in the same way that you would like a multi-million pound car. Like everything looks good. It's about finding that angle. And for me with PCs it was always like aesthetics was always really important. Even before I got involved with this industry, I was more than more than aware of like how a PC aesthetically should be like pleasing.

But for me it was like if I get involved with this industry, what can I offer? That's different but also supports my background. So it changed I guess in some ways making my work a little bit more detailed if you will

because like PC hardware you have to get really close to really see it and the attention to detail can be something as small as like a like an eight-pin cable on a graphics card, for example. Like, you'll get a really nice one made by cable mod or something like that. And then you have to get in really close and show that, like, fine weave in the cable and things like that. So it taught me, I guess, to get up closer and see more. Because with cars, you don't always need to do that.

Interesting. Yeah, because I didn't think about that. Because, like, for cars, it'd be, like, you know, the car itself, the little, like, details in it, but for a PC, you know, you don't have as much real estate as you do with a car, so you'll have to do, do you end up using a lot of like micro lenses and stuff like that for your equipment? Or do you just kind of just see what you have and then just work with it? I guess it's a bit of both. So the lenses which I do use, they do have like a lot of macro functions and things like that, so I can get up close. But I think there's a fine line sometimes with like

that kind of photography because people don't always know what they're looking at. And as you know, as you know, when you look back through like my Instagram account nearly, every post that I've ever put out with the PC build, there's always been like a minimum of like six pictures because I like to tell the story. And so when people see like the overall build, that's almost like presenting a car, so that's like, there you go, that's the PC. But then as you swipe through those pictures, you get to see all of the close up details, including like the motherboard and the rest of the hardware, which is on there.

So, yeah, macro does play its role, but it's like part of the story and not the entire story. Okay. So after doing this, what would you have done if you didn't end up being like this, you know, custom builder for phone photographer? What would you have done differently if you didn't end up here? I'm not sure. Honestly, I'm not sure. Like, I've always been very much the person who will always seize opportunities. always.

So I don't believe life is about sort of playing the cards like you're dealt. I think it's how you play those cards, not if you play them. So I've always been about opportunity. So if I didn't get involved with this industry, I may have continued with the car industry once it picked up again.

I may have diverse and gone into more portrait photography like I used to do. I'm really not sure. I just know whatever I would have done, it would have included cameras and me somehow. Interesting. What is your, what is your favorite type of photography to, like, take?

Is it portrait or is it just kind of anything? I guess anything really. I don't like weddings. If there's anybody on here, which I photochuted weddings for, that's nothing I didn't enjoy it. I did. I just,

I don't really enjoy the stress, the stress and pressure of doing it. because I'm more like to say it's not about the key moments for me, it's more about the overall story. And with weddings, everything's like you've got 12 hours, getting everything done now. And I can't deal with that because I'm like, I want to go over there and photograph that.

But then the bride and groomer over there, and they want me to do that. And I'm just like, what? Right. You don't have as flexibility, basically, right? For sure. I mean, realistically, I think I love landscape stuff for my personal work. So when it's nothing to do with my career,

and just shooting landscapes is great. But I just like photographing anything. Like if it's difficult to do, then I really want to be involved. Interesting. Okay. So to kind of go along with that, what companies have you basically worked with as you kind of built this career? Well, I think the highlight has got to be NTXT, right? Good answer. Great answer.

And yeah, so NDXT for sure. That was a great time so far with everything that we've done. Porsche as a brand that's been really good fun. Here in the UK you've got like the NHS, which is the national help service. I've actually done quite a bit of work for them as well, which was good fun, sometimes a little bit. Not sad, but there's a lot of kind of like deeper things with the NHS,

which again on the career path, it was all good fun. I've done a little bit of work with Atari, which is kind of cool. I don't know, man. There's so many brands. Like, I'm probably the worst person to ask with things like because to be honest with you,

I'm like really humble about everything. My whole journey in this industry so far since I first picked up a camera, like it's all about experiences for me and it's very unusual for me to kind of like shout about it, if that makes sense. I like that.

I like that. So with all this happening, can you, can you go over, like, a day-to-day life of, you know, I know, I assume that the days-to-day will be very different from, like, one day you're emailing a bunch of people to, like, you're actually working on it. But if you want to give, like, separate day-to-days of, like, how you work, that would give, I know a lot of people in the audience, especially, are looking to do a lot of these custom builds and do these film photography things. So I think it would be great insight for them

to see what they're going to get into. Sure. I think the short version would be the box is always the same, but the contents always change. I think that's probably the best way of putting it. So being in the UK, I mean, if there's any of the UK viewers here

who were interested in getting into this kind of industry, like there are a few things that you probably would need to know. and the UK is kind of like right in the middle of time zones across the world. And it's a wonderful thing, but it's also a terrible thing at the same time. So if I wake up at like 6.30 in the morning, we're then riding on like Taipei's time. And so I often find myself at 6 in the morning, kind of laid in bed, replying to the clients and my contacts in Taipei and that side of the world. And that kind of takes me through to kind of like 9, 10 a.m.

then I get to the studio and then I'm talking to all of my UK people and all that kind of stuff. But then when it gets to 5pm where I want to come home, then it kind of starts with like LA and US time. So from the moment that you wake up to go into bed, it's kind of like you are always working, always. Whether that's sending emails, having video meetings or creating content and sending content is just around the clock. So every day is always the same idea. The box is always the same, but it's the contents inside which change. So one day I could be building a computer and shooting that. The next day I could be checking out a new and exclusive graphics card that no one's seen yet,

but creating the content to go out later. And in other days, I can actually be working with a model, for example, and doing a photo shoot for a magazine. So completely out of the PC industry, it's very varied for sure. Interesting. So after you make, so it looks like it can change and it can be incredibly busy some days and sometimes it's just like very relaxed. You're kind of in a dull phase or anything like that? I wish. I wish there was a relaxed day. I really wish. Me and my wife have actually got a few days off next week and we're just going to go chill as a pre-Christmas and hang out in London for a few days. but that's the first time I've actually had proper time off from work in three years.

Interesting. Yeah. There's never really downtime. It's always go, go, go, go. So how do you deal with that? How do you deal with the stress or the go, go, go mentality? Do you just have that like, okay, it's fine? Like, you'd like being busy, or is it just sometimes it can be overwhelming?

I would probably say that I am a workaholic, but if you love what you do, is it really work? I mean, that's kind of like the question sometimes because I do love what I do. And my wife would tell you the same thing where it's kind of like, it can be 7, 8 p.m. at night. I've just had some food. I'm just piping down and I'll get this really great idea. And then I will get in my car, go drive to the studio, which is 10 miles away, and go work on that project until midnight and then come back. Because the idea is there and I want to execute it.

So, yeah, I'm a workaholic and I enjoy it. So it's not really about work for me. It's more about just expanding my own abilities. And yeah. I get. So I guess we have some footage of this, but do you want to explain after you make a build, what is the process of it? It's very difficult to kind of say.

So like recently, as you know, over the last four or five months, I put a lot of attention on YouTube because the build process behind the computers was actually really important for me. to be able to take people on that journey. And the process from start to finish can sometimes take an entire week. So you spend a whole day planning the build and then you could be working on the build for two days. Some people might argue the bills are very simple. But even though they are, it's sometimes about the execution.

And it's the execution of those builds which can take time. So to make them look how they do. It's easy to put a computer together, but it's not always easy to make a computer look good. So the process is usually like day one planning, all of hardware, all of that kind of thing. Day two and three is usually dedicated to a build. And then kind of on the four-up day, the photo shoot would usually happen. And that takes at least a day, usually from start to finish. And then the remainder of the filming, so there's usually like a Monday to Friday process.

But it's all really enjoyable. Like every part of it I enjoy because I learn a lot as well. even though I've built literally hundreds of PCs, it's like there's always something new to learn. So when a brand releases a new product, there's something exciting about that. And it always keeps that flame ignited, you know? Yeah.

And actually you really like what Razor PT says. You can build a PC in two hours, but the way that you do it, it probably takes a few days, if not longer, just because you're doing things intricate. Like for us, like, you know, for standard PC builders, we're just building it.

You know, you can make it pretty, but most of the time we just want it functional. But you have to do it in a different way of making the aesthetic. You know, you have to make it look clean. You have to make all the cables correct. You have to hide anything that you can't do. There's so much different things of it. What's like the most difficult part of the building process then? I don't think there's necessarily a difficult part.

I think sometimes the part which is difficult is making sure all of the hardware that you've chosen communicates properly. And I think that's often over. because there's been a few times where, for example, on one of my latest YouTube videos where I featured a particular brand RAM in the setup. And through the whole video in the build process, this particular RAM was featured. And then when it came to actually powering it on to finish like the cinematic, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't post. And it was only because that particular motherboard was quite new that Azus themselves hadn't actually communicated or, of that information about that RAM onto the database and then allowed the BIOS update to fix that.

So the time consuming part is actually getting all of the hardware to work properly and how you want it to. And like sometimes it's going to be something as simple as like the RGB on the RAM won't communicate. And that can be a huge thing if like you builds all about the aesthetic as well as performance. Like the RGB not working properly. It's like what? So you can't a rainbow wave on the R on the RRAM and then the rest of the PC is blue because it just doesn't work. work. So yeah, that's the time-consuming path for me. Yeah, I want to show people, since you sent us some photos and videos of like how the

BTS works. So I'm going to show a little bit of it. Like, for all of us at home, we see a picture of a PC. We go, oh, yeah, it's just a picture. You know, you probably just could take this on your phone. But you look at the lighting. You see every, you see all these lighting and you see everything going on, the backdrop, off, everything like that.

How long does it take to usually set up something like this? I think the setup part of it can be kind of difficult because every shot that you do, you end up moving all of lighting. So for like one photo, you could probably spend an hour or two getting it perfect. And then there'll always be something, which can, like,

the light could be hitting, like, the case in a certain area too much, and then you move that. So setting up the shots, take the longest. And taking the pictures themselves can actually be really, really quick. you know. If you know the camera settings, you can just kind of get on with it really, really quickly. But yeah, like with that shot,

with like the all in one kind of suspended there, it was interesting. I really enjoyed doing the behind the scenes behind that because people assumed that I actually threw the all in one in the air to get the final picture. And that wasn't the case. Everything was suspended carefully from like the bar at the top and then all of the wires and stuff edited out afterwards.

Wow. How long did it take you to edit it all? the wires and everything. Did it take you long at all? I'd say from start to finish for that photo, it was probably about two and a half, three hours. But actually setting it up was probably about four hours. Dang, that is actually... Yeah, I assume from this photo, like, you just threw it up and it just perfectly made sense, right? But I guess that makes sense, though, because I think that wouldn't be a very fun thing for the company.

You'd be like, why are you throwing her stuff in the air, you know, and risk. it breaking wood, I guess that makes sense. Wow. Yeah, for sure. What made you go, you know what I want to do? I want to, what made you decide to go? I want to basically like suspend everything in the air and show off all the things. Was it just like a moment of clarity?

Did you have like a plan for it from the beginning? No, I think it's like, it's kind of strange because like when a brand like cooler master pops up and says, you know, we want to photo shoot like an all in one. like all in ones when they're not fitted into a computer they're really really difficult to photograph and that's literally because when they're just kind of well you'll know this anybody in the pc building knows this when when a piece when an all in one's just kind of laid out on the desk it's hard to get them from every angle see the fans properly see the pump and see how it's supposed to look so i had it in my head like if it was suspended so you could see all of it

it would kind of make more sense. And yeah, it kind of did. I enjoyed it. I like that. So what, so as you saw from the picture, there's a lot of things that you're using. What equipment do you use for filming and photography? I kind of like, I use a variety of things, really,

but one of the main cameras that I've been using for, like, the last year, has actually been the Panasonic Lumix S5. And the reason for that is because I'm all about being able to have a camera which can get good video, but also good photo at the same time. And there's no perfect camera for that. You can buy cinema cameras which I own and have used a lot, but they're not practical for most things, especially with social media.

Like you're not going to use a cinema camera for filming social media, you know? and then with photography and things like that it can be really difficult to have a camera which might cost you like 5,000 or something like that just for taking a few pictures so the S5 kind of ticked both of the boxes for having a camera which was capable for pictures and for videos where possible but not being extortionately priced

but you have to remember sometimes you might need two or three of these cameras or something like that so you don't want to spend eight nine thousand pound especially where most of your content might be going out on social media, so it speak. That's actually a really good. So what made you end up using the Panasonic? Did you just do a lot of research behind it, or did it just kind of end up in your lap?

And he was like, I'll just go ahead and buy it. No, I think it kind of stems back a while, to be fair, because like a lot of people know, like the Panasonic GH5, for example, was like one of the kind of icons in the content creation world because it had like this amazing in-camera stabilization and all of that kind of stuff. So I got really invested in that ecosystem from like 2016 to 2019.

And I loved it, but micro four thirds as a sensor just wasn't ideal, especially when you're trying to shoot things in low light. It just wasn't ideal. So when as soon as they announced the S5, I was like, yeah, that's the one. I bought the S1H as well. But the S5 was just like, it was the GH5 basically with a bigger sensor, which meant better low-light. And people would argue going,

oh, you know, it's terrible because it's not got great auto-focus like Sony. And it's like, well, if you're making videos, you should be manually focusing anyway. So like autofocus has like literally no kind of like staple in my work because I do everything manually. So it really makes no difference.

So the only time auto-focus should be needed is if you're doing work on a gimbal, for example, and you need autofocus. In that case, probably use a Sony. That makes sense. Yeah, because I could see like for like vloggers or maybe like sports video or something like where you need something that can just auto focus immediately and sometimes you just don't have the ability to be going into manual as quickly. I can kind of see that. Yeah. And I mean everyone everyone has like preference to the image that they like as well. And every brand brings something unique with their own image. And like Canon, for example, amazing skin tones. Like for video. and photo, like the skin tones for portraits, I would always go canon. And then Sony have always had like this kind of look which

kind of hard to define. Sometimes I'd say it can kind of tint towards like the green spectrum on like the sensor. You only really notice this when you like color grade from raw files and things like that. Whereas Lumix kind of found like this nice ground where the colours are always really pleasing and you don't have to work too hard in post. And that for me is like really important because the less time I have to spend in post working on it, the better because time's like important. What's the most expensive equipment do you have? Is it a lens? Um, probably. I mean, I've been heavily invested in like the LICA system for quite a long time. So like for doing street photography and things like that. and I don't own it now

but they don't like a Nocta looks lens at one point and that's like an F0.95 with like the best glass you can possibly buy and I think the lens was like 8,000 but just the lens and yeah I enjoyed it but it was so niche that I didn't use it enough

like you can't walk around streets doing street photography with an 8000 pound lens just to capture something which you can probably shoot at F8 to F16 anyway. So yeah, I think like just the equipment in general used to capture all the content. Like that's where all the expenses like money is in lighting, not necessarily in cameras. Any camera can take a great picture if you have good lighting. So you talked about a little bit about social media, not using an $8,000 camera for social media.

So what made you transition into starting to post online, especially on YouTube, Instagram, stuff like that? I think it was probably the affiliation that I had with BattleRigs. So like I said earlier on, when I joined up the studio with Paul, he at the time had like the title of being like a social media influencer. And his job and what the brands were paying him for was to post content on social media. and they still do. But like for me it was kind of like, okay, so you can sustain a living by creating content to post on social media. And that whole concept for me was really weird.

And it still is. Like even like all this time later, I still find it strange that people get paid to put content on social media. But I get the influence inside of it. But I think for me it was a great education because I did a project like, way back. This was like 2015. I did a project called Project 365 where every single day I had to post a high quality professional image of whatever I was doing that day on Facebook for 365 days, regardless of what happened. And like during that time, my own wedding was in there as well. So it was like really bizarre to have to kind of work on my wedding to get that picture as well. And when

that project ended, I felt a little bit lost because that was like a whole year of things. of something exciting to post every single day. And when I met with Paul and he was doing it for a living, I kind of like put two and two together and for it. If I can post something every day, I will. But I soon realized that social media, if we're going to get onto that topic, social media can get kind of toxic. Like, especially when we start talking about like algorithms and things like that.

and you almost feel like as a content creator like if you don't post that the algorithm's going to hate you like so you want a day off and it's like your own fear that Instagram's going to come along and like slap the back of your hand and give you no reach because you didn't post

that day so yeah it's kind of strange yeah so we can talk a little bit about social media in general how hard it is so what I guess going along with that what's been the most challenging thing about social media in general?

Is it posting all the time? Is it trying to come up with things to post? Is it dealing with other people? Like what has been the, like, what's been the hardest thing about becoming a social media content creator? I think the hardest part for me is like anybody that knows me will tell you that I'm very much a people person. I like to engage with people and I enjoy the community with people too. And the hardest part about social media for me is that because there's YouTube, there's Instagram, there's Twitter, there's Facebook, there's literally TikTok, there's everything. And you're creating so much content on so many channels. It's so, so difficult to stay in communication with people.

And like I get really kind of like upset with myself some days when 12 hours can pass and I haven't replied to people's conversations. comments because it's not because I didn't want to. It's just that I am so busy and I struggle. So every comment like I see, I always see them and I always read them regardless of where they are, but I don't always get time to reply. And like I said, that's the hardest part about being a content create because you don't want people to think you're being ignorant. That's never the case. It's like I want to talk to people, but especially when it goes to DMs, like, responding to a message isn't always about responding to a message because then I want to get in a conversation. And that conversation could then take me for like the next three hours.

And I just don't have the three hours. And I always feel so bad. And it's kind of why I feel like I should probably live stream more just to kind of open up the opportunity for my followers to have one-on-one conversations and have group discussions where we can just kind of hash it out more regularly. And I think that would be a good way. Like I always appreciate the comments. I always hit like on them if I can at the same time that they come through just as like a, I've seen your comment. But I think having that one-on-one time, I think it's like really important. It's something that I'm going to be trying to aim for more in 2023.

So actually being closer with the community through doing things like what we're doing right now. I like that. I mean, it's just kind of the, you know, it's kind of the, what do you call it? I guess the Catch 22 where it's like, you know, you want to engage with this community that you're growing with. But as you grow, more people are like, wow, this guy actually engages with you. Let me see if he can respond. It just makes it even harder for you to engage with that community as you grow and more people join you because you are engaging. It's just this overall cycle of stuff like.

And I think I can relate to as we work on social media as well that, you know, we try to respond to every single comments, try to respond to every single DM, but it gets to the point where you just don't have enough time in the day. And even if you try to make time to respond in DM and do all that stuff, you're also pushing back other things that need that attention. So it's like one, it's like you do one or the other. You can't have both. It's kind of terrifying to think about that. Like, you know, you're like, oh, I could easily do this.

But then after a while, you're like, I can't do this anymore. I've grown too big, which is not a bad thing. It's just a good problem to have. Yeah, and I think a lot of us kind of like when we are not in the public eye, I think we kind of have like this thing where we could send like a DM to somebody who is maybe internet famous or whatever and you kind of sit there thinking, I've sent them a message like three weeks ago and I never got a response. And what a lot of people don't realize is like when your account starts getting bigger,

you then end up with things like you have like a request folder on Instagram for example. And then inside the request folder, there's another folder, which is, like hidden requests. And like, if I'm not getting around to like see my actual DMs from the people that I actually know, what's the chances that I'm going to see those DMs that have gone to the hidden requests and then even further into the next folder. And like sometimes you might only go into that once every two weeks. And then by that point, the conversation, which could have been good, has now gone so stale

because it's now probably irrelevant. And it's like, that's partially like social media's fault for giving those extra folders. but at the same time, I guess they are kind of protecting us because we're already so distracted as it is. Very true. But I guess going along with this content creator, you know, we're kind of focusing on the negatives. What about positive?

What has been like the best part of like working in social media? It's kind of like a swings and roundabouts, I guess, because the best part is also the community. So you have like the worst part has not been able to engage with them. the best part is actually having them. So people bring ideas to the table all the time. And like on YouTube, for example, like I could post a video and then somebody would go, yeah, I absolutely love that.

But next time it would be really great to see this. And like, it would be an idea that I've never thought of. And like, that can then be ticking around in my head for hours and hours thinking about like, yeah, that'd be really good, but how do I actually make it happen? So the best part of social media for me has been able to connect me with people and given the ability to talk to be even people like yourself like right now like we're talking like if it wasn't for the social media and everything else we wouldn't be here doing this and i guess going along with that um what what happens when you get

criticism suggestions and overall like it's not even criticism it's just like basically like a rude comment how do you filter between those three like Like, do you try to ignore the negative? Do you try to understand, like, okay, do I need to respond to that? Like, what is your thought process between criticism, suggestions, and then just overall hate? I think there's a balance that you have to find. So, like, for me, I treat anybody online, even if it's like the virtual world, I treat them as if they were greeting me in person, right?

So if somebody comes at me with something that's constructive, even if it's criticism, and they approach me correctly. I'll always respond, always. And we'll try and work out, okay, if I did that wrong or something didn't seem right, how do we, how do I fix that or correct it? Or will I take it to the M's and talk to you? But then if somebody comes and leaves a comment,

which is almost like really kind of in your face and they're trying to be negative or sarcastic, then that's not worth me giving my time for. I don't have time. If you're going to act like that and not give me an opportunity to talk with you properly, then where do we go? Like if somebody come to me on the street

and said something awful or whatever, you just kind of shrug it off and walk on. So why shouldn't online be the same way as that? Whereas if someone came up to me the street and said, hey dude, just letting you know that your jumper, your sweater is on inside out and your tag sticking out. Oh, chairs, mate, great, I'll fix it. But if someone comes back and says you like it

because you've got your hood on the wrong way or whatever, it's like, all right, mate, and you just walk on. So I think you've got to treat it fair, you know, you'd be fair to me, I'll be fair to you. And it's always been like that for me. I agree. 100% agree. And for those out there watching, same thing. There is a big difference from hate to actual criticism. There's a big difference between that. And once you learned it to, you can actually, and don't be afraid to take criticism, but also don't take a lot of things to heart. You know, everyone's approving. Everyone's going to improve. Everyone has things to improve.

no one's going to be perfect, but be careful with which ones, which, we should be good. But to go along with more of a funner topic, since we were kind of being in a little drill, we kind of want to talk about what you've done as like an actual content creator. What has been some of the favorite projects you've been through? And actually, Jasmine here actually asked, what's been some of your, like, what has been your favorite build that you've done? I don't think I have a favorite, but there are a few, which have stood out particularly this year.

And two of those are actually NZXT builds. But we'll kick off with the first one. So the first one was we did a project with Cooler Master. And they released like the Flux all in one. And with it being called the Flux, they wanted to do something which was sort of back to the future inspired. And I basically had 24 hours to turn a PC case into, a delorean. And that was my project. And that was great fun. Like, in my garage, all the tools out,

spray paint, because the case was originally black. And just turned it into what I would consider a micro delorean in 24 hours. Bear in mind, I slept for 12 of those. So there was kind of like, like a tiny window to do it. But that was like one of the main ones. You did this in 24 hours? well technically 12 but 12 hours from the point where I started to post it the content kind of thing geez that is incredible

what was like your thought process between this like what made you go you know what I can do this or was it like oh my god I don't know what's going on what's going to happen I think it was more for me because there were other people that were also being involved with it and it was actually really difficult to theme a computer as back to the future in a small window of opportunity without putting,

I guess, almost like statues and figures and things like that inside it to give it that kind of back to the future image. So I already had some wheels in my garage and they were actually meant for a lawnmower of all things. And I was just looking at them. I was like, I wonder if I could put lawnmower wheels on a PC? Like, would that be the start? like could that start turning it into a delorean and then I just kind of offered it up outside like in my garden and I was like that looks ridiculous and I love it. And so I just got carried away with it from there, you know, just got a load of sort of ketchup and mustard cables and used them as like a wiring harness and just went through it.

But it was honestly great fun. A lot of pressure in a small amount of time but the results were perfect. I like the thought process is lawnmower wheels. PC. Yeah. Like, I love the thought process of that. Just, I can do that. The comments on social media were so good because, like, it had wheels on it.

So people were like, dude, you're going to put it on a desk and it's going to roll away. And I was like, you are not wrong. Oh, it is, it is straight up a moving machine. I like that. For sure. So, so we had, we had that and that project in itself was, really good fun but more

after not I find the projects which I hold close to me to be like really important so another one of those so going into like NZT for example the first gaming orientated PC case that I had this was way back when that was

like the NZXT Manta and it's iconic dude like I don't know there's just something about the shape Like when people see an NZXT Manta, you just know that case. You just know it. And all of this time had kind of passed since like that case was in the spotlight.

And earlier on this year, I just kind of looked at it again and was like, that needs a rebirth. I don't know why, like the idea of putting modern hardware, or should I say modern at the time, you're sort of like using like an X570, rather than like an X470 and then a 3000 series GPU and just kind of rebirthing that PC. that was like another personal favorite because it was a highlight and a throwback.

I love this case. I absolutely love this case so much. And with all the cardboard and everything like that. It just brings a tear to my eye how I really do like the idea of like an old, old case. This is literally one of our first ever cases and putting like all this crazy modern stuff into it. It looks amazing. It's so cute. Yeah.

I agree. I agree, friend. It's a cute case, actually. It's very, it's very adorable. Yeah. And I think, like, every angle that you look at it, it just looks different. So, like, when you look at it, like, face on, for example, like, you would not know that shape, because it almost looks like, you know, the movie Arrival, where that kind of, like, big dome kind of comes into the ground. It just kind of has, like, that really kind of powerful look. I don't know. It's just something about it. It's unique. Yeah, Fran says it gives me retro iMac i like that Absolutely i can totally see that

And I think in the reels video which I posted just after this I actually uh kind of green screened and edited like a screen into it to kind of give it like a retro tv look And then the internet kind of like lost the mind about that because they thought it was actually like a TV until you opened up and you could see the hardware inside It's honestly one of the when you see when you see sent, when you, like, posted that, I went, oh my God, it's a rebirth. It's a, it's a re-done version of the Manta, which is honestly, probably one of my few cases. That and the S340, like, those were

top two cases and you did a Manta. I was so happy. Yeah, dude. It's still, I still own it. It's still at the studio. And I'm pretty certain it will get another rebirth again. Like, one of the ideas that I've had with, that would be to, I've have it chrome dipped or have it painted Chrome. And just go for something that almost looks kind of like flight of the navigator and just really go to town with that. I like that. And then you also have one more, which is the Gotwood case.

Yeah. Gotwood was great because I did like, I've done like a few builds prior because like Noctua, like I've always been a big fan of Noctua. Controversially, like some people don't like the brown and beige, but I do. And every time I looked at the computer, I kind of like this. I had this idea of what if the whole computer looked like wood. And yeah, that kind of left me to take a H510, give it a wood wrap, wrap the GPU, and just go all out on the whole idea of got wood.

And that's probably like one of my favorite cases. Like I'd quite happily still have that on my desk right now and use it. It just looks so good in person like the pictures. Didn't do it justice. sound out sounds weird, but they didn't. So how did you get it to look so? Is it just like a, what's it called? A rap? Yeah. So it's actually a wrap that you're supposed to use for like a kitchen worktop.

So if your worktops are looking a bit tired and old, then you use that wrap to kind of go over it and make it look new again. But it wasn't designed for PCs, so it was actually kind of difficult to put on. So amazing. It's still amazing luck, though. And then I guess going along with, like, since we had some fun ones, what's been the most challenging one that you've ever done? Oh my. Without a doubt, the Charcoon Charkwarium.

And the whole idea for this was Chakun asked me to build something for an April Falls prank. And I had this idea that not too long before, I'd actually seen a video with like the height Y-60 and Robitech. They made a video on YouTube where they built a fish tank and transplanted that fish tank into the height Y-60.

And I kind of looked at it and I was like, the brand is called Sharkoon. It's about sharks. And I really wanted to explore this idea of actually turning a PC case. So not putting a fish tank into the PC case, like actually turning the case into a fish tank.

And yeah, like, very, very difficult. And the reason for it was so being so difficult was because a PC case on the inside isn't level. So there's a lot which had to be cut out. And then the perspex had to be fitted inside it, all steeled up with silicon. And there's about, I dare say,

like if you take like a typical bucket of water, there's about six in there. So the weight and pressure of that water is like really high. And yeah, it was a It was terrifying to fill up the first time I actually bought like a kids paddling pool And put that up in the studio and filled it up in there Because I was afraid that if it like blew open

It would flood the entire studio Yeah, let me pull up the video To show people what we're talking about Because this thing Is incredible So All the all the equipment you've had to use.

So I see you're cutting this. What is this clear polystyrene? Yeah, so that, the polystyrene, that's basically acrylic. So that was what I used to line the entire inside of the case to hold the water in. Okay, wow. So you had to, like, fit everything. What type of, is it just, like, standard, like, industrial blue? They, like, hold everything in?

The first layer was, so the first layer which I put in, that was, like, standard industrial silicon. But then the second layer that I put in was like, because it had to bead around the inner edges to hold it all together. So that had to be like proper aquarium level silicon because of the weight and pressure of the water, like standard silicon would just like basically burst through it. And this is where he start filling it in. Was this a working card or was this a dead card? A lot of people said that because I actually put the video on TikTok and it went viral on TikTok. and even still to this day, like people on TikTok are comment on it saying that it's actually like,

I forgot what the word for it is now, the water basically which you can submerge components in and they'll be fine. So people still believe it's that and all the hardware in there is working. But no, it was already dead. I paid like 30 pounds, like the equivalent of like 40 bucks or whatever

for the dead graphics card. And getting all of that to stay in the case was actually hard enough with the water in there. And so yeah, it was the whole thing was just a massive challenge. And the second time I filled it up was for this video. So it was on top of the table. But the first time, it actually had leaks and quite a lot of them too. So we had to kind of drain it out and then seal all the leaks and refill again and just hope it held.

Jesus. This is incredible. I forgot. How long did this take to make? I think it was probably about a week from start to finish, but that wasn't like a week in terms of like your typical eight-hour working day. I think I was probably there for 12 to 15 hours most days that week. Yeah, it's just straight water.

Yeah, it's totally straight water. We don't even have like a water supply actually in the studio. It's like down the corridor. So I had to carry like six or seven buckets of water down the corridor each time. and then get it all put in there. So yeah, draining it was actually more difficult than filling it. Oh my God. So how did you drain it?

Or did you carry it and then just like throw out the water after? Dude, you really couldn't. You couldn't drain it. Like, you couldn't carry it at least because it probably weighed as much as like five people or something. So you know how you would siphon fuel out of a car? So you'd kind of like suck on a pipe and let gravity do its thing. Right.

It was that all the way through. So it took time. But yeah. It's an incredible build though. I like what you added was like the LEDs and everything, like a real fish take. But I think that's what made people think that it was real because it was like, why is this on? Like, is this PC actually on? What's going on?

Such an insane project, though. Yeah. I'll say, I'm missing. it and I would have liked to have kept it. And in reality, had I been able to make it a little bit more practical, I would have probably actually kept it as a fish tank, like a real fish tank.

But I don't think it would have been practical. Because I said, the weight of it was way too much. And because of how it was made and the short time it was made in, there was never really like a proper opportunity to test it long term. And like the worst case scenario is like we would have like, this beautiful studio fish tank with these beautiful fish in it. And then like two nights later, like it would just start leaking everywhere and just caused too much stress.

So actually, a question with that, what do you do with the PCs after you're done? Do you keep them? Do you throw them away? Does the company take it? No. So whenever one of the PCs have been built, it's always the same process.

So all of the hardware gets taken out and then used again in future. builds, which is actually a really good thing because it just means you've got way more kind of stock to hand for any kind of theme build that you want to do. The only downside is you have a lot of stuff and a lot of stuff needs somewhere to live. And that's actually a real difficult thing. Especially if you spent so much time and effort and doing all this and all of a sudden you're like, I can't keep you. Like that's just that just hurts sometimes. It is honestly. It's so heartbreaking.

Like you make so many where like each week you kind of like, I'll leave it up as long as I possibly can until that time comes where I might have to pull that I nine out because I need it for another project or I need to take the all in one out. But then yeah, you just can't keep them all. You just can't. You want to, but you can't. And then I guess going along with since we got the favorite challenging, what was the easiest project to work? That would have been the...

So one thing that a lot of people kind of said was I want to see a water cooled, like a custom loop inside an NZXT H510. And I never really found an opportunity to do so until the Allmite was released. And when the Ormite case came out, obviously you guys sent that across to me. and I really wanted to put a custom loop inside that

but the problem with custom loops and that they need to breathe especially when you've got a water called graphics card and a water called CPU and the hardest part is it's not about the airflow it's about radiators and you need space for two radiators and I was actually thinking to myself

it was not going to be possible but I managed to put 120mm radiator on the rear and a 280 up on the the front. And like the whole build was actually way easy than I expected it was going to be. All the lines worked perfectly. And that was my main studio editing PC for, I think it was eight months. Like I only actually dismantled it recently, but eight months I used that computer for all of my heavy workload. Wow. So this was actually like a fully working one that you continue to use yourself. Yes, absolutely. So that like,

so that was my main editing PC at the studio, and it performed so great all of the time, and it was just so dependable. What liquid is inside this? It's EK cryo fuel, so that's just like the white one. And obviously the overall aesthetic was to... Oh, I'm sorry. I'm losing you real quick.

Hold on. I'm losing here real quick. Hello? Hello? Okay, yeah. Sorry, so it's a little. little robot, but it's okay. You go.

Yeah, so the whole idea for this one was to theme it around the plus ultra kind of look as best possible. And I really wanted to go with like the custom loop because I think everything just complemented each other, even down to the RAM. Like the RAM inside there was like, it just reminded me of like all my fringe and all of that kind of stuff. And I expected, like I said, the build to be difficult just because of limited space more than anything else. But everything came together like absolutely perfectly.

And then uh, lagin, laden, uh, ask, are the graphics adhesive back? On the case, is that? I think that's what I'm talking about. No, all of the graphics on the case, they're all printed. So that's NZXT's very own sort of take on it. So that's not like my vinyl wrap. That's actually an NZXT official case. incredible build and he said this was easy how long it take you to make? Six hours

Oh that's nothing at all no so that was six hours from scratch again like the usual content around it took a lot longer so there's a whole like build video on YouTube building that particular PC which was good fun

I love that and then I guess for the last question of the interview, when did you and NCXT start becoming very buddy-buddy together? Oh man. We started being buddy-buddy probably, I'm going to guess it was probably in like April this year. And like anybody who knows me, like one of the most important things for me within this community was always to work with like a handful of brands that I personally really enjoy. And ever since I got started, like,

NZXT was always kind of like on my radar. It was like the brand that I wanted to work with because I really like enjoyed the brand values and all of that kind of stuff. And I did so much, dude. Like I was doing all of these builds and tagging NZXT. And like it was always like my primary goal to just like work with NZXT.

And I think the turning point in all of this was you guys had just released like the H1V2 and I wanted it basically I was like I want the H1V2 so I gave you guys a nudge and I was like can I build an H1V2 and I didn't get a response so I was like I get it I understand everyone's busy so I built my own H1V3

which it was basically a crack and cooler like attached to its own box and just kind of like did a professional photo shoot of this like crack and attached to its box and then you guys saw it. There we go. So that was my H1V3. I remember seeing this, sending it to Ivan and going, what is this?

We both had the biggest laugh for like, who is this guy? And I think that's what we started going like, all right, we got to keep this guy out right? This guy's hilarious. Like, look at this thing. It's literally just its own thing. It's just attached to the fox. Like, it's incredible. We love this.

Yeah, so like I said, that was like, I think the turning point. So I think when you guys saw that, that kind of opened up the opportunity for us both to just kind of like, you know what? We can have some fun. And like leading up to that, like, you may or may not know, like, there was so much banter between us anyway. And like, people on social media were like picking up on that. And it just made sense for us to just kind of like work more. we have that kind of similar kind of social media. I don't want to say like immaturity because it's not,

but a certain way of like engaging with people. And we just clicked, you know, and it just made sense just like work on that relationship, which yeah, it's just great. I love it. Yeah, honestly, it's been so fun working with you and getting in contact with our people

and seeing also like the stuff that you've been doing with like all of our custom builds or like craft cases too. Awesome, awesome stuff. So that this is. is actually you're probably one of the first people that we met that we had on a podcast that's like an actual custom builder a lot of times it's people from other companies or from our own company itself but you're the first like custom PC builder and I'm like we we got to get we got to get you on here just show like the amazing things that you can do when you have the creativity

do something that's for everyone out there too you guys have the creativity to do it all you need is just the ability to believe in yourself and then you can create some amazing stuff. Yes, battle rigs. Yes, we did show De Gottwood yet. Also, one of my favorite cases. We actually, I tried to find the Slack. Because in our Slack, we were talking about Matt's case.

And like seven people were like, is this real wood? Like, oh my God, what, like, the thermals on this and stuff like that. And we're all like giving us like theories. Like, what did he do? Is this just like, you know, standard like rap? Did he actually make something out of wood? But in the end, we were just laughing because honestly, we were all going like, this looks nice.

Like this will look great on like a hardwood desk, you know, something with like a nice, like nice clean finish. And then you have like that case. That just sounds so nice. Sure. I guess we're going to go into a little bit of some community questions real quick. And then we'll do a little rapid fire and then we'll end it off there. For some community questions, Razor Pt asks, question for Matt.

What's the best looking NCC product? Oh man, like the best looking single product. Current, like of everything that's out right now, I absolutely adore the H5Flow. Previous, it's going to be the Manta. We've just been through that. But of all time, Manta, current projects, H5Flow. I really have one right now.

It's actually amazing case. like I absolutely love the look of it. I like the actual GPU fan in it. Like I was like, this is such an odd thing. And then I tested it and I'm like, I get it now. I 100% get it. Yeah. Also from drunken, drunked Husky 24.

What would your dream build be? No limits. No budget require just anything. Do you know what? Like I'm really, really easy. like with PC builds like there are people who like absolutely crave like really high end custom loops and stuff but like I'm quite happy like with zero RGB just like a really interesting blackout build like silence is more important to me than anything else so a quiet stealthy PC like that's always a massive win for me and I think like I actually built my own perfect PC like as crazy as it sounds like when you go back through like my YouTube

and stuff. You'll see, like, I did, like, an NZXT H7 flow, which was all black, just a blackout. Other than the graphics card, which I put in that particular build, that was pretty much my perfect build. So it had, like, a big air cooler in there, all black fans, black everything, and it was just a killer.

So that, for me, I probably already built my own perfect PC, but strangely, I don't actually own it anymore. Oh, interesting. I like that. Oh, also, this is actually a question that was a very interesting one. This was about photography from Matt P. Dady, too. Matt, I'm a photographer myself and a PC nerd. I hate doing weddings also. How do you fine-tune the exposure to not get too much light spill from RGB in the PC case and so on?

Having a little difficulty getting the color right. Okay, so lighting, like I said earlier on, lighting is key. And I regularly work with layers. So for example, like, in every one of my pictures that I post on social media is like a minimum of five lights. And each one of those lights allows me to put the light where I need it. Because like he just said, like, RGB spill can be a big thing. So more often than not, what you could really do is like,

do two exposures. Like, the first exposure could be of the case and like balancing all of your lighting specifically for the RGB. And then the second image, you could either, turn off the computer and then photoshoot it again without any lighting inside it whatsoever and then bring all that back in post so overlay both layers cut out the areas with RGB put it back or if you have the ability like I said earlier to use more lights more lights will always get you a better picture because it allows you to control the lighting stay away from natural

lighting and just control it all yourself okay now you know from high DEMO 79 what's been your biggest labor of love. Are we talking about PCs or just in general? Let's do both. PC and in general. I think my biggest labor of love recently has been the growth and development of YouTube. Like, the whole process has been a big learning curve for me because I've known the platform for a long time.

And has anybody been recently that I've been taking it seriously. And I've kind of had to almost caress it from like the get-go so being really mindful of what I'm creating, how I'm creating it, and growing that from nothing to the point is right now, that's been a real labour of love. Time-consuming, but I've really enjoyed it.

But I think in general, I don't know, like I don't have specific things. Like I have a lot of hobbies. Like my wife would tell you, I have a lot of hobbies and things that I enjoy doing. So I think generalizing it to probably the YouTube channel because everything has been about that recently. So I would say that's probably the highlight labor of love right now. And I guess I'd even ask for the biggest labor of love for PC, would that be your favorite build?

Or would that just be what was like something that you worked really hard on and you're like super happy with the result? I would probably I would probably say a while back I did a building a thermal tape core P6 which was a brown and beige noctua build with a vertical mounted noctua 3070 and I had all like this vision in my head of how it was all going to work

and it never worked out because the standoffs on the motherboard were like an inch too low for me to be able to put an air cooler in and vertical mount a graphics card underneath it. So I actually spent like an entire day redrilling all of the standoff holes, tapping all the screws into that and making everything fit.

So like the whole build came together and looked absolutely incredible. But getting there on my, like honestly, one of the hardest builds I ever had to do, but it was so rewarding to see like when I press that button and all of the fans kicked in, it was bliss. Love that.

love that. Obviously, that's such a good thing where it's like, it's such a rewarding thing when it's like you worked really, really hard on it. It's that moment of like clicking the power button and it turns on everything who boots up and just go. It shouldn't have worked out. Like everything was, everything was stopping me from making that build work, everything. And because it was so early in the YouTube channel, like, I was very reluctant to share

like a lot of what was happening behind the scenes because I thought to myself, oh, people see like the point now where the motherboard and the graphics card won't fit. Like will it look really bad if I like take a drill to it and start moving everything? So there's a lot of stress going on and like I actually posted in the description when I put the video out. Like if you guys want to replicate this build then it's not going to work. Like you're not going to be able to buy the products and build it. Like I had to drill it all. And like I said, the expectations of myself are extremely high.

And it was difficult to achieve that without all. all the extra work that went on behind the scenes. Love that. From Click, clique, ask what's been your biggest or most expensive mistake, EC-wise?

Oh man. There's been quite a few. And there's actually, I know one of them, like, was for a project that we had just recently. And, like, it was with EK Waterblocks, for example, and they sent out, like,

this, like, new reservoir pump. And I was, setting up for a photo, knocked it off the table, and broke all of the screws off the back. Like, literally snapped them off so that the build couldn't happen. And I was really stressing because that was for YouTube and all this kind of stuff. And like, the build just couldn't happen because I basically destroyed it within seconds of taking it out the packaging. And there had been other times with another motherboard, for example, which had just come out, a really expensive motherboard and rare.

and yeah I managed to bend the pins on the motherboard literally like I got the build done the content was done and then I was stripping it back down and the CPU like

slipped out my fingers on like a really high end motherboard and bent all the pins and my heart just totally sank because what can you do like LGA 1700 for example like the pins are much shorter and thicker than previous motherboards

so it wasn't like you could get a credit card, slide it in there and straighten up the pins. Like you couldn't do that. So it was like you just kind of have to like accept that your fate is you've destroyed a motherboard. And we took it to a specialist who can fix them and straighten out the pins. And they said, no, we're not touching it because we think we'll make it worse than it already is. And I was just like, wonderful. So yeah, well done to Matthew for that one.

I learned from that mistake but the bottom line is CPUs however you fabricated like AM4 was the easiest to grab hold of like they gave you this huge like chunk of metal that you could just grab hold of they're easiest to pick up but also the easiest to bend the pins on because the pins were on the CPU

but then like Intel's chips now like they're so flat and like you go to try and pick them up and like sometimes you just can't and like I don't want to talk about AM5 they're the worst. But like, yeah, there needs to be some kind of device. Like, CPUs need like a little handle on the top, which you can just flick up and like lift them out.

Like, my life would be so much better like that. I've done a few shit fair share. I've done a few of my fair shares of bending CPU pins. What else have I done? Drop the graphics card on the ground and the fan physically just popped out. and I just went I got my heart

like you know when time slows down as it fell out of my hand I just went oh no and I felt like in that moment I probably could have like tried to like stop it from doing it

but I guess my body just didn't react quick enough and it just band popped out and I just luckily luckily we had a spare so we're good It was at work, so I felt bad. Love that.

I guess the last question from the good old battle rigs course. What's your favorite and worst piece of hardware so far? I don't really think I have any worst hardware. I mean, like I said before, like I'm, favorites, always motherboard, always motherboard. like I'm obsessed with motherboards like my Instagram will prove that like I photo shoot so many motherboards

that's ridiculous just because I find them almost like a canvas of art like they always just look amazing but in terms of like worst hardware I don't like power supplies like I can't stand them just because

I don't know like what brands certain brands think sometimes but like the cables that come off power supplies can be like 300 foot too long. And it doesn't make life easy with cable management. And yeah, I think power supply is just weird. They're like mundane. We all need them.

They're really important and they're like a crucial part of a PC build. But yeah, we should treat them with respect. Because if you don't buy a good power supply, you risk ruining your whole computer. But then at the same time, they're just very much like you just go in there and then just hide. Yep. I agree. A, as much as it seems like the best thing to do is to, you know, spend all your money on the graphics card and CPU. Please also spare a little bit extra budget for the power supply.

I've seen too many, I've seen too many PC, like a PCMR and stuff like that of people putting like a 600 watt power supply for the graphics card and just kills their thing because it just didn't have enough power. And please don't don't skip out on the power supply. Totally. We should all actually amen to that. That's like a really important thing. And always go modular, if you can, always go modular, just because if cable management is important, get rid of the cables you don't need. So easy. Bully modular is such a thing. Even seven, even seven modules, okay. Just don't go for the non-modular. Just at least have some ability to work with cable management. Big, big, big thing. And I guess we're going to go straight into the rapid fire question. answer these however you like. These are going to be very random. These are going to get to be kind of all over the place. So for the first question, what is your dream car?

Onigzag Rigera or a McLaren 675 LT. Ooh, I like that. You'll get rich enough from all these posts and you'll be able to buy one easily. Well, the bottom line, like, just quickly, like, I always said, like, and this is the same in this industry, too. there's always specific brands like when I was involved with the car industry that I had opportunities to work with

and decided not to because I didn't want to ruin the dream that in what if that day ever came around where I could afford to buy like a McLaren 675 LT I don't want to be in a position where I've already experienced it but couldn't afford it because it leaves something I think

as like an element of mystery so yeah like McLaren I've never touched. Like I've never photochuted in McLaren. I've never worked with McLaren. Even though the opportunities have been there, I just haven't done it because I didn't want to. Keep that dream alive, that one day I'll own one.

And everything about the brand will be new and exciting. I like that. Battle of Race because yet he works with me. I'm shook. No mystery for Battlewrex. But yeah, no, I actually, I agree with that. You know, there's an area of like mystique with something that you can't touch or see yet.

So when you actually get it, it's just even better. You know, you don't have any expectations. It's just what is it? And it happens. Exactly. I guess going for the next ones, which I actually are very interested in, is you are a skateboarder, correct?

Correct. So how did you get into skateboarding? Skateboarding, for me, I believe, way back when. I don't think it was a generational thing. I think it was kind of like if you can go back to a time where there was no mobile phones, there was no social media. Like we had no choice like to go out like playing the street and things like that. Like games consoles were a thing but not many people had them.

And I was always interested in skateboarding. Always. And there was just something about this idea that you could throw yourself down like a stair set with 12 stairs and a handrail on a skateboard and do. something with that that was like you could accomplish something. So I was always, I was always excited by that ever since I was a kid. Like my parents would tell you like when I was seven, I like, that was probably when I got my first skateboard. And I used to go out on like the main road where there was like this perfect curb and like wax

it and grind it when I was like really young. And it stuck with me. Even growing up like when I started college, I skateboarded less because I had no. I had a little time, really, even though I had some great opportunities back then with competitions and doing all sorts of stuff. But it always stuck with me and it's still a chapter in my life that I don't do as often as I would like, but I've never closed that book ever. I mean, even to the point, like, down here, you'll probably appreciate some of those.

I also still collect decks and things like that. I'm obsessed with them. Yeah, I mean, the or might ones just like crying out for a few. photoshoot at some point with the All Might case. That's for sure. But yeah, skateboarding things never ended for me, and it never will, I don't think. But it will hurt a lot

more to fall off now than it would have done when I was 15. Very true. Very true. And kind of going along with that, what is your favorite skateboard that you've done? Of all time, it would have been an element skateboard, which was by

Tony Tave, and this was in like 2009. when you add you a picture of it. And when I first started putting like metal foil as like a graphics. And I was obsessed with this idea that you could have a shiny skateboard. And there it is. Like that was my board.

And I rode it so carefully. Like that picture was actually taken in like 2009. And I saved that picture because it was a big occasion. Like I got this really expensive board, which at the time was like 60 pounds or whatever. And like in 2009, it's a lot for a skateboard without like any wheels

and trucks. And it looks so good that I just didn't want, I didn't want to, like, I didn't want to, like, board slide it or do anything because it just looked too good. And then the first day I went out, found a handrail, got a couple of board slides on it, front side on the backside,

and then started destroying the graphic. And that was like a, both a sickening moment, but also highly alleviating. So. It's like the idea, like, you know, it looks too good to do, you know, like a nice wedding cake you don't want to ruin.

or, you know, nice, but sometimes you got to give it, you know, you got to use it. You have to use it. It's like shoes. You know, there's people out here, like, I'm a big sneakerhead. And there's people that with sneakers that they buy, they never wear. Snickers are meant to be worn. Use it. I get the idea of making it look good and everything like that.

But give it love. Show it some love by using it. And I think you showed it the love of using it and grinding it out. And, yeah, you ruined the look of it, but also there's like personality. and memories behind that board that I think is way worth more than keeping for Steve. For sure, and I think going back to like that era in my life, like everything was kind of like

I was working, they could be wrong, but I was focused on this idea that I could like skate competitions regularly and make good money. So like buying like skateboard hardware was quite a grind and it was, pardon the pun. It was quite a grind to actually be. able to do that because like new trucks are expensive new wheels and that were expensive and like buying an expensive deck was like a big thing and now like I'm in that position where I don't really

escape much anymore but I can buy decks for like the art side of it and like like really reminds me so like I'm going to show you this because I think it's important so like with the demon slayer deck for example it's got that same kind of like shiny graphic going on and it looks amazing but I would never in a million years kind of like boardslide this because it's just so good. But that's a perfect example. Like back then, I had that same mindset. Like, you can't skate this because it looks too good. But now, like, I just couldn't take that out and skate it.

Like, I'm not in a position now to do that anyway. I don't think I could boardslide like a handrail down 12 steps without seriously hurting myself. And going along with that, what is your favorite trick? for the feel a backside flip 100% just because when you pop like a perfect backside flip and then stomp it down the sound and the feel is amazing however if it's going to be like a grind and it's definitely going to be a front crooks 100%.

They're two tricks that I can still do confidently and I know that because I've been trying out recently so I'm still quite happy with that. I like that. I think you talked about injuries a little bit. What has been the worst injury from skateboarding that you've got? There's actually two. I never broke a bone, bizarrely.

So there was times where I should have broken bones. But one of them was a really stupid thing. Like, there was like a really tall block. So, like, there's this really tall block behind. like this building and everyone was like you could like do a trick off that. Be in mind I was like 14 and I thought like I was like God's gift on like a skateboard. So I tried this particular trick. It was simple but I tried it anyway and landed funny and like the board hit me in the back of the leg and I couldn't walk like I couldn't walk at all.

And I thought that was really bad until the next week like the same location. I did a backside flip over a handrail on a on like a flat bank. And I landed it funny, the board slipped out, and I cracked my tailbone actually on the handrail. And I'm sure I chipped my tailbone, but I couldn't move. Basically, it felt like I've been paralyzed. And I refused to get an ambulance because being typical, I was like, I just walk it off. We'll walk it off. It'll be fine.

And I had to get pushed. Like, I laid on my skateboard and got pushed home for like four miles. But yeah, it took a long time to recover from that, like a long time. probably six months four miles on a skateboard yeah and I laid on it like basically almost like I guess it was like planking

like I just laid on my skateboard and got pushed home because I refused to get an ambulance because I was I guess I was too scared the ambulance was going to say you really badly damaged yourself and you're not going to be able to skate for a long time

you got taxied home on your board That's awesome. That is actually... Wait, so instead of realizing, wow, I actually hurt myself, you said I go, nah, now we're going four miles. So how long would it take you then to get home? I think with the amount of times that I had to stop because I was in pain, because bear in mind, like the vibrations on a skateboard were brutal,

especially given the injury. I think it probably took like three hours more, maybe to get back. And yeah, it just wasn't good. There was points where I had to get off the skateboard and physically move because like curbs and stairs and things like that. But the whole thing was like, yeah, don't recommend it. Like if you ever hurt yourself bad on a skateboard, just do yourself a favor. If you can't move, just get an ambulance.

You live and learn, right? You live and you learn. make note of that everyone. On the time you hit the second hour of lying on your skateboard, then you can consider the hospital. Second hour.

Yeah. Yeah, 100%. How many tattoos do you have? Seven, eight. I think it might have been at some point, but then tattoos then end up merging and becoming one. So do you still call them individual tattoos,

or do they be able to? become one. Ooh. It's like the shipathesias, but tattoos. Yeah. It's like when you do, when you doodle on a textbook, for example,

and you do like a really cool thing in the top corner, and then you do another thing in the other corner, but then you do something in between. Does that become one doodle? Or does it become multiple doodles? That, I,

that's actually a really good question. So that's actually an amazing question. I actually have no answer to this. that. Yes, and similarly, I have no answer to the original question of how many have I got, because I don't know at this point. Oh, yeah, it just becomes one. Then what is your favorite tattoo slash tattoos?

I think it was actually, of all the tattoos that I do have, I think it was a camera. So I've got this camera on my arm, if I can find where it is. There we go. So the idea behind getting that particular... tattoo was if you imagine like when you're taking a photo like that that particular camera like has a lot of value to me like that that exact camera was a picture of my own camera that the tattoo is tattooed on me and yeah it has held value to me as a photographer like there's a point in my life where I felt like I just wanted to add that tattoo on I have a focus symbol for photography on my thing as well

so I'm with you on that I love that love it how many BVs you own I think this is Ivan's question how many BDZ you own my God in current rotations

they're in like a rotation thing so like I have probably three or four that are currently in rotation and then I have like probably six more that are in a drawer somewhere upstairs I get asked this question a lot, like on YouTube, like, people are like,

dude, why is he wearing like a t-shirt, but he has a beanie on? Like, it can't be hot and cold at the same time. And I'm like, no, but ever since, like, I've started doing things on social media, like, everything has included me in a beanie. And I guess it just becomes character. So it's kind of like, I guess the only way to do this is like, if you imagine somebody like Casey Nice that. So Casey Nist that.

nice that's one of my favorite vloggers on youtube like i've been a fan of him since way back his thing is his glasses right you know casey nice that because he has his glasses and it's almost like become a thing where it's like i missed them at lee because of the hat and like i'm rolling with it and one day i had this conversation with somebody like i said when when's your video when's your hat going to come off for a youtube video. And I said, when something impresses me that much that I can literally do like a YouTube video where the title is hats off to whoever. And then in that video, I'll probably take my hat off if it impresses me enough. I like that. Oh, it's going to be like a face reveal, except it's going to be head reveal. Yeah, that'll be it. So that's, that's all we're going to do. As soon as

As soon as that happens, I don't know when it'll happen. I can't guess, but it'll happen one day. I like that. And then I guess, oh, actually, Matt Pete actually has two amazing questions. The guitar in the background, what is that guitar? This guitar is, that is an alkaline trio signature acoustic guitar. Made by Fender. I have an extensive background with music.

I had my own band for, well, I've had multiple bands that spans well over a decade. I was the lead singer and guitarist. I did my first share of tours and gigs around all over the place. So music is like a big thing for me still, like big thing. And I'm into all kinds of music. Like my favourite, I don't really have favourite bands because I like too much. But it can go from anything like Queensland Stone Age, which are one of my biggest favourite bands of all, time right through to like indie rock music and like boy kill boy and even pop music sometimes

and hip-hop plays a massive role in my music life so my music taste is very diverse for sure but you'll never take the rock edge away and I think that kind of comes across in I guess my image maybe I don't know I don't like to stereotype like that but people just make the assumption I guess I like it. Amazing. You know, we're probably going to need some sort of cover sometime soon. You know, we're going to need a, we're going to need like a, I don't even know how it will work, but we're going to need some sort of rock PC setup and then we're going to need you to be singing and just jamming out on top of like a PC.

That's all. I mean, that would be amazing. I should do like a, like a country blues track with my. guitar. There's like an intro for one of my own YouTube videos and just create like a like an NZXT parody intro. I would be down for that.

Let's get it going because that sounds amazing. Yes. Now we're going to need everyone. If you guys follow him on socials, which there is a command of the chat, you should all just spam him to push him to make this cover. Just throwing it out there. It gives him engagement but allows us to

annoy him to hopefully make that cover soon. So make sure to spam all, okay? That's your guys' goal for now. Cool. I'm all about it. Let's do it. Two more questions. What's your favorite game of all time? Favorite game of all time?

I'm going to say the original Assassin's Creed. Like, the very first Assassin's Creed. And it's about, I guess, the impact it had at the time and still does as a game which was incredibly unique as like an open world where you can climb up the top of things and do like the whole eagle vision and the game was just incredibly different I think for the time that it came out and I think no matter how often

you might play it now you still go back to that time so I think that is probably my all-time favorite game, probably closely followed up by like the original Tony Hawks game, which I'm still an absolute boss at playing. Like that. And I guess the last question of the Repfire, what are a few companies that you'd like to work with? I think I've already worked for everybody that I want to work with. I don't, it's a difficult question to ask because there's always going to.

going to be something different, new and exciting. Yeah, it's a difficult one. It's a really difficult one to answer. I think, like I say, you guys, without wanting to sound like I'm blowing the old trumpet again, but like you guys were like really important for me to want to work with initially. So like, I've already ticked that box and I don't have like huge expectations of myself and the brands that I want to work with. But yeah, like I feel like I've already achieved where I want to be.

And don't be wrong, we're all the brands. I would like to work with on a more close basis, but I dare say, like, you should never think the door's close to anybody. And they know I'm there. We're spoken, but you see what happens, you know. I like it. I love it. All right. And I guess that is the last rapifier question.

So, Matt, do you have any last word before we go into the announcements? I don't think I do really. I think we've covered a lot of bases tonight. I would say, like, one thing that I would like to say is, like, just keeping checks with, like, my social media platforms and things like that, because there's always something exciting and new happening. Next year is going to be really exciting. I'm actually going to be moving.

YouTube into its own set. So I have a new studio specifically for that. And that's going to be a journey in itself. It's not going to be moving away from the current studio, which I'm operating from. It's just having something different, something that can keep evolving and changing. And that's going to be a big deal.

And I've got you guys involved with that transition, which, with any such luck, come the end of December, maybe a little poochy plush might make its way into my life. my new adopted pet for the new studio. But it's all very exciting, you know. That's all I'd say. Just keep an eye on what's happening.

Like most of the people that are following in the chat right now probably haven't, well, have no idea about this concept of a new YouTube studio happening next year, which is weeks away. But there'll be a whole video about that in due course. But right now at the moment, like everything is just go, go, go. So I'm not having that much time to actually focus on that happening. but I just keep an eye up, keep a watchful eye out. I like that.

So I'm going to put the command of the chat. Please follow Mr. Matt Lee on all socials, especially Instagram and YouTube. For those listening, I believe it's for your YouTube, it's Mr. underscore Matt underscore Lee, correct? Yeah. Or you can just YouTube.com at Mr. Matt Lee,

and that should work as well. There we go. So for those that are listening and for those that are here, please follow him on all socials. He has some amazing stuff, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, everything. Go for it. I guess we're going to go into the announcements real quick. So first, for announcements, like I said, please follow Mr. Matt Lee on all social media platforms.

Again, the command is in chat, exclamation point, Mr. Matt Lee. Head over to your nearest micro center to get ahead on our disc, on our disc, counted nz-60 peripherals from nzxt capsule mics, lift mice, function keyboards. This is only in store, so go to your nearest microcenter and get ahead on that. Keep an eye out on socials. We are doing a very, very fun thing called Seven Days of Holliers. Thank you, Tully, for the suggested name. We are working with Noir Network, a Black Fem content creation network that we love working with.

These girls are amazing, very hardworking women. We're doing giveaways every single day and a very, very fun surprise at the end of the event next Thursday. So please keep it out on our socials and just keep an eye out. Cam has added if or if this than that to its arsenal. Basically, you can do crazy integrations with Cam. Like when your PC gets too hot, it will change the color of your LEDs to if it, if it's, it to, you know, when you put your computer sleep, all RGBs will turn off. Very awesome stuff with it.

Check out the command, IFTTT, or IFT, to see more into that. And, of course, we have a lot of new products coming out as Mr. Matt Lee has basically been using every single time in all his wonderful posts from new H5 series cases, coolers, monitors, mice. We have thermal paste even, gal. Like, we are releasing so much stuff. Check out n60.com to see your stuff. And for those that are listening,

thank you guys for listening into this podcast. We do have a giveaway going on. If you do exclamation point giveaway, there is a glean giveaway to get some N60 swag. And for those that are listening as a thank you for sticking around for so long. And a thank you just for the podcast listeners itself. There's a secret code that you get 500 extra

entries into the glean giveaway the code is type it into the chat right now the code is do a kickflip no spaces do a kick flip is the i saw one of your posts of like you do a kickflip so i got i got to do this this has to be the code so do a kickflip is the code for 500 extra entries as thank you for everyone here listening for sticking around for so long so get those extra entries. And honestly, whenever we do the secret code, 90% at a time, whenever we pull winners, it's people that use this code. So that's a thank you to all you guys listening live. And I guess that is it. I want to say first, thank you to Mr. Matt Lee for one, being so patient because we were supposed to have him like months ago, but we just been so busy. But we are very

happy to finally have him on the podcast. And thank you to everyone here for listening. please please give a follow to Mr. Matt Lee on all socials. He does some amazing work and we will continue working with him. So he's got some amazing stuff coming up. And with the new YouTube studio, it's going to be even crazier. Matt, do you have any last words before we end off this podcast? I just have something resonating in my head right now that when you were going back through like the list of all the things that NZXT like sells products, I was like thermal paste.

Like, I've never actually owned an NXT thermal paste. Like, how is that a thing? Like, how are we disfaring to our relationship? And we've not had thermal paste? Like, what are we doing? You know what? You have me in contact. Well, we'll talk with Andy.

We'll get you a shit with a thermal paste. We'll get something working. That's honestly the best thing. I have a bag of thermal paste underneath my bed right now that I'm supposed to make memes with and I have no idea what to do. I mean, you have to do like a, you know, like a baggie deal.

we had to do like a shimmy a thermal paste over to somebody without like showing anyone. Whereas me personally, I'm here in the UK and you guys know that. Cup of tea is a life. Like we drink cup of teas religiously and there is nothing that makes a cup of tea better than thermal paste. I mean, I don't recommend it to anybody else. This is an isolated thing for me. But yeah, I need some NZXT thermal paste to sweeten my tea. Let me see if I can pull up the bag.

Let me see if I have it in my personal. Are we going to do this? You do like a live, you're going to add thermal paste to my cup to your live. I mean, that would be perfect, really. You guys want to see the thermal pace that I have to make means with? This is all the thermal pace I have. Holy heck, look at that. We could probably send you some.

I mean, this is going to be a delicious snack later. It would fill the cup all the way, and that would make me very happy. This is Yeah, we got We got tons of this stuff Yeah, yeah Yeldag I heard you like thermal pace So we put more thorough pace and thorough pace

For more thermal pace We have a lot of these Yeah, get in contact with Andy We'll see if we can do something fun with that I asked for these for a meme And I still haven't used it yet I should probably make a meme out of it Because I have a bag of thermal paste

Just sitting in my closet I think that should be the thing like people need to leave it in the comments. So like, what memes should be made with that quantity of thermal paste? And you have to do it. You know what? I'm going to do that right. I'm going to write that down.

Thank you to Messer Matt Lee. So you need to put a post out on social media. Just a picture of all of that thermal paste. And then you need to ask in the comments, like, what should we make with all of this thermal paste? And the best comment wins. I like it. I love it. I am all about that.

And I am going to comment on it because I already have an idea. We're going to make sure to credit you because that is an amazing idea. Hey, keep an eye out on our socials, y'all. If you have a good idea, I'll do it. All socials, like, they are crazy, man. I will do whatever it takes to get content. I have no remorse. I will do anything for content.

I mean, you stuck your finger in a fan, dude, for content, and that deserves every praise. Yeah, that one kind of hurt a little bit. It kind of stung because I didn't realize that my fan was at like really high RPM and I stuck my finger in my, I'm like, you know, I probably probably could have slowed down the fan before putting my finger in it to make it hurt less. But I didn't think about that and my finger hurt for a little bit, like at least like a minute or two, just like kept stinging. I was like, yeah.

But it was worth it because it was that noise and the impact, that's what made it so good. Like, just here it's like, oh. but yes it was probably the most painful thing I've I think I've done a lot of things for content sticking my finger in a fan

here let me see let me see here here's the video y'all let me see I can show this I stuck my finger in the fan and it hurts so bad I mean you see the fan like immediately stopped there was no there was no hesitation there

it's just in it's just in dude it hurt so bad it heard so bad I guess yeah hey I gotta do it for I gotta do it for the content do it for the fans

yeah I know France I was supposed to change the fan speed I didn't think I don't think when I made content I just go oh that'll be funny and that yeah I don't think about things like that

it's worth it it's totally brutal totally worth it Keep doing what you're doing. I personally, there was like a question, like, which I thought could have been a good one earlier on that was like about like the brands. Like you guys putting so much work between Instagram and TikTok. Like it's not, it's none of this like CGI stuff. Like there's like actual human interaction with like pulling stunts and making little stories and whilst they're not very long like the thought and effort that goes into a lot of them is just fantastic.

And that was one of those reasons why I wanted to work with you guys from the get-go. Because, like, I can see that by the personal side of it and the brand message, always so good, dude. I just keep doing it. Thank you so much. And you as well, we want to keep seeing you do amazing stuff. And I'm so excited to see what you do in the future because it's only going to go out from here. If you're doing amazing stuff now with all the stuff you're going to be working with now, it's going to be even crazier. Yeah, I can't wait, dude.

I'm looking forward to second you guys on that journey with me. I'm excited. And I guess we'll go ahead and end the podcast here. So thank you guys for joining us. Remember, tune in live every Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard time on the official NCC Twitch. And don't forget to listen to previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Please leave us a posy review if you like what you hear, and if you didn't. Got any questions for us?

Send an email to podcast.com or tag at NXT on all social media platforms. Please follow Mr. Matt Lee on all socials. And have a good day, everyone. Bye. Cheers guys.