NZXT PODCAST - #217 - Breaking Teeth and Breaking Tech (Ft. TonyTechBytes)

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

On this week's episode of the #NZXT Podcast... We are joined by Tony or better known as TonyTechBytes! We talk about his journey through content creation from juggling college and parent's expectations to the harsh reality of thinking "anything can be content". Follow Tony here: https://solo.to/tonytechbytes

Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 217 at the N60 Podcast, the official podcast at N60 Community. This podcast scored live on Fridays at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on the official N60 Twitch is available to stream on demand on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. My name is Mike Kim, and before I introduce our very, very special guest, I want to throw out that we are doing a giveaway. I know a lot of people are in here right now for a giveaway. thanks to our lovely, lovely, lovely friends at Intel.

You guys have, they have helped sponsor. Oh, yeah. Yeah, look at that. Our very lovely friends at Intel have been gracious enough to help sponsor our club. And basically, you go to nccc.com.com. Your point club in chat, if you're watching live. You guys can go ahead and do Quest to earn poochie points. And these poochie points basically get you.

entries into the giveaway. You can earn plushies. You can see Pucci right here and Chippy right here. Right there. You can see you get them shirts, hoodies, and a monthly PC giveaway. It's a Player 1 Prime PC and you can choose your choice of white and black so you guys can choose that. So please go ahead and go to NCCO slash club. And for today, we're also giving away an Intel hoodie, a shirt, and an Intel mouse pad. It is for US only right now, but we are going to be giving out global soon. We're dealing with the terrorist attacks, guys.

So you guys have to be a little patient. So please, I'm sorry. So let me go ahead and, oh yeah, and also please stay to the end of the stream because I'll be giving out a secret code that gives, I think, a thousand extra entries into the giveaway. It's my way of holding you guys hostage for an hour.

That's basically it. So let me go ahead and introduce our special guests. Introducing one of the most technical and cinematic voices in the custom PC and hardware world today. While he was at UC Davis, he was focusing on two things, mastering his business degree and mastering the business of the creator and TikTok economy. He may have lost the tooth because of a scooter, but you know he has not lost his ability to deliver high quality content.

Everyone here, please give a warm welcome to Tony TechFee. Bikes. Tony, can you please introduce yourself to our audience and tell us what you're all about? Yeah, thanks for the introduction. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony. Go under the username Tony TechBites. I make videos about consumer tech like PC builds, laptops, desk setups, that sort of thing. And super happy to be here today. Yeah. So again, so we had John John on the podcast a little while ago and you are going to be, you, you're always one of the old pioneers of like tech talk like you were one of the first so we're going to really go into your experience as a content creator and for those that are here this is how you get free stuff but it's not as glorious as it may seem right like it's there's not like oh yeah you get free stuff

and that's it like you have to work for so first we'll go we'll do a little dive in the past to like who you were as a child and how you got into gaming and tech and general so like first of all how did you get into gaming in general and was there like a person in your life that got you into it or was there a game that got you into it yeah so i got into gaming a long time ago when i was super young um i don't know if anyone remembers these like early 2000s games but um i think it was like freddie fish on the pc that my cousins played um it was from like 1998 i think and um yeah it was basically basically just this animated fish that would do adventures or I don't remember, but I would

watch my cousins play on the family PC and I got hooked from there when I was super young. And they also played another game called Maple Story, which was this 2D side scroller, where you have to grind like defeat monsters, going quests and stuff. And I was very addicted to that as a kid. I actually have this really funny story where my Asian parents would limit my screen time and um they they wanted to reward me with like mabel story time by uh um forcing me to practice my multiplication table so it'd be like if i remember um one of the multiplication rows like the twos or the threes or whatever they would give me like an extra hour of uh play time wow that's smart

that's so smart that actually yeah that actually helped uh my math skills when i was like in kindergarten in first grade because I was doing like multiplication when it was still like addition subtraction. Wow. And yeah, rewarded me with like computer time, which is super funny. And I think that's actually a good way to parent though, like reward them. Honestly, that's actually really smart because if I was a kid and like I was doing schoolwork and they're like, hey, if you do your homework before 6 p.m., you can go and, you know, like they were rewarding with TV, but I feel like if they were rewarded me in video games.

That would have been so much more fun. Gosh, I love that. So you played Maple Story and you played Freddy Fish. Were there any other games that were like a part of your childhood as you grew up? Yeah. I switched to mobile gaming when I got an iPod Touch 4 and I was playing a lot of Minecraft Pocket Edition. The early like Cod mobile games that they were they weren't that good. But I was just I was playing a lot of that.

that. I played on my cousins, PS3, and other consoles, like the Wii. And we had a Wii, too. But I didn't really get into console or PC gaming until a bit later with the PS4. Oh, what got you into, like, console gaming? Yeah, I was, I think it was around like 2015. I was watching a lot of Cod videos. This was like a little after Black Ups 2 and then before Black U.S. Up's 3. I really wanted a PS4. I wanted to like game. I wanted to play first-person shooter games, but at a experience that's better than mobile, because, I mean, on an iPod touch, like, the graphics can only be so good. And that thing would crash so often whenever I played games.

So I wanted a PS4, and then I had to ask my parents for it. And I was like, get good grades and then you get a PS4. So that was how we made that work. And yeah, I was playing a ton of cot on that, too. Do you remember like your introduction into PC gaming? Do you remember the specs of that PC? Yeah, I actually just posted a video of my first PC. I was stitching this guy on TikTok

who was saying like your first PC is such a peak experience because going from like mobile and console gaming to PC is completely unmatched. This was back in 2018. I was addicted to Fortnite. I was playing so much Fortnite. And I saw my brother playing and he was telling me so much about it. He was like, it's just like Minecraft, like you're building.

But it's also like a bit of like other shooter games because you're fighting other people. And I was like, that sounds amazing. Like I want to build and fight other people. So I was playing on a Surface Pro 4 like tablet laptop hybrid. and this goes back to the trend of like just weak specs that I had and I was like I'm sick of this like I want to I want better performance so I was thinking of actually getting a PC from NdxT because my cousin was like you should just like just buy it because he didn't want to like walk through the entire process to teach me he was like bro this is going to take so long like you're going to have to research all of this and then the turning point was he called me out and he was like can you call yourself a tech YouTuber if you don't know what I'll a PC. And I was like, oh, you got a point there. And I was like, I got to learn how to build one. So at that point, I was making a lot of like smartphone and other types of tech videos. And I was like, okay, let me dive into PC building. And I was watching a ton of YouTube videos from Ed from TechSource.

And I decided to jump the gun because I had a summer job as a camp counselor. So I saved up money that summer in 2018, spent about $900 to $1,000 on the NCX-500. That was a nice case. It was like an MSI black and red motherboard. The Ryzen 5, 2,600, a GTX 10603-Gigabyte version. I think I had like 16 gigabytes of 2400 megahertz DDR4 RAM. I think I had a 128 gigabyte SEDA SSD with Windows, and then a 2 terabyte hard drive. So this was like before M.D2 SSDs were becoming mainstream.

And yeah, I mean, that PC performed pretty well for Fortnite. It was good at the time, but looking back, it looked so ugly because I had like a black and white case and then a black and red motherboard. like RAM that wasn't even RGB. I had a spinning hard drive in there and yeah I didn't know anything about like cable management about like color schemes and stuff but yeah

that was what got me started. Miko Anton in the chat actually made a really good point. I think almost every PC gamer has experienced it and I'm I know for sure you experience it's like being a Mac user your entire life right like you've only had like

max or like very slow computers and all of a sudden like you built this first PC no matter how like ugly it is it is like like the world just like you could start seeing the world and from like 2d to 3D like it's just this whole new world is opened up and I think you really realize you're like wow this is so much like more than just like oh my little my little mobile games and everything yeah yeah and I mean I just love the hobby it's so much fun because you get to customize it um like the performance the aesthetics and I'm really glad I actually jump through this like wormhole of PC building

So you were really into like you know gaming and then PCs and tech and stuff like that We're gonna go kind of do a little deep dive into like the beginning of your content creation thing I do have videos for you of your first videos I did I did a little bit of research on you so First of all, what inspired you to start content creation in general? So I guess what started content creation in general? Well, this was back when I got that PS4. I was gaming a ton. I was watching a lot of gaming and tech YouTube videos.

And this is one creator, Justin C. He's a Canadian tech YouTuber. does a lot of like phones mobile tech travel tech as well and I was really inspired by his content he's like he started super young I think he also started when he was like 12 13 or 14 he was like very OG tech YouTube also started with like an iPod touch and I was watching some of his older videos and I was like dang if he could do it I could do it and you know I looked at other icons like Marquez Brownlee, MKBHD. He started way back when he was like a squeaker.

And he was like filming videos in his college dorm too. And I was like, dang, like I love tech. I want to also share that with my audience too. And my friend Ken and I, when we were in middle school, we'd talk about like tech releases every day in homeroom right before like classes started. And we'd be like, no, Apple did this or this company did that. like this company's better we'd like argue specs and stuff and

super nerdy discussions and yeah I was inspired by those tech YouTubers to just pick up a camera and just write out myself and Ken was a photographer and he also had a camera too so I figured I'd join forces with him to

learn how to make content and just give it a shot I'm glad you brought up Ken and you know starting it up because I do have have the first ever video that you guys posted on your YouTube channel. Oh, God. Wow, you look so young.

How old were you? This was December of 2016. Yeah, I was 14. Wow. Yeah. I just, I love these things. Like, I was just like, oh, I'm just curious to see, like, their first videos. Hey, guys, welcome to Tectonic By.

I'm just showing them the first video. And in this channel, we'll be posting many videos about that. I cringe. Every time I hear that voice or see those videos. You might be wondering. But I want to keep them up, though. Just, you should be embarrassed by it. The reason for this is we always try for deals.

But those will we save our money. You guys like so young. And you know what I love is that you guys have a good little. And honestly, this is like huge at 2016. He's having two monitors behind you guys. It was a, it was a killer Black Friday deal for like 10. 180p 60 hertz monitors. I love, I'm glad you're deciding,

because a lot of people tend to like get rid of it. They're like, oh, I'm so embarrassed. But like, honestly, I feel like it's a relic of the past to have that. So, gosh, you, so you started this channel when you just began, basically, high school. Oh, Donnie, said W. Tony. What's up, Donnie? How you doing? So he started this channel in 2016.

And then you also, like TikTok came around 2019 or something like, it was like towards your end of your high school, right? And you obviously as you're starting this like content creation journey, you also went to college, which is tough, right? Like you're like, hey, I'm in a, I'm in college. That's your next, you know, step in your life. And also you're still trying to do content creation. So how hard was it to like balance college and this idea of like you want to be content creation? No, yeah. I mean, it was super tough balancing college with content creation.

And I know plenty of people who are like very, I guess one-sided about this topic. I've talked to creators and other adults who've like graduated college and been in the workforce already. I've gotten so many conflicting answers. and before I was considering it, I was just asking around to see, like, what do you think? And so I've gotten responses of, like, well, you can do both. Like, you can be a student and a creator, completely valid, of course. And, like, there are people who do this, who, like, are college students and creators.

There are people who work nine to fives and creators. And then I've had the other, the flip side of things where it's like, you have a good thing as a content creator. you have momentum. You should focus on that. It's already making you money. It's like a cash cow. I should grow this. And then worst case scenario, you're 30 years old. You don't want to make content anymore. Go back to college. And so I was juggling these two decisions in my mind. And then like the pressure from my Asian parents, they're like, you got to go. And I remember I was streaming like PC builds on Twitch back in a few years ago. And I was asking chat. I was like, Do you guys think I should go?

Like, that'll mean fewer content, like fewer streams and stuff. And, well, ultimately, like, I wait the pros and cons because I was doing online community college. And that really gave me the flexibility to stay at home and make content and grind on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram. And I was like, I'm already, like, going through community college. I might as well, like, just finish up with a regular, like, undergrad degree. So I transferred over to UC Davis in California.

studied economics and back in 2023. And I decided to put sort of a pause on content. Because, well, like you, Mike, except I was doing like the college track or I mean the high school track in early 2020. I wasn't able to walk on stage too. I wasn't able to like do normal early 20-something year old things like interact with people. you know, study with other people, make friends, just live a normal life. So I was like, I kind of want to just be a normal student for the last like couple years that I can actually do this. And then like actually get an education, learn something useful. Even if I'm not going to

work a nine to five, like just gain skills that could translate to content creation and other endeavors. So I put my head down as a college student and I was like, I'm going to still make content, but at a less consistent basis, just so I can focus on being a student and being present in my studies. And I made a ton of friends. I had this really fun story in college where I joined the Interior Design Club. And what was it? My dorm was super bland. And I was like, I want to find like five students to just help revamp my room. And would you guys like want to want to do it for a video. And like they all said yes. And it ended up turning out really well. Like, uh, got to meet students in different majors across different disciplines. And,

you know, this is something that like, you wouldn't be exposed to unless you actually went to college and sought out people in engineering and business and design, uh, to expose yourself to, like, different fields. So, um, that was another reason why I wanted to do it to just meet other people and do other things. And let's see, I still posted occasionally when I was in college. I didn't have enough time to really be super consistent. But I don't regret it looking back because of the memories, the people I've met, and the education, of course, too.

Yeah, that was actually going to be my next question. It was like, did you ever, like, looking back, like, did you think, like, man, maybe I should have just, like, gone 100% into it? do you regret not quit so i guess you're like you know what i'm happy that you finish school basically that was your thought process yeah yeah absolutely and i mean i look back sometimes i think like dang if i didn't go like i could have had more money or views and i'm like okay like more money or views like that's that's awesome but like um what about the intangible stuff that like you can't put a price on you know like uh friendships relationships dating like education too because um

I mean, studying economics allowed me to study making better decisions, like corporate finance and stuff, which, I mean, sure, I don't live in a spreadsheet every day, but it's allowed me to make better decisions on things like, should I buy this PC or should I buy parts now during the RAM crisis or should I wait? And just I feel like it's also allowed me to mature a lot, too, just being able to to, to. I guess learn different topics and and grow as an individual. I think that's, you know, I, I understand the idea that like, oh, college is useless, you know, it's, you're paying so much money and then you're being debt. But I, that's where I have to also kind of put my foot down and be like, like you said, there are, I think that's a thing about college is like, you're not there to just like, yeah, you're there to learn. but I think there's a lot of like you said intangibles that come with college that a lot of people don't realize which is like you know you have a deadline you have a schedule you have to work with people you have like you know like a capstone where it's like oh you have to work with people and you will deal with people that don't pull their weight how do you deal with that or doing with homework and stuff like that is basically like doing work and you know when you go home you can't just go oh okay, I'm done. Like, you have to think, like, oh, I may have to do extra work.

There are a lot of things that people are like, oh, college is useless. But I, I kind of, I'm on the line with you. It's like, there's a lot of, like, little things that college does that people don't realize. It's like, wow. So were you very happy that you're like, you know what? I'm happy that, you know, in case this content creation doesn't work out, I have something to fall back on. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I did also want something to just fall back on just in case content creation didn't work out or even just in the future.

Like I said, for the example, when I turned 30 years old, like what if I don't want to make videos when I'm that age anymore? What if I want to settle down or have a desk job or I don't know. Things could change in the future. And I also realized, too, that life is long. And, you know, like a few years in my 20s giving that up for a future of, I don't know, hopefully like many decades. I think it was worth the investment because I don't want to be like, you know, 80 years old and thinking like, dang, what if I would have went back to when I was in my

early 20s and actually hung around with normal students and kids and learned? And, you know, so I didn't want to have that regret looming over me. I think that's, I guess, something good for people to know like yes you should follow your dreams and do that stuff but also be understanding that in case you have to have something in the backup that you have in a tank which is good um so we're going to kind of go through like your content creation journey you know you're so you're doing a bunch of unboxings like i pulled up like your first video that you ever made and it was like uh um let me see if i pulled up actually it is a set up thing that you have all like

how young you look here. Let me pull it up. So it's a cool LED strip alternatives. So like, like look at, uh, you do, you have like this LED strip that, uh, can change colors and everything like that.

Uh, and you started going fully into tech content creation. Like, you know, my build, you know, what, how does, how to build in a PC,

how to do unboxings. or bringing out certain tech and like this will help improve your setup. So like, can you give me that like specific timeline of like when you threw that first video to like now, has that changed at all? Or is that mindset of I like tech and I want to show people like what cool tech they can add to their setup? Well, I think a lot of things have definitely changed. Well, maturing like getting to being an adult and having like an adult expect.

and other responsibilities, I've definitely changed my viewpoint on content. It's still, I guess, guided by the underlying principle of, I want to share my passion of tech with my audience, a bit the world. And I usually like to have this framework where I want to educate, entertain, and inspire my audience. And whenever it comes to creating content, if I can do two of those three things, it's a good video. If I can do all three, then I think that's a banger video. So I want to educate. Obviously, I want to teach people about specs or how to build a PC and the basics of consumer tech.

I want to also entertain people. Like, I don't want to be lecturing people on camera. So when it comes to short-form content, I want to be super energetic, like pumped, high-energy for unboxings and reviews and stuff. And I do also want to like crack jokes and be a funny person not to, you know, just like read specs of a spec sheet that you can just pull up online. And then also inspire. And this comes in many forms, like inspiring people to build their first PC or to get into this hobby too. And it's such a rewarding, I guess, career to be a content creator. Um, I'm blanking.

Sorry. No, you're good. No, this is hard. I'm not super experienced in streaming. Uh, just chat for, for reference. Um, but yeah, it's, I've learned so much about the journey. Was there a specific moment during your journey that you're like, oh my God, this is no longer just like, a, like a side project.

Like, I could make this my living. Was there a specific moment in your career that, like, you thought, this is it? Like, I'm going to make this my career. Yeah, so I started TikTok in 2019. And I noticed back then, like, there weren't many tech creators because it was just a dancing app still at that point. It was like a ton of trends, a lot of meme audios. And my brother was schooling on TikTok relentlessly. And I remember seeing all the YouTube ads for TikTok.

And I was like, this sounds like such a stupid app. Like, I'm never going to download it. And then I finally caved in. Like, it was funny. I got hooked in the For You page. And I was like, I was making videos on YouTube. They weren't really getting traction. And I was stuck at like a few hundred subscribers.

And so I was like, I might as well give TikTok a shot. And so I filmed a few short form videos in 2019. A few rage baity ones too, like five reasons. iPhones are better than Android phones. and those really popped off. Like, they got a few hundred thousand views in the first few hours, but they still led nowhere. Like, I still had a couple hundred followers on TikTok,

didn't really have consistent viewers. And so during the lockdown in March of 2020, I was posting consistently because I had nothing better to do. And just, I was posting PC build guides. And I remember people commenting like, oh, how do I build a PC? Like, I want to know how to build a PC? Like, I want to know how to build a PC. And I'd always comment, like, you can just go on YouTube, bro.

Like, just pull up a YouTube tutorial. Like, why would you ask on TikTok? And so, like, I kept getting pressured to do it. And I was like, okay, let me just post a whole guide on TikTok. And so within the span of two days in 2020, I posted 45 videos on how to build a PC, like step by step. And I was like, you plug in this cable. You lift the CPU like this and put it in the same. socket and like every single step. And that blew me up from 10K to 60K followers in two days.

And I'd say that was the most pivotal moment that this could actually be something because it just happened so quick. And I mean, I got so addicted to the content creation process, to helping people online, to responding to comments like, oh, my PC's over. How do I fix this? Or my, my GPUs laggy. How do I, or my games are laggy? Like, how do I increase my frame rate? And this is how to install things.

So that was the most fun part, honestly, during the pandemic. So you talked a little bit about it. Like, you posted 45 videos on how to do that. And you're posting many times, sometimes multiple times a day, correct? like you're doing that um did you experience like burnout at all like i mean i'm thinking about it if you told me to uh do this one thing multiple times a day for what now six to seven years now oh god i said six seven uh like i feel like you go crazy right did you ever experience burnout at all and you're like i'm i'm tired of this so

In the beginning, I did not experience any burnout whatsoever. I was so passionate about the topic. And during the pandemic, like, everyone was locked in. So there was nothing really else to do. And it was kind of my escape from the world because I was able to interact with my audience, like respond to comments, just learn about PC building online and then also share that with my audience. So there wasn't really a point in the very early stages where I was, feeling burnt out, but I'd say a few years in of doing it really consistently, I started to feel

really burnt out because I was doing like online community college and, I don't know, I was like, I wasn't doing normal things that brought me joy. I was, my sole purpose was just creating content. And it was fun. Obviously, I was very passionate about it. But I didn't have balance in my life when it came to like other hobbies, school, like hanging out with friends and doing other things that any, you know, young 20-something year old would do. I worked out often to relieve stress, but that was about it. It was like content creation working out and that was life for a couple years. And so to deal with burnout, I fixed my sleep schedule. I was like sleeping more consistently. went to college in person, was hanging out with people in person,

like trying to develop my social skills more, you know, like meet other people. And now that college is over, like I've learned that I think balance is super important. When it comes to work, life balance, I mean, I think working hard is incredibly important, especially for something that you're passionate about. And I'm a huge advocate for chasing your dreams, but also realizing that there's a point where there's just too much and trying to find like a middle point where you can actually do this sustainably. You talked a little bit about that.

I saw you in a PCMag. You wrote an article about, you know, going through TikTok and everything like that. And he wrote, I'm constantly thinking about work. It's hard to draw a line between work and rest because I'm on TikTok, just casually watching content. I'm always thinking about how I can use my ideas on my page and incorporate them into my own content. And I made a reference of it, but you had this video of you breaking a tooth on electric scooter for the second time this week. There's literally no making this up. Like, you fell off a scooter twice.

And then the second time you literally shattered your tooth. And in your head, you're like, oh, man, I have to go to dentist. Your first thought is, I'm going to make a video of this, right? Like, that's awesome. I love that. But do you ever feel like because you're always thinking about work? And, you know, you talk about like having that work-life balance, but you're always thinking about work.

Do you ever feel like that could get overwhelming at times? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think back to your point about like the whole idea of like free stuff and free PCs, it's like I think being a content creator or entrepreneur or, you know, any creative person, like it's a it's really a double edge short because I guess my superpower is like being able to lock in and thinking like, dang, everything could be content. And that's absolutely something powerful that I think any content creator could have. Like being able to document anything. thing in your life. When I fell off my scooter, I thought it would be a funny moment to share with my audience. And I figured, like, going on in future videos, my tooth would be, it would look different than in past videos. And I figured people would ask about it anyway. Because I actually had broken that tooth back in middle school. I tripped on some stairs. And so the dentist glued the tooth back and I always had this crack on the front tooth and people would always comment like oh what's up with your front tooth and you know I was

thinking like later down the line and as an adult I'd get a crown or do something to it but I was like oh it's not wasn't bothering me so I didn't fix it and then I broke down the scooter I was like maybe I could make this entertaining like a PSA for electric scooters and then also like an update to my audience I like hey I've got a new looking tooth so you don't have to about it anymore. But yeah, so I think that it was a superpower, like being able to turn that experience into content.

But at the same time, like I mentioned before, it's kind of always looming in the back of my head, like when I'm gaming, like, oh, I could be streaming games or I could be benchmarking a PC right now and playing games while testing the new GPU or something. So it does kind of make it hard to rest. sometimes if I'm like just watching movie or eating dinner, I'm like, oh, I could be thinking of content ideas. But I like to draw a line when it comes to like the later half of the day, like when I'm done filming, editing, creating content, if I'm just cooking, eating dinner, whatever, or relaxing, I just want to focus of relaxing. If I'm doomscrolling, then I want to

intentionally doom scroll, not for, you know, the purpose of finding content ideas. But, I mean, sometimes when I do find a funny hook, I'm like, oh, I can probably reuse that for my content, too. Like, I've seen some crazy stuff online, like this guy, like air fry's, like, random stuff. And I'm like, I could use that, like, style in my sort of content. And I mentioned this to you in Mike before, but I didn't tell this my audience. But, I mean, just being able to create, like, weird, funky TikTok ideas and infuse that into tech. is also something I want to do more of because back in 2020 I cooked a bit of salami on top of my CPU's heat spreader. And I was inspired by like weird food creators that would air fry just everything and anything.

And I was like, oh, well, let me see if I can use the heat from my CPU to cook some food. And yeah, I mean, the salami got crispy. I didn't eat it, but it somewhat worked. I'm showing the video right now of the salami. What made you go? But why, but why does salami in general? You're like, you know what? I'm going to cook the salami versus like, oh yeah, let me just test how hot it is.

Like, why does salami in general? I think there was this meme going around where people are saying like, can cats have a bit of salami? Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, and I think I said in the video at one point, I was like, well, if cats can have salami, so can my CPU. And it, it like, it got so much attention from people because they're like, what do you mean? Like, why are you cooking on a CPU? But I don't know. It was just a super fun video to make.

My gosh. I remember that exact V. Cats can have a little slimy or can have a little lami or something like that. I remember that exact one. Oh, my gosh. I'm surprised that you didn't eat it just for the content. I'm very surprised. I should have.

She just popped in. Is a big part of your thing, like, like, like you say, having that hook, is a large part of having that hook, like you going, you know what? What can I rage bait my audience with? Like, I, I, you sent us another video or told us a video of you putting windshield washer fluid in a PC to water cool it. So, like, is a big part of your thing? Like, you know what?

Let's rage bait these guys a little bit. Yeah, so I want to make videos really entertaining and engaging. And I love the idea of rage bait, but not for the point of, like, just angering people. Like, I don't want to start fights on the internet. I also don't want to, like, just post garbage on the internet either. So I'd say the point of, like, doing really creative fun stuff. is to just get eyeballs, like to just get attention, to get people hooked on the video, and then to deliver, like, the message of the content.

So in those water-cooled videos, I would, I was, like, pouring an empty, like, windshield washer fluid bottle into, like, the blue liquid-cooled PC, and I was like, I liquid-cooled PC with windshield-washer fluid. And then I would, obviously, I tell my audience, like, I'm just kidding, I poured, like, blue, cut water cooling dye inside the PC. And then I'd go through the specs of it. Like, oh, this PC actually has this. It has that. I wouldn't recommend windshield washer fluid. This is just distilled water with like dye in it because otherwise you could like gunk it up and stuff.

So I want to like be entertaining, engaging and hook people in. But also like teach people about the PC and not like make content that's just for the sake of like making. content to hook people in. That's, that's, you know what? That's something that I tend to rage rate my audience for fun, but I like that your approach is like to educate. I do it for fun. And you know what?

Maybe I should do what you do and like go for an education thing. Because I just like, oh yeah, here's like one of my, one of people in Discord server, he works in R&A and he just like, he has like old, old like they're basically scrap at that point. and he'll just like snap like a DDR3 RAM stick. But it's like five years ago. And he's like, hey, he posts his video. And there's no education.

It's just me, it's just him snapping a RAM stick. And it was like, funny. But I think I should go with your route, which is educate and stuff like that. No, yeah. I mean, I think there's absolutely a time in place for, for just meme content. And I think like, especially on TikTok with short form content, like, some people do, like to just laugh and not learn anything um i personally just want to like include value with my content that's funny and and engaging but i mean i always love a funny like pc meme or people like

flexing with ram sticks or whatever oh yeah they're on their wrist because it's like oh god i'll get we'll have a couple questions about the pc industry down the road we're gonna i i know people in the comments are going to be a little talking about that so we'll get it to that soon You talked a little bit about, like, you know, you're getting these hooks. It gets people engaged and get the views and everything like that. I experience this a lot as someone that worked in social media for, gosh, like five, six years now. How do you protect your self-worth against that algorithm, right? Because, you know, you can get two to three million views on this video.

and you're like, yes, I finally figured out. And then the next like 30 barely cracked a thousand. So how do you protect yourself worth against the TikTok algorithm and Instagram algorithm? Oh, yeah. So protecting yourself from the algorithm and I guess fluctuations in terms of, I'd say also comments too. Yeah. It's really difficult. And it's something that I've struggled with early on as a content creator.

I remember back in the early days, whenever I read a comment that was even somewhat negative, I would take it personally. And I remember people were like, oh, you can build a PC with better parts or like this part's better or that part's better. And I remember back then I was like, well, I mean, this part could be better, buts, blah, blah, blah. And I realized that like attaching myself so much emotionally to the algorithm and to comments was just detrimental to my mental health and to just daily life. And so one thing I've learned throughout the years is to detach yourself from, I guess, the content creation process.

Not to make content that's robotic or repetitive, but in a sense that like your online persona is just like a character. And so whenever I meet people online too, or even meet people that watch my videos. They're like, oh, I thought you'd be more, like, energetic like you are in your videos. And it's like, well, in real life, like, I'm kind of like a calmer, chill person. When I'm gaming, I'm really energetic. I'm, like, screaming and yelling. And then when I'm creating content, again, that zone where I'm also, like, screaming and yelling.

But I like to associate my online persona as, like, a character that I'm acting. And so whatever people comment that like this character is doing things that are weird, I'm like, okay, well, that's just the character that I'm stepping into. And so that's not Tony. Like, that's not who I actually am. And that's actually helped a ton when it comes to, like, the algorithm fluctuating because it's like, oh, well, I can't really control that. Like, I put myself out there. And the only thing I can't focus on is consistency and quality. of my content.

And so if it doesn't get it, if the piece of content doesn't get enough views, if it doesn't get enough comments, then just keep posting and keep going along with that. And if I get negativity, like, that's just the character that I played at that moment. Like maybe my voice was too

too annoying to some people at that time or space or maybe like I chose a different part that someone thought could have been better. But that was, just what happened at that moment and that doesn't reflect like who I am as a person. I think that's a there's a thing of like tough skin and working where your face is out there. You know, if you are able to like put your face behind like a persona or like a mask or not show

your face at all, there's like that little boundary. But like when you have your face out there and then you get people saying stuff or insulting your looks or your appearance stuff like that it's like dang man like I'm just trying to make a video here you're really being rude to me it I really like that idea of like you know what that's just someone else that you know I'm putting out there the other person that's it completely I love that I love that idea uh I guess that leads into the next question is I mean there's people here uh that want to get into content They want to make tech reviews or make videos in general and get become a content creator and you know, make that their full-time job.

Do you have advice for those that are looking to enter into that idea? Like, you know, do you have to have this mentality or do you have to have a specific gear? Yeah, so I think for people that want to get into content creation, I would recommend a few things. Well, first of all, for gear, you don't need to have fancy equipment. And, I mean, I started with my friend's bridge camera that had like an all-in-one zoom lens. And let's see, it maxed out like 1080P. We honestly would have been better off just filming on a phone at that point because like phones shot in 4K. But yeah, so I would have recommended people starting out.

Just film on your phone. Master the basics of lighting, framing, as well as like hooks, keeping people engaged. Audio is super important, too. If you're filming on your phone, if you do a voiceover or whatever, you might want to have an external microphone. And I think focusing on gear in the beginning stages is kind of natural because you think, like, oh, you don't have the quality of your favorite content creators that, who've been in the space for years already. But I think one of the most important parts of the video is like the core message of the video.

And so focusing on the visuals is like a sort of crutch that I feel like a lot of beginner content creators have. It's like I can disguise a bad video with just a fancy camera and lighting. And so you want to focus on the fundamentals first and force yourself to be creative by using. using things that you already have at hand. And then once you, like, develop that traction and develop an audience, if you actually want to continue with creating content in the future, too, that's when you can think about investing in gear and other things. And in terms of other tips, if you are someone who is actually determined in being a content

creator, know that you should obviously, like, go after it, try it at least once. your life if it's something that you want to do. And don't be discouraged by anything we say or anything other congregators say, but also be realistic in the sense that you will have to show your face out there or at least your voice or some part of you in your content. And you will face criticism to the point of, like you said, Mike, of developing, you'd have to develop thicker skin or separate yourself from the online, like, aspect. And I know plenty of people out there who are like, oh, I feel like I could create content. I could share this.

But it's like you are, if you're like really insecure about your looks or your voice, there could be a point where like maybe you're not cut out to be a content creator. And I know that sounds harsh, but if that's something that's really, bothering to you, it's something that you're going to have to adjust to as a content creator because it is really difficult to constantly be on point. And if you're easily ticked off from it, then it's going to be very, very difficult. And so keeping that in mind, like, if that doesn't bother you and if the gear doesn't bother you, and if you can stay super consistent, which is incredibly important too, because you can post like once a year and you'll get likely nowhere. But if you

post every single day and you increase the chances that people can actually see you, that brands can actually see your content and then reach out to you, then you increase the chances of actually succeeding as a content creator. And it's not an easy process. Like you might go through years and years of getting absolutely nowhere. But if it's something that you really want to do that you see yourself doing, then I think it's absolutely worth trying. I agree. You talked a little about that is, you know, if you may not realize how hard, like people

are like, oh, yeah, it's such an easy job. And yes, it is an easier job than most, but there are still a lot of hardships that come with it. And a lot of people think, like, it's like a cushy job. It's a cushy thing. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to put it in work. I would like to ask you, what is your process when you make a video?

And, you know, you can go as in-depth as you want. But I want people here to know, like, it's not just, oh, I just click the record and I post. There's a lot of things that go into it. So if you can go through the process of, like, from concept, like a brand comes up to you, but like, hey, I want you to make a thing. an unboxing video for our product, how does that go from then to the published video?

Yeah, so if a brand reaches out for a video, first of all, I'm going to vet the brand and make sure that the product is something that I actually align with as well as my audience. If it's something that they could find useful or helpful or at least learn something about. And so if the product is aligned with my audience

and with my content style, then we'll go ahead and I'll check out the product benchmark, it, stress test it, depending on what it is, or actually try it out. And I like to write, I don't really like to write scripts like line by line of everything I'm going to say because I end up talking really robotic and I basically like lecturing the audience. I typically like to have like bullet points of main things that I like to hit on and then like key specs.

And so I like to have an outline ready. and if it's a short form video and I'm filming on my phone, I like to film directly on the TikTok app, and it just helps speed up the workflow. I know many creators don't like using the TikTok app because it's a bit clunkier than editing on a desktop with a keyboard or mouse. But it's helped speed up my workflow

because I'm able to just pick up my phone, film the product, film myself talking about it, and then go back in, just like trim the clips a bit, add some captions. And so from start to finish for a TikTok video, if I'm filming on my phone, takes about 30 to 60 minutes. So it's not too long. If it's a sponsor video, there are other elements that add into it, like obviously the outlining, the edits that I have to go back in and do and then send back through the brand.

If it's a long-form video, that takes a more structured approach. it's a lot harder to do long form like on the fly typically, unless you were like vlogging or doing that sort of on the fly content. But for long form, starts similar process with outlining. And then filming A roll, which is like the talking head portions where I'm sitting down, talking to a camera,

maybe for like eight to ten minutes, sometimes even longer. And then filming the B roll segments of testing out the products, putting my hands on it, benchmarking, stress testing. And the B-roll clips are like the clips that you see on top of the head portion. So it's like the product beauty shots. And so going into the editing timeline for Longform is a much longer process.

I use DaVinci Resolve to edit my content on Longform. And I usually start with editing the A-roll clips of me talking. And so cutting out the ums and us, making the video flow smoother. if there's like a dead point where I'm talking really slowly. I like to cut that out to make the video more engaging. And then adding B-roll clips on top of that to make the video look nicer with product shots. Let's see. And then posting it on YouTube, adding the description section, responding to comments.

And from start to finish, YouTube video could take about 8 to 10 hours, sometimes even more, like multiple days for a more involved one. yeah i mean gosh it could uh i i think that's the some something to people who realize like eight to 10 hours they're like wait for one video you're like yeah especially like you know like you did a video about our nzc prebuilt right the player too and you're like hey can you make a video actually actually you know what that we can we can actually talk a little bit about that is uh uh a lot of people don't know how brand work right when when they think of a video like they see like your video of Is a player or two prime PC worth it in 2026? They think, oh, we just sent you to PC, you make a video done.

There's a lot more that goes into it, right? Like you said, you know, you do research and then you, you may have to, like, do a bunch of A role and then maybe do some B rule after that to, like fill into parts. When, so, first of all, when a brand approaches you, like us, like NCXT, what's like the most important factor you consider before you take that partnership? Yeah, so I think the most important thing I consider before taking a partnership is definitely if this product actually aligns with my audience and with my goals too. So I've gotten wacky emails from brands like, oh, do you want to review this like makeup and I'm like, oh, I personally don't wear makeup or this wouldn't align with my audience either. And so I wouldn't accept a deal like that, even if it paid a crazy amount.

But I mean, I guess there are certain aspects where I would take a creative approach if a brand reached out, for example, and wanted to promote tech-inspired makeup. Like, I think at CES, they had like smart nails, like smart color-changing nails. And I personally wouldn't wear that, but for example, my girlfriend could. And so I could make a video like, I put RGB on her nails, for example. And so that would be like one way to infuse my audience with a product that I otherwise wouldn't use. But so I think the most important thing for me is if I could actually make content on this. That's so smart. Yeah.

It's like if some sock company comes by to you, you probably like, I don't know if I should make a video about socks. But you know, like a tech company comes by, you'd be like, well, my audience will probably understand that. That makes a lot of sense. you know, a lot of people think like, oh yeah, I'll just take the first thing. And then that's it. Like, you can. But would that, would your audience be okay with that? I think that's something that a lot of people don't think about.

So I also, also want to do a quick shout out that the four of your five most viewed videos on your YouTube channel involved an N60 product. A little, little, little tune our own horn right there. But, you know, we see that those are your most views. view videos, right? But how do you view a video to be successful? Is it the views? Is it the engagement? Or is there like something else that not many other people see?

Yeah, I think it's a mixture of all factors, like views, engagement, comments, likes, that sort of thing. And also the personal satisfaction factor of did I enjoy making this video? and did I enjoy the process of like talking about this thing? And I personally get satisfactory now to videos, even if they don't perform well. Like they don't get many views or likes or comments if I thoroughly enjoyed making that. And there have been videos where I've put my heart and soul into it and it gets, you know, it doesn't get much traction.

And other videos where it just flip the camera and just, oh my God, look at that. And like it gets a million views. And so like I get personal satisfaction out of, out of both of them, I guess. It's a mixture of the vanity metrics as well as the actual process. Actually, I had a, that wasn't a rapid fire, but you kind of brought it up. I'll bring it out there right now.

What was there a video that you put like the most time into and it just did not go well? Yeah, I. This was back in 2024. My sister was using an older MacBook Pro. And she was helping me cross-post videos on other social media platforms. And she was instrumental in helping me like post YouTube shorts and Instagram Reels. And so I wanted to surprise her with a new MacBook, a new MacBook pro.

And she was studying at UCLA at that point. and I was in Davis and so I bought a MacBook and then I asked my friend if he would just like hold the camera and just come with me to L.A. to surprise her. So we had the MacBook just flew to L.A. on a like random, I don't even know what day it was, like a Saturday or something. And I was just, I had a backpack with a MacBook in it and my camera gear. And my friend, he was like, oh, this is the first time I've ever flown without. anything because he didn't even have a backpack and I was just like okay we're just going to fly then then fly back later that day so we flew to L.A and I wanted to surprise my sister I didn't know where she was because I had her location on find my friends but I didn't know her schedule I didn't even know which apartment building she lived in because I didn't help her move in that year so I was like

FaceTiming with my parents while we were on campus and I was like where does she live and then they were like oh she's at that building and I was like okay let's go go. And I mean, looking back, I was like, damn, I could have been a complete, like, creep, like trying to find where she lived. But the fact that I looked like a college student, like, helped out because I was asking other students, too. I was like, oh, you know where this building is? Like, oh, can you point me there? And so I tracked the location. She was at a specific building. And then I asked the receptionist. I was like, hey, I'm filming a video, surprising my sister. can you let me up to that floor?

And then she was like, um, like, that's a safety concern. And I was like, that actually makes sense. And I didn't want to like ruin the surprise and text my sister like, hey, come down. Because I wanted to be like raw and genuine. Like, oh my God, what the heck are you here? And so I like rode along with other people going up in the elevator. And then like we got out. We were walking through the halls.

And she was, she just like walked out of the. bathroom and was like walking back through a room and I just yelled her name and she turned around she's like what the heck and she just like happened to be in the hallway at the same time so we didn't even have to knock on her room and like I surprised her with the laptop she loved it it's helped a ton with her schoolwork as well as like helping me post content on um YouTube and Instagram too and I loved making that video it was a ton of fun to edit YouTube. It didn't do extremely well on YouTube. I think it, I don't remember exactly because, but I, I got so much satisfaction from making that because it, from start to finish, like,

everything just went super smoothly. And like, looking back, it was executed so poorly, because I could have planned it way better. I could have known, like, where she would have been at that time or moment. But I was just kind of like, let's just do it on a whim and let's see where it takes us. And, yeah, I honestly just love. how it turned out, even though it didn't blow up, you know, by vanity metrics, like, standards. I love that. You know, that's, I think that's, like, for me working my job, like, my physical job, a lot of the numbers, you know, got to get those numbers.

You got to go viral, you know, and for me, it's like my thought process. Like, I always have to find something that gets the views, gets the engagement. But when you can do something we're like, you know what, I'm going to do this for my sister. If I make a video out, it goes great. If it doesn't, at least, you know, your sister's happy. I love that you had that like, no matter what, it's always going to be something good. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.

Oh, sorry. What was that? No, no, go far. Go for it. Oh, yeah. I mean, one other point, too, is, like, I've seen people comment on, like, Mr. Beast videos or other, like, surprising my friend, family member, whatever videos that, like, oh, these videos are ingenuine because you're filming them for views or likes or, and, like, and, like,

sure, maybe a portion of it could be disingenuous, but I think, like, the most important part is not, like, the fact that they're creating content about it. I think it should be that they're doing a nice thing. And if they are doing a nice thing for the sake of views, I think it also inspires other people to do nice things as well. And so I personally don't see anything wrong with, like, you know, Mr. Bees planting trees for views. You know, I think it's a good cause. and if anything, like it inspires other people to plant other trees too. And so I personally was super satisfied with that video. And it wasn't, I wasn't made for the point of getting views.

It was made because I figured I'd make content on it anyway, you know. And so, but yeah. I love that. So now we're, we kind of talked a little bit of Rapid Fire. We're going to go ahead and go to the Rapid Fire version. So this is your time to just, you can say as much as you want or as little as you want. I'm going to throw in some just random questions. I have a ton of random ones.

Like, it will start easy and it will kind of ease into it. Don't worry. We're not going straight off the bat, so don't worry too much about that. So we talked a little bit about a video that you put a ton of work on and didn't get super viral. What was a video that you did not expect to go viral, but it just did? Hmm. There was this one video on TikTok a few years ago. I think I built a PC, but I left the plastic film on, on the glass.

And people were commenting to just peel it, like, peel it off. And like my Asian tendencies of like, I kind of want to preserve like the newness of it. And like also it would also, it would be like a future video idea to just pull it off. And so someone commented, hey, just peel it. And so I peeled it. And then at the end, I was like, look at this nice, clean, shiny glass. And then like I smacked my hand on it and I dragged my fingerprints. And that annoyed so many people.

I didn't think it would. I knew it would do decently well. I didn't think it would do that well. And I think it got a few hundred thousand views. Because it was just so rage baity and funny. And I'll probably recreate that video like sometime this weekend or. Yeah. Honestly, you should because that would get people, that will get people going.

And that's actually one of our favorite things is that like we do. to smudging thing on purpose like we'll leave like a smudge on and people are like I hate this and I'm like I know you do I know let's see oh you know we'll start with some games you know

what games are you playing as right now yeah so the new battlefield I've played a bit of that I want to play more for sure whatever I do find the time let's see a bit of Valerant I suck at Valerate I like bronze

I'm like hard-stuck bronze. But I want to get a little bit better in Ballarat. Let's see, what else? Occasionally Fortnite, but mostly just for benchmarking, like, PCs, just for the sake of playing on that. And then I'm excited for the new Resident Evil game coming out later this month, I believe. That sounds interesting and fun. And I kind of like horror games and movies, so.

is one game you wish you could play for the first time again? Oh. Like you wipe your memory. Okay. Wipe my memory and play this game for the first time. Probably Cod Black Ops 3. I really like the

zombies in that game and like the storyline. And like I'm a huge cod zombies fan and that game just scratched the itch in every single way. Like I love all the maps. Um, it was,

super fun and engaging and defeating zombies with fun weapons and creative stuff other than just basic guns. And then just the graphics on the game, I feel like we're really nostalgic too for me. Interesting.

Hold on. I got a notification I was banned from someone's chat. I went, what? I was like, you've been unbanded. I go, thank you? Okay, great. Let's see. Oh, do you believe in future proofing?

Futureproofing like tech? Yeah, like your, let's say you get a PC. Do you believe in future proving? I think you can future proof things to a certain extent, but eventually it's going to be outdated just because of how quickly tech evolves. And so, I mean, I guess you could like max out your PC today with Horizon 99950 X3D and then throw in an RTX 5090. You could probably play like 4K games for the next maybe, let's say, five years or so.

But eventually it's not going to be future-proofed anymore just because of how games advance, how attack advances to, like a 50-90 today is probably going to be equivalent to, I don't know, in 80-60. I don't know. Like, it's possible. And so you could future-proof it as much as you want, but it can never really be completely future-proofed. I think. What is a common question you get in your DMs that you just want to answer now and never see again? Yeah.

It's always a lot of free stuff. And to answer now, I would say join the NXT Intel Club. They're doing giveaways every month and it's a great way to get some free stuff. There you go. That's how you do it. You send them to us to ask for free stuff. Smart. Smart.

I like that. What was the best tech item you've ever reviewed or unboxed? Best tech item ever. Honestly, this is going to, let me think. Best tech item. I've ever reviewed or boxed. Let's get back to this one. Let me think about this one.

Okay. I like that. Let's see. What was the worst item you've ever reviewed or unboxed? if you can say it. Oh, worst item? Well, I actually received a gaming chair back in 2020. That was like rusting at the frame.

And yeah, it was pretty bad. And like I posted completely honestly about it to my audience. I was like, oh, this thing is rusting. I'm not saying every chair is going to be rusted. But like this one is so bad. Yeah. And I don't think I can like promote this. Ooh, yeah, that's not good.

One high quality video or two, never stop posting clips per day. Ooh. I'd probably say never stop posting clips per day. You rather two simple clips versus one big one? Yeah, yeah. I think that would be more effective. I think so too. It just keeps the algorithm going, you know?

Yeah. Ooh, this is your way to shout out some people. a dream collab you hope happens. Oh, dream collab. Let's see. I've always really liked Jay's Two Sense's Celebrity PC builds.

I've always thought they were really cool. Like when he built a PC for Post Malone, um, I don't know, maybe I'd like to build a PC with like a celebrity one day. Like, um, like a musician or an actor. I like that.

Are there any creators that inspire you? Creators that inspire me? Definitely. So I mentioned before earlier in the stream, Justin C. And Marquez Brownlee, those are two tech YouTubers are really like. Short-form creators, Carter PCs, he posts consistently four times a day. Archi Technology, he's a UK tech creator. Let's see. The Poets.

He posts a lot of PC build. videos on short form he's very consistent too uh and then see a few other ones KJO PCs uh he's a funny guy too yeah the video of him post putting his PC setup hung from the ceiling

it it's scarred me scarred me I was like oh that's so good but so terrible I love that if you weren't doing tech reviews and you weren't doing content creation what do you think you'd be doing now yeah so yeah actually i didn't mention before i studied economics in college i was actually on track to do computer engineering and so i'd probably be doing something like that along the lines of computer hardware and software and i guess just just working that

job do you think uh which what do you like more do you think you would like being a software engineer more or what you're currently doing? Probably what I'm currently doing. I think it's so much more rewarding. And also more like multifaceted. I get to do multiple things, like create the content, edit, as well as like interact with my audience versus just one thing every day, like write lines of code.

Ooh, okay. If I am someone that has no idea what to look for in a PC, what? Are you going to advise? So if someone comes to DM's like, hey, I want to buy a PC, I don't know what to do. What would you advise them to do? This is for people out there watching right now. Yeah, so if you want to buy a PC and you have absolutely no clue, I'd say there are like two tracks you can do.

And so one is if you want to learn everything about a PC, if you want to know how to build it, how to troubleshoot it yourself, if you run into issues, then absolutely go on YouTube, find some tutorials, learn how to how to build it yourself because it's not impossible. Like many, many people have done it. A lot of people say it's akin to building adult Legos. You plug in cables and just drop stuff down. And so I would say learning it is very fulfilling too because you get that sense of accomplishment. And then you could save money if you buy used parts

or if you get deals on certain parts. Maybe not in this day and age with the ramp crisis and SSD is getting more expensive as well as graphics charts. And then there's the other track of if you just want to game or you just want to edit videos or stream or create content or just do anything on a PC and you don't care about the tech. Because there are certainly people out there who just want to use a PC but they don't care about the tools. And I mean, I was working with this brand a few years ago who they were sending over a product and they wanted like the video to focus more on the video. like the story of the product and actually using it. And I was also throwing in like the tech specs and like,

and what the product is and stuff. And the brand rep was like, oh, well, maybe we should focus less on the tech because it's a tool and focus more on the story of the product. And I'm like, okay, well, I get that you want to focus on the story, but I make tech content. And so like not, I recognize that like not everyone likes the tech and the tools. And so if you're that kind of person, then just go out and buy a PC. Like do your research, check out the specs, find reviews on that, see if it's a good system, if it's like worth your money.

And if it's cheaper than building yourself, if it's worth the hassle that you save, if it's worth like the warranty and all that, then I mean, absolutely go ahead and buy from a reputable company like NTC, for example. I like that. I like that. I have a little plug in there. I like that. I was expecting you to go there.

I was like, yeah. Would you rather have one video get 10 million views and those people will never see your videos again? Or you gain 5,000 loyal subscribers or followers and they'll watch you every single time that you post a video. So instant virality. or a follower base. I think I would definitely choose the 5,000 followers because I think having a more engaged audience is so much more valuable than being a flash in the pan.

Because, I mean, if you get millions of views and it's just a one-time thing, it's not really going to do much good other than bragging rights for like a week or so because people are just going to forget about it. And brands are not going to reach out to you. You're not going to be able to create a career out of it. And it's not going to be fulfilling in the long run

because you're not like keeping up with it. I agree. And I think imagine 5,000, like imagine the post that gets 5,000 comments every single time. Ooh. That would be amazing. Oh my gosh. I'd kill for 5,000 comments every video. And that's guaranteed 5,000?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, Brand, if we saw that happening, we'd be like, get me on that video ASAP, right? would you rather have an extra alarm or extra arm or an extra leg oh extra arm or extra leg probably an extra arm i think it'd be kind of useful to hold my phone while like my two hands are building a pc or whatever and like every time i make a pc build video if i'm trying to do it on the fly with my phone people are always like oh just get a tripod and i'm like i have tripods like a few but i want to make something that's like engaging it feels like you're actually like watching with me and sure like i could use meta ray bands and stuff but it just looks really different

yeah yeah i mean it's so much better with like phone quality versus like a little gopura right like you're gonna like a phone quality or like a nice ds lr gosh like qualities could be so much better exactly yeah oh would you rather have to record a video every single time you get a package and that means any package or or never be allowed to film an unboxing again? I would, I would film an unboxing for every package. Oh, that's so tough.

That's like every, like, every, like, if you're like, oh, I'm just going to go on Amazon and buy me some, I don't know, some pants or something like that. Boom, unboxing video. I got some new deodorant. Yeah, exactly. Like any little thing, you're just like, oh, well, I'm got to pick a video about it.

I think I'd take that over never having to do it. I think I would too. Ooh, okay. Would you rather be able to eat anything you want and have it be perfect nutrition? Or you only have to sleep one hour of day and be fully rested. Oh, this one's tough. Anything? I think I would take the sleep.

I would take one hour of sleep because you would get 23 hours in the day and then you'd feel fully rested. I'm already okay with eating healthy food. Like, of course, I occasionally like to treat myself. And I think the sleep would be so much more helpful. Oh my gosh. I wouldn't know what to do for the extra seven hours a day, right? And you're fully rested too. So I'm just like, I'd feel good.

I wouldn't need coffee. I won't need like any energy drinks. I'll just be like, I'm ready to go. Like, I think that would be good. Yeah. And for the final one, would you write? rather own a rhino size of a hamster or a hamster the size of a rhino oh let's see probably a hamster the size of a rhino i feel like that would be so much more fun and then potentially you could even

like put a leash on it and ride it around like ride a hamster yeah i don't know if everyone in chats also agree with you too i don't know if you could like um if you could tame it like like Like, what if it just bites you? Like, how aggressive would it be if it knows it's bigger than you? Hamsters are crazy, man. Like, have you ever seen them, like, climbing cages and stuff? Imagine that, but rhino-sized. You could write it, you could ride it, though.

And it's fast, too. It's just scamping around. I've got a couple people who have also said hamster to size of a rhino, too. And I'm like, hmm, it would be a gigantic dog slash pig. That's true, actually. It is a hamster. but they can be kind of me though with their little teeth

at every long to add. I think an NZXT chinchilla size of a ramster a rhino. I would love a bridal size NZXT chinchilla. I don't know if he's still the chap

but oh that sounds fun. That sounds terrible though. That face though. Oh. I actually don't actually never mind. I'm going back on it. I don't want to stare at that face. Oh, he is still here.

I don't know if I want to see that face like the Like that stare every time and that's bigger than you. Ooh. Oh, he is in the chat though. All righty. That's it on the questions. I'm going to do a quick couple announcements

and I'll hand it back to you for some future announcements from your side. So for the announcements, we'll go through real quick. Our NXT Intel Club has, you know, we're both wearing the shirt right now. You can even see above Tony right now, they have the chippy and poochie plushes. you guys can go to nzxc.com slash club nzc.c.co slash club or estimation point club in chat and then basically go you guys sign up

participate in the community earn poochie points and with those poochie points you guys can enter into the giveaways. The more points that you guys earn now, the more entries you get into the giveaway. So my advice start now. So you get more points and you get more entries. sent to the giveaway. For those that have a bunch of points right now, I'm working on a cool redesign. Don't worry. I haven't forgotten.

And for those that are global, I know we're stuck to the US right now. Terrace of taxes are killing me right now that usually wouldn't be happy because we were global before. I'm working on it. So please be patient. A second announcement that I have is

we have a very special code going on. It's only for a very limited time. You can guys get an extra $100 off a player two prime PC with this code word. Player 2 VIP, player 2 VIP, all one word, all caps. If you guys type that into the checkout code at the, or to checkout at the cart,

you guys get an extra $100 off a Player 2 Prime PC, which actually Tony reviewed, which is pretty dope. Okay, I'm going to hand it back to you. First of all, where can our listeners find you and your content online? Yeah, you can find me on all major social media platforms, TikTok, YouTube, YouTube shorts, Instagram, even starting to do Facebook Reels. Oh, how's that been going? It's good for the moms and dads on Facebook.

The millennials and the boomers, man, they love that stuff. What is next for you? Do you have any exciting projects or content that you can. reveal that you're working on yeah i'm working on a few fun pc builds um i want to do more wood themed pc builds too i have um oh i can't say too much about it but i have like a small one and a big wood themed uh pc that i want to showcase and then of course always a lot of creative and fun stuff too in the pipeline i like that uh i guess we'll uh keep an eye out for you on our socialers i'll put his social link into chat for those that want to follow him.

It's also into Gleam, too, so you guys probably already followed him. Do you have any final thoughts or messages you'd like to share with our community before? I go ahead and we do the code word for the extra entries. Yeah. I guess thoughts with the community, good luck out there. The RAM and GPU and SSD crisis, it's basically in everything PC crisis. So, yep. hopefully you can get your hardware um it might get worse in the future we'll never know but uh i guess

we'll see yeah it's got to hope that it gets better soon we really have to hope that it gets better because like for us here at nzxte we're also feeling it too guys it's not just like it's not just you guys we're also feeling it so we're we're working on it we're trying our best to keep prices as low as possible but it's tough you're feeling it too tony so i know it's rough yeah uh uh So there is a giveaway that we're doing for your podcast. It's for Intel hoodie shirt and mouse pad. We actually have the Intel stuff on this corner. You guys can't see it.

There's a special code word that gives them a thousand extra entries into the giveaway. That's our way of saying thank you for joining. I would like to ask you what the code word you'd want it to be. Oh, let's do toes. T-O-E-S. Toes. Why towed? I ordered, well was it, I ordered boba the other day with my cousins and they had to like enter a name for the order and they just put toes.

And I was like, are you serious? I did the servers were like, toes, your orders ready? And they were all giggling behind the counter. Okay. W word, Edzix, Tichichin, says that that is actually the most unique code that we have gotten on this podcast so far. So you know what? I love that. I am updating the gleam right now.

so everyone please refresh your gleams and the word toes is the code word. I love that. That was actually my favorite coder redone so far, and I love that. Well, thank you guys for joining us. And remember, tune in live on Fridays at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on the official NCC Twitch.

And don't forget to listen to previous episodes on Apple Podcast, Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube. And if you guys have any questions for us, you can email podcasts, nccc.com or tag at ncccc on social media platforms thank you tony tech bites for joining us here today that was an awesome podcast please uh follow him on all social media platforms and we'll see you guys later have a safe weekend everyone and have a fun i think super yeah have a fun super bowl and please stay safe thank you