Takedown of pricey servers, streamers OCD HiFi guy

A consultant walks into a factory full of complicated machinery. He is told that one of the machines has stopped working and is impacting the production schedule that could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. He walks up to the machine, spends about 10 minutes inspecting the innards, and finds and replaces the faulty part -- a screw. He later sends an invoice for $1000. The company accountant balks at the bill and asks, "really! $1000 for replacing a $5 screw?" The consultant replies, "yes, $5 for the screw and $995 for my knowledge and the cost of acquiring it."

@jayrossi13 Excellent point. (I'll comment with that  It’s possible that his point is true and it applies to his own practices, too. But the takeaway (for me) would be that his point is true.

Agreed. He's mainly aiming at the insane markup people, and is accounting for all the factors you mention. But it's pretty clear if someone is charging enormous $$'s and is putting a cheap Chinese gamer board inside a fancy chassis, then there is chicanery at work. This doesn't happen (he mentions) with Pass or Jeff Rowland etc. He's calling out those who are putting sawdust in the meatloaf, so to speak.