AMD accused of "Golden Sample" on 290X given to reviewers, retail bought cards throttling

teppic · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:06

It's completely specious reasoning and below what I'd expect from a large review site.

Aside from making a ridiculous assumption based on the smallest test sample possible, why didn't they contact AMD first to ask about it and wait for a full response? It sounds very much like pure publicity.

Frenzy · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:10

When I had mine it didn't throttle but I did have massive stability issues at home. I think it is just a case of environment. At work where it worked fine I had really lower temps than at home. The stock cooler is crap, end of.

Gregster · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:12

It isn't like Toms needs the publicity though. Anyone who knows computers, knows Toms.

Marine-RX179 · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:12

teppic said:
It's completely specious reasoning and below what I'd expect from a large review site.

Aside from making a ridiculous assumption based on the smallest test sample possible, why didn't they contact AMD first to ask about it and wait for a full response? It sounds very much like pure publicity.

They did contact AMD and gotten a response, but not that it changes anything if they were already dead-set on publishing that regardless of what AMD has to say. The whole "contacted AMD" really just to serve the purpose of pretending they have done something sensible.

teppic · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:13

Marine-RX179 said:
They did contact AMD and gotten a response, but not that it changes anything if they were already dead-set on publishing that regardless of what AMD has to say. The whole "contacted AMD" really just to serve the purpose of pretending they have done something sensible.

Yeah, they got a minimal response saying they'd investigate and wanted to test the cards, but they went ahead and published it anyway before doing any real investigation themselves, or waiting for AMD.

You're quite right though in that this amounts to 'our press sample worked and we got two faulty retail ones, so all retail cards are faulty'.

straxusii · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:14

Marine-RX179 said:
The point is, you'd would imagine reviewer would do the sensible thing of at least testing a couple of more 290x before making (or hinting) such a claim.

Absolutely for a site as big as Tom's.

Luckily they kept their journalistic integrity by posting an amusing futurama meme,not

wolvers · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:17

Marine-RX179 said:
The point is, you'd would imagine reviewer would do the sensible thing of at least testing a couple of more 290x before making (or hinting) such a claim.

They have test ONE retail 290x and is already getting vocal about it...it does sound a bit illogical and unprofessional. By that logic, if a reviewer bought a retail card off the shelf and end up DOA, I guess they should get vocal saying all the cards off the shelf would DOA by that logic?

The mistake you're making there is using logic, which clearly the review site has decided to ignore completely..........because Nvidia told them to. As mentioned already, this kind of excessive sensationalism has always, historically, been driven by Nvidia. There's no other reason why a, normally, logical review site would suddenly behave in such a way. Reputations don't grow on trees you know!

Marine-RX179 · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:18

wolvers said:
The mistake you're making there is using logic, which clearly the review site has decided to ignore completely..........because Nvidia told them to. As mentioned already, this kind of excessive sensationalism has always, historically, been driven by Nvidia. There's no other reason why a, normally, logical review site would suddenly behave in such a way. Reputations don't grow on trees you know!

It's amazing how well timed this article is as well, also to mention this in the 290 Pro review as well. Ensuring causing highest damage (to AMD's sales) possible?

On the serious note though...I'm quite shocked about the level of incompetence Tom's showing for this. Even if they are in Nvidia's pocket, at least they should try harder to pretend they ain't

mmj_uk · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:18

If this is just a couple of faulty samples then why didn't AMD specify a base clock for these cards? they didn't even give an official TDP figure which is just as suspicious.

According to Toms the base clock is 727mhz, who would have bought one if AMD had advertised that?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmark,3659.html

In essence, it appears that AMD has a base clock rate around 727 MHz with its R9 290X, though the Hawaii GPU wants to run as close to 1000 MHz as possible.

AMD are not guaranteeing 1000mhz, they are guaranteeing 727mhz (worst case sample).

By the time the chip approaches its 95-degree ceiling, you’ll probably find the fan already spinning at 40% duty cycle using AMD’s “Quiet” firmware. From there, the GPU clocks down. Depending on the chip’s quality and the workload you run, Hawaii might slide all the way to 727 MHz and stay there if its fan can’t keep it cool enough.

As mentioned this will primarily affect 'quiet mode' although it might even affect uber mode come summer.

Steampunk · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:19

Dave Baumann said:
The current driver is controlling the fan by PWM set point. Electrical to mechanical can present some variance; we're in the process of changing the control to an RPM set point.

Rezident · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:22

Nvidia really are good at propaganda aren't they. Like that office in san fran that changed it's name every week they used to use. Shameful, but hey, it obviously works.

Marine-RX179 · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:25

Rezident said:
Nvidia really are good at propaganda aren't they. Like that office in san fran that changed it's name every week they used to use. Shameful, but hey, it obviously works.

First time I hear that...what's that about? Tax-dodging?

Boomstick777 · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:27

I saw this story and was hoping it wouldn't make the forums tbh.

They tested the cards and their was like no difference. Like someone is trying to take the shine of off AMD's new cards.. Not cool lol..

LtMatt · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:29

Boomstick777 said:
I saw this story and was hoping it wouldn't make the forums tbh.

They tested the cards and their was like no difference. Like someone is trying to take the shine of off AMD's new cards.. Not cool lol..

No surprises when you see who posted it.

andybird123 said:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmark,3659-2.html

http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=90345

Enjoy ;D

Suarez7 · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:30

lmao didn't take long for people to start pointing blame at nvidia

MrMarvelous · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:32

Sensationalist BS story.

humbug · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:33

andybird123 said:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmark,3659-2.html

http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=90345

Enjoy ;D

Toms hardware are trolling, look at the benchmarks on this forum, they are clocking to over 1200Mhz on the stock cooler and posting excellent scores.

Stanners · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:34

Same old, Much a do about nothing.

Or maybe I also have a press sample!

Gregster · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:35

Suarez7 said:
lmao didn't take long for people to start pointing blame at nvidia

It is obvious that Nvidia paid Toms to say it... I can't believe that no one knows or suspected this. Bad bad Nvidia.

OriginPC anyone?

Gibbo · 6 Nov 2013 at 13:37

Boomstick777 said:
I saw this story and was hoping it wouldn't make the forums tbh.

They tested the cards and their was like no difference. Like someone is trying to take the shine of off AMD's new cards.. Not cool lol..

To be honest it happens all the time, its not just NVIDIA, AMD have done it in the past too.

Happens everytime a new product comes out on graphics to be honest.