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HardOCP

Helios1234 said:
I remember speaking to someone from Bit-Tech and when I said Crossfire 6850/6870 was amazing (which it was at the time based on my own tests compared to a GTX 580), he kept saying Crossfire sucks. When I asked him if he had actually tested Crossfire and why he had such a view, he said that he used Crossfire a few years ago (when it wasn't mature) and since then hasn't bothered... So his opinion was based on premature technology and his stubborn attitude stopped him from revisiting dual GPU configurations to see how it had improved. The problem was that he wouldn't accept the fact that he was wrong and kept acting as if he knew more than anyone (which he didn't). Some reviewers are so arrogant it hurts. They never liked to be proven wrong and when they are, they just dismiss it. TTL is another one...
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Well I doff my cap to your corner as at least Vortez pointed out the flaws with the 680.

When I first stumbled across CPC/BT I liked their cynical nature. I really did. Sadly I figured out that they are only cynical when it suits them and not consistently cynical.

Their "our way or the highway" attitude stinks. After reading their review of NFS : The Run and seeing no honesty at all (where was the locked to 30 FPS part?!?!) I cancelled my sub with them (bit boring in the toilet now but ho hum) and told them why.

Not sure if they dared to come back at me with an excuse, but 95% for a game like that that can be completed in five hours and is locked to 30 FPS is nothing short of laughable. It absolutely destroyed any credibility they had IMO.

And it's continued. What used to be an impossible score to get (90%+) on games now seems to be handed out willy nilly to games they haven't even tested properly, or, ignore all the flaws as they must talk people into buying it.

My suspicions were confirmed when they down sized the size of the magazine and tried to make it sound like they were doing you a favour, then started a questionnaire asking how their magazine should be.

It was clear at that stage that they had sold out and could no longer be taken seriously.

Even before there were holes. They refused to test the NH-D14 and claimed that the Frio was the best cooler on the market. Even when they did test the NH-D14 their results seemed to be worse than any other reviewer and indeed owner in the world. Funny that !

I do maintain, it is incredibly hard to base a purchase based on reviews. No offence intended, but the only way to know for sure is to plant the product in question in your own PC and then come to your own conclusions.

For those at the back this is why I do exactly that every single time I buy something for my PC. Not to show off, not to brag or boast, but simply to show people what they can expect with that product put into a ordinary old mainstream PC.
 
Locky said:
It is OCUK ya know :D
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:cool:
Iv'e wrote it all sorts of ways, the latest was after seeing gibbo doing it that way in one of his posts.

ALXAndy said:
6950. But the 560ti is as fast !
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When confronted in the forum about why it took CPC something like 4 months to add a sentence in about unlocking the 6950(while in the same sentence saying it can't be done now), my brother was called a fanboi by one of the CPC staff, although he did apologise to him later when confronted by my brothers buying purchases based always on their recommendations.

His answer to why it wasn't ever mentioned before was because 'it was common knowledge' so what's the point of an enthusiast mag called Custom PC that's all about performance and oc'ing?

Nothing to do with it being faster than a 560ti with double the vram was it?:rolleyes:
 
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tommybhoy said:
Nothing to do with it being faster than a 560ti with double the vram was it?:rolleyes:
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They did a funny article saying how they weren't Nvidia fanboys and were completely honest right before the 680 came out.

What it looked like to me was them lining the way to bum lick the 680 and get away with being called fanboys.

Looking over their attitude over a series of years it's quite clear to me that they favour Nvidia products.

I really don't like their attitude if I'm completely honest. They berate things and do articles on what they hate and then pee their panties over a 680.

If you are going to be so cynical then you must, at all times, maintain that level of cynicism. One minute they were bashing on 3 screen gaming, then did an article on it and quote -

Switching back to our 27" monitor with the extra height of 1600 pixels was nice, but it was the width we were now craving.

So CPC endorse Eyefinity and Surround, yet **** off 3D and belittle those who use it? How did that article end?

Die 3D, just die.

Now a year ago I would have taken every word they said as absolute gospel and avoided 3D like a stinging dose of the clap. However, this time around I ignored what they said and gave it a go and I can seriously say that if it wasn't for 3D I would no longer game. I needed something truly new, something that adds to games. Not like I haven't been patient, I've waited a decade for something stand out.

CPC do some great articles where they complain about games. Where they say that we are basically playing very pretty versions of Doom with say, a car in it. But other than that nothing has moved forward.

Yet they talk about 3D as if it's the worst thing ever to happen to gaming, when in reality for many it's the best thing that could have possibly happened. Quite simply as it is very impressive and adds to certain titles in a way that great looking graphics can not.
 
ALXAndy said:
I do maintain, it is incredibly hard to base a purchase based on reviews. No offence intended, but the only way to know for sure is to plant the product in question in your own PC and then come to your own conclusions.

For those at the back this is why I do exactly that every single time I buy something for my PC. Not to show off, not to brag or boast, but simply to show people what they can expect with that product put into a ordinary old mainstream PC.
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Which is something I've always tried to do. I refuse to use test benches when testing coolers etc and have always used my own PC to do reviews, obviously making sure little had changed that could affect results. Reviewers tend to have the mindset that they can put a component in, get some numbers and then publish them to meet the NDA lifting simply to get all the views. Personally, I prefer testing things and investigating strange results and discussing them if those results are repeatable. There's no point showing results that make no sense just to meet a deadline because all it does is kill your credibility, something I see too often with other reviews.

The number of times I have spoken to other reviewers who are too focussed on the number of views they get rather than quality or who make mistakes because they can't read a manual and think they know it all from the start is staggering. I've always been one to test things that I know readers would like to see, like cards being overclocked to the max and compared with each other across the whole suit of benchmarks rather than overclocking a single card and doing one test to show the gains which is frankly meaningless. It's frustrating because I have now given up reviewing and I can't find a single good review where we see oc'ed GTX680 vs oc'ed HD7970. But this is the main reason I gave up reviewing, sites are too concerned about bashing out a couple of results without meaningful discussions just to meet deadlines that quality is compromised and I don't agree with that.
 
Ah yes, here we go. Check this out.

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2012/02/17/review-scores/1

An article where they were basically crying because people had a go at them over their seemingly low game review scores.

Shortly after that article?

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2011/11/23/need-for-speed-the-run-review/2

90%. For a game that is, aside from graphics, inferior to Underground 2 in every way. Ambition, size, loading times, race longevity, good soundtrack. I could go on all day. And how old is Underground 2 now?

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2012/04/11/rayman-origins-pc-review/2

95%. For what amounts to a game made for kids.

Aye, something has definitely changed over at Bit-Tech. Seems they have Mr Corporate in walking around whacking every one with a happy stick.
 
Helios1234 said:
The number of times I have spoken to other reviewers who are too focussed on the number of views they get rather than quality or who make mistakes because they can't read a manual and think they know it all from the start is staggering.
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That part did make me laugh out loud :D

It wouldn't be as funny if I didn't know exactly who you are referring to :D

Mr Megalomania himself :D
 
They used to be biased towards the green team, until all that nonsense with "new" cards etc...now they seem to have switched. They write some great reviews though.
 
ALXAndy said:
I do maintain, it is incredibly hard to base a purchase based on reviews. No offence intended, but the only way to know for sure is to plant the product in question in your own PC and then come to your own conclusions.
.
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It certainly is difficult and no offence taken (must be a first for you ;)), but I don't have the resources to continually buy kit. I go through a 3 year cycle of a new pc refresh with a video card refresh half way between that.

I currently have a 570 (phantom, nice card) and as I want to jump screen resolution I know my 570 won't sustain that. So it's time for a refresh and I'm a bit lost as what to do. The reviews miss where 2x570's fit in the scheme of current new hardware.

Back on topic - One thing can be certain though, as enthusiasts we all enjoy reading the reviews. Justification and temptation of our hardware habit!
 
Locky said:
The very fact that I have worked at ocuk and posted benchmarks my self know that you get the card in a system RAPE it and post results, that is all.
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That's exactly what it was, posting benchmarks. I'm referring to the recent "reviews" from OcUK, can't recall yours.
 
Link up please haha, I remember seeing that kid like once in a video and he looked like a total gorm. Link to a video or story please.
 
buchtis said:
Link up please haha, I remember seeing that kid like once in a video and he looked like a total gorm. Link to a video or story please.
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Tom had a custom motherboard made. RIIIE IIRC. He had it customised so that it was all blue and black and had the ram slots changed. Cost a pretty penny.

Any way, he leant it to the ginge and he blew it up.

Plus he allowed the ginge to moderate the forum and the ginge immediately started going around threatening to ban people. Good few members quit over it.
 
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