Why does Custom PC keep knocking ATI?

Da[]San · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:08

Time after time the Radeon Cards get a hammering from the reviewers of Custom PC, frankly the latest issue paints the 3870x2 as a pile of stinking crud.

Discuss/

RavenXXX2 · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:10

Da[]San;11513566 said:
frankly the latest issue paints the 3870x2 as a pile of stinking crud.

Discuss/

Yeah always thought custom PC talked the truth, the above statement confirms this..

Slinky1989 · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:12

I've noticed that aswell, even with the mid range cards such as the 3850/70 they seem to always say in the negatives "8800gt faster for not much more money" and similar even though they (the ati cards) can be found elsewhere for cheaper than their suppliers.

Although to be fair to them, they did like the 3850 agp version and that 3870 from powercolour with that evaporation (or something) cooling on it.

Skyboat · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:14

RavenXXX2 said:
Yeah always thought custom PC talked the truth, the above statement confirms this..

Beats your card hands down though

steve258 · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:14

"slinky" said:
I've noticed that aswell, even with the mid range cards such as the 3850/70 they seem to always say in the negatives "8800gt faster for not much more money" and similar even though they (the ati cards) can be found elsewhere for cheaper than their suppliers.

They're not wrong though.. in fact the ocuk value 8800GT is now the same price as the OCUK triplex 3870XT (and out of stock as well) so is there any point in 3850pro or 3870XT at all?

Da[]San · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:15

Consider the Asus EAH3850 x3.
Custom PC made a big thing about the exclusive review and forgot to make sure it had suitable drivers.

Tom|Nbk · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:17

Skyboat said:
Beats your card hands down though

Ouch

Tute · 17 Apr 2008 at 01:33

I agree that the 8800GT is a better alternative than the 3870XT, but also I believe CustomPC do favour one company over the other.

eyetrip · 17 Apr 2008 at 09:04

Having had experience with a lot of these cards, I am not sure they are wrong.

I like(d) the 3850/3870 cause of the lower price and still having really good performance at that price. But the prices should have dropped recently. Especially on the 3870. Until they do, I could not recommend one over an 8800GT at the current prices.

That and ATI drivers are not inspiring much confidence in me.

I owned the GT/GTS/GTX, tried out a 3850 and now own the 3870, so know how each card does. I knew the 3870 would not be as good - just bought it to play around with.

I might be able to recommend the 3850 at under £90 on OCUK, cause its not far behind a 3870 once OCed, but will not recommend a 3870 until they are around £90.

That, and they really need to sort their drivers out.

cavemanoc · 17 Apr 2008 at 09:38

ffallic said:
That, and they really need to sort their drivers out.

Wow - you're the first I've come across -what seems to be the problem - I've never had any issues with the ATi drivers - always seemed well developed and sensibly deployed?

Ham · 17 Apr 2008 at 09:57

It's also amazing how their 'retailer of the year' award always happens to goto the company who seem to spend the most on advertising with them

RizlaKing · 17 Apr 2008 at 10:14

Sorry but i long ago abandoned taking any dennis publication seriously they have always been biased. Yes it does seem if you advertise a lot in their magazines you get better treatment i mean look how they recommend mesh pc's a lot says it all really. With the net so easy to have now i wonder why anyone bothers buying a magazine thats a month out of date by the time you read it but each to their own i guess.

smyth · 17 Apr 2008 at 10:21

RizlaKing said:
Sorry but i long ago abandoned taking any dennis publication seriously they have always been biased. Yes it does seem if you advertise a lot in their magazines you get better treatment i mean look how they recommend mesh pc's a lot says it all really. With the net so easy to have now i wonder why anyone bothers buying a magazine thats a month out of date by the time you read it but each to their own i guess.

Thats true, when ever I get tempted by a pc magizine I always remember it's going to be out of date regarding prices and new products and there's no point getting it.

Lightnix · 17 Apr 2008 at 10:26

Ham said:
It's also amazing how their 'retailer of the year' award always happens to goto the company who seem to spend the most on advertising with them

Perhaps they're just swayed by the amazing advertisements they have to print.

p4radox · 17 Apr 2008 at 10:29

There's not much point in Custom PC when you can get better, more up to date information on these here forums.

melbourne720 · 17 Apr 2008 at 10:37

Custom PC have some good articles, and they put a lot of work into benching games against configs, which I appreciate. Steam punk article last month was good.

Saying you can find better info on the web is true, but then it is the same with any news. Sometimes it is nice just to have a tangible mag to read, and have someone filter and present the information.

As for their ATi dislike, its probably just because ATi aren't really pushing the technology envelope at the moment. Custom PC didn't get good drivers with the X2 when it came out, and the games they benchmark tend to prefer the NVidia cards.

Saying that, they didn't think much of the 9800 GTX (but then, who does...?

)

-iceblade^ · 17 Apr 2008 at 10:50

RizlaKing said:
Sorry but i long ago abandoned taking any dennis publication seriously they have always been biased. Yes it does seem if you advertise a lot in their magazines you get better treatment i mean look how they recommend mesh pc's a lot says it all really. With the net so easy to have now i wonder why anyone bothers buying a magazine thats a month out of date by the time you read it but each to their own i guess.

How true... Once i saw their reccommendations for the Mesh PCs stay constant, and the fact that they seem to ignore everyone who can't spend 900+ inc on a PC, i left them...

if i remember correctly, they were even not recommending the 8800GT, but i'm not sure on that

milkinc13 · 17 Apr 2008 at 11:13

beginning of rant
i've recently been thinking of dropping custom PC, mainly for that reason, ok i know i'm opening up a can here but it's not just ATi they dislike, anything from AMD, or any of the motherboards that support AMD chips, even in their " the best upgrades for £100", the only CPU's in there are Intel's, what about those with AMD platforms?, same with their hardware choises. Ok I know AMD are being beated by C2D, but it would be nice to get some unbiased views. In their hardware choises they recomend an AMD 690g chipset, surely a 780G would be a better performer in that area?

rant over

jrodga2k5 · 17 Apr 2008 at 11:21

p4radox said:
There's not much point in Custom PC when you can get better, more up to date information on these here forums.

I think the only PC related magazine I get is PCZone now anyways! It's pretty much an entertaining read and only costs like £3 a month or something! I dont look up PC Gaming as much on the internet as I do the other platforms out there and I definately agree that I dont see much point in Custom PC since we get the info on these forums.
God doing a hardware magazine you would think they would at least try and be impartial

saguy · 17 Apr 2008 at 11:35

p4radox said:
There's not much point in Custom PC when you can get better, more up to date information on these here forums.

You cannot read these forums on the toilet or in the bath.

I have been reading custom PC for awhile now and there was a time they were all for AMD regarding processors and were advising not to buy Intel for gaming, so it goes around in circles. For years I stuck with AMD but I know where I will go for my next upgrade. Same thing with Ati - now generally across the range AMD and Ati are getting hammered by Intel NVIDIA.

I still do believe any reviewer consumer should take each product at its merits which I suspect loads of enthusiasts do not do.