[H] NVIDIA Controls AIB Launch and Driver Distribution

[NTMBK]

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/08/28/nvidia_controls_aib_launch_driver_distribution/

NVidia tightening the screws on who can review their chips, and restricting driver access to those who sign their restrictive NDA.

 

[realibrad]

Here is what his lawyer had to say.

"If I’m a reporter, I probably would not sign it. I could pick on several elements but basically, it is intended to provide a strong control over work product of the reporters. The definition of confidential information is way too broad. Broadest I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen and drafted and enforced a large number of these. Also, the typical exclusions to confidential information are not provided, but they exist at common law anyway. The 5 year duration of the obligation is just stupid for this type of technology. It’s pretty ridiculous top to bottom.



I don’t really agree with the interviewed attorney. He seems to think it very reasonable and "not that onerous." I have to wonder what he thinks is. It’s a very heavy-handed way to deal with the media."

Another possible black eye depending on if other agree.

 

[EXCellR8]

Not in the least bit surprising, educating potential consumers of product shortcomings without expressed permission from the manufacturer is something that totally goes against basically every single tech media source. NVIDIA... no doubt the marketing team picked up on the lackluster performance of their "revolutionary" new RT stuff and now they're trying to cover up any additional coverage by top journalistic bodies.

This will only sully their reputation by end users more. Classic case of if our product is great feel free to let everyone online know, but if it sucks, don't say a word so we can still sell stuff to the uneducated masses.

 

[Rifter]

I knew this was where it was going after the NDA was announced few months back, was obvious. Thats why i was so shocked there were so many defending this NDA all over the internet, but i guess fanboys gotta fanboy.

 

[arandomguy]

Just another viewpoint on some of the above from another reviewer -

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/n...stom-rtx-2080-ti-reviews.422723/#post-5579179

That's just a big can of nonsense (and I initially wrote another word there). NVIDIA always has tracked what media gets what AIB samples, period. You know who does that as well? AMD, they even regulate what brand and sample end up at what reviewer. How conveniently he forgets to mention that.

I think Kyle is letting his feelings getting to his better judgment.

 

[Rifter]

This will only sully their reputation by end users more. Classic case of if our product is great feel free to let everyone online know, but if it sucks, don't say a word so we can still sell stuff to the uneducated masses.

Yeah this combined with the price hikes are not going to make alot of people happy thats for sure.

 

[Headfoot]

I think there's some value in reviewing off the shelf hardware that is purchased through the exact same channels that we have available to us as consumers. Ensures no special reviewer funny business at any step along the path

 

[guachi]

I would find any reviewer who signed such a ridiculous NDA suspect.

 

[MrTeal]

Wait for the next generation, when the review driver only works with the games recommended in the nvidia review guide.

 

[dacostafilipe]

Just another viewpoint on some of the above from another reviewer -

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/n...stom-rtx-2080-ti-reviews.422723/#post-5579179

I just want to point out that some reviewers said the same thing for GPP ...

 

[coercitiv]

What I don't understand from the article is the way [H] conflates the AIB reviewer approval list with the requirement to sign the Nvidia NDA.

Are AIB cards going to be present in the first round of Turing reviews?

 

[frowertr]

If you are going to be provided, FREE OF CHARGE, a product for review, I see no issue with certain stipulations being enforced.

These hardware review sites need to purchase their own hardware for review. No NDA required that route. Kyle just wants to stir the pot.

 

[Dribble]

This is just a copy of the discussion that was already in the main thread, I suspect put here to stir more, but really there is no need for a separate thread. As I said in that:
-Kyle wants a day 1 review for the clicks.
-Nvidia would give him a card (even after Kyle proclaimed they wouldn't) but he has to sign NDA like everyone else.
-He can't sign the NDA after all the fuss he made about it (although I am pretty sure he knows it's not that bad and actually wants too hence him adding a poll).
-So he looks to get a card via his connections and bypass Nvidia, only Nvidia have locked the drivers down so even if he gets a card he can't use it.
-So he has a whine.

Hence he'll have his review up a week late and [H] loose a bunch of clicks. None of this matters to us - plenty of day 1 reviews to read, and after a week there will be plenty more reviews including [H].

 

[NTMBK]

This is just a copy of the discussion that was already in the main thread, I suspect put here to stir more, but really there is no need for a separate thread.

Sorry, I didn't see it in the "main" thread- I lost track of it and didn't want to catch up with 54 pages of fanboy fighting.

 

[NTMBK]

If you are going to be provided, FREE OF CHARGE, a product for review, I see no issue with certain stipulations being enforced.

These hardware review sites need to purchase their own hardware for review. No NDA required that route. Kyle just wants to stir the pot.

If you buy your own hardware and perform review after launch, then your review will go up at least a week after everyone else's- at which point you will get almost zero clicks.

 

[Rifter]

If you are going to be provided, FREE OF CHARGE, a product for review, I see no issue with certain stipulations being enforced.

These hardware review sites need to purchase their own hardware for review. No NDA required that route. Kyle just wants to stir the pot.

This would guarantee that no one reads your review as it would be a week late, good way to kill your webite releasing late reviews every launch. You know kinda like what anandtech has been doing lately with late reviews and why no one uses anandtech for reviews anymore.

EDIT: Basically what the above poster already said before i read his response.

 

[Dribble]

If you buy your own hardware and perform review after launch, then your review will go up at least a week after everyone else's- at which point you will get almost zero clicks.

And if Nvidia lets people get at their hardware + working drivers without an NDA then they can post their reviews a week before launch. That's not exactly fair is it?

This really is a non issue - sign the NDA, do a day 1 review, or don't sign the NDA and do a review later.

 

[NTMBK]

And if Nvidia lets people get at their hardware + working drivers without an NDA then they can post their reviews a week before launch. That's not exactly fair is it?

This really is a non issue - sign the NDA, do a day 1 review, or don't sign the NDA and do a review later.

The contents of that NDA go way beyond a traditional embargo.

 

[LTC8K6]

If you buy your own hardware and perform review after launch, then your review will go up at least a week after everyone else's- at which point you will get almost zero clicks.

I think a lot of people would like a review where the reviewer did not collaborate at all with the manufacturer.

I know I would.

I'd be glad to read the review of a site that did not sign any agreements and bought the hardware they review.

As far as a week or two late, lots of people do not participate in the early rush of a new release.

I have no problem with bypassing the initial mad rush and waiting for a later review after the dust has settled.

I would guess a lot of folks feel the same way.

We always have that circus atmosphere anyway around initial reviews.

The next day, we always get claims of this or that done wrong in the reviews, or this or that site is obviously biased, or this or that setting is improving/hurting fps and it should be turned off/on, if you'd have set it this way, card X would have done better in the comparo, etc., etc., etc.

 

[PeterScott]

I think a lot of people would like a review where the reviewer did not collaborate at all with the manufacturer.

I think we would be well served by having both reviewers who sign NDA, so we can have day 1 coverage, and reviewers that don't sign NDAs, so they can be hyper critical if they want to be. But not because I think this NDA gags reviewers for 5 years, but because once you go down the hyper critical review option, you probably won't be invited to take part in the next launch.

As far is the NDA itself. I believe this is what is being discussed:
https://www.hardocp.com/image/MTUyOTk1MDM5M3R6ZzJzcDU1ZnFfMV8xX2wucG5n

The 5 year period is kind of bizarre, but that is seems to only be for confidential info that was revealed to you, and then NEVER made public.

Section 3 (Termination of Obligation) indicates that once the information is public, the obligation is over. NVidia no longer has any hold on you.

So I don't see this as any kind of long term "control" unless it is for some Confidential info that was revealed, but then never made public. You would basically not be allowed to use that information for a period of 5 years.


Bottom line:

I think NVidia was dumb for writing 5 years into the details, as it has potential to freak people out, and now some people are freaking out and overreacting to something that will almost certainly expire on Sept 14 when the embargo lifts.

Also HardOCP has turned into DramaOCP in recent years. Before the recent NVidia spat, I remember an AMD Spat.

 

[dlerious]

And if Nvidia lets people get at their hardware + working drivers without an NDA then they can post their reviews a week before launch. That's not exactly fair is it?

This really is a non issue - sign the NDA, do a day 1 review, or don't sign the NDA and do a review later.

Review embargo lifts the 14th, so there may be reviews before launch. I don't have a problem with Nvidia controlling the reviews on their samples, but I'm not as keen on controlling AIB samples.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Just another viewpoint on some of the above from another reviewer -

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/n...stom-rtx-2080-ti-reviews.422723/#post-5579179

Yeah it's a big nothing-burger. The [H]ard team are just sore because they caused a fuss over previous Nvidia behaviour and then getting kicked to the curb for it. That's why they keep constantly re-quoting that same old controversy in every post about Nvidia in the first paragraph, it's embarrassing. And then reading the NDA news posts and how it's about a multi-year NDA, it's multi-year guys, that's like saying I have a multi-wheeled car.

All this comes down to is money, they have to buy their own Nvidia kit to review it which will cost. I noticed back in the day his stance was if you don't like ads then f-off we don't want to do business with you. And I read the patreon page the other day and it's "hey guys, I don't like ads either and I respect that, so plz donate"

Is stopped finding them credible a while back and this kinda silly antics is what kinda vindicates my decision to not read them anymore. I don't need their personal beef colouring their articles about Nvidia.

 

[railven]

The next day, we always get claims of this or that done wrong in the reviews, or this or that site is obviously biased, or this or that setting is improving/hurting fps and it should be turned off/on, if you'd have set it this way, card X would have done better in the comparo, etc., etc., etc.

This is pretty much why I stopped coming by ATF. The good ol posters are long gone. All that's left is mostly pom-pom waving posters that flip-flop.

Just look at the recent Anandtech review regarding the Ryzen chips. It was pasted all over the internet as the gold standard only to be shunned and ignored by the same posters after the correction was made.

When I was a red ant in the trenches, [H] was blasted for it's bias and non-standard benchmarking methodology. Now Bennet is onstage with AMD and some of those same posters from before are putting the site on a pedestal.

Make up your damn minds. You can't cite one site day 1 when it agrees with you then act like it never existed or is a shill if they post a correction or their next article doesn't agree with you.

 

[Guru]

Just another viewpoint on some of the above from another reviewer -

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/n...stom-rtx-2080-ti-reviews.422723/#post-5579179

AMD has rarely done this with their GPU's, in fact with Polaris AIB's were able to provide cards to whomever they wanted.

But why bring AMD into this? Its wrong no matter who is doing it, but right now its Nvidia that has been caught with their pants down doing it. When/if AMD does it next it should be also brought to attention and called on it. Right now its Nvidia who are doing the censorship, so why spin and twist it towards AMD? Is AMD releasing Turning? NO!

Nvidia is doing what they know best and that is to whip the media and thus the consumers. They are screwing us ALL over!

 

[Guru]

This is just a copy of the discussion that was already in the main thread, I suspect put here to stir more, but really there is no need for a separate thread. As I said in that:
-Kyle wants a day 1 review for the clicks.
-Nvidia would give him a card (even after Kyle proclaimed they wouldn't) but he has to sign NDA like everyone else.
-He can't sign the NDA after all the fuss he made about it (although I am pretty sure he knows it's not that bad and actually wants too hence him adding a poll).
-So he looks to get a card via his connections and bypass Nvidia, only Nvidia have locked the drivers down so even if he gets a card he can't use it.
-So he has a whine.

Hence he'll have his review up a week late and [H] loose a bunch of clicks. None of this matters to us - plenty of day 1 reviews to read, and after a week there will be plenty more reviews including [H].

You didn't read the NDA did you? Anyone who actually reads the NDA and who is just your average consumer will come to the conclusion that it is a censorship deal, to prevent information like GT 1030 DDR4 coming out before hand and to prevent day 1 reviews of that garbage! Literally a pair of dirty underwear is better than the GT 1030 DDR4 card. It is to prevent info about their monopolistic, anti competitive practices like the GPP and other unlawful and terrible things they have done!

That is their new NDA, a censorship tool that no actual person who doesn't have vested interest in Nvidia or works for them like a PR person or forum proster or community surfer, etc... can with a straight face say that its not censorship tool. They want to prevent the media from talking about GPP, about 1030 DDR4, about GTX 970 with 3.5GB of ram, etc...

Why do certain sites defend it? They couldn't care less about biased reviews as long as they get sponsorship money from Nvidia and get free graphic cards that they get to keep or resell and make thousands of dollars on them.