HardOCP not happy with ATI Xpress200 motherboard

[nRollo]

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODc2

I still firmly stand by our opinions of the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset. I would neither use one in my personal system, nor any system that I might build due to the stability issues I have seen with it in the past. The chipset might be fine for email and Web surfing boxes, but it is not a good solution for gamers.

Well, this is new. Seems to me the last review I read of this chipset was largely positive?

 

[Megatomic]

If the BFG card was truly the problem, I don't see any basis for his opinion. Most other reviewers, AT included, like the ATI mobo chipset. I haven't seen anything to make me not like it either...

 

[MegaWorks]

"Fair and Balanced" That's such Fox news statement!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Are you confusing the ATI Xpress 200 chipset with the CrossFire chipset?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Ugh. After having read through the link, it looks pretty clear that the video card was at fault, and Kyle Bennet is an obstinate d!ck. So, basically there is nothing new to report except that HardOCP got a faulty system shipped to them.

Why they wouldn't at least try out the system that Falcon Northwest offered to ship them is silly, and shows another internet "journalist" preferring to throw an infantile tantrum than actually do some in-depth analysis.

GJ digging up some more dirt on ATI Rollo; it's what you do best, so congratulations on a job well done .

 

[ChiPCGuy]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Ugh. After having read through the link, it looks pretty clear that the video card was at fault, and Kyle Bennet is an obstinate d!ck. So, basically there is nothing new to report except that HardOCP got a faulty system shipped to them.

Why they wouldn't at least try out the system that Falcon Northwest offered to ship them is silly, and shows another internet "journalist" preferring to throw an infantile tantrum than actually do some in-depth analysis.

GJ digging up some more dirt on ATI Rollo; it's what you do best, so congratulations on a job well done .

Although in general I like their reviews, I find HardOCP somewhat less technically savvy than AnandTech--including the number and types of people who post on the HardOCP forums vs. the forums here. HardOCP is to be considered another data point along the road...nothing else.

 

[akugami]

I like the way HardOCP reviews video cards. They try to simulate actual gameplay and how the framerates fluctuate rather than lumping up an average.

The reason Kyle Bennet didn't want the system they are using is because they are afraid of receiving a tweaked system back that would skew the actual performance compared to a non tweaked system (which the majority of people would be getting). I think Kyle should have taken the system, re-reviewed it with a disclaimer.

 

[chocoruacal]

If $3200 of my money resulted in a &*$# system, I'd tell them to keep the hunk of &*$# too. There are no 'perfect' reviewers, but I'd hardly call Anandtech's reviews 'more technical.' In fact, both Anandtech AND HardOCP reviews are so chock full of generalizations and poor methodology that I'd have a hard time referring to either as 'technical.' Again, no one's perfect, Anand and Hard certainly are better than nothing.

 

[ChiPCGuy]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal
If $3200 of my money resulted in a &*$# system, I'd tell them to keep the hunk of &*$# too. There are no 'perfect' reviewers, but I'd hardly call Anandtech's reviews 'more technical.' In fact, both Anandtech AND HardOCP reviews are so chock full of generalizations and poor methodology that I'd have a hard time referring to either as 'technical.' Again, no one's perfect, Anand and Hard certainly are better than nothing.

I would agree that no one review site is perfect. Each one is just a data point, to be taken with all the other data points in aggregate.

However, I have spent a fair amount of time lurking on the HardOCP *forums* and I can tell you that Anandtech is attracting a "less clueless" crowd.

AnandTech, X-Bit Labs, and HardOCP are probably the best hardware review sites, and in that order from what I can discern.

When I research a PC part, like many people I first like to see at least five web reviews from reputable sites that bought the hardware (I do not trust reviews where the manufacturer provided the item in question), followed by NewEgg reviews, followed by Anand forum reviews, and then a large dose of salt on everything. I have taken two risks lately that have paid-off. Both were motherboards, one being the ABit KN8 Ultra and the other is the AOpen nCK804Ua-LFS. Both have turned out to be incredibly solid boards, but no one sees fit to review them on the web.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
If the BFG card was truly the problem, I don't see any basis for his opinion. Most other reviewers, AT included, like the ATI mobo chipset. I haven't seen anything to make me not like it either...

To The OP. The BFG video card was the problem not Ati's chipset. Please don't bring your Ati bashing into the Mainboard forum, we get enough of it in the Video forum.

 

[rei]

My top-tier review sites are:

SilentPCREview
TechReport
ArsTechnica