Question No more GPU reviews from Anandtech

davide445

Member
May 29, 2016
132
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I didn't found any in depth review since more than a year.
Reading about fire on the test bench, answers reviews are coming, but nothing in reality apart announcememts, news and qualified comments.
Asking if there will be any more review, or if someone know why this unbiased qualified reviews stream has dried out completely.
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
18,195
4,676
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Read this thread
 
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davide445

Member
May 29, 2016
132
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Ah yes was searching for this and even posted in the thread.
Still Ryan Tweet about wildfire dates September 2020, last GPU reviews I found was about one year before.
To be clear, I'm not complaining anything, AT can have whatever policy or priorities he want, just deeply interested into GPU tech and awaiting their always useful deep reviews.
 

Artorias

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2014
2,106
1,380
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That sucks. I found this place because of the in depth GPU reviews.

Hopefully once things settle down over the next year they will be back up and running for the next series.
 

grant2

Golden Member
May 23, 2001
1,165
23
81
Can they even get a 3000 series GPU?
Only if they promise up-front to publish Raytracing-only benchmarks.

Gamers are not interested in Raster graphics any more, and any review site which dares discuss them is anti-gamer. Nvidia shall never again indulge those mooches who only ask for review cards because they are trying to scam benevolent Nvidia out of free graphics cards so they can party it up with all their freebies instead of getting real jobs.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
6,271
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Only if they promise up-front to publish Raytracing-only benchmarks.

Gamers are not interested in Raster graphics any more, and any review site which dares discuss them is anti-gamer. Nvidia shall never again indulge those mooches who only ask for review cards because they are trying to scam benevolent Nvidia out of free graphics cards so they can party it up with all their freebies instead of getting real jobs.

Yep 1080p60 with DLSS and RT on is the new 4K.
 
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ToTTenTranz

Junior Member
Feb 4, 2021
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Well at least now is a good time to not being able to post any GPU reviews.

I'm perplexed at the amount of new RTX and RX6800 cards getting reviewed every day on the usual media sites, all of which is wasted marketing money because no gamer can actually buy one.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
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Well at least now is a good time to not being able to post any GPU reviews.

I'm perplexed at the amount of new RTX and RX6800 cards getting reviewed every day on the usual media sites, all of which is wasted marketing money because no gamer can actually buy one.

- I believe a lot of the "second wave" reviews are folks that borrow a marketing model from a "first wave" review site. I'd be a little shocked if AT isn't a "First Wave" site given its relationship with both AMD and NV, as well as their unique deep dive reviews.

We're in third wave territory for reviews: the enthusiasts that don't have the following and buy the cards off the shelf and help pay it off through ad revenue generated by their sites.

I have to say the near complete radio silence on GPU reviews (aside from CPUs,I'd guess the biggest review ad generator for a DIY website) makes me think there is more than just the Oregon's fire thing that affected Ryan going down at AT.
 

jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
14,510
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I have to say the near complete radio silence on GPU reviews (aside from CPUs,I'd guess the biggest review ad generator for a DIY website) makes me think there is more than just the Oregon's fire thing that affected Ryan going down at AT.

Pretty sure they have the mentality that if the review isn't at the embargo that they won't get many page hits out of it.

AT never reviewed the 960 either. I am not sure if review delays was the reason.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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People will still read a deep dive about the architectural changes and additions to the new GPUs whenever they come out though.

-Amen. I don't come to AT's GPU reviews because of the performance numbers (which are slim compared to a host of other sites that test a broad range of games) but for the deep dives and Ryan's ability to think beyond the hardware in front of him and capture the *thought process* that went into the design and the philosophy and trade-offs.

Other sites tend to just regurgitate AMD or NV marketing material with little to no commentary or critical thinking beyond that point. That's AT's niche, having people with long term industry relationships and an actual academic understanding of CE who are able to bridge the gap between the layman and the engineers who designed the product.

That's timeless, and in no way tied to an embargo or release date.
 

jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
14,510
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-Amen. I don't come to AT's GPU reviews because of the performance numbers (which are slim compared to a host of other sites that test a broad range of games) but for the deep dives and Ryan's ability to think beyond the hardware in front of him and capture the *thought process* that went into the design and the philosophy and trade-offs.

Other sites tend to just regurgitate AMD or NV marketing material with little to no commentary or critical thinking beyond that point. That's AT's niche, having people with long term industry relationships and an actual academic understanding of CE who are able to bridge the gap between the layman and the engineers who designed the product.

That's timeless, and in no way tied to an embargo or release date.

The powers that be don't agree with you.
 

davide445

Member
May 29, 2016
132
11
81
So after 9 months I just didn't see any more GPU reviews coming out (except I missed some).
I suppose some market player didn't like objective reviews, so don't provide test units?
2022 will be a good period to restart reviewing due a new player entering the market for dGPU, so hope something will move.
 

GrumpyMan

Diamond Member
May 14, 2001
5,778
262
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The way I see it now is since the prices that GPUs are selling for are outrages, I would not spend that kind of money on them. So the lack of reviews for me is really a mute point on any tech site. It's nice to see that the technology is progressing, but since I won't be purchasing, I skim the review, usually just looking at the graphs to see the how the new GPUs fall in line with the old and move on to the conclusion/summary of the review. So for me personally, no big loss here.
 
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n0x1ous

Platinum Member
Sep 9, 2010
2,572
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While I feel for Ryan between the fire and covid situations, this lack of GPU reviews was going on before either of those things. He's been asked repeatedly about it and will not comment on why GPU reviews are over. Its very frustrating as AT was my "first read" gpu review site and as others mentioned, the deep dives and architecture detail was second to none. I have no expectation GPU reviews will ever return here but it would at least be nice to know why.
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
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Maybe they knew that no one could afford them anymore so why write a review? Also a GPU review is pretty pointless anyway. Even when GPUs were used for gaming, people already knew what they were buying long before any reviews came out, so why bother deep diving when no one really cares? Show a single graph of relative performance and the price and you're done.
 
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GodisanAtheist

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Nov 16, 2006
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Maybe they knew that no one could afford them anymore so why write a review? Also a GPU review is pretty pointless anyway. Even when GPUs were used for gaming, people already knew what they were buying long before any reviews came out, so why bother deep diving when no one really cares? Show a single graph of relative performance and the price and you're done.

-Honestly that's the only thing I read on a standard TPU review... Jump straight to the performance summary, and that's all she wrote.

AT always sucked for actual performance stuff, tests were anemic and the game selection outdated.

The deep dives and the thought process about why one tradeoff was made for another or why a card might be displaying aberant performance numbers under certain conditions. Those? Those were always *chef kiss*
 
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ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
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Anandtech seems to have completely outsourced their hardware reviews to Indian subcontractors now, which has a side effect of us getting some really weird product reviews. I mean, who in the US really cares about a review on a Xiaomi smartphone? Do US cell phone providers even carry that brand?
 
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