Take this hobby and shove it.....

[classy]

CAutery is way to serious. Now I agree with most of his thoughts concerning websites. As well as his thoughts on some of the reviewers in general. But there is more here than just video cards and hardware. People have developed friendships that has been spawned through a common interest. The laughs and tears some of us have experienced will be with us forever. Some of the conversations are priceless. I think CAutery has missed the most imporant part of any hobby and that is making friends.

 

[Packet]

While I agree on some of the points of this thread, I feel that an important aspect has been overlooked. On the first hand, no one is forcing you to read reviews, and webpages which you dub "amature". While no doubt there are quite a number of "amature" hardware review sites out there, even if they don't totally know what they are talking about.. all they are doing is offering there opinion on the quality of a product. No one said you have to agree with them.

Further more, how do you judge who is an "amature" and who is an "expert"? Sure you can really know your stuff down.. but there is going to be someone who knows more than you. While you could be an expert compaired to most people, you could also very well be considered an amature to others.

If my friend came up to me and said "Hey man, I really like my new V5 5500, its really cool.. I think you should get one"

I would definatly not respond with anything like "What is wrong with you? Your an amature when it comes to video cards! How dare you tell me your opinion on the product you just bought"

As far as online forums, you are always going to get people who are behind a product all the way.. its happens with everything. Cars, Stereo systems, Toasters brands..etc etc.
My point being, its not a problem pin-pointed at the hardware community. I always say, find which product YOU like best, and use it, not the product everyone else likes best.

 

[cgclausen]

Very well put Packet

 

[MikeHelvey]

Very well thought out post. For my 2 cents (that's what whole thing is about) I'm thankfull that sites like this and foks like cautery and Nick Stone around. I am not in the computer business, but find some measure of satasifaction from dinking with my own PCs. I have made several purchases based on recommendations from this site as well as sharkyextream. I got into overclocking my Athlon via GFD and cache kit (although in retrospect it would have been cheaper to stay at 500) and did not hesitate to upgrade my mobo and processor when the system gave up the ghost.
On the other hand I have received very little GOOD troubleshooting help on this board, just more of the same stuff I figured out on my own...but only because I have been lurking around for the past year or so.
I agree that there are WAY too many "come look at my findings" posted by folks who don't know the first step to documenting an experiment. There is also a lot of self serving posts by others in the business as well as post that do no more than inflate the posters ego.
When all is said and done, I've enjoyed the time I've spent reading trough the BS to get to some really interesting (for a non industry guy) tidbits. Thanks everyone.

Mike Helvey