Bad reviewers piss me off ....

airspirit · 12-22-2003, 12:22 PM

There is a trend I'm seeing that really pisses me off. I ran across a comparison between an Opteron 146 and a Barton 3200+ this morning that concludes that the Opteron has a bare advantage in power over the old Barton. What particularly bothered me about this is that they were testing this barton with dual DDR400 and they were testing the 146 with either dual channel DDR266 or single channel DDR333. Since that chip is designed to run dual channel DDR400, no freaking wonder it isn't running too much faster! The absolute stupidity is astounding, and the fact that they are spreading this BS around as fact is quite disheartening. In fact, I've only seen one review of an Opteron using quality memory in a "proper" configuration and it blew the rest of these reviewers out of the water ... and that was on a 146, not a 148. How can they expect to compare a, say, P4 with tricked out ultra LL memory on the latest and greatest board with, say, a 146 or 148 when they're using DDR266 or running in single channel mode or using DDR333/400 with CAS3-4-4-8 settings or some nonsense? I fscking hate reviewers sometimes.

When they are comparing top-of-the-line in one category, they should do it in this too, using CAS2-3-2-6 DDR400 in dual channel on a non-crippled board. That is what these chips were designed for, not the crap that was described above.

/rant

jaydee · 12-22-2003, 02:50 PM

it is hard to find a good review on ANYTHING anymore. Reviewers seem to be nothing more than glorified sales reps or people who don't know enough about what their doing to be doing it. I have been reading gaming reviews and have a hard time finding anything to usefull anymore. They act like they havn't even played the game on some of them. They write up a quick 2 paragraph blurb, put review in the title and wait for google to pick up on it and near instant hits. Everything is about ratings anymore. Quality sites are few and far between.

BillA · 12-22-2003, 02:55 PM

feel better now airsprit ?
what's new ?
if they knew their ass from a hole in the ground they'd have better (more productive) things to do with their time
the internet is a 'free' publisher, you get what you pay for

jd
even a good site is no assurance, it is the individual reviewer

jaydee · 12-22-2003, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by unregistered
feel better now airsprit ?
what's new ?
if they knew their ass from a hole in the ground they'd have better (more productive) things to do with their time
the internet is a 'free' publisher, you get what you pay for

jd
even a good site is no assurance, it is the individual reviewer

Well said.

pHaestus · 12-22-2003, 03:21 PM

Quote:

if they knew their ass from a hole in the ground they'd have better (more productive) things to do with their time

Hey now I resemble that remark

BillA · 12-22-2003, 03:30 PM

and a prediction:
it shall come to pass
- trust me, I've already traveled this road

Blackeagle · 12-22-2003, 04:43 PM

I'm sorry to say, I don't think in many cases it's a error. I used to, but not any more.

NOBODY is so ignorant as to use DDR266 or DDR333 memory with a opteron system, while knowing to use the very best low latency DDR400 RAM for the P4 comparisson system. To me this is a intentionally missleading review, not a mistake, it's intended & strong bias. They're doing this with the intent to decieve those consumers who don't know enough to spot it for what it is.

Anyone with even a beginning idea of what a performance system should be knows better. Both those systems should have been set up with top shelf DDR 3200 or 3500 such as the Mushkin black Lvl 2, or the OCZ limited edition RAM. But the outcome then would not have made the P4 look very good. They couldn't have that, now could they?

"Let the buyer beware", has never been more true than it is today on the net. And as Airspirit said, it seems to be getting worse, not better. A disgusting trend, if you agree with me or not on intent vs error, it's still a sad situation.

DMOS · 12-22-2003, 05:08 PM

I have gotten fed up to the point of writing this article. I find it disturbing some of the junk out there...

airspirit · 12-23-2003, 10:18 AM

Another one of my favorites was when they compared a dual opteron system to a single P4 system and only used single CPU benchmarks and went "DOOD! There isn't much of a benefit! LOL!" Yeah, I know I'm just ranting, but this stuff pisses me off.

Joe · 12-23-2003, 11:00 AM

The best reviews I have read recently were the "indepth" Arctic Silver 5 reviews hehehe every one of the 3 or 4 I have read have had totally no grasp on what they were talking about... but putting "indepth" in the title I guess gave them all the technical deepness that they needed

Cathar · 12-23-2003, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe
but putting "indepth" in the title I guess gave them all the technical deepness that they needed

Well, they're certainly "in deep" in something, that's for sure.

12-22-2003, 12:22 PM	#1
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Bad reviewers piss me off .... There is a trend I'm seeing that really pisses me off. I ran across a comparison between an Opteron 146 and a Barton 3200+ this morning that concludes that the Opteron has a bare advantage in power over the old Barton. What particularly bothered me about this is that they were testing this barton with dual DDR400 and they were testing the 146 with either dual channel DDR266 or single channel DDR333. Since that chip is designed to run dual channel DDR400, no freaking wonder it isn't running too much faster! The absolute stupidity is astounding, and the fact that they are spreading this BS around as fact is quite disheartening. In fact, I've only seen one review of an Opteron using quality memory in a "proper" configuration and it blew the rest of these reviewers out of the water ... and that was on a 146, not a 148. How can they expect to compare a, say, P4 with tricked out ultra LL memory on the latest and greatest board with, say, a 146 or 148 when they're using DDR266 or running in single channel mode or using DDR333/400 with CAS3-4-4-8 settings or some nonsense? I fscking hate reviewers sometimes. When they are comparing top-of-the-line in one category, they should do it in this too, using CAS2-3-2-6 DDR400 in dual channel on a non-crippled board. That is what these chips were designed for, not the crap that was described above. /rant __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

12-22-2003, 05:08 PM	#8
DMOS Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Kingston, ON, Canada Posts: 31	I have gotten fed up to the point of writing this article. I find it disturbing some of the junk out there... __________________ http://www.devhardware.com

12-23-2003, 10:18 AM	#9
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Another one of my favorites was when they compared a dual opteron system to a single P4 system and only used single CPU benchmarks and went "DOOD! There isn't much of a benefit! LOL!" Yeah, I know I'm just ranting, but this stuff pisses me off. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

12-23-2003, 11:00 AM	#10
Joe The Pro/Life Support System Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 4,041	The best reviews I have read recently were the "indepth" Arctic Silver 5 reviews hehehe every one of the 3 or 4 I have read have had totally no grasp on what they were talking about... but putting "indepth" in the title I guess gave them all the technical deepness that they needed __________________ Joe - I only take this hat off for one thing... ProCooling archive curator and dusty skeleton.

12-22-2003, 02:50 PM	#2
jaydee Put up or Shut Up Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 6,506	it is hard to find a good review on ANYTHING anymore. Reviewers seem to be nothing more than glorified sales reps or people who don't know enough about what their doing to be doing it. I have been reading gaming reviews and have a hard time finding anything to usefull anymore. They act like they havn't even played the game on some of them. They write up a quick 2 paragraph blurb, put review in the title and wait for google to pick up on it and near instant hits. Everything is about ratings anymore. Quality sites are few and far between.

12-22-2003, 02:55 PM	#3
BillA CoolingWorks Tech Guy Formerly "Unregistered" Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Posts: 2,371.493,106 Posts: 4,440	feel better now airsprit ? what's new ? if they knew their ass from a hole in the ground they'd have better (more productive) things to do with their time the internet is a 'free' publisher, you get what you pay for jd even a good site is no assurance, it is the individual reviewer

12-22-2003, 03:30 PM	#6
BillA CoolingWorks Tech Guy Formerly "Unregistered" Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Posts: 2,371.493,106 Posts: 4,440	and a prediction: it shall come to pass - trust me, I've already traveled this road

12-22-2003, 04:43 PM	#7
Blackeagle Thermophile Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: U.S.A = Michigan Posts: 1,243	I'm sorry to say, I don't think in many cases it's a error. I used to, but not any more. NOBODY is so ignorant as to use DDR266 or DDR333 memory with a opteron system, while knowing to use the very best low latency DDR400 RAM for the P4 comparisson system. To me this is a intentionally missleading review, not a mistake, it's intended & strong bias. They're doing this with the intent to decieve those consumers who don't know enough to spot it for what it is. Anyone with even a beginning idea of what a performance system should be knows better. Both those systems should have been set up with top shelf DDR 3200 or 3500 such as the Mushkin black Lvl 2, or the OCZ limited edition RAM. But the outcome then would not have made the P4 look very good. They couldn't have that, now could they? "Let the buyer beware", has never been more true than it is today on the net. And as Airspirit said, it seems to be getting worse, not better. A disgusting trend, if you agree with me or not on intent vs error, it's still a sad situation.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)