AMD, Roy Taylor, the Nano, and the Press @ [H]

I knew this day was coming. I've been seeing the writing on the wall for awhile now.

My POV is this, I've never had to have the bleeding edge of speed when it came to video cards. AMD was cheaper and I was fine with that, and happy with the performance, even if Nvidia was a bit faster.

My biggest complaint was always the drivers. There was ALWAYS an issue I had, here and there. Some issues just never went away, like the blue screens from video acceleration being on in flash. I had countless blue screens over that.

The deal breaker for me is when AMD moved away from having the cheaper priced value oriented video card and to me, erasing the real value in the brand. A lot of people felt this way. When Nvidia clearly has better drivers a lot more often and higher performance most of the time, but the same pricing. People are going to go with Nvidia. It's a no brainer. I have and I am sure countless other former AMD users have as well.

AMD has created the perfect storm for themselves. No HDMI 2.0 created a lot of problems for a lot of people that put money into expensive displays. Charging higher prices and erasing the brands friendly pricing. The biggiest scare for me personally is the huge amount of turn-over at AMD. A lot of the front office have been bailing out over the last few years. That's hard not to notice. When you add it all up, it's just not a company I am comfortable doing business with.

What have I learned from all of this? It's better to pay a little bit more for better performance and quality and especially the end user experience. Something AMD just doesn't have.

Honestly, I think we are very lucky to have Nvidia.
 
You got left out of the loop. Your feelings are hurt. How is this not whining? Most people would sweep this under the carpet and think nothing of it. But you wrote a 3 page editorial on it. Again, how is this not whining?
 
Hexen525 said:
You got left out of the loop. Your feelings are hurt. How is this not whining? Most people would sweep this under the carpet and think nothing of it. But you wrote a 3 page editorial on it. Again, how is this not whining?
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When a fool starts saying things like "fair review" in his comments, that is pretty serious slander he used to claim a site has been biased. He pretty much said 3 very large sites haven't been giving them favorable reviews on products they think they should got when well they didn't.
 
Hexen525 said:
You got left out of the loop. Your feelings are hurt. How is this not whining? Most people would sweep this under the carpet and think nothing of it. But you wrote a 3 page editorial on it. Again, how is this not whining?
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Did you actually read the article? Please quote my "whining" about not getting a Nano. It would likely be obvious paragraphs to you. Just cut and paste those here.
 
Hexen525 said:
You got left out of the loop. Your feelings are hurt. How is this not whining? Most people would sweep this under the carpet and think nothing of it. But you wrote a 3 page editorial on it. Again, how is this not whining?
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I believe that he is just telling the truth. Read the facts for what they are. Then comprehend what he is saying. AMD is picking review websites that will bow to them and give them a favorable review at this time. That's NOT how business is done. Well it can be done that way, but consumers will blackball you for being disingenuous.

The review websites that were excluded deserve a public apology.
 
"But if the hardware is so awesome why don’t you let it stand on its own?"

This sums it up perfectly. There's only one reason these sorts of things happen and that's because it's not good enough to stand on its own and they're too afraid or conniving to be honest with their customers, so they spin this kind of bullshit. Utterly pathetic from AMD.
 
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11 years.
11 years of reading about stuff I enjoy in my free time.
11 years seeing the opinions and reviews come and go.
Seeing folks call HardOCP NVidia fanboys and partial to ATI/AMD.
The waves have ebbed and flowed.

But H has never tried to pull any fast ones.
I've never seen anything sugar coated, there's no hand holding and no bullshit.

Here's what we found, here's how we did it....take our word for it or not, but here it is.
Every review is done the same way, transparently.

AMD has an underperforming product this cycle compared to NVidia.
Their boat is taking on water and they cant bail it out fast enough.
So they think that if they surround themselves with what they want to hear, all will be made better.
That's pretty transparent too.
Suck it up AMD.
Take your lumps and make some better shit, you've done it before.
But you never ran and hid before. Sticking your head in the sand won't make it better.

Kudos to HardOCP.
The truth is hard to swallow sometimes.......and sometimes it is a cause to celebrate.
 
cageymaru said:
I believe that he is just telling the truth. Read the facts for what they are. Then comprehend what he is saying. AMD is picking review websites that will bow to them and give them a favorable review at this time. That's NOT how business is done. Well it can be done that way, but consumers will blackball you for being disingenuous.

The review websites that were excluded deserve a public apology.
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Rhetoric matters. Write immature reviews about any companies products, expect to be black-listed. Brents smart-assed comments have cost [H] dearly on this one.............
 
looks like it's time to short sell some amd stock ;)

Joking aside-

Kyle. You may be an asshole but that also means you're sure not to sugar coat it for us and we all appreciate that. I admire that you're sticking to your guns on this one.
 
cageymaru said:
I believe that he is just telling the truth. Read the facts for what they are. Then comprehend what he is saying. AMD is picking review websites that will bow to them and give them a favorable review at this time. That's NOT how business is done. Well it can be done that way, but consumers will blackball you for being disingenuous.

The review websites that were excluded deserve a public apology.
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Have you read a single review yet? I wouldn't make the assumption that every review of the Nano is going to be positive simply because AMD didn't send cards to every site. I think a little bit of tact goes a long way. Saying "the card looks interesting but AMD might have priced themselves out of certain segments of the market" would probably go over a lot better than "can someone tell me who's going to buy this card?!" and "I hung up on the conference call after I heard the price." They wrote the card off before they got it and surprise - they didn't get a card to review. I'm not a fan of the price either - but probably would have waited to list that in the cons section of my review before ranting about it a few weeks before I got one to review ;)
 
Cost HardOcp dearly? Other than AMD questioning their integrity I doubt it has cost HardOcp anything.

I bet Kyle's rant gets more clicks than a Nano review would have gotten.
 
If AMD ever brings out another winner card, they'll be back begging [H] to review it. AMD knows this site has a large and loyal following precisely because [H] is willing to tell us when a turd is minty fresh or 'really stinks'.
 
I love computer nerd drama. AMD has been a disaster for the last couple of years and stuff like this just shows that they are so desperate for good press they are willing to alienate the people who have supported them in the past. What a douchebag.
 
I want the ATi back which made the Radeon DDR, 9700 Pro, 8500.

[H] and TR have been my one/two punch hardware review sites for over a decade now, and i remember plenty of reviews were AMD/ATi products were praised, Nvidia products were shamed (FX5800 anyone?) and you never saw NVidia whining about anything. All i knew was that every time i saw NVidia take it on the chin from the review sites, they'd just go out, make the necessary product / QC changes, and be back even stronger.

Also, I find it funny how the review site (Tech Report) which originated the FCAT-style of testing for quantifying the gaming experience, and [H]ardOCP - which "[tests]... a card's ultimate playable gaming experience while supplying the best culmination of resolution and "eye candy" graphical settings"".. both got screwed.

It seems to me that AMD wants nothing but raw discrete numbers (low / high / average) that ultimately hide away the continuous "in chair" gaming experience provided by their card. TR methods would report the raw minimum frame numbers that could possibly divulge stuttering/hitching/slowdowns, while [H]'s methods would uncover the lower in-game settings that could (possibly) create an inferior graphical fidelity. Aggregate those two testing disciples and it would paint a very thorough picture of a card's functional and non-functional gaming experience.

Shame on you AMD. Simplify your business model so you can at least make something competitive.
 
kyle ive been following your site since the good old days lurking since the beginning for just as long i have followed amd... im going to say this roy is on the wrong side of the fence and this is causing amd a pr disaster they can not afford. amd really needs to make this right and send out the flipping cards to everyone that wants one. i really wonder what Raja Koduri has to say about all of this.
 
Goty said:
Hands up, who is expecting a completely objective Nano review, now? Anyone?

*crickets chirping*
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If anyone does a review, then yeah, I expect it to be objective. If the hardware is awesome then the review should show that, that's what I'd expect from [H] anyway.

I think we all know that's not going to be the case, though (hardware being awesome that is).
 
MavericK96 said:
If anyone does a review, then yeah, I expect it to be objective. If the hardware is awesome then the review should show that, that's what I'd expect from [H] anyway.

I think we all know that's not going to be the case, though (hardware being awesome that is).
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Attacking the integrity of a site is just asking for future reviews to be done with a microscope to find everything wrong.
 
Right or wrong, it seems [H] has lost a MAJOR computer hardware manufacturer (AMD) for the foreseeable future. Spin this however you want, it's still not good for this site............
 
I do actually still expect an objective review.
Kyle and guys cannot let the standard of the site slip otherwise they will get dragged down the same hole AMD have.
If anything, they will be even more vigilant.
But it wont help AMD much unless they drop the price because that is the contentious issue on the hardware side.
 
supermodelthriller said:
Right or wrong, it seems [H] has lost a MAJOR computer hardware manufacturer (AMD) for the foreseeable future. Spin this however you want, it's still not good for this site............
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I will tell you here right now that you are 100% wrong in your statement.
 
supermodelthriller said:
Right or wrong, it seems [H] has lost a MAJOR computer hardware manufacturer (AMD) for the foreseeable future. Spin this however you want, it's still not good for this site............
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Not really. [H] can get cards either from retail or other sources if need be and the moment AMD has a product they know [H] will like they'll be sending review units to them.
 
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AMD wont forgo [H] and other-sites it be too much bad press if they blackballed decent review sites.
 
supermodelthriller said:
Right or wrong, it seems [H] has lost a MAJOR computer hardware manufacturer (AMD) for the foreseeable future. Spin this however you want, it's still not good for this site............
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It would be like the third or fourth time someone has said that for AMD/ATI, and for NVIDIA, and for Intel, and for Newegg, and for BFG, and for OCZ, and for.......just keep filling in the blanks. It is cyclic, it is only the readers who have the short term perception that there is a bias or that company X will never be seen on the site again.
 
AMD won't cut off their nose to spite their face.

If they have a competitive card they will send it to [H] for review. The audience they will reach is too big.

I've heard even bad reviews have the potential to boost sales.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
It would be like the third or fourth time someone has said that for AMD/ATI, and for NVIDIA, and for Intel, and for Newegg, and for BFG, and for OCZ, and for.......just keep filling in the blanks. It is cyclic, it is only the readers who have the short term perception that there is a bias or that company X will never be seen on the site again.
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I'm just saying [H] should expect to buy retail AMD products for awhile now, and have probably lost all 'internal' sources/contacts as well.
Again, it was the rhetorical language used by [H] (not just the paper launch comment) that seems to have set-off AMD, and rightfully so imo.
 
supermodelthriller said:
Right or wrong, it seems [H] has lost a MAJOR computer hardware manufacturer (AMD) for the foreseeable future. Spin this however you want, it's still not good for this site............
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Do you really think [H] lost AMD as a hardware manufacture? If you think it is even possible, forcing [H] to simply buy their AMD cards would not hurt their bottom line at all. AMD would have more to lose by not having their cards reviewed on one of the largest hardware sites in the world.
 
Yep. You guys should have "piled-on" during the 970/3.5 controversy and this makes Roy MADDD!!!11!!

Perhaps I missed the coverage but, you guys never had a dedicated article RE:970/3.5 thing...right? I know some sites covered that issue and some didn't and if I can recall correctly, you did not...no?
See, Roy(being a vindictive little Texan) saw Lime Kool-Aid coming out of your ears and thus, throwing a hissy fit....that's how I see it now.

I might have a solution for you.

I hear one of the tech sites (can't recall the name now...you know, the tech site where the owner looks like an albino chipmunk and one of his side-kicks looks like that guy from Motorhead?) has one of these cards.
Would it be possible to say...borrow this card from them and do a hypothetical review? I say hypothetical because well, I don't really know what the legal ramifications would be if you did this (not sanctioned by AMD...etc).

It would be like how OJ Simpson wrote that hypothetical autobio "If I did it: Confessions of the Killer"
Your article would be "If we reviewed it: an hypothetical review of the R9 Nano"

This could work, gents.
 
Could it mean that Roy is on his way out anyway, given the very recent AMD/ATI corporate development of ATI splitting off? I know I wouldn't want that carnival barker around.
 
Derangel said:
TechPowerUp, Tech Report, and [H] I believe are the ones known right now.
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OCForums did not receive any either and that site seems to be more pro-AMD than many others out there (not saying this in a bad way!).
 
I have been under the impression that AMD has performed less shady practices over the years, in terms of buying reviews/collusion. Maybe that's not the case, or maybe this idiot ROY just needs to get fired. I will be looking at the nano reviews very carefully and any review site that does some kind of fluff piece, will forever be on my shit list. Particularly, I saw guru is going to be posting a review, it better be inside the tiniest case with one fan :).

Thanks for exposing this nonsense KYLE!!
 
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Kudos. Well written and justified.

It saddens me to see AMD (more so ATi) fall so far from grace. I have fond memories of early Athlon and the X series from ATi.
 
lollerwaffle said:
Could it mean that Roy is on his way out anyway, given the very recent AMD/ATI corporate development of ATI splitting off? I know I wouldn't want that carnival barker around.
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My feeling is that heads are going to roll if this card launch doesnt go well and they have all lost the plot trying to save their arses.
 
digital_buzzard said:
Yep. You guys should have "piled-on" during the 970/3.5 controversy and this makes Roy MADDD!!!11!!

Perhaps I missed the coverage but, you guys never had a dedicated article RE:970/3.5 thing...right? I know some sites covered that issue and some didn't and if I can recall correctly, you did not...no?
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I thought Brent did address it...
 
GilmourD said:
The guy has a lot to say for having been here 47 days with 21 posts... On the forums where I'm a mod we would consider this to be a formerly banned user returning to stir shit up. I'll bet you that he shares IPs with somebody that was banned.
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Or, maybe I'm right and the truth hurts?

Look, my proof is that AMD, freaking AMD is pissed at [H], not just some random poster. [H] just needs to scale back on the pointed adjectives and let the chips fall where they may.
 
You go Kyle. This is why HardOCP is the first site I read for tech news each day. You ride tall and shoot straight!
 
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