NVIDIA Bans Reviewer for Concentrating on Rasterization Instead of Ray Tracing

Imagine that. Sponsors could care less about people running the competitors gear. I'm shocked I tell you.

That literally makes no sense, you want to know why they chose a competitor over your product, that way you can improve yours to gain sales.
 
GPP and the way Nvidia treated [H] as well as many other PC tech sites, is the reason I bought my RTX 2060 used. And I bought it here, on [H].

I bough it over a year ago, when DLSS 2.0 was in 2 games. And and Ray Tracing was only in a handful. And Nvidia still didn't support freesync compatibility. The only reason I went with Nvidia, is because for whatever reason, most developers of emulators favor Nvidia GPUs.


Over a year later and I only own one game with DLSS 2.0. and zero games with ray tracing effects.
And it still seems that few games are shipping with ray tracing for Nvidia. AC: Valhalla is already one of the best selling games of the year, in a year where games sales are way up; And Nvidia didn't get ray tracing or DLSS into it. I don't want to play that game but I mean, come on. If you want us to care about ray tracing and DLSS, make sure games are made with it.

My monitor isn't on the compatibility list for freesync compatible Gsync----- but it does work. So that's cool. But I feel like I got lucky, there.

Funny thing is, that (Gsync comopatibility working on my monitor) and Nvidia broadcast are much more useful to me than ray tracing and DLSS. And NV broadcast probably wouldn't have happened, if it weren't for the pandemic resulting in millions working from home and needing cleaner solutions for noise cancel and green screen effects.

If it weren't for my interest in emulators, I'd have an AMD card right now and the only thing I would personally be lacking, in terms of gaming, would be DLSS in that one game I own which actually has it.
 
Imagine that. Sponsors could care less about people running the competitors gear. I'm shocked I tell you.
I think you either ignored or missed the point of my comment either way I'll spell it out for you. When representing a vendor perhaps a little persuasive conversation might sway someone to consider their product line at the time of their next purchase. Your comment simply reveals to me that you your just above the adolescent stage of your life. GL with the future and your attitude.
 
Crossed a major line of journalism? This is the standard of journalism. It's a business. It isn't church, and journalism typically isn't ethical. It's mostly paid advertising. Don't let journalists tell you otherwise - their livelihood depends on it.


I was a journalist. What you're saying is completely untrue, and your opinion. We had propositions and bribes thrown at us all the time. Never took them once.
 
IIRC, even Kyle has a 2080Ti and Nvidia was trying to fuck him after GPP story.
FWIW, those were all purchased for review to report to our readers about Space Invaders issues. Yep, still using one today.

When GPP happened, NVIDIA informed me by telephone that it would never sample me again.

Beyond that what happened was that NVIDIA told all AIBs, that if they sampled HardOCP, bad things would happen to their business in terms of GPU allocation.

6900 XT will be here Monday!
 
Shots fired!

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A 1080Ti at 1080p ultra is less than 60fps avg. The new high end cards are double that at 100+ avg.

That's 1080p, those that are playing at 1440 will see that fall to 36fps avg for the 1080ti. I think it is safe to say raster performance still has room to grow.
Your point? Going by Steams Hardware Survey 1080P makes up 66% of their customers. 1440p isn't even second, that's 1366 x 768 at 8%. 1440P is like 7%. 4k is 2%. Everything else is like laptops resolutions, and not the good ones. Also what game causes the 1080ti to perform so poorly? Most benchmarks show the 1080Ti to still perform like a RTX 2080.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2160-amd-radeon-6900-xt/
 
Nvidia email to HUB:

Hi Steve,

We've reached a critical juncture in the adoption of ray tracing and it has gained industry-wide support from top titles, developers, game engines, APIs, consoles and GPUs. As you know Nvidia is all in for ray tracing. RT is important and core to the future of gaming, but it's also one part of our focused R&D efforts on revolutionizing video games and creating a better experience for gamers.This philosophy is also reflected in developing technologies such as DLSS, reflex and broadcast that offer immense value to customers who are purchasing a GPU. They don't get free GPUs, they work hard for their money, and they keep their GPUs from multiple years.

Despite all this progress, your GPU reviews and recommendations have continued to focus singularly on rasterization performance and you have largely discounted all of the other technologies we offer gamers. It is very clear from your community commentary that you do not see things the same way that we, gamers, and the rest of the industry do. Our founder's editions boards and other Nvidia products are being allocated to media outlets that recognize the changing landscape of gaming and the features that are important to gamers and anyone buying a GPU today. Be it for gaming, content creation, or studio and streaming.

Hardware Unboxed should continue to work with our add-in card partners to secure GPUs to review. Of course you will still have access to obtain pre-release drivers and press materials, that won't change. We are open to revisiting this in the future should your editorial direction change.

Brian Del Rizzo
Director of Global PR, GeForce
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Nvidia email to HUB:

Hi Steve,

We've reached a critical juncture in the adoption of ray tracing and it has gained industry-wide support from top titles, developers, game engines, APIs, consoles and GPUs. As you know Nvidia is all in for ray tracing. RT is important and core to the future of gaming, but it's also one part of our focused R&D efforts on revolutionizing video games and creating a better experience for gamers.This philosophy is also reflected in developing technologies such as DLSS, reflex and broadcast that offer immense value to customers who are purchasing a GPU. They don't get free GPUs, they work hard for their money, and they keep their GPUs from multiple years.

Despite all this progress, your GPU reviews and recommendations have continued to focus singularly on rasterization performance and you have largely discounted all of the other technologies we offer gamers. It is very clear from your community commentary that you do not see things the same way that we, gamers, and the rest of the industry do. Our founder's editions boards and other Nvidia products are being allocated to media outlets that recognize the changing landscape of gaming and the features that are important to gamers and anyone buying a GPU today. Be it for gaming, content creation, or studio and streaming.

Hardware Unboxed should continue to work with our add-in card partners to secure GPUs to review. Of course you will still have access to obtain pre-release drivers and press materials, that won't change. We are open to revisiting this in the future should your editorial direction change.

Brian Del Rizzo
Director of Global PR, GeForce
Nice review site you got there.

Shame if someone were to, I don't know maybe take away your access to samples.
 
Guess payments are not as expediant as they have been in the past?
I have noticed in the past that you dont like this guy. I dont consider Jay the most accurate, but I have always considered him to cater to the average joe type of enthusiast and he has never come off as a shill to me, only fanbois. One reason why I always thought he was an alright guy is because of this where he backs you up. He is one of the few to mention you by name at the time this happened. I will admit it was a bit lackluster but at least he implied you were right for drawing attention to it. The next day gamers nexus called out nvidia and they were more hardcore but you were not mentioned. EDIT: gamers nexus said "HARDOCP" one time. I remember thinking they should have given you credit instead of seeming up in arms on their own merit. . EDIT: Why do you hate this guy?
 
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Any bets that Bryan Del Rizzo gonna fall on his own sword?

The head scratcher is why he's opening his yap at all. They can't even produce their chips fast enough, them sell themselves out in seconds. There could never be another Nvidia GPU review and they'd coast on inertia for the next half decade.

This is what I never understood about GPP either -- they dreamt up a mickey mouse scheme they believed might gain them an edge or advantage they didn't even need.

"We're already winning, how can we cheat to win?"
 
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This is what I never understood about GPP either -- they dreamt up a mickey mouse scheme they believed might gain them an edge or advantage they didn't even need.

"Things are going well, how can we fuck it up?"
THIS ,SO MUCH THIS. I've bought Nvidia GPU's damn near all my life. But this ish right here is enough for me to just say screw it. If you're already at the top what the hell is the need to punch down? It's stupid. They are already winning... DUMB!
 
The biggest head scratcher is why he's opening his yap at all. Sadly, Nvidia has so much inertia right now that every card sells itself. There could never be another review of an Nvidia card and they'd coast on inertia for the next half decade. Hardware Unboxed could call Nvidia's free review samples "expensive doorstops" and sell-through remains unflinching.

This is what I never understood about GPP either -- they dreamt up a mickey mouse scheme they believed might gain them an edge or advantage they didn't even need.

"Things are going well, how can we fuck it up?"
The only reason GPP ended was because the FTC paid Jensen a personal visit and informed him there would be a full investigation is he did not pull the program.
 
I personally never bought another nvidia product after I bought my GTX 970 with "4"gb of vram that actually turned out to be 3.5gb, no idea why anyone is surprised that nvidia is being shady
 
The biggest head scratcher is why he's opening his yap at all. They can't even produce their chips fast enough, them sell themselves right now. There could never be another Nvidia GPU review and they'd coast on inertia for the next half decade. Hardware Unboxed could call Nvidia's free samples "better off as doorstops than worth your money" and sell-through remains unflinching.

This is what I never understood about GPP either -- they dreamt up a mickey mouse scheme they believed might gain them an edge or advantage they didn't even need.

"Things are going well, how can we fuck it up?"
I can see why they did it.

If AMD starts making better more competitive cards at a better price like now. They'd be branded some shitty no name brand and not have the name recognition of EVGA ASUS ROG Gigabyte or MSI. That's why.

People by brands.
 
Your point? Going by Steams Hardware Survey 1080P makes up 66% of their customers. 1440p isn't even second, that's 1366 x 768 at 8%. 1440P is like 7%. 4k is 2%. Everything else is like laptops resolutions, and not the good ones. Also what game causes the 1080ti to perform so poorly? Most benchmarks show the 1080Ti to still perform like a RTX 2080.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2160-amd-radeon-6900-xt/
My point was that 1080p ultra is borderline in cyberpunk 2077. Those numbers were avg and the lows were in the 30s.

So 1080p raster, at ultra settings, on 1080Ti is barely acceptable, much less if a user games at anything higher. I don't care about steam surveys. You made a blanket statement that the 1080Ti is the "peak of rasterization". I refute that. The 1080Ti was, and still is in many cases, a great card. If you have one there was little reason to upgrade in the previous generation, but with the abundance of inexpensive 4k displays and newer games I think we can agree that it is no longer the "peak of rasterization".
 
The biggest head scratcher is why he's opening his yap at all. They can't even produce their chips fast enough, them sell themselves out in seconds. There could never be another Nvidia GPU review and they'd coast on inertia for the next half decade.
I think you have figured it out. NVIDIA is afraid that AMD will produce cards faster than they can and grab market share. Why did they target HWunboxed? Who knows, it seems random, it could be simply a stressed out dumbass but how can it be any motivation other than fear? NVIDIA knows it needs gamers and influencers to wait. Right now noone wants to wait. And if AMD in the next few weeks offers some relief to the hungry market you will see every review site/video lead with AMD wins the GPU war. I have no idea if that is possible, I have my doubts, but that is what this shitty move was about.
 
THIS ,SO MUCH THIS. I've bought Nvidia GPU's damn near all my life. But this ish right here is enough for me to just say screw it. If you're already at the top what the hell is the need to punch down? It's stupid. They are already winning... DUMB!

That's the thing with being on top for so long, you have no competition, you need competition, you need to feed the beast. Thing is, you usually end up cannibalizing yourself.
 
The youtuber can still do or say whatever he wants on his channel... He just isn't getting free parts. Strong arming? If Nvidia was suing him, then that would be an appropriate description. They are not.

This isn't about getting free shit. Nvidia is basically wholesale cutting off a reviewer from doing launch day reviews because they feel HUB isn't parroting Nvidia marketing materials. HUB can still get AIB cards... sure, but Nvidia has also exerted their control over that arm as well (there was a 2 day embargo on RTX 3080/3090 for AIB custom cards). This wombo combo effectively cuts off HUB from participating in Nvidia GeForce launch day reviews, period. This is why many in the community are crying foul. Not only does Nvidia think their rationale reflects the gaming community at large (it doesn't) to make HUB feel alone and disconnected from their audience (gaslighting), but they allocate review samples out of the kindness of their heart. Bullshit. If Nvidia creates a good product and technology, the reviewers are essentially an extension of their marketing arm and that's a symbiotic relationship, at best. HUB does not constantly shit on RTX/DLSS either. They did a dedicated piece on RTX comparing RTX 30 vs. 20 series performance, and they were largely positive. HUB even suggested that if a game has DLSS support, to just enable it, because its IQ is close enough to native to be worth trading for the huge performance uplift.

I'm not saying that Nvidia is obligated to continue sampling HUB, or anyone for that matter. But Brian's email sends a clear message to the media to either tow the line, or they're axing you too. I'm getting flashbacks of AMD cherry picking reviewers for their R9 Fury Nano years ago.
 
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The youtuber can still do or say whatever he wants on his channel... He just isn't getting free parts. Strong arming? If Nvidia was suing him, then that would be an appropriate description. They are not.
How can you say that here?? This is the same tactic that shut down the greatest review website we all fucking loved. This "youtuber content is garbage" take is just that, fucking garbage. You may feel that all youtubers suck, but the methodology is the same. NVIDIA cherry picks a reviewer that is big, not too big, cuts them off, and then hopes they die. If it succeeds it is a very clear message. Sound familiar?
 
I have to admit that when the GPP controversy first erupted here, I thought to myself that maybe a mountain was being made of a molehill, or that the truth was "somewhere in-between". However after seeing the Brian Del Rizzo email - and consulting with my friends, family, pastor, and attorney - in all seriousness I'm struck by the horror of the realization that GPP probably hadn't been exaggerated at all.

It's unclear to what level the blowback to this will rise - while everyone's too fatigued, too checked-out, and too preoccupied fighting over every GPU off the trucks like a never-ending black friday - but it needs to rise high.

1607758604711.png
 
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I have to admit that when the GPP controversy first erupted here, I thought to myself that maybe a mountain was being made of a molehill, and the truth was "somewhere in-betwen".

However after seeing the Brian Del Rizzo email - and consulting with my friends, family, pastor, and yes, attorney - I'm struck by the horror of the realization that GPP maybe hadn't been exaggerated at all.

It's unclear to what level the blowback to this will rise, while everyone's still in the streets fighting each other for every GPU off the trucks like a Walmart stampede, but it needs to rise high.

View attachment 308299
There was no "in between" on my reporting, at all. I am not even sure how I could have even "elevated" NVIDIA's behavior to be "worse."
 
This is why sponsored or free sample video reviews should be disregarded and be considered ads. Aka 90% of LTT content. Too beholden to the sponsor.
 
Nvidia email to HUB:

Hi Steve,

We've reached a critical juncture in the adoption of ray tracing and it has gained industry-wide support from top titles, developers, game engines, APIs, consoles and GPUs. As you know Nvidia is all in for ray tracing. RT is important and core to the future of gaming, but it's also one part of our focused R&D efforts on revolutionizing video games and creating a better experience for gamers.This philosophy is also reflected in developing technologies such as DLSS, reflex and broadcast that offer immense value to customers who are purchasing a GPU. They don't get free GPUs, they work hard for their money, and they keep their GPUs from multiple years.

Despite all this progress, your GPU reviews and recommendations have continued to focus singularly on rasterization performance and you have largely discounted all of the other technologies we offer gamers. It is very clear from your community commentary that you do not see things the same way that we, gamers, and the rest of the industry do. Our founder's editions boards and other Nvidia products are being allocated to media outlets that recognize the changing landscape of gaming and the features that are important to gamers and anyone buying a GPU today. Be it for gaming, content creation, or studio and streaming.

Hardware Unboxed should continue to work with our add-in card partners to secure GPUs to review. Of course you will still have access to obtain pre-release drivers and press materials, that won't change. We are open to revisiting this in the future should your editorial direction change.

Brian Del Rizzo
Director of Global PR, GeForce
37716875.jpg
 
I have to admit that when the GPP controversy first erupted here, I thought to myself that maybe a mountain was being made of a molehill, or that the truth was "somewhere in-between". However after seeing the Brian Del Rizzo email - and consulting with my friends, family, pastor, and attorney - in all seriousness I'm struck by the horror of the realization that GPP probably hadn't been exaggerated at all.

It's unclear to what level the blowback to this will rise - while everyone's too fatigued, too checked-out, and too preoccupied fighting for every GPU off the trucks like a never-ending black friday - but it needs to rise high.

View attachment 308299

Well this time they went after a youtube reviewer... and seem to have pissed off the rest of the youtube reviewers. This might have surprisingly long legs.

I mean they accused one of the larger youtube reviewers of making videos to get free gaming cards. lol I have a feeling all the youtube reviewers are going to make 10 videos each about this one.
 
This is why sponsored or free sample video reviews should be disregarded and be considered ads. Aka 90% of LTT content. Too beholden to the sponsor.
"free" sample reviews are basically ALL reviews. Anyone that releases a proper hardware review on launch day or even the day after.... has had that card for at least a few days to do the job proper.

Issue isn't getting review hardware... its companies trying to attach strings that is the issue. Nvidia seems to be the king of strings attached. It also seems if their CEO sees a review he doesn't like he gets his middle management to target them. lol :)
 
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Nvidia email to HUB:

Hi Steve,

We've reached a critical juncture in the adoption of ray tracing and it has gained industry-wide support from top titles, developers, game engines, APIs, consoles and GPUs. As you know Nvidia is all in for ray tracing. RT is important and core to the future of gaming, but it's also one part of our focused R&D efforts on revolutionizing video games and creating a better experience for gamers.This philosophy is also reflected in developing technologies such as DLSS, reflex and broadcast that offer immense value to customers who are purchasing a GPU. They don't get free GPUs, they work hard for their money, and they keep their GPUs from multiple years.

Despite all this progress, your GPU reviews and recommendations have continued to focus singularly on rasterization performance and you have largely discounted all of the other technologies we offer gamers. It is very clear from your community commentary that you do not see things the same way that we, gamers, and the rest of the industry do. Our founder's editions boards and other Nvidia products are being allocated to media outlets that recognize the changing landscape of gaming and the features that are important to gamers and anyone buying a GPU today. Be it for gaming, content creation, or studio and streaming.

Hardware Unboxed should continue to work with our add-in card partners to secure GPUs to review. Of course you will still have access to obtain pre-release drivers and press materials, that won't change. We are open to revisiting this in the future should your editorial direction change.

Brian Del Rizzo
Director of Global PR, GeForce
View attachment 308265

Is this guy _trying_ to be a stereotype?
 
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