NVIDIA Bans Reviewer for Concentrating on Rasterization Instead of Ray Tracing

Bryan attempting to rob a bank: "Gimme all your money!"

Teller: "There's literally a cop behind you in line, did you not see him?'

Bryan: "Ok, that was poorly worded. I may be impacted by a bit of lockdown fatigue. What I was trying to say, was can I borrow the bathroom key?"
 
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SeymourGore said:
I dunno, I thought it was a good response by Del Rizzo. It's not written like a PR piece (like the initial e-mail) and reads more like a human being. It reads more like how other outlets described Del Rizzo in their dealings ("direct and professional") and not the condescending PR blather that was the first e-mail.

I liked the theory that HUB had in their video - the initial e-mail was written by some local PR reps who had issues with HUB coverage and Del Rizzo (wrongly) signed off on it without actually reading the thing or just glossing over it.
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Whatever is being done as damage control is what it is. However, for a local PR rep or anyone in the company for that matter to be able to comfortably send the initial email and feel okay about the tone just shows the kind of culture is behind the scene.
 
SeymourGore said:
I dunno, I thought it was a good response by Del Rizzo. It's not written like a PR piece (like the initial e-mail) and reads more like a human being. It reads more like how other outlets described Del Rizzo in their dealings ("direct and professional") and not the condescending PR blather that was the first e-mail.
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His inability to just own the situation is what sticks out to me. "Poorly worded"... "Lockdown fatigue". Please.

The initial email's words were very deliberate and carefully written. Trying to chalk it up to a "misunderstanding" or "being under a lot of stress lately" just conveys "I lack integrity". Should've left that out and just owned it.
 
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Funny and amusing how Nvidia is a real bad ass until the Public catches them being their true asshole selves. Then they fold their tail between their legs and cower.
 
Chelica said:
Whatever is being done as damage control is what it is. However, for a local PR rep or anyone in the company for that matter to be able to comfortably send the initial email and feel okay about the tone just shows the kind of culture is behind the scene.
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Yar, true enough. Especially that its written in a way that they knew it would get out to the public - so the letter should face extra scrutiny, but still sent out the way it was.

Well, hopefully this misstep by Nvidia will get Frank Azor out again, he sorta disappeared after the 'got a 6800' tweet but this recent Nvidia drama should've taken the heat off of him - and I enjoyed his interactions with the community.
 
DPI said:
His inability to just own the situation is what sticks out to me. "Poorly worded"... "Lockdown fatigue". Please.

The initial email's words were very deliberate and carefully written. Trying to chalk it up to a "misunderstanding" or "being under a lot of stress lately" just conveys "I lack integrity". Should've left that out and just owned it.
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Agree 100%. That email in no way was poorly worded. If anything, way too many words for it to just be some oops typo...Also, using lockdown as a scapegoat is truly dirty. There are folks that legit have mental health issues or loss of jobs due to the lockdown and for a big ass company, global director at that, use it as a reason to try and lock out a reviewer, indirectly shutting his opinion is just all bad.
 
Chelica said:
Agree 100%. That email in no way was poorly worded. If anything, way too many words for it to just be some oops typo...Also, using lockdown as a scapegoat is truly dirty. There are folks that legit have mental health issues or loss of jobs due to the lockdown and for a big ass company, global director at that, use it as a reason to try and lock out a reviewer, indirectly shutting his opinion is just all bad.
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A better response would have been something like "I retract my previous statement" or "Please ignore my previous email, I shouldn't have said that" or something like that...
 
Regardless of motivation, which we can only speculate at, the end result is NVIDIA did the right thing, they capitulated, what else could you want. So i will give this Del Rizzo guy the benefit of the doubt, he who has not sinned...., I will not forget though.
 
Motivation is obvious - Ngreedia wants to control the narrative on everything it touches for more $$$$$. Nobody will care after they pay too much and get their shiny new 30xx card anyways.
 
**** Nvidia. I'm tired of their bull****. I'm over that company. And before anyone calls me an AMD shill I've used both and currently NONE of my machines has an AMD processor. I have a couple AMD graphics cards. Both are old at this point. Nvidia is now at where Intel was in the 2000's. Corporate bullying. Dickheads can't not flex on the small guy. Only buckled because they got caught in writing. ***holes.
 
Meh, Nvidia is free to do as they choose, and so is the Youtuber.

Of course Nvidia has the upper-hand, they are essentially 1 of 2 (or 3..) companies that can generate product and technology in a sector that is growing due to human's reliance on screens and visual technology.

A Youtuber can essentially be replaced by anyone at since last I checked there are almost 8 Billion people on the planet.
 
And I'm sure the 3080ti won't sell out as soon as it is available, cause everyone will boycott Nvidia now....

So getting one won't be an issue right?
 
supastar1568 said:
Meh, Nvidia is free to do as they choose, and so is the Youtuber.

Of course Nvidia has the upper-hand, they are essentially 1 of 2 (or 3..) companies that can generate product and technology in a sector that is growing due to human's reliance on screens and visual technology.

A Youtuber can essentially be replaced by anyone at since last I checked there are almost 8 Billion people on the planet.
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They sure as heck are free to choose. But no one can ever choose their consequences....
 
SeymourGore said:
I dunno, I thought it was a good response by Del Rizzo. It's not written like a PR piece (like the initial e-mail) and reads more like a human being. It reads more like how other outlets described Del Rizzo in their dealings ("direct and professional") and not the condescending PR blather that was the first e-mail.

I liked the theory that HUB had in their video - the initial e-mail was written by some local PR reps who had issues with HUB coverage and Del Rizzo (wrongly) signed off on it without actually reading the thing or just glossing over it.
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That theory doesn't track with me at all.

I have worked in a few middle management type jobs.... at one point I worked for a fortune 500 company with a pretty stripped down leadership ladder which would have put me what 3 steps from CEO (and 100,000x less pay). lol I never ever ever ever would have been in a position to write correspondence for any of my bosses.... let alone send them from their email addresses. I can also tell you that if anyone working for me had wrote a email and signed my name at the bottom.... with out my EXPRESS direction. They would have been let go instantly. So ya no highly unlikely BDR has people writing emails for him. Delegate outreach sure.... but that goes out with those employees names on it.

If Hub suggested that theory.... its nothing more then their olive branch. Trying to help the guy save some face. They do want to continue working with Nvidia after all. I don't think they want the guys nuts.
 
That response was pretty lame and just BS.
Message has been sent.

Steve from HUB isn't the first, not going to be the last Nvidia tries to screw.
 
ChadD said:
Its their Canadian Roots.... half kidden. :) ATI where some good Canadians, but I doubt many are left from those days. lol

Yes overzelous / lazy / perhaps dishonest AMD driver optimizations in the past not withstanding. Nvidia seem to be the guys that will force their chip customers to hand them their top brands.... or force reviewers to defend every single word they write or utter in a video.... or stomp their feet if a reviewer doesn't spend the proper amount of time on each talking point as directed. Yes everyone knows there a bag of dicks cause they act that way in every situation always. Be it with board partners, previous console partnerships, or reviewers they operate in full dick head mode at all times. Scary that if it goes through these ass holes will own ARM. I can't imagine the level of dick headery they will achieve if they manage to wiggle a position of powering ARM windows, and if where dealing with 100% nvidia gaming systems in a few years. lol (expect full super dick head review control) I'm sure Microsoft would rather anyone else provide them Apple competing ARM chips... but it looks like its going to be Nvidia, I'm sure MS is overjoyed.
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FWIW, the current AMD building is down the street from the old ATI building in Markham.
 
DPI said:
Someone needs to either break Bryan's fingers or his keyboard. He really has no business being in any corporate leadership or communications capacity when he's this stupid.

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LOL! NVIDIA's iron fist style of PR management is Covid's fault. Everything is Covid's fault.

sc5mu93 said:
has this happened yet or did i miss it?

such a tease. ;)
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Not yet, and maybe.
 
FrgMstr said:
LOL! NVIDIA's iron fist style of PR management is Covid's fault. Everything is Covid's fault.
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Sadly it would actually be BETTER if this were the case because at least there would be an improvement at some point in the future. Although I am not sure how much worse they could get so maybe the only direction they have to go right now is up?
 
trick0502 said:
Yes, but who’s to say as press they can’t get them ahead of time?
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That the big gift company give to the big reviewer; access (to driver, cards) ahead of time, (interview, visit, out the record talk from insider being others), not the monetary value of the card or actual money. That how attempting bribing tend to work, there is no obvious dollar sign on it and it is insidious (even the person doing it is maybe not that clear that they are doing it, better making an extra friendly relationship with that powerful reviewer will not fill like bribing necessarily).

Just started the video about it and the first email, make you wonder if NVidia was not mort hurt and angry at the Hardware Unboxed comments section/twitter feed comment than about them at first, than tried to see if their coverage didn't create that common position among them.
 
Mega6 said:
Already discussed, Nv got caught and now damage control. Jensen sent him out to "fix" it.It's his job. He's just Jensen's mouthpiece on issues Jensen won't touch.
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And I really don't disagree with that, I just tend to look for the good side of things, often failing.
 
ChadD said:
No he covered RT..... he didn't cover it to Nvidias liking. ..... Also that in the AMD 6000 reviews they have done they have not lit AMD up for not having as good RT performance or anything to really compete directly with DLSS
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That a nice resume of links thanks.

Maybe it is also a timing issue, i.e. maybe they didn't like not seeing enough slide that show much better RT performance from the Ampere cards than the AMD new one, due to the fact that the review of the 3080 got out before having the 6800 to make comparison too, the 3060TI not having a good comparable AMD side to show and not focussing on it while reviewing the 6800 cards.
 
LukeTbk said:
That the big gift company give to the big reviewer; access (to driver, cards) ahead of time, (interview, visit, out the record talk from insider being others), not the monetary value of the card or actual money. That how attempting bribing tend to work, there is no obvious dollar sign on it and it is insidious (even the person doing it is maybe not that clear that they are doing it, better making an extra friendly relationship with that powerful reviewer will not fill like bribing necessarily).

Just started the video about it and the first email, make you wonder if NVidia was not mort hurt and angry at the Hardware Unboxed comments section/twitter feed comment than about them at first, than tried to see if their coverage didn't create that common position among them.
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Nvidia has heavily overplayed the RT crap. (and yes yes yes its the future of lighting ect ect.... I agree)
Nvidia came out last generation and said this is it this is the be all end all.... even though their cards where not much better then Nvidias previous gen in 99.9% of stuff people could play, oh and the price went up always nice. But cool new features that you want in on right ?
Now Nvidia is saying look our cards really are faster this time (cause competition does that).... and this RT is still the future honest trust us its coming for sure this time. And sure we got Cyberpunk, and a watch dog game.... but I don't know anyone want to tell me what the next big RT game coming down the pike is ?
A lot of Nvidia gamers where sold on RT last generation... and for some crazy reason a lot of them seem to have expected their 2080 supers where going to give them high frame rates, high resolution... and RT all at the same time, in games like Cyberpunk. Well no in todays games last generation cards that Nvidia PR told everyone where the future of gaming a year ago are simply not. We all love buying that flag ship priced card and realizing a year (or less) later we are going to have to sacrifice a bunch of settings. It burns flipping ultra settings down to high or worse medium. But if you want RT that is what your doing. Even 3080s... can't do high res, high FPS + RT in the latest RT titles. Next year 3080 owners will be in the same boat.... having to choose medium settings + RT or just turning RT off... in whatever the next big game.

I think gamers are starting to see through Nvidia Marketing PR around RT... and it hurts over at NV. I could see why they would want to make sure the video review folks in particular stay on message. RT is the future and the future is now the more you buy the more you save !
 
ChadD said:
And sure we got Cyberpunk, and a watch dog game.... but I don't know anyone want to tell me what the next big RT game coming down the pike is ?
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Miles Morales is an other one (city with lot of reflection seem to have been semi-common in recent big games), NBA live, among the next big one you have Gran Turismo
 
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if anyone has been following this site, they should already be well aware of Nvidia's continued strong arm tactics towards the video card review press, and industry as a whole. Kyle was blacklisted for his coverage of Nvidia's partner program, he just didn't make enough videos about it to catch the zeitgeist.

Will this effect sales of their products? Nope - not in any measurable metric. So in the end, does it even matter anymore?

How far would Nvidia have to go for you to never buy one of their products again?

For so many of us here, building out computers has been an integral part of our lives for longer than most of us can remember. As we age, there are few things as satisfying as when that box arrives with a new gpu to put thought its paces. Having only 2 options on the high end, it's not like we can go drive a dozen different cars and buy whatever doesn't feed us the most shit. It's not exactly comforting that Intel is joining the fray, as their history dwarfs the malice and arrogance of Nvidia in a way words can't even describe. To spend nearing a thousand dollars on a videocard should be a fulfilling experience. The last few months for me have been the most frustrating and depressing I've ever experienced trying to buy a new videocard. Now that I've already played through cyberpunk with what I have, I ask myself, do I still care? I think a lot of people may just end up skipping out on this generation if they can't get a card near MSRP. Paying $850 for something that should cost $650 is laughable at best. Who do we have to thank for that? Nvidia set the precedent.
 
oldmanbal said:
if anyone has been following this site, they should already be well aware of Nvidia's continued strong arm tactics towards the video card review press, and industry as a whole. Kyle was blacklisted for his coverage of Nvidia's partner program, he just didn't make enough videos about it to catch the zeitgeist.

Will this effect sales of their products? Nope - not in any measurable metric. So in the end, does it even matter anymore?

How far would Nvidia have to go for you to never buy one of their products again?

For so many of us here, building out computers has been an integral part of our lives for longer than most of us can remember. As we age, there are few things as satisfying as when that box arrives with a new gpu to put thought its paces. Having only 2 options on the high end, it's not like we can go drive a dozen different cars and buy whatever doesn't feed us the most shit. It's not exactly comforting that Intel is joining the fray, as their history dwarfs the malice and arrogance of Nvidia in a way words can't even describe. To spend nearing a thousand dollars on a videocard should be a fulfilling experience. The last few months for me have been the most frustrating and depressing I've ever experienced trying to buy a new videocard. Now that I've already played through cyberpunk with what I have, I ask myself, do I still care? I think a lot of people may just end up skipping out on this generation if they can't get a card near MSRP. Paying $850 for something that should cost $650 is laughable at best. Who do we have to thank for that? Nvidia set the precedent.
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The whole industry quite frankly makes me sick. Its de-evolved into bait and switch tactics. How can you get excited for a new piece of hardware when its not even the price they tell you its going to be when its released? Do we need to start accepting their announcement prices and adding $200 -$300 dollars in our heads? If so, I'm out. Its too goddamn expensive. I never thought of a day after building computers for over 20 years that I would see mainstream graphics cards selling for over a thousand dollars & people happily paying the price. Its ridiculous & pretty funny.
 
Krenum said:
The whole industry quite frankly makes me sick. Its de-evolved into bait and switch tactics. How can you get excited for a new piece of hardware when its not even the price they tell you its going to be when its released? Do we need to start accepting their announcement prices and adding $200 -$300 dollars in our heads? If so, I'm out. Its too goddamn expensive. I never thought of a day after building computers for over 20 years that I would see mainstream graphics cards selling for over a thousand dollars & people happily paying the price. Its ridiculous & pretty funny.
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1608010527150.png


https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed/status/1338709463721672705
 
FrgMstr said:
I am pretty sure HardOCP broke the first 3D cheating story. Quake Quack ring a bell?
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Oh yes, I remember. I also remember when the only difference between the ATI Rage and Rage Pro was a driver update. I think I'm remembering that correctly? Nvidia isn't alone on my shit list, but they're at the top of it. Seems Nvidia does something anti-consumer every so often.
 
DPI said:
Someone needs to either break Bryan's fingers or his keyboard. No business being in any corporate leadership or communications capacity.

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Director of Global... this guy must be the asshole that makes all of his underlings assholes... Nvidia, fire this one, you need better PR. Shit, attitudes, roll downhill. Fix it at the source.

Not all of the people at Nvidia are assholes. Had a good friend there who even helped me get new Bios's for a card I was having trouble with ages ago. Too bad he isn't around any more :(

A friend left the side off his case when we were all at a big Dallas lan. Someone pulled his ATI card right out of his case in the middle of the night and stole it. Asked the lady working the Nvidia vendor booth if she had a card we could borrow and she said "If you can fix this he can use it", it just needed a minor fix(heatsink/fan needed reattached). So I fixed it so he could keep playing. Last day of the lan I went to return it, and the lady said "I was going to let him keep it.."

Those people were nothing like this Bryan jackass.
 
GoodBoy said:
Not all of the people at Nvidia are assholes. Had a good friend there who even helped me get new Bios's for a card I was having trouble with ages ago. Too bad he isn't around any more :(
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I don't think Brian is an asshole. I guess everyone has their moments, I'm glad he has apologized.

That being said. I remember in December of 2018 I won a GTX 1070 off of a Twitter Christmas giveaway. It took a close to a month for Nvidia to ship it. When I received the packing manifest in my E-mail, because it took so long to ship, they shipped me an RTX 2070 (which I'm still using) instead.

I just looked at it again & Brian's name is on it. So, that's something to be said, he went above and beyond for me. Its easy to get caught up in the drama, so anything that I've said about him on this Forum, I surely apologize for. Anyone that can do something like that for someone...for FREE, is OK in my book.
 
GoodBoy said:
Director of Global... this guy must be the asshole that makes all of his underlings assholes... Nvidia, fire this one, you need better PR. Shit, attitudes, roll downhill. Fix it at the source.

Not all of the people at Nvidia are assholes. Had a good friend there who even helped me get new Bios's for a card I was having trouble with ages ago. Too bad he isn't around any more :(

A friend left the side off his case when we were all at a big Dallas lan. Someone pulled his ATI card right out of his case in the middle of the night and stole it. Asked the lady working the Nvidia vendor booth if she had a card we could borrow and she said "If you can fix this he can use it", it just needed a minor fix(heatsink/fan needed reattached). So I fixed it so he could keep playing. Last day of the lan I went to return it, and the lady said "I was going to let him keep it.."

Those people were nothing like this Bryan jackass.
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i need to listen to you

Hmm

pretty important lessons about professional communications at the corporate level
 
FrgMstr said:
Yeah. A couple of nice personal anecdotes does make everything Nvidia does to the community OK.
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Certainly not. Brian is a product of his environment. Nvidia's problem with the community and business practices lays squarely on Jensen & it rolls downhill from there. I can't be mad at a guy that did me a solid but I sure as heck don't like the way the company as a whole is moving, especially when hearing about the mining crap. I think if Lisa Su pulled that, she'd be out of a job.
 
misleading title, the reviewer can still concentrate on raster
 
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