Stay classy Nvidia! Viral marketing discovered at chiphell, Kepler rumors debunked

[Rock_n_Rolla]

I thought the 7950 could not do the bios mod.
If it can then that would be the end of nvidias kepler and AMD would lose huge sales on the 7970. Could that be why the 7950 is coming out later than the 7970?

If the 7950 does allow bios mod I will by 2 of them and upgrade to x79 to support x16 x16 x8 lanes.

-- Thats what im planing to do also, though im not going for two 7950's on Xfire since i only game using a single full HD
monitor, but as an option since i might change my mind in the next coming weeks im planing on upgrading to a much
higher res monitor like those available now with 2500x1600 something resolution (not sure) and go Xfire.
For that mod able extra feature that AMD made to their 7950's i think thats also ONE of the many reasons why they
always release their 7970's first instead of releasing both, though needless to say, what AMD did to their 7950's being it
bios "mod able", that is some huge Love given to us by AMD, its their own way of giving a lot of thanks to us PC gamers.

 

[Rock_n_Rolla]

Yeah i'll have to go with GT on this one, everything i've read indicates that shaders don't unlock on the 7950. It will still be a great card though, esp. oc'ed.

Agreed, though still its BIOS can be modded using 7970's and by doing that and overclocking it even more, based on what ive read about 7950s when overclocked still, its a 580 killer...

 

[onthemour]

Agreed, though still its BIOS can be modded using 7970's and by doing that and overclocking it even more, based on what ive read about 7950s when overclocked still, its a 580 killer...

7970 higher than stock performance for under $400 That puts HUGE pressure on Nvidia

 

[MavericK]

7970 higher than stock performance for under $400 That puts HUGE pressure on Nvidia

7950 MSRP was $469 last I checked.

 

[jreinlie4]

7950 MSRP was $469 last I checked.

thats for the 3gb version, I think their talking about the 1.5gb 7950

 

[Brackle]

Yeah, you're here at [H] because they're fanboys like you. EVERY review site has the same or similar numbers for BF3 except this place and HardwareHeaven....Enough said. I'll take Tom's, Xbit, AnandTech, Guru3d, Techspot, Overclockersclub, Hardwarecanucks and Overclock3d over this fanboy site any day.

Eventhough I know your banned (laughs).

Tomshardware shows more then a 4% increase in BF3 over a 580 GTX.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-benchmark-tahiti-gcn,3104-7.html

So.....keep lieing to yourself.

 

[MavericK]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-benchmark-tahiti-gcn,3104-7.html

Minimum FPS seems REALLY high on those charts...in the [H] review all cards dropped down to around 30 FPS at some point or another.

 

[Brackle]

Minimum FPS seems REALLY high on those charts...in the [H] review all cards dropped down to around 30 FPS at some point or another.

TBH I dont care for tomshardware.com reviews at all.

I was just stating that tomshardware.com shows more then a 4% increase in BF3. The guy who got banned said otherwise.

I usually stick with [H]ardocp for all my reviews....well because they test\play games!!!....Not canned benchmarks.

 

[FearTheCow]

I find it absolutely fascinating how all the Nvidia fanboi's go around telling everyone to stop trying to spread rumors, yet all their information is 100% rumors...

 

[MavericK]

I find it absolutely fascinating how all the Nvidia fanboi's go around telling everyone to stop trying to spread rumors, yet all their information is 100% rumors...

Not sure who you're referring to, but the difference is that this particular story was spread as fact, not rumor. When, in fact, it is rumor, nothing more.

...or were you just trolling?

 

[Brackle]

Not sure who you're referring to, but the difference is that this particular story was spread as fact, not rumor. When, in fact, it is rumor, nothing more.

...or were you just trolling?

Well the only thing that is a fact is that chiphell banned Nvidia paid people for spreading rumors.

Are those rumors they were spreading false? who the fuck knows. We just know they were spreading rumors, and were being paid by Nvidia.

 

[MavericK]

Well the only thing that is a fact is that chiphell banned Nvidia paid people for spreading rumors.

Are those rumors they were spreading false? who the fuck knows. We just know they were spreading rumors, and were being paid by Nvidia.

We don't even have any evidence that they were paid shills for nVidia, either.

 

[Brackle]

We don't even have any evidence that they were paid shills for nVidia, either.

So your saying that the admins for chiphell are lieing and are pro-AMD?

I am pretty sure the admins wouldnt come out to say they were Nvidia people unless they have evidence.

 

[MavericK]

So your saying that the admins for chiphell are lieing and are pro-AMD?

I am pretty sure the admins wouldnt come out to say they were Nvidia people unless they have evidence.

Evidence which, apparently, no one but them has seen.

All I'm saying is, in the absence of proof it is nothing but a rumor. I don't care if it's Kyle or Jesus or whoever else who says it, it's not proven until there's some sort of logical proof.

For example, I could say, "Look, that AMDRocks guy got banned for trolling anti-nVidia rhetoric. He must be a shill!". I have 7+ years on the forum...should you take it on my word alone?

Admins are just people. Everyone has their own opinion and their own agenda, admin or not.

 

[Brackle]

Evidence which, apparently, no one but them has seen.

All I'm saying is, in the absence of proof it is nothing but a rumor. I don't care if it's Kyle or Jesus or whoever else who says it, it's not proven until there's some sort of logical proof.

For example, I could say, "Look, that AMDRocks guy got banned for trolling anti-nVidia rhetoric. He must be a shill!". I have 7+ years on the forum...should you take it on my word alone?

Admins are just people. Everyone has their own opinion and their own agenda, admin or not.

True, But i would believe Chiphell admins. They don't care for 1 brand or the other, They care about leaks benchmarks and who has the best what and how far they can overclock.

I don't think chiphell has to release the evidence. Because I believe they wouldnt say something like that unless it was true.

Also it has been done before by Nvidia. So it's not a big shocker to me.

 

[onthemour]

almost 22,000 ppl have read this

That is almost 22,00 ppl thinking nvidia is full of shit

remember most hits are just ppl reading headlines and taking that into account

With this many hits it must have a negative impact on nvidia

I have heard customers saying that nvidia lies!

This thread has to die

 

[MavericK]

This thread has to die

Finally we agree on something.

 

[xoleras]

True, But i would believe Chiphell admins. They don't care for 1 brand or the other, They care about leaks benchmarks and who has the best what and how far they can overclock.

I don't think chiphell has to release the evidence. Because I believe they wouldnt say something like that unless it was true.

Also it has been done before by Nvidia. So it's not a big shocker to me.

Pretty much how I feel. Also I was reading a story about how nvidia hired AEG to do guerrilla marketing in 2009, and pretty much the result of that was NV marketing drones flooding the net with stories of how the GTX 480 would be 2x faster than the 5870. Yeah, they really said that - what ended up happening was a 480 being 10% faster than 5870, yet much hotter + louder. They also created some sort of internet group whose purpose was to sway opinions by infiltrating various online communities. Regardless of how anyone downplays it their campaign was effective. How many people held off on buying 5870 because "something better" was right around the corner? A lot of people did, and their opinion was shaped by the marketing FUD from aeg.

So when you consider this, and the fact that chiphell does not generally ever ban anyone - but they saw fit to in this case. They can easily trace/identify their users, so if they have a sudden influx of new users creating kepler stories but their identities are from Sunnyvale california @ nvidia.com -- hmm wonder whats going on there. If chiphell's owner says something is up, it is plausible to me - chiphell is impartial in these matters and NV also does have a history of doing this sort of thing.

With all this said, I just want NV to talk about their tech (and stop flooding the net with BS). I'm sure Kepler will be a good product, but put up or shut up NV.

 

[rudy]

Isn't the whole point of "viral" mrketing that it doesn't need to be "discovered" by investigative journalism? This is just normal industry fluff, like the bulldozer is "the fastest CPU in the world". It means 0 conclusive "proof" about anything either way and should just be ignored. Who cares if it says "it will be $300" is that legally binding?

I don't think any company hires actors to post on forums. Way too much effort for so little gain, as the high end isn't their biggest source of income. Would be more profitable to hire checkout people to talk about mid/low range nvidia/whatever.

I cannot say that either video card company does. But you are wrong if you say no company does. It is a common tactic now. Companies can and do hire people to post comments, reply on forums. In the past we knew this was happening to alter search results but nothing has changed they still do it to manipulate their public image or bash competition.

 

[Trimlock]

With all this said, I just want NV to talk about their tech (and stop flooding the net with BS). I'm sure Kepler will be a good product, but put up or shut up NV.

Going based off of what happened with the GTX 480, when Nvidia was blasting the net with tons of fud against the 5870, they didn't actually have a working product. Infact they decided to make a fake product, which gave them a ton of negative feedback.

Are they playing it safe this time? Keeping quiet while not having a product, or maybe they are planning to milk the 580 sales and market it as a product that "competes" with the 7970 until they get their main product out.

 

[onthemour]

The only thing Nvidia is doing now is spreading rumors that everyone knows ARE LIES

All gamers no about the BS 4xx series as sh!t furnaces melting computers that were supposed to DOUBLE the 5780 lmao. That killed alot of their supporters when they came out. So many ppl returned their 480s (after ocing and killing them) and got 5780s 5790s. We had to rma so many of them, they were not resellable. We hear comments like that from alot of ppl when they pick up there 7970s these past weeks. Nvidia has no idea the damage they are doing whith there lies and deception.

This thread has so many hits and it is all negative towards Nvidia. The worst is nvidia has no statement on there next cards. They are failing even before they have created kepler. Gamers are not waiting for Kepler they are buying AMD and they should when the 7970 and soon the 7950 are amazing cards. DON;T BOTHER SAYING THEY ARE NOT WHEN NO OTHER CARD ON THE PLANET IS BETTER THAN THESE OC MONSTERS

 

[onthemour]

google nvidia viral market and you will see that hundreds of thousands of people are reading and learning about this all over the internet. This is very damaging to nvidia and it seems like it is driving more and more towards AMD.

 

[onthemour]

Clearly any company (AMD and Nvidia) that has to resort to this means they are struggling to compete sounds more and more like kepler is in trouble I guess we might be getting another 4xx series toaster flop if so i'm keeping my 7970s


Quote:
I interviewed for a guerilla marketing business in San Francisco that targeted web forums.

I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could muster (they wanted 100 eventually), with a goal of 5 posts an hour. The posts had to be well thought out, and the idea was that I was to establish multiple identities with a history on the forums, so that when the timing was right a well written but subtly placed marketing post could be finessed in. And regular visitors would recognize the post as coming from a long time poster.
Followups:

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tech Report
NVIDIA's Derek Perez has commented on the story, insisting that NVIDIA does not hire online actors or shills. However, he also said the following:

"AEG helps us to manage the online community - we engage with some NV fans to help educate people on the web."

We called Perez to clarify that statement, and he told us that NVIDIA utilizes longtime NVIDIA fans to help answer product and tech support questions in online forums. These fans are used to help communicate directly with the enthusiast market because NVIDIA can't answer all the questions themselves.



http://consumerist.com/2006/02/did-nvidia-hire-online-actors-to-promote-their-products.html

http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/showthread.php?t=169621

 

[Forceman]

We get it. You don't like Nvidia. Enough already.

The only thing Nvidia is doing now is spreading rumors that everyone knows ARE LIES

All gamers no about the BS 4xx series as sh!t furnaces melting computers that were supposed to DOUBLE the 5780 lmao. That killed alot of their supporters when they came out. So many ppl returned their 480s (after ocing and killing them) and got 5780s 5790s. We had to rma so many of them, they were not resellable. We hear comments like that from alot of ppl when they pick up there 7970s these past weeks. Nvidia has no idea the damage they are doing whith there lies and deception.

This thread has so many hits and it is all negative towards Nvidia. The worst is nvidia has no statement on there next cards. They are failing even before they have created kepler. Gamers are not waiting for Kepler they are buying AMD and they should when the 7970 and soon the 7950 are amazing cards. DON;T BOTHER SAYING THEY ARE NOT WHEN NO OTHER CARD ON THE PLANET IS BETTER THAN THESE OC MONSTERS

google nvidia viral market and you will see that hundreds of thousands of people are reading and learning about this all over the internet. This is very damaging to nvidia and it seems like it is driving more and more towards AMD.

Clearly any company (AMD and Nvidia) that has to resort to this means they are struggling to compete sounds more and more like kepler is in trouble I guess we might be getting another 4xx series toaster flop if so i'm keeping my 7970s


Quote:
I interviewed for a guerilla marketing business in San Francisco that targeted web forums.

I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could muster (they wanted 100 eventually), with a goal of 5 posts an hour. The posts had to be well thought out, and the idea was that I was to establish multiple identities with a history on the forums, so that when the timing was right a well written but subtly placed marketing post could be finessed in. And regular visitors would recognize the post as coming from a long time poster.
Followups:

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tech Report
NVIDIA's Derek Perez has commented on the story, insisting that NVIDIA does not hire online actors or shills. However, he also said the following:

"AEG helps us to manage the online community - we engage with some NV fans to help educate people on the web."

We called Perez to clarify that statement, and he told us that NVIDIA utilizes longtime NVIDIA fans to help answer product and tech support questions in online forums. These fans are used to help communicate directly with the enthusiast market because NVIDIA can't answer all the questions themselves.



http://consumerist.com/2006/02/did-nvidia-hire-online-actors-to-promote-their-products.html

http://discussions.hardwarecentral.com/showthread.php?t=169621

 

[MavericK]

We get it. You don't like Nvidia. Enough already.

I think he gets paid by the post.

 

[onthemour]

AMD does not need shills lol they did nothing of the sort. In fact they did the opposite for the last releases. They released specs and benches and then a paper launch. There current line of cards are selling like crazy. It is Nvidia that has to do shills. Do you not get it? The last time they did shills was because the 4xx series was terrible and they knew it. It is a direct reflection to what we are seeing now

 

[fps4ever]

AMD does not need shills lol they did nothing of the sort. In fact they did the opposite for the last releases. They released specs and benches and then a paper launch. There current line of cards are selling like crazy. It is Nvidia that has to do shills. Do you not get it? The last time they did shills was because the 4xx series was terrible and they knew it. It is a direct reflection to what we are seeing now

Let it go man...if AMD is as awesome as you make them out to be then there's nothing to worry about when Kepler's released, is there? If not I guess you'll be eating some crow then...

 

[HohnyF]

AMD does not need shills lol they did nothing of the sort.

yet AMD is the king of viral marketing


The AMD Viral Playbook according to ir0x0r

According to ir0x0r, the perfect candidate for a shill was a young college student. Someone who already was a big AMD fan and someone who was already active at the tech forums. Someone who was "respected" as an alpha male. He would scout them out especially at LAN events which were his specialty and he would give the deserving guy something; perhaps a mid range video card or a CPU.

After the event, he would exchange emails and after second contact was made, would suggest that he "tell his friends" about the experience. He monitored the new potential recruit's posting very carefully to see if their return on investment (RoI) was paying off. If the new guy was just a blabbermouth and bragged about his new prize, he was dumped. If instead, the new recruit started enthusiastically posting about his new AMD hardware, then the email/PM contacts would continue and there would be (mostly) promises of future hardware.

Entire viral "campaigns" were carried in this stealthy manner. And the example of the current one at the time were exemplified by the postings that showed up at several tech forums all about the same time - "My $100 Quad-Core CPU" was their stealth campaign. Several posters started to post at different tech sites almost simultaneously about their success at unlocking the Phenom 550-X2 (and 720-X3) turning it into a Phenom II QuadCore. They actually cut this campaign short when ABT tossed ir0x0r out.

You can see today that the same poster will post here at ABT; post at ATF under another name as well as at HardOCP and OCN (for example). Yet they are pretty obvious by their system specs, the manner in which they post, and the fact that these guys at a higher level are organized. They communicate by email and PM.

It's a simple playbook. Seed the forum posters with hardware and encourage them to talk about it. They made it a science and now Edelman - already experts in Viral marketing and caught making fake blogs - have teamed up with AMD - and their former employees are now Edelman employees

In fact they did the opposite for the last releases. They released specs and benches and then a paper launch. There current line of cards are selling like crazy.

I remember same being said about 6000 series, and 6950 selling like hotcakes. Remember that?
Yet AMD went on to paper launch 7970, leaving all their Xmass sales in a dust, running like hell from them hotcakes.


Ever visited amd.com? See that thingie on the left?

LIKE US, BLOG ABOUT US, TWEET ABOUT AWESOME RADS...

Well you wont see crap like that on Intel.com or nvidia.com,
Guess what, they are the ones that REALLY sell like hotcakes

 

[Gazoozles]

Im so sour! Nvidia...step it upp

 

[DrakeLi]

/shrug tacky but typical business honestly. It is why I basically consider the next gpu from either manufacturer to be complete garbage until performance reviews prove otherwise.

I buy Nvidia or AMD whichever is the biggest bang for my buck at that time.

 

[Michaelius]

AMD does not need shills lol they did nothing of the sort . In fact they did the opposite for the last releases. They released specs and benches and then a paper launch. There current line of cards are selling like crazy. It is Nvidia that has to do shills. Do you not get it? The last time they did shills was because the 4xx series was terrible and they knew it. It is a direct reflection to what we are seeing now

True looking at cpu forum here they have enough braindead fanboys to fuel any fanboy agenda without spending a single cent

 

[flu!d]

I heard NV kill newborns if they think they are going to buy AMD when they grow up....

What a pointless thread.

 

[Richthofen]

I think he gets paid by the post.

His problem is that he knows that most people interested in an enthusiast product will wait anyway until Nvidia steps up, which is in the end good. Customers then can directly compare and make their choice. With every week we will get more and more information and leaks about Kepler. Some will be false and some will be true. But it Keeps Nvidia in talks which is good for them. At the moment they have nothing to worry about. Everything that is available right now is the HD7970. The point when they have to worry about is when AMD has its full lineup in the market and they have nothing new. But this is not going to happen. Their low end and mid range parts are ready. What is missing is capacity from TSMC but this affects both of them. As long as there is a huge constraint in that area there will be no market share shifts from one side to the other and the former GPU generation will still have more influence on the market than the new one. You can only buy what is available in the store. The same applies for OEMs.

 

[LEVESQUE]

The 7990 is also coming. Don't forget that.

Kepler for 300$ LOL! Stop dreaming.

If Kepler is faster then the 7970, it will cost MORE then the 7970. If Kepler is faster then the 580 it will cost MORE then the 580. And the 580 was overpriced since the first day it came out, and is still really really overpriced today.

Hey, it's greedy Nvidia we are talking about.

I remember the 8800 GTX Ultra at 749$...

 

[onthemour]

yup the new word on Nvidia is that they lie and kepler will flop like the 4xx series and AMD drivers are fixed (which they seem to better than before and Nvidias strenghth against amd is turning out to be false now). We just sold the last of our 7970 stock. This is our customers opinion not mine. Apperently threads like this are and the internet rumors have an effect after all. A week ago ppl were buying amd because they had good cards now no body that came in this weekend have anything good to say about Nvidia or they have lost faith. From the way it looks nvidia is either going to have to sell their cards for much cheaper price not performance wise and release specs and benchs as sites like these are hurting nvidi.......24280 hits on this thread alone

 

[fps4ever]

yup the new word on Nvidia is that they lie and kepler will flop like the 4xx series and AMD drivers are fixed (which they seem to better than before and Nvidias strenghth against amd is turning out to be false now). We just sold the last of our 7970 stock. This is our customers opinion not mine. Apperently threads like this are and the internet rumors have an effect after all. A week ago ppl were buying amd because they had good cards now no body that came in this weekend have anything good to say about Nvidia or they have lost faith. From the way it looks nvidia is either going to have to sell their cards for much cheaper price not performance wise and release specs and benchs as sites like these are hurting nvidi.......24280 hits on this thread alone

24280 hits because they LOL at reading posts from zealot freaks like yourself...

 

[onthemour]

24280 hits because they LOL at reading posts from zealot freaks like yourself...

No this is not like before. It is having a bad effect on nvidia. Nvidia needs to release something to counteract this. I like Nvidia and AMD


but this is bad. ALOT of customers have turned away from nvidia due to this lie

 

[8du8]

No this is not like before. It is having a bad effect on nvidia. Nvidia needs to release something to counteract this. I like Nvidia and AMD


but this is bad. ALOT of customers have turned away from nvidia due to this lie

And this is based on the handful of customers that come into your store buying AMD cards?

That sure sounds convincing.

 

[Brackle]

And this is based on the handful of customers that come into your store buying AMD cards?

That sure sounds convincing.

I am not trying to troll and cause any shit.

But I honestly think, this guy is full of shit about owning a store. Anyone can make a hardocp account with some random email, and spout whatever the fuck they want.

Now do I agree with him? To a certain extent, but saying this guys owns a store blah blah tells customers blah blah. Sounds like he works for AMD.

Of course this is my opinion, but you know what they say. "You can't believe everything you read on the internet"

 

[fps4ever]

I am not trying to troll and cause any shit.

But I honestly think, this guy is full of shit about owning a store. Anyone can make a hardocp account with some random email, and spout whatever the fuck they want.

Now do I agree with him? To a certain extent, but saying this guys owns a store blah blah tells customers blah blah. Sounds like he works for AMD.

Of course this is my opinion, but you know what they say. "You can't believe everything you read on the internet"

He wants to think/pretend he's unbiased but he's not...and I don't think AMD would want people like him help Market their products.