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Nvidia bans HardwareUnboxed from receiving review samples

rofif

Banned
Speak for yourself. If I'm going to render games at a different resolution to my screen it's going to be higher than native, not lower. I have zero interest in DLSS. He also states why clearly; apples to apples. When benchmarking hardware you change only that hardware. You don't use DLSS for the same reason that you don't run one card at 4K and one at 1080p, or have one system use a Celeron and the other Threadripper.
Dude... 4k and quality DLSS look better than real 4k. I have 4k monitor, 3080 and death stranding... DLSS stabilizes all crawling and aa. And it's much better in motion than taa... And improves performance
 
"People" aren't critzicing Nvidia, they're just jumping unto the hate bandwagon and claiming Nvidia is evil, anti free speech and other similar ridiculous hyperbolic rhetoric (that obviously comes from a place of personal hate) simply because they are no longer providing free cards for some youtubers that purposely manipulate reviews and now are playing the victim for clickbait reasons.
What is that if not criticism?
You don't need to hate or have a personal vendetta against Nvidia to understand the validity of the issues that people are bringing up in this thread.
Hardware vendors, be they GPU, CPU, Motherboard, headphones, smartphones or whatever supply review units of their products to reviewers for one reason. They do it so that those reviewers can get their hands-on experience and write their reviews, produce their content and have it all ready for the launch embargo. If they have made a good product the reviews will act as near-enough free marketing for the product. The same shit happens with video games and reviews. Which is why some of the games of dubious quality don't actually send out review copies, because they're afraid that reviewers will harm potential sales.

Now, going back to Nvidia. In this situation they've rescinded Hardware Unboxed from access to FE RTX cards ahead of launch. Why? Because they feel that HUB's review content doesn't align with their own views. So what they've effectively done here is remove someone they think might negatively affect their product's positioning from having their voice heard at launch. Does that not strike you as slightly contentious? More to the point, they in their email have stated plain as day that they'll only reconsider their position if HUB change their editorial positioning to align with their own. Again, is that not contentious? As Linus put in his video, there is no way they were stupid enough to think this information wouldn't spread to other reviewers. And the message they're sending to other reviewers is that if they don't fall in line with how Nvidia sees things they too can have their access revoked.

Given that these reviewers entire businesses/incomes are dependent on them getting reviews out on time, they are in effect directly threatening their livelihoods (Whether or not you think that reviewing hardware is a valid business/vocation isn't really up for discussion). Given that Nvidia is the 80% market share GPU incumbent, they're flexing their power and dominance in the market to effectively try and bully independent reviewers into staying in line.

Not only are they doing that, they're sending a message to the wider public that nobody should trust anything positive said about their products, because now they've provided retarded fanboys and actual haters with tangible evidence that they might be bullying reviewers or otherwise exerting some kind of pressure to receive positive reviews for their products. Even if you don't agree with people who think what they've done is wrong, you cannot argue that its just added completely unnecessary fuel to the fanboy fire and is a PR disaster.

You could argue in an ideal world that nobody should be given any free material and all reviewers should purchase the products like any other consumer and then do their reviews. And I would agree, that would be the ideal. However, we all know the world is more complicated than that. Consumers and consumer culture at large want their reviews at launch so they can decide on launch day whether or not they want to buy it. Its on that basis that hardware vendors such as Nvidia provide their review samples ahead of launch so that those reviews can be made in good faith that the reviews will be fair and honest.

I don't even know how you could argue that HUB's 3080 review was unfair, given that they lavished praise on the RTX3080 for offering the largest gen-on-gen improvement in performance seen in years. I suppose you could argue that they didn't spend enough time discussing RTX or DLSS and those are very important value-adds. Except for the fact that they produced a 22 minute in-depth breakdown of performance for RTX and DLSS performance, and though they're still not sold on RTX (and they are more than entitled to have that opinion, even if you or indeed Nvidia disagree with it) they were very, very impressed with DLSS; the other value-add feature Nvidia place a lot of emphasis on. Not to mention that the in-depth video was released a day after the AIB and FE RTX 3080 launches, so the positive remarks were made months in advance of Nvidia deciding to cut them off.

So I don't think the frenzy over this is entirely unjustified. They seem to have revoked HUB's access to pre-release hardware for apparently no reason at all other than the fact that they weren't positive enough for their tastes about RTX. Yes, yes, Nvidia said they'd still provide the launch driver and that HUB will still get access to AIB models; but if I may add some conjecture of my own, what's stopping Nvidia from providing access to the press driver days after launch, which would still materially impact HUB's business. Given how availability has been for RTX3000 and RX6000, its not even as though they'd be able to go out and buy one in time to produce a video during the launch window.

If you still don't agree. Fine, that's fair. I guess we have to agree to disagree.

Like other gaffer said, this is like a reviewer getting an hybrid car and not reviewing the electric part of the car and then complaining when the car company stops giving him free samples. Well, if you aren't capable of doing your job, it's not the company's fault. But it's better to go and claim the company is anti free speech and that they want to "control the narrative" simply because they want you to review the actual features of the product.
That analogy doesn't quite work though does it?
A more apt analogy would be a Automotive Journalist receiving a Plug-in Hybrid vehicle, giving a cursory overview of the electric range etc (which in a PHEV is normally 20-30 miles - i.e not much at all), and then subsequently complaining that there are not enough charging stations available for the plug-in to be useful. That would be a perfectly valid comparison and a perfectly valid complaint.
Another automotive example would be hydrogen fuel cell cards, which are much more environmentally friendly than gasoline vehicles, but again the dearth of hydrogen fuelling stations make that advantage somewhat meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Again valid complaints.

Should having these valid complaints be enough cause for the vehicle manufacturer to bar a dissenting voice from reviewing their vehicles? I don't think it is. Reviewers must be able to provide their honest thoughts about a product and/or service. If their opinion is negative, fucking tough shit. If you then decide to cut that reviewer off, it only reflects badly on you - as this current shitstorm has clearly proven.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member



"I thought that, if anything, the review of the RTX 3080 glossed over RTX. Okay? I would say that we would have covered it in more depth than Steve did."

xklnVNE.png
 
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RedVIper

Banned
When Nvidia sends a card to a reviewer, the reviewer then independently reviews the card in whatever way they wish regardless of what Nvidia says. Nvidia doesn't get to control the message, content or final conclusion of the review. That's what makes it independent. They are not being paid for these reviews and Nvidia does not own a stake in these companies.

They're not independent, getting free shit is being paid.
 

amc

Member
Fucking biggest technology to hit in years and this fool decides it ain't worth his time. Fuck this clown.
AMD needs to catch up. simple as.

Ray Tracing isn't going anywhere and is a fundamental in the here and now.

Garbage reviewer, wouldn't give him the Steam off my sh..
 
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Bolivar687: “they review ray tracing for every single new card”

Bolivar687 goes on to show me ray tracing benchmarks for everything but the 6800 XT. 🤔

I thought we were talking about Nvidia here? Why would they need to test the 6800XT? Why would their review practices with AMD's ray tracing have any baring on how they review Nvidia GPU's?
And they they pretty much stated in their review of the 6800XT that the ray tracing performance was worse than Ampere - what more is needed?
 

Jon Neu

Banned
Does that not strike you as slightly contentious? More to the point, they in their email have stated plain as day that they'll only reconsider their position if HUB change their editorial positioning to align with their own. Again, is that not contentious?

Not at all.

Again, the company expects that you review the product features. If you don't want to review the product features that the product it's intended to showcase, why should the company give you the product then?

It's not the company's fault that you are literally incapable of reviewing the product.


That analogy doesn't quite work though does it?

It works perfectly, it just doesn't suit your narrative.

Should having these valid complaints be enough cause for the vehicle manufacturer to bar a dissenting voice from reviewing their vehicles? I don't think it is. Reviewers must be able to provide their honest thoughts about a product and/or service. If their opinion is negative, fucking tough shit. If you then decide to cut that reviewer off, it only reflects badly on you - as this current shitstorm has clearly proven.

You still don't understand that Nvidia isn't preventing them of doing negative opinions and reviews. There are plenty of negative opinions in reviews about products by Nvidia and still Nvidia gives free samples to those reviewers.

The problem here is literally this reviewers being incapable of reviewing the cards and it's features. The censorship it's actually coming from the reviewers that, for some reason, don't want to review the most important technical features in gaming of the recent years, despite being what everybody and his horse want to know about it and how the products have been designed for.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member


Show's over folks.
Even Nvidia have realised this was a bad idea.


From two pages back:

So now HWU is using the internet as their private army to lynch nvidia.

i expect nvidia will not want to continue this back and forth drama. so techtubers get the last words. 🤷‍♀️

It's not what I'd call a stunning turn of events. Hooray for YouTube influencers?
 
The problem here is literally this reviewers being incapable of reviewing the cards and it's features. The censorship it's actually coming from the reviewers that, for some reason, don't want to review the most important technical features in gaming of the recent years, despite being what everybody and his horse want to know about it and how the products have been designed for.
Most of what you said. Fine. Agree to disagree.

The point quoted however is false, as they have indeed reviewed the technology in depth in multiple other videos which myself and others have linked to. Is that not good enough? Or must it be done in a specific way? Or are they only allowed to be positive about it?

From two pages back:
It's not what I'd call a stunning turn of events. Hooray for YouTube influencers?

Oh no, multi-billion dollar, market leading AI ASIC and Graphics Chip manufacturer forced to walk back on a stupid decision, because of a little public pressure.
 
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Bolivar687: “they review ray tracing for every single new card”

Bolivar687 goes on to show me ray tracing benchmarks for everything but the 6800 XT. 🤔
TyphoonStruggle: "NVIDIA only blacklisted them because they ignored RTX and DLSS"

TyphoonStruggle goes on to admit that HUB did not, in fact, ignore RTX and DLSS and actually benchmarked it and touched on it in every single one of their RTX card reviews. 🤔
 

Jon Neu

Banned
The point quoted however is false, as they have indeed reviewed the technology in depth in multiple other videos which myself and others have linked to. Is that not good enough?

Imagine being a youtube channel dedicated to PC cards and not having at least some videos talking about RTX and DLSS.

That doesn't change anything.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
I can tell some people are really butthurt that youtubers get free nvidia gpus, unlike their loyal paypiggies.

Why would that be something not get to annoyed at, especially since some of these channels blur the line between review and sponsored video, then lash out at the very company that gives them their material, comparing them to the Mafia and Nazis (Linus), when they threaten to withhold the goods over perceived mistreatment.

There are no heroes in this story, though some people desperately want one.
 
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Chiggs

Gold Member
Look at this morons with their clickbait, milking this shit and stirring up drama to the fullest with their fake reactions and concern.

Right, and the only reason Nvidia walked it back is because the Canadian Lesbian whipped her 12.5 million mouthbreathers into a frenzy. Just as long as Linus feels like the tough guy hero and gets all the credit (see HUB's tweet), right?

The Republic has been saved!
 
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Why would that be something not get to annoyed at, especially since some of these channels blur the line between review and sponsored video, then lash out at the very company that gives them their material, comparing them to the Mafia and Nazis (Linus), when they threaten to withhold the goods over perceived mistreatment.

There are no heroes in this story, though some people desperately want one.
I'm sorry...Linus "this video brought to you by" Sebastian blurring the line between review and sponsored video? I think there are fair criticisms you can levy at Linus (being hyperbolic when he's fired up for example) but I'm not sure you can really accuse him of "blurring" that particular line. He's been famously transparent about what's a sponsored video and what isn't, even before the whole CSGO Lotto thing when the FTC started watching YT like hawks.
 
I love these sort of topics because it makes the smooth-brained come out in force, which means an easy clean-up with ignore, so now the forum experience gets better & better.

What kind of a moron cheers for a corporation silencing independent reviewers? Sigh.
Lots of morons. Like these:

I mean, they aren’t doing proper reviews. Intentionally Ignoring half your feature set just because the competition lacks it is insane.

The “reviews” are basically just trolling for clicks. Why should Nvidia be obliged to support it?
Imagine purposely ignoring RT to make the competitor look better and then whining on Twitter when you get blacklisted.
That's a retard-level take. HU is ignoring key functionality of the product they're supposed to be reviewing.
If you're ignoring RT and DLSS in post Cyberpunk 2077 world, you're not doing your job properly as a reviewer. Sorry not sorry.
This . and Hardware Unboxed had been biased
Good they deserve it.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
I'm sorry...Linus "this video brought to you by" Sebastian blurring the line between review and sponsored video? I think there are fair criticisms you can levy at Linus (being hyperbolic when he's fired up for example) but I'm not sure you can really accuse him of "blurring" that particular line. He's been famously transparent about what's a sponsored video and what isn't, even before the whole CSGO Lotto thing when the FTC started watching YT like hawks.

One week: OMG 8K GAMING ON A 75 INCH LG TELEVISION WITH AN RTX 3090 IS INCREDIBLE!

Next week: The 3090 is not that good of a card.

Hey, just as long as that text appears on the video, he can be as big a slut as he wants to be, I guess.

And let's just ignore Linus continuing to accept sponsored video deals from companies that are possibly evil, and just like the Mafia and Nazis. All him there.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
The first video is the other, non retarded guy of the two looking just at this, in a dedicated video.

The other video is the retarded one, the one being called out on this, benchmarking only 2 games, the ones that make AMD look the best out of all the games, while saying he cares very little about ray tracing, he didnt actually do much testing on this and how he feels there are almost no games worth this tech. I mean, jesus fucking christ. The guy needs to show all of us on where did the bad ray tracing guy touch him as a young boy. He acts as if RT personally offended him.
You sound totally calm and objective.



"I thought that, if anything, the review of the RTX 3080 glossed over RTX. Okay? I would say that we would have covered it in more depth than Steve did."

xklnVNE.png

You are missing the context where Linus elaborates that is not a reasonable justification for Nvidia's actions.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Again, the company expects that you review the product features. If you don't want to review the product features that the product it's intended to showcase, why should the company give you the product then?

It's not the company's fault that you are literally incapable of reviewing the product.
They did do that though. They have raytracing performance graphs in their reviews and have multiple dedicated videos that only talk about RTX, DLSS, and Nvidia Reflex.
 
One week: OMG 8K GAMING ON A 75 INCH LG TELEVISION WITH AN RTX 3090 IS INCREDIBLE!
Except if you actually watched that video, as I did, you'll know that the takeaway is that the 3090 is not 8K ready, whatever NVIDIA might say. Looks great...and plenty cinematic.
Also, yes, clickbaiting is another fair criticism you can levy at him, one he openly admits to.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
You sound totally calm and objective.

You are missing the context where Linus elaborates that is not a reasonable justification for Nvidia's actions.

No, I watched the whole video, including the part where he thinks their follow up RTX video was well done. The issue was the initial review, which probably annoyed Nvidia's marketing team. I completely understand that Linus is saying Nvidia should not have done this, but I used the quote to support the argument that HUB has sort of ignored RTX, which is definitely their right to do if their users care more about rasterization.

And now we're back to the dynamics of the free review card and why I think they're a terrible idea for outlets that are so proud and independent. :messenger_neutral:

Except if you actually watched that video, as I did, you'll know that the takeaway is that the 3090 is not 8K ready, whatever NVIDIA might say. Looks great...and plenty cinematic.
Also, yes, clickbaiting is another fair criticism you can levy at him, one he openly admits to.

Except I did watch that video and he was CLEARLY praising Doom Eternal running on the 3090 at 8k. He was awestruck by it!
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
Ugh, Youtubers won. I'll say this, i almost wish Nvidia had kept their ends and see how far this shitshow of youtuber drama can go. Honestly, stop reviewing Nvidia cards entirely, no really, i want to see that.

How does Jayz even go forward now? He clearly set the table against Nvidia. Linus, while being overly dramatic (nazis? reallyyyyyy????), did not burn all bridges. But here comes Jayz, going full retard for his buddy's free card pulled out, showing everyone that his reviews in the forseeable future are worth jack shit.
 
Except I did watch that video and he was CLEARLY praising Doom Eternal running on the 3090 at 8k. He was awestruck by it!
Yes. A single game. One game. The only game that ran remotely acceptably. A game made by ID who are, if nothing else, good at optimization. I'm sure you'd be awestruck by Doom Eternal running at 8K too...and then you'd fire up basically anything else and cover your own shirt with vomit.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
completely understand that Linus is saying Nvidia should not have done this, but I used the quote to support the argument that HUB has sort of ignored RTX,
Well find another quote because Linus didn't say that HU ignored RTX. Linus said that they did acknowledge RTX but that Linus would have personally spent more time on it.

"I would have spent more time on it myself" is not the same as "They ignored RTX"
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
Well find another quote because Linus didn't say that HU ignored RTX. Linus said that they did acknowledge RTX but that Linus would have personally spent more time on it.

His actual quote was this, which I posted above.

"I thought that, if anything, the review of the RTX 3080 glossed over RTX. Okay? I would say that we would have covered it in more depth than Steve did."

Emphasis on the words "GLOSSED OVER."


LSbek7M.png


 
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ethomaz

Banned
I can't believe Nvidia is getting so much heat from the most benign email I've ever seen....

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.

Bryan Del Rizzo

Director of Global PR, GeForce


Can someone honestly look at this and explain why it's so bad, because to me it looks perfectly reasonable?

1) HU is losing access to free FE cards... He still has full access to AIB cards, that has been clearly stated several times.

2) What exactly is so shady? Nvidia doesn't agree with the way he's reviewing their cards (and they've been reviewing them noticeably different than everyone else) so they aren't sending him any more - why is that so controversial?

3)'Absolutely shameless, shady, slimy anti independent reviewer, anti competitive and anti consumer...' LOL. Did you have any self awareness writing this?

Nvidia didn't say shit when everyone made a video about how the 2000 series was a total disappointment, they didn't make a big fuss when everyone made a video about the value proposition of the 3090 being terrible. They simply have an issue with this one reviewer and a lot of people have to agree with them. That doesn't make the company 'Absolutely shameless, shady, slimy anti independent reviewer, anti competitive and anti consumer...'

You guys are absolutely hysterical about some youtuber not getting priority access to free cards directly from Nvidia and are buying into this weird David vs Goliath narrative that just isn't true. HE IS STILL GOING TO HAVE ACCESS TO AIB CARDS if they feel like sending them, give your fucking heads a shake and stop hyperventilating, there's a lot more scummy shit going on out there then Nvidia not giving some entitled bitch youtuber his precious merch.
Is that the email he created all the drama?

There is nothing wrong with it... nVidia did great calling him about the industry moving ahead and being stuck in the past.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
Jayz2cents when asked if he'll stop making money off reviewing products of terrible, evil Nvidia...

tenor.gif

My favorite aspect of this whole ordeal has been the people telling me that this is not about a free review card. And now, HUB announces everything is back to BAU--meaning free review cards, and all is well with the world.

"Never mind that evil Nazi Mafia company that we do sponsored videos for! They apologized for their evil Nazi Mafia ways and now everything is just fine."

I'm a moron who knows how the English language works in context and isn't just quote fishing to make a point that the source of the quote doesn't intend to convey.

Yeah, sure, okay. Your argument is totally convincing and I am going to retreat back into my Nvidia bunker.
 
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rnlval

Member
Is that the email he created all the drama?

There is nothing wrong with it... nVidia did great calling him about the industry moving ahead and being stuck in the past.
That's a hypocritical statement to make when NVIDIA was behind with DX10.1 and DX11 feature set.

NVIDIA kitbashed DX10.1 with their DX10.X fork which needs semi-custom API access.
 
I honestly wonder how many of the AMD fanboys in here have iphones. Can't be against Nvidia due to "shady tactics" yet have an iPhone. That would be the biggest hypocritical thing to do, especially as so many have the facade of putting their money where their mouth is.
 

Jon Neu

Banned
I'm sure they'll make him an offer he can't refuse.


NVIDIA.jpg

-Hey Linus -great name, by the way-, we want you to review this new card we made, we designed it for it to be really really good at RTX and DLSS, so could you like, talk about that?

Dor3TSJUUAAouRu.jpg

-What did you just said about me? Stop trying to control me you fucking mafia nazi scum!!1!


NVIDIA.jpg

-But we will give you the card for free.

maxresdefault.jpg

-Hi y'all!!! Ready to see the best card ever made? :D
 
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