FRONTPAGE AMD FX-8150 - Bulldozer - Processor Review

Metallica said:

It's not just about getting free gear, and reviewing it. Hokie has earned his way to get the opportunity he gets. Getting to his status is expensive. You have to start somewhere, and you do not get anything for free. That "$680" is a lot less than I'm sure he's spent in his years here at OCF. Also, having the knowledge to do a review takes time. Anyone can become a "reviewer". But gaining respect is the hard/expensive part. In time it may become rewarding, but if they are getting free gear, there is a reason for it.

I know of people who buy gear, review it, submit it, sell it for %20 less than they bought it for, and get the next best thing to review. They never get free stuff. Maybe when they gain some reputable respect, they will.

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Yeah... everyone PAYS to get respected..

Metallica said:

It's not just about getting free gear, and reviewing it. Hokie has earned his way to get the opportunity he gets. Getting to his status is expensive. You have to start somewhere, and you do not get anything for free. That "$680" is a lot less than I'm sure he's spent in his years here at OCF. Also, having the knowledge to do a review takes time. Anyone can become a "reviewer". But gaining respect is the hard/expensive part. In time it may become rewarding, but if they are getting free gear, there is a reason for it.

I know of people who buy gear, review it, submit it, sell it for %20 less than they bought it for, and get the next best thing to review. They never get free stuff. Maybe when they gain some reputable respect, they will.

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Doing things like that can make it difficult for a reviewer when their own money is on the line, by that I mean having an unbiased opinion. People HATE to be told that they wasted their money, and will fight/argue til their face turns purple that they made a good purchase to give themselves some self-verification that they didn't do something wrong.

I think it is easier to do an unbiased review when you receive something for free, but sometimes (look at video game reviewers) publishers/companies expect a certain score/review given past history/etc, which leads to occasional issues.

Mario1 said:

Yeah... everyone PAYS to get respected..

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In a way yes, be it through time or money (and since time = money), it is true. Hokie could be doing a lot of other things that aren't writing a review (effectively for free) with his time (including making money, and for sure it would under most circumstances put him farther ahead), but if you put the time and effort in you can become a respected member of almost any community.

Mario1 said:

Yeah... everyone PAYS to get respected..

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Don't twist around what I said. Yes, when it comes to reviewing, it does take money/time.

Metallica said:

It's not just about getting free gear, and reviewing it. Hokie has earned his way to get the opportunity he gets. Getting to his status is expensive. You have to start somewhere, and you do not get anything for free. That "$680" is a lot less than I'm sure he's spent in his years here at OCF. Also, having the knowledge to do a review takes time. Anyone can become a "reviewer". But gaining respect is the hard/expensive part. In time it may become rewarding, but if they are getting free gear, there is a reason for it.

I know of people who buy gear, review it, submit it, sell it for %20 less than they bought it for, and get the next best thing to review. They never get free stuff. Maybe when they gain some reputable respect, they will.

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Exactly, spot on there
At Mario...Reviewing is great but it is time consuming, compare it to a job if you may, also once you get a few under the belt you raise expectations and are asked more frequently. I have done one mobo review and believe me it is not easy, fun yes and rewarding once you done.
Anyone can start, why dont you do one and see how it goes?

Yes I'm a packrat, but in my defense many of the items that come to me are engineering samples that can't be sold. Ask Brolloks, he really wants my 6990 but I can't sell it. Also can't give it b/c I need two video cards and that's one of two. Each ES has a unique serial number that can be tracked. No way am I endangering our site's ability to get cutting-edge hardware to bring to our readers by selling ES hardware to make a buck. It's not worth it.

Re: re-running benchmarks clarification - I didn't retest everything on the 2600K IMOG; so it's not re-tested for every review. Only when there are strongly relevant changes (like a service pack or something) would I do that. I am definitely a packrat though. The only things I've sold are a case and a GPU to fund the other things Archer is speaking about. Most recently that meant a Dewar for the Bulldozer review.

Mario1 said:

Gosh, I wish I was a reviewer... Wouldn't mind getting the newest hardware available for FREE for doing reviews that I love..

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Mario, it may sound like a lot, and it is an absolute blast so don't get what I'm going to say wrong, but reviewing is work. A lot of it. Work the cost of the hardware doesn't surpass. Heck, I don't need half the hardware I have. I don't game, I don't encode, render or any of that other stuff much at all, if any. I probably have one of the world's fastest exclusive web browsing machines.

I do this because of the love of the hardware. Beacause I enjoy putting my words to paper and hopefully having people benefit from it. But if you start out just doing it to get free stuff or profit (hah!) you'll burn out quickly. I know you're not saying it was a bad thing or not work, just thought I'd throw that out there in response to the quote above.

Janus67 said:

Doing things like that can make it difficult for a reviewer when their own money is on the line, by that I mean having an unbiased opinion. People HATE to be told that they wasted their money, and will fight/argue til their face turns purple that they made a good purchase to give themselves some self-verification that they didn't do something wrong.

I think it is easier to do an unbiased review when you receive something for free, but sometimes (look at video game reviewers) publishers/companies expect a certain score/review given past history/etc, which leads to occasional issues.



In a way yes, be it through time or money (and since time = money), it is true. Hokie could be doing a lot of other things that aren't writing a review (effectively for free) with his time (including making money, and for sure it would under most circumstances put him farther ahead), but if you put the time and effort in you can become a respected member of almost any community.

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I can give you a fine example that this isn't necessarily true:
TiN broke the world frequency record with extremely old hardware, later on he got offered a job by EVGA in Taiwan and is now living happily over there.

Brolloks said:

Exactly, spot on there
Reviewing is great but it is time consuming, compare it to a job if you may, also once you get a few under the belt you raise expectations and are asked more frequently. I have done one mobo review and believe me it is not easy, fun yes and rewarding once you done

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I believe I remember you back in 2009 constantly buying/selling motherboards for review. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Remember that 920?

Metallica said:

I believe I remember you back in 2009 constantly buying/selling motherboards for review. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Remember that 920?

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Oh boy, I was obsessed at one stage, none of those were formal and got published but I spent hours and very late nights doing benchmarks on video cards and CPU's and writing it up.

Metallica said:

Don't twist around what I said. Yes, when it comes to reviewing, it does take money/time.

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And a lot of it.

Not to mention it is hard not to sound bias at times and at times you actually find a product is great but because of some of the many variables involved you have to find a way to express that view and still not give the product a good rating.

hokiealumnus said:

Mario, it may sound like a lot, and it is an absolute blast so don't get what I'm going to say wrong, but reviewing is work. A lot of it. Work the cost of the hardware doesn't surpass. Heck, I don't need half the hardware I have. I don't game, I don't encode, render or any of that other stuff much at all, if any. I probably have one of the world's fastest exclusive web browsing machines.

I do this because of the love of the hardware. Beacause I enjoy putting my words to paper and hopefully having people benefit from it. But if you start out just doing it to get free stuff or profit (hah!) you'll burn out quickly. I know you're not saying it was a bad thing or not work, just thought I'd throw that out there in response to the quote above.

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Yeah man, no hard feelings.
I understand that there is much more to it, but what I meant was that free hardware as a bonus is something good, since you're not just getting recognition from us - the readers, but also from big companies sending you review samples.

Mario1 said:

Nobody said its easy (at least I didn't).
I do respect all of the reviewers in here, since I know it must be hard for them, but why does every review have to be considered as some kind of a 'job'?
I'm pretty sure hokie was eager to share this review with us, since there's so much hype going around the Bulldozer and all so he must of had a good time.
You're making it look like its a bad thing to do... It isn't like AMD forced anyone to review anything. He decided to do it, because he has a fetish for hardware, don't we all?

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Its not a bad thing to do. I think we all do this because we enjoy new hardware, and getting to keep (most) of it is certainly a wonderful perk. But make no mistake, it is time consuming to complete reviews, especially (as already mentioned) the quality reviews that Hokie does here.

Archer is about right with most single product reviews, that it comes out to less than minimum wage. Not to mention when sold, you cant get near the new price. Most of the reviewers also pour money back in to the site to help with varies activities.

Also, note that some, Hokie and I at least, haave full time jobs, as well as families. So whatever free time we may have can easily be taken up with reviews.

Its a delicate balance...that I wouldnt trade for anything.

Mario1 said:

I can give you a fine example that this isn't necessarily true:
TiN broke the world frequency record with extremely old hardware, later on he got offered a job by EVGA in Taiwan and is now living happily over there.

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I'm sure that him breaking the CPU-Z world record was helpful, but he has been in the overclocking/benchmarking game for quite some time working with Kingp!n and others with incredible soldering/modding skills. The sheer amount of money and time that he has spent doing this stuff got him where he was, not simply breaking a cpu-z record. (and being part of a sponsored team didn't hurt either, i'm sure).



That said, I will be doing my first review for the site here (it's in progress), working with MattNo5ss to do it. I've already put more hours into it than its retail price, but it definitely is fun to do.

I take myself as an example of where I actually dont like formal reviews as then it feels like a job with deadlines etc....this is my hobby, I like playing with hardware and "reviewing" it for the benefit of others and satisfying my appetite to test new stuff, it does cost me a fortune as I dont get sent free stuff, that is OK with me and I will continue to test and play hardware.

Brolloks said:

I take myself as an example of where I actually dont like formal reviews as then it feels like a job with deadlines etc....this is my hobby, I like playing with hardware and "reviewing" it for the benefit of others, it does cost me a fortune as I dont get sent free stuff, that is OK with me and I will continue to test and play hardware.

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And then sell to me at a discounted price, after I know said hardware is a gem

That 920 is still kickin, I wish I wouldn't of sold it. My boss who I sold it to, has ran it stock ever since.

Yeah I have kicked myself silly for selling gem chips and then later looking for more....Kentsfield and Nehalem were just crazy stages

Janus67 said:

I'm sure that him breaking the CPU-Z world record was helpful, but he has been in the overclocking/benchmarking game for quite some time working with Kingp!n and others with incredible soldering/modding skills. The sheer amount of money and time that he has spent doing this stuff got him where he was, not simply breaking a cpu-z record. (and being part of a sponsored team didn't hurt either, i'm sure).



That said, I will be doing my first review for the site here (it's in progress), working with MattNo5ss to do it. I've already put more hours into it than its retail price, but it definitely is fun to do.

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TiN has had 80% of his hardware being sent out by companies and he never considered it as job as far as I'm aware of.
His primary job before going to Taiwan was building custom things (electronics obviously) for people.
He had already turned down a decent amount of offers, due to him not being able to get a visa, but EVGA somehow worked things out and he was able to leave for Taiwan.
That's the basic story. If you want us to finish this convo than feel free adding me on skype:its.gucci or MSN:[email protected], since I don't believe this is the right place talking about random people that have nothing to do with the review.

I have an FX-6100 available locally, 50L of LN2, and I just found there's a beta bios for the Asus CIVE... On my way to pickup gear, then setup an OS, and I should have some more results this evening.

Live. Stream. Post on front page. Do it NOW!

Sounds good Matt, looking forward to some frosty pics and 7Ghz + results

hokiealumnus said:

Live. Stream. Post on front page. Do it NOW!

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+1 on this one, I'd love to see you stream the benching too!