Dirty little Nvidia

[Pinnacle]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/editorial/display/nvda-accusations2006.html


:slapass:

[Starscream]

i do advice people to read the full article before replying as its a wierd article tbh.

cause they have a huge build up of a story over several pages and at the end say they got no real proof or whatso ever etc

that and these acquisations are old news.

[SnipingWaste]

Here is more info on it. Warning, this thread is over 30 pages long from the AT forums
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1797519&enterthread=y

There is another thread at beyond3d but its locked now with over 36 pages.
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26199

I been keeping up with this for weeks now and still not all the info is out about nvidia and AEG and what there up too. One to the members named ROLLO might get banned in many forums for marketing in forums with out disclosing he was a member and that he receved money/free hardware (payment) for marketing.

Im not saying he is but make you wounder if Diltech is a member of this so called AEG focus group.

[Pinnacle]

Diltech .


He better not be, me like diltech;)

[OmegaMerc]

They gave the hardware to the wrong people, they should've come to me first :fact: :fact:

[perkam]

Hmmm....this is their final conclusion...

Without any real proofs that Nvidia really does something unethical, any accusations of the company sound rather boring and pathetic. Moreover, selling hardware for gamers, even using all available methods, may hardly offend anybody for real.*cough* Reverse Psychology *cough*

Perkam

[DilTech]

If I was a member, would I still be using a 6800gt? Would I only have a 20.1" widescreen(Which was a present from my boss to work from)?

Name the last time I posted a review for anyone of an NVidia product... Actually, name the last time I posted a review of anything on this site.

Now that I think about it, ask any mod if my ip shows up on any account but my own.

Also, I don't post 5 times per hour.

[Pinnacle]

Would I only have a 20.1" widescreen

"only"? thats damn nice :toast:

[DilTech]

According to the article, AEG gives it's workers 30" widescreens. That's why I mentioned it Pinnacle.

I personally LOVE my 2005fpw!

Also, sorry if I seem defensive on that, but that's a hell of an accusation(even though you said you're not saying I'm a member), which I find somewhat offensive.

Especially considering my backup rig is a 2.6 P4C with a 9800pro 128mb in it.

[ahmad]

I can also think of some names that might fall under this catagory... but thats not the issue.

Its unfortunate when a company (especially a well respected hardware company) takes this route. Is competition really that strong that they have to take it to the extreme? Seeing the slides first, now this...

I think the thing that really blew me away (which is why I might have sounded like a strong supporter of ATI) was when the x1800's were released so many people were saying things like "dissappointing performance" and "old technology" and that really made no sense. It was a perfectly good product that had a few advantages over competition and it performed faster in the average case than the counter part (7800gtx 256). Comments like that were bad enough to bring me to the edge.

But its good to see there are less nvidiots and fanatics around than before. Every generation is different, and you get the video card thats best suited for the price and your needs. Just because you have that brand of video cards doesn't mean you are loyal to the company in any way. Heck your just one in a million to them.

[perkam]

I know for a fact that Dil, Tim and couple others have been around the hardware community for quite a bit of time.

This articles states that these people get paid to spread bs on specific sites so I know for sure none of the xs news team here is involved. Lets also keep accusations to ourselves gentlemen.

Perkam

[Pinnacle]

According to the article, AEG gives it's workers 30" widescreens. That's why I mentioned it Pinnacle.

I personally LOVE my 2005fpw!

Also, sorry if I seem defensive on that, but that's a hell of an accusation(even though you said you're not saying I'm a member), which I find somewhat offensive.

Especially considering my backup rig is a 2.6 P4C with a 9800pro 128mb in it.

Its ALL GOOD, brother. Your input on XS is priceless. Even a dumby amature powerlifter like myself has learnt alot :toast: :toast: :toast:

[Der_KHAN]

ok, so what exqactly did they do?
hire ppl who intentionally spread BS or give equipment to forum members to get more feedback ?

[Starscream]

ok, so what exqactly did they do?
hire ppl who intentionally spread BS or give equipment to forum members to get more feedback ?

only things that are shure is that Nvidia hired a company and that company gave people hardware and in return these people promoted Nvidia.

the thing that no one really knows is what AEG told those people what they should do and what they exactly did etc. and what exactly is meant by promotion.
problem is that all the articles about this subject are full with ideas and opinions no one knows for shure.
But nvidia should have been smart enough to know wich direction this could go to. That they could hire the wrong people todo this promotion on the forums.
Maybe to some dude in Nvidia this sounded like a smart idea and somewere along the way (either inside nvidia or aeg) they screwed it up. But they should have been smarter. Shame on Nvidia :slapass:

they should simply do the same as G.Skill and ATi etc have done on XS simply pay 1 person to represent the company on 1 or more forums and help people with their problems and show new products.

@Ahmad
the reason people were at start dissapointed with the X1800 was because it was better then the 7800GTX but only slightly and the 7800 at that point had been on the market for a month or 4 people expected more because of the rumors that boosted theirs hopes up.

@ Diltech
ur boss gave u a monitor a good one even.
feck all i get r free pens

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

wow, a company gives people products for them to post good things about it? ground breaking.

[nn_step]

Dude that is old.. the same is true for ATi, AMD, Intel, Via, G.Skill, Munskin and a hell of alot of other places..

[Pinnacle]

Dude that is old.. the same is true for ATi, AMD, Intel, Via, G.Skill, Munskin and a hell of alot of other places..

you got proof, Dude?

[zabomb4163]

you mean like ATI paying to fly macci to canada to get the world record with an ATI card? or intel giving fugger lots of ES chips to bash amd and promote intel?

pshhh. old news. if you bench at the top you need sponsors and sucking up is what it takes

[nn_step]

It is so common most people don't notice.. Heck more than half the people in this site would become biased if they got enough free hand picked parts...

[Starscream]

It is so common most people don't notice.. Heck more than half the people in this site would become biased if they got enough free hand picked parts...

depends if they replace em if i blow em up.
but i think ur rite maybe you wouldnt directly go al biased or fanboy like.
but without knowing it you would slowly become biased and stuff.

[metro.cl]

wow, a company gives people products for them to post good things about it? ground breaking.



X2 that's pretty normal if you ask me

[sin0822]

Dude that is old.. the same is true for ATi, AMD, Intel, Via, G.Skill, Munskin and a hell of alot of other places..
you forgot ocz

[SnipingWaste]

you mean like ATI paying to fly macci to canada to get the world record with an ATI card? or intel giving fugger lots of ES chips to bash amd and promote intel?

pshhh. old news. if you bench at the top you need sponsors and sucking up is what it takes
The thing is they tell us about what they get for free and were it came from. What AEG/Nvidia did was start a so called focus group and give free hardware/software and spread marketing in many forums about it with out telling it was free hardware and were it came from. One of the members named ROLLO was ask if he was part of this group many time in the past month and said he wasn't. He even clammed at first the hardware he got for free he payed for.

There a big differents from ATI, Intel, AMD giving free items to members here and the members saying it was free and were it came from, to what AEG/Nvidia did with in a way employ sertend forums member form many forums, give them free hardware/software and tell them to talk about there free stuff and not desclose that the items were free and were it came from.

[mursaat]

Promoting is totally fair, the only thing I see unfair is the fact they didn't said they were being paid by nVidia. Same thing happened some time ago in Spain with the TV ads. Now they must put a banner telling "publicidad" (advertising).

So the problem is they were advertising without telling it (at least thats how I see it)

[turtle]

I see it as one more way to confuse people, and destroying the true purpose of the internet, personally.

Yes, this story is old, but it's still relavent. I hope Nvidia notices the huge backlash, and refrains from this crap in the future. It is one thing for Macci/Sampsa to get free hardware to do amazing things with it (which gives said company "cred" for being "the fastest" or "first" even if through results unobtainable to almost anyone)...but this is different. It's deceitful. Now noone knows if opinions of products are real based on gathering info and seeing results of said products next to competition (the purpose of the internet being the sharing of true information), or rather just bought and paid, for and basically just promotions. These people are paid to become trusted individuals (hook) and then steer people clear of competitors products. It's like asking a dude you meet on the street, asking him for his honest unbiased opinion on something he may know more about, getting the opinion and buying accordingly, not knowing you just paid his commission. That, is BULL:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:. In case that comes off pro-ATi, i'd curse them down if they did the same.

When someone like Rollo @ ATech pushes his thoughts, newbs will listen and respect his knowledge, even if it's one-sided, because it's in the guise of help. Remember how much he used to be LOVED over there? It probably would have kept going had he not been exposed, and he probably would have made a company with a (in my opinion) inferior product lots of money. He's also not the only one doing it, only the one that's most known, and that's scary.

This isn't like a website review, which everyone knows of many with biases because of sponsorship, but rather single anonymous people, many which lure the unsuspecting in with trying to help the uninformed with information, only to lie and/or twist the facts to them. I personally look at personal results of products from individuals over that of pro website reviews, because they are most relivant to what I would do with them, and more evident of not being cherry-picked, as do many others. Thank goodness we have XS and the people with the money, knowledge, intelligence, and time to share and validate info to which this would never happen here, but imagine if one day more people on a forum were given products to pitch them intitially than actually owned the product through self-study, and the most-viewed comparisons wern't representitive of reality...How would you know? Most people won't have both to personally test. It would be a crock, and a sham. Or even worse, if a company or conglomerate of companies paid people to start up and run hardware review sites under the guise of honest reviews, only to falsey report potentials of competiting products of those companies. How would you know which site was being truthful and represtitive of the real product? I fear those days arn't far off, and that sucks. Who can you trust? I guess no single person, or even a small group, only large majorities. Maybe i'm only now seeing daylight on something that's been around forever, but I think it takes the internet in a whole new direction...And it ain't a good one.

[DilTech]

Turtle this seriously is not an old thing.... It's been going on for years by more than a few companies.

Microsoft signed on to make their X-Box boom... How do you think Halo got such rave reviews and such hype on the internet?.. That's just an example.

Most, if not all, of the informed are pretty much positive Tom's Hardware is owned by Intel.

Point is, it's gone on for years, and will continue to go on.

I'd put money on the fact that ATi is doing the same, just without the help of AEG. I'm sure Intel and AMD are doing it as well.

I'm more-so worried that this is going to go both ways however, you're going to have ATi fans giving false info on upcoming NVidia cards to make them sound worse, and acting like they're members of the program.

Note, I'm not defending NVidia for this, but to act as if they're the first and only company to pull this is merely uncalled for and being niave. It's been going on from multiple companies for years! It's definitely done for videogames(how often do terrible games get GREAT reviews, read on GFaqs/Gamespot!)/consoles, and all other hardware as well.

[STEvil]

The number of crap reviews pisses me off... dont think i've read one seriously in years now.

[mursaat]

STEvil what sites do you trust the more? anand, xbitlabs, bit-tech and nexus are my choices, but more because of site construction and the reviewers language than for a trusty info :slap: