Hardforum goes down!

[M.Beier]

Having been active during at least a portion of the hayday of the forum, this makes me VERY sad

Not entirely sure what's gone on, except that maybe a lot of people have just moved on to other things/hobbies/whatever... I know computers aren't as much of hobby to me as they once were.

AMD stopped caring about the market, Intel has no competition - there is a regular monopoly in the highend desktop/workstation segment, and nothing happend, as Intel is company from the United States of America.... Money makes the world go around, and Intel making money, is USA making money = market forces dont really care...
Whom looses here? Well the consumers.

With no competition in the workstation market, Intel is milking the market, making tiny upgrades, heck last couple of years even downgrades for us!
A good i7-2600K/i7-2700K, as in a decent overclock on watercooling, is STILL better than a decent watercooled i7-4770K.... We are addicted to new technology, mooooar power, but the market just does not offer us such....
Sure, there is still competition in graphics, nVidia and AMD fighting - however, its not enough for everyone, hence the huge fallback in interest.

Also; XS has a bunch of competitive sites, and it seems that FUGGER isnt too sad about XS being less hip than a few years ago.... I used to visit XS many times a day, these days twice a week is enough to please my appetite...

I might be wrong, I might be foolish, but thats what I believe.

[Evantaur]

So let's do something about it

like what?

[buff]

I have been out of the scene for about 3 years, and was shocked when i came back here last week. It's just dead.

I do remember the trueexteme split off a while ago......but XS was still alive back than.

The registration fee is just crazy. When did that start?

[SubZero.it]

Not really interested about it. But thanks for the info.

[Evantaur]

I have been out of the scene for about 3 years, and was shocked when i came back here last week. It's just dead.

I do remember the trueexteme split off a while ago......but XS was still alive back than.

The registration fee is just crazy. When did that start?

probably when topics about cheap women underwear and viagra familypacks started to pop up

[BababooeyHTJ]

XS is a niche within a niche.

Lots of people OC, but to the degree most ppl on here do? Bc of this site, most people I know who build think I'm a hardware god. It's hilarious considering my level of knowledge is jack compared to a lot of people on here. It's a testament to the quality of the members, the topic & this site as a whole. It also shows just how specialized this site is.


I do recall a lot more people here, but that's when every new CPU generation actually yielded noticeable performance boosts. Since 1155, we haven't see a jump big enough since Sandy to warrant most people moving up. That includes Ivy/Haswell TIM issues. The economy is another factor. A lot of people scale back on things they don't need.

Yeah, but why are all of the good hard mods being posted on OCN and not here?

Yes, XS may be built around benchmarking but there used to be all sorts of great active threads on this forum. Hell, the reason that I joined this forum was do to a thread about a motherboard that I owned at the time (MSI P7N Diamond). It was full of good info. You don't see threads like that here anymore. That crowd seems to have moved elsewhere. I've seen some very informative threads on other sites.

Sorry, but I've been watching the user base drop steadily or the past 3-4 years. It's nearly declined by half since this time last year. Other forums like overclock.net have 900+ users logged in right now, XS has less than 50. XS is dieing, and "waiting for ambitious users" is just going to make things worse, especially when people can join far more active forums and not pay a ridiculous $1 registration fee. Without some major changes, it's going to die.

Yup, also did not know about that registration fee. It explains a lot.

Honestly, what is the point in registering here? There is far more info on every topic over on OCN.

It looks to me like that site just absorbed the traffic that this site used to have. They've grown, no doubt about that.

[buff]

probably when topics about cheap women underwear and viagra familypacks started to pop up

It still feels weird having that fee. Def has to be killing new members from joining.

[NEOAethyr]

The reg fee is for server costs (and what's a $1 anyways...).

As for the forums looks, I would agree the looks went somewhat downhill during the last major upgrade.
But it's not a huge deal.

The market as a whole is slowly changing.
Instead of overclocked desktops and high end workstations, we have the tablets and mobile phones, and the super expensive workstations.
Things cost more these days.

Normally I would of never upgraded at this point in time.
I thought about this the other day, I've had this rig since 2009 at least.
4 years, same board and cpu, that's usually my limit.
Oddly enough my rig does just fine for the normal stuff.
The only reason for the upgrades I'm doing are for encoding, and 3d, and sgssaa...

Other then intel's always crazy prices, there's the ssd's.
I'm happy to see them come down gradually, but apparently it's gonna be a great many of years before we see the 1tb's around the $100 range .

Well anyways, the market is changing.
It's not just XS, take a look at microsoft lmao.
What a joke they have become.
And yeah I know, I'm always ranting on about how lame they are, but they really missed the mark lately.
The main reason for that is that we now have some alternatives to there products showing up.
Abiet some of them immature at the moment, such as linux gaming and such.

The writing is on the wall, if it weren't for amd and nvidia, the consumer pc market would be all but lost by now.

[Brahmzy]

I still love XS, but I really only come here when I need somethin'. Don't necessarily hang out here like I do other sites. And I usually don't contribute unless I've got something worthy of contributing to XS (go figure.) I see XS as an elite group of experts vs. the other sites, FWIW.

[Charles Wirth]

XS is still alive, XS is the history of everything PC for the past 11 years.

Lucky for us we still have many of the experts still here but overclocking has changed, people come and go, life goes on...

I hear you guys and I have not given up.

[M.Beier]

I hear you guys and I have not given up.

Glad to hear that boss!

[Buckeye]

XS is still alive, XS is the history of everything PC for the past 11 years.

Lucky for us we still have many of the experts still here but overclocking has changed, people come and go, life goes on...

I hear you guys and I have not given up.

Let's Rock & Roll !!

[Ace123]

Great news!

[filmbot]

And I usually don't contribute unless I've got something worthy of contributing to XS (go figure.) I see XS as an elite group of experts vs. the other sites, FWIW.

I think this is the sites biggest weakness and strength. When I started coming here a long time ago it was because the content was so crazy and full with knowledge, as I assume most others do looking to further go into the hobby. This also leads to people to not post unless they feel it is something worthy enough to be next to the experts. The cream of the crop is posted here, just unfortunate that group is small and getting smaller every year.

[Flanman]

that's somewhat how I feel. I love browsing these forums just because the vast knowledge but rarely post myself because I don't have anything worthwhile to add lol

[GoldenTiger]

It still feels weird having that fee. Def has to be killing new members from joining.

Yeah, I'm sure it does.... it's a good "idiot-filter" but, it does cause some people not to join who would be good members, even though it's such a small amount .

Speaking of which, I should donate a little to XS finally... Regarding the lower population, that's really due to the nature of the market more than anything else in my opinion. However I'm sure if things turn around in the industry this site will see a good period of renewed growth... for now it's kind of in a holding position and hanging on. To be honest, posts even on large sites like H and OCN can often be pretty slow for any of the non-"guys how do I format my HDD" topics if you know what I mean . I've been a member here for a long time and really do want to see the site flourish again.

that's somewhat how I feel. I love browsing these forums just because the vast knowledge but rarely post myself because I don't have anything worthwhile to add lol

Same here, my area of expertise has drifted more towards software development & game development (jack of all trades, but much better @ programming than the rest) nowadays, and that doesn't usually have as much to contribute here. I post if I think I have anything useful to say, but... the times where I feel like that are much rarer at this point.

[Buckeye]

that's somewhat how I feel. I love browsing these forums just because the vast knowledge but rarely post myself because I don't have anything worthwhile to add lol

Sure you do, everyone does !!

Crap I was a newbie long ago and posted all kinds of stuff. We love to see peoples projects and comment on stuff !


WOW did this thread get off topic

[yojimbo197]

Sure you do, everyone does !!

Crap I was a newbie long ago and posted all kinds of stuff. We love to see peoples projects and comment on stuff !


WOW did this thread get off topic

Sometimes the older and/or more experienced members on here respond rather poorly to newbie or inexperienced XS'ers who post about things. A recent post in the Water Cooling forum comes to mind. While the OP was being a tad lazy, the overwhelming negative post by at least one member was less than helpful. Like the OP I have also had an interest in watercooling, and would like to start. Being told "buck up and spend months reading like I did while I was walking 8 miles uphill" really diminishes one's interest

However, I will say that I have received for the most part very useful and friendly advise when I've asked for advice or help, though most of the time that has been within the friendly confines of the WCG forum.

[Ace123]

Sure you do, everyone does !!

Crap I was a newbie long ago and posted all kinds of stuff. We love to see peoples projects and comment on stuff !


WOW did this thread get off topic

this thread is worth alot more now, than when it was first posted

[alpha0ne]

XS is still alive, XS is the history of everything PC for the past 11 years.

Lucky for us we still have many of the experts still here but overclocking has changed, people come and go, life goes on...

I hear you guys and I have not given up.

Well you could have fooled me

I may not be a major contributor to this site (or any site ATM) but not receiving emails re thread updates for more months than I care remember certainly would not help with boosting traffic

[kromosto]

this thread is worth alot more now, than when it was first posted

EDIT: i was just graduated from university when i first find and join XS for volt modding my 9700pro. I am here since then. I entered my first job while i am a member of xs, married, made my military time, got a child, changed 6 jobs... more then 10 years. except some part of my life nearly every day i visit xs. i see some xs members as something between family and friend even i don't chat with them. sometimes i become an active member sometimes just enter and read but can't imagine what would i do without xs... don't cry for me xs

[bomberboysk]

Wow, things have changed a lot since I remember being somewhat active (at least reading threads, didn't post a lot). I remember the forum software upgrade and IIRC there was some distaste for it, and if I'm not mistaken the forum never really had the traffic it originally did after that, did it?

[BababooeyHTJ]

Sure you do, everyone does !!

Crap I was a newbie long ago and posted all kinds of stuff. We love to see peoples projects and comment on stuff !


WOW did this thread get off topic

Thats exactly how I feel. On the other hand sometimes a newbie just asking a question can lead to a good discussion.

[M.Beier]

Sure you do, everyone does !!

Crap I was a newbie last year and posted all kinds of stuff. We love to see peoples projects and comment on stuff !


WOW did this thread get off topic

Fixed that for you bucky
And yes, it went very far off topic, but no reason to divide it into a seperate thread, FUGGER spotted it, and its pretty much on his shoulders for now.

[Buckeye]

Sometimes the older and/or more experienced members on here respond rather poorly to newbie or inexperienced XS'ers who post about things. A recent post in the Water Cooling forum comes to mind. While the OP was being a tad lazy, the overwhelming negative post by at least one member was less than helpful. Like the OP I have also had an interest in watercooling, and would like to start. Being told "buck up and spend months reading like I did while I was walking 8 miles uphill" really diminishes one's interest

However, I will say that I have received for the most part very useful and friendly advise when I've asked for advice or help, though most of the time that has been within the friendly confines of the WCG forum.

Yeah I know

WCG guys are very friendly and I wish that carried over to other sections. As far as the WC section goes. that has always been a problem really but has gotten better. I do keep an eye on that section because of that so please do not let that get you down, keep posting please and if something pops up send me a PM