Wednesday, July 5th 2023
TechPowerUp is Hiring a Motherboard Reviewer
TechPowerUp, your place on the web for in-depth PC hardware reviews and enthusiast news, is looking for a desktop motherboard reviewer. Our current reviewer, ir_cow, is going to focus on DRAM module reviews exclusively. The motherboard reviewer job requires a high level understanding of the layout and workings of modern motherboards, including detailed technical photography of its various onboard devices, VRM, memory, commentary on layout and ease-of-installation/use, as well as performance benchmarks, and overclocking capabilities.
We expect our potential motherboard reviewer to be able to identify key components of the motherboard, the various controllers, VRM, PHYs, and chipset; the expansion slot layout and the way PCIe lanes are distributed across the motherboard; and other important aspects, such as the motherboard's own cooling mechanisms. You also need a solid grasp on memory timings, and tuning for a given platform, and the willingness to explore and learn. Our performance testing involves not just the CPU performance on a given motherboard, but also that of certain onboard devices, such as audio, and those of storage interfaces. Some of our recent motherboard reviews should give you a good idea of our review format, article structure, and the testing involved.
The TechPowerUp motherboard reviewer position is paid, part-time, remote (worldwide), and would typically require an output of at least 3-4 reviews a month. Besides being a paid position, TechPowerUp will assist you with sampling from all leading brands. We will also provide guidance and assist you with baseline hardware such as processors, memory modules, storage, coolers, and everything else needed for testing.
Interested? Contact us at w1zzard@techpowerup.com. Tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, how old, and what makes you the right candidate. It's perfectly okay if you're not exactly a literary genius, or lack experience writing reviews. We are interested in motivated enthusiasts who understand motherboards and love to play with the newest hardware, just like we do. All the best!
We'll pool applications for two weeks and then go through all of them, so be patient. Please spend a few minutes on your application so it stands out, from the dozens (if not more) of submissions.
We expect our potential motherboard reviewer to be able to identify key components of the motherboard, the various controllers, VRM, PHYs, and chipset; the expansion slot layout and the way PCIe lanes are distributed across the motherboard; and other important aspects, such as the motherboard's own cooling mechanisms. You also need a solid grasp on memory timings, and tuning for a given platform, and the willingness to explore and learn. Our performance testing involves not just the CPU performance on a given motherboard, but also that of certain onboard devices, such as audio, and those of storage interfaces. Some of our recent motherboard reviews should give you a good idea of our review format, article structure, and the testing involved.
Interested? Contact us at w1zzard@techpowerup.com. Tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, how old, and what makes you the right candidate. It's perfectly okay if you're not exactly a literary genius, or lack experience writing reviews. We are interested in motivated enthusiasts who understand motherboards and love to play with the newest hardware, just like we do. All the best!
We'll pool applications for two weeks and then go through all of them, so be patient. Please spend a few minutes on your application so it stands out, from the dozens (if not more) of submissions.
120 Comments on TechPowerUp is Hiring a Motherboard Reviewer
So does that mean he will have time to test this kit??
www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct2k32g4dfd832a
What if with BIOS 0 you can get your CPU stable at 1.0V at 5.0GHz, while with the next BIOS version that stability improves to 0.95V for 5.05GHz?
If we take the AMD X570 boards, they have plenty of BIOS releases and each and every one of them is better than the previous one.
I see users reporting (only one example) better DDR4 memory compatibility/higher stable clocks with each new version.
I don't know if it is a good idea to review a board with the first BIOS version. Maybe postpone the first review until a mature BIOS is released.
Or, write the first review with the original BIOS, but then update the review using the information gathered with each new BIOS version.
I would see if Thomas Soderstrom (aka crashman) is available. He was one of the best motherboard reviewers at Tom's before they got bought out and I know he expressed interest in joining your team in the past.
Sometimes during launch reviews you'll get 2-3 updates in a week. It is nice to update the charts once in a while, but that takes time. For example I checked ASRock X670E Taichi after launch when BIOs 1.08 came out. Did a few quick benchmarks. Nothing changed perf wise, so I didn't update the charts.Now with the Ryzen meltdown BIOS updates, memory support has gone down, but if you say we're using DDR5-6000 already, it wouldn't change anything for you.
So the rabbit hole is infinite if you let it be. On that note, if you give a product a hard time in the review and your not in the newest BIOS, probably going to get a email asking you to retest with the newest.
First of all Thank You for this awesome Site/Institution . Im using it a whole lot of time in the last few years.
Im a technician and started @ age 14 with Amiga 500 and Basic
Nowadays im doin Homerepairs mostly
GPU-Cards , i try to fix things and try to understand how it works ( mediumwise)
I build Home Network/Compi on my own.
I have full understanding of PC from 286 time A20 gate to nowadays technics . So for you im bit of a nerd like doin stuff on my own.im not 24/7 nerd anymore but its my life . I did some reviews and liked it they way to overlook on details . I like upgrading and Benchmarks but not the hardcore way always try to get use the most of that what i have.
GreetingsMy first two Reviews are case Reviews and thats hard with no possibility to use newest content or no imagination like abaut airflow with the biggest components or cabel Management for mid or pro user and so on . And neutral but also a little bit sarcasm with no bad language. Be true to yourself and what you write noone need "honey" in large amounts only in small dosis.
Hilariously i have the ASRock Sonic motherboard, couldn't help myself.. Not the best for the money in terms of VRM phases or features but it was fast as hell out the box, funnily enough.Strangely on Windows, firmware can be upgraded via Windows Update, but that's OEM boards only. You make very good points.. Ryzen meltdown, heheh. I'll run the newest BIOS if it fixes a problem i'm having or improves memory training, etc.. However on my old Gigabyte board i stuck with F6 instead of F7 as they accidentally left the development menu accessible and it did actually behave better with my RAM than F7 - but that's obviously edge case and likely down to my own hardware being a little quirky together lol
Quite funny when you can make your desktop board think its a laptop.. :laugh:
Then there is the difference in bios layouts, the wording, whether settings are exposed or not, do the features actually work? I have used bios's where the setting does absolutely nothing. Again on my new asrock z690 steel legend, there is a "asrock dram timing optimisations" which is on by default, I toggled it and compared the timings, absolutely nothing changed lol.
Is it important to know, depends. If the optimization is too aggressive then often higher memory freq configurations don't work. But say you disable it I run it strictly by the XMp profile and and maximum frequency doesn't change then its a mute point.tWR and tREFI changed I see.
But yeah, that would be my issue, I feel I would owe the reader to test all this stuff, thats why I said would be full time lol. In terms of the review if its something that doesnt work, it would just be briefly mentioned as tested with no observed difference.
MSI's automated RAM overclocking (Memory try it!) for example is a great feature even if i never really use their boardsoverclocking is useful to know the power limits of a motherboard, for VRM temps and voltage accuracy under loads - beyond that it's utterly worthless, as no one is going to run a motherboard at the bleeding edge of what it can handle all day every day unless they want to spend all day every day, fixing the problems that causes
Marketing would be like 16x 30A phases. High count for clout but not that good.
With rounded curves and frills that gloweth in the moonlit caverns of my E-ATX case,
Her Booty times are of legend and her Vdroop smoother than the silken anti-static lingerie she arrived in.
Total score:
Your mother out of my house.
Random requests like that add to my motivation, i'm an odd person.Being aware they can do it, is the part that matters.
Very few boards can undervolt with a plain voltage offset on the 5800x3D for example, yet its how mine runs 10-15W below the same CPU on any other board
(I run -30 curve and the voltage offset together) - we dont need it benchmarked, just to be aware X board has it and Y board doesn't
VRM's are frustrating because board makers deliberately mislead users all the time, even to the point they bluntly lie about what's included on the boards
Some things commonly treated as "bad" like VRM doublers, high end people like buildzoid say are totally fine
Some boards are just designed to be low end for low wattage CPU's and then marketing pretends they can do more - and we get situations like the "65 watt" 10700 non K that no one could predict, where a low end part uses absurd amounts of power the board makers likely couldnt plan for in advance
The more i think about this and the more i talk to ir_cow, the more tempting it's becoming to try for this. My only concern is about letting TPU down by being too slow when it comes to the charts side of things. I'm not an artsy person, so making those is something that would take me longer than testing the hardware.
I'd also really want to work with the requests of TPU members, i've been doing it to all our reviewers over the years so being able to fire up these boards and test the things users asks for matters to me - which means i'll need to stockpile enough parts to have more than the one review/test setup going at any given time.
On the underclocking features, i guess i'd look at:
Out of the box/BIOS defaults
Intel/AMD stock (PBO off, intel PL1/PL2 settings)
Unlimited settings and how the board handles it with a higher wattage CPU from the lineup - so we can tell users the maximum wattage range the boards should be used for
What under/overclocking settings the board has - even if they aren't tested in the review, like:
Marketing and real life is human nature no species lying better than we do
I got a lot experience from datasheets and non working reality and even buyin parts that should work but not .So for me a test of a Motherboard is not to praise all posibilitys without test them all because there is so much parts out there i.e. ram , gpu, cpu...........
So its a new board so it should work with statistic MAINSTREAM equip what ppl would afford . If therequest is to test only highend equip than you need the stuff for testing it and doin this in an afford who is controllable/definable or you have an overload on yourself . My expierience is common parts are much easy handable, then still in these days they want outstanding marks on there parts but for what price , i think in terms like do i need it really and important need i another HEATSPREADER or can i do it with less power......