NVidia, What gives? Seriously?!?

[biffzinker]

I don't know what the big deal is here or what Nvidia did wrong.

What they did wrong was they black listed Hardware Unboxed from receiving free samples of Nvidia’s graphics card. The reason was Hardware Unboxed’s reviews were posting benchmarks that didn’t lean heavy on showcasing RTX/Ray Tracing benchmarks.

 

[thesmokingman]

Nvidia is probably one of the most popular video card makers in the world they usally have pretty high quality stuff. It just so happens it is nvidia that is inside the nintendo switch and switch lite. I don't know what the big deal is here or what Nvidia did wrong.

lmao, there are only two major gpu producers... one of the most popular... where do you get this stuff?

And fyi Nvidia is threatening reviewers... that's the problem.

 

[Atomic77]

Like a Whatever. I am sure that they Being Nvidia had reasoning behind it.

 

[Fouquin]

Like a Whatever. I am sure that they Being Nvidia had reasoning behind it.

Well their "reasoning" clearly wasn't very solid because they backed down like a scolded dog when everyone told them to fuck off.

You don't get to have a free and open media and control what the media says. Those two concepts go against each other so hard you can smelt iron in the heat generated by that friction.

 

[xkm1948]

tech tuber drama, meh, who gives a flying fk

hardware unboxed has been hardcore shilling for amd for quite a while, their videos are so biased and their charts are so tiny it hurts my eyes watching it. got caught with their pants done and potentially have free stuff taken away and they cry on internet hoping for a pitchfork internet mob. Grow a pair of balls hardware unboxed. Nvidia wanna pull the plug then you should just man up and buy your own fking reviewing cards.

JFC I am disgusted by that channel

 

[thesmokingman]

tech tuber drama, meh, who gives a flying fk

hardware unboxed has been hardcore shilling for amd for quite a while, their videos are so biased and their charts are so tiny it hurts my eyes watching it. got caught with their pants done and potentially have free stuff taken away and they cry on internet hoping for a pitchfork internet mob. Grow a pair of balls hardware unboxed. Nvidia wanna pull the plug then you should just man up and buy your own fking reviewing cards.

JFC I am disgusted by that channel

gtfo. It's not just about hardware unboxed. They pulled the same shit with hocp. These strongarm tatics can destroy reviewers.

 

[xkm1948]

And before you ask yeah what nivdia did was "immoral" but legally they have every single fking right to NOT hand out frees stuff when the people who receive said free stuff shit all over it.

I gotta say Hardware Unboxed are some fking sneaky dudes. They know perfectly well where to stir up shit, they know which fan base to cater to to get this kind of internet mob going. Well player Hardware unboxed. Well played Tech tubers

gtfo. It's not just about hardware unboxed. They pulled the same shit with hocp. These strongarm tatics can destroy reviewers.

So what? The world is a fking cruel place. They are in the tech reviewing business they need to learn to cope with it with all the ugliness involved.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Like a Whatever. I am sure that they Being Nvidia had reasoning behind it.

Ok, you’re not understanding. Nvidia tried to control what one reviewer said, to tell them what to say, basically, and the threat was publicly issued so all INDEPENDENT reviewers would do as they are told, instead of reporting on what they actually encounter in their reviews.

 

[z1n0x]

I can't say i'm surprised. Nvidia been Nvidia, what else is new. The internet is full of examples of their "integrity".

The back-pedaling was pretty quick though. They couldn't even see it through. That make them both bully and bitch. LAME.
Nvidia - good products by bad corporation.

I hope going foward we have even healthier GPU competition and more choices. *stares at Intel/AMD*

 

[Bones]

Just my own personal thoughts about it and I'm done here.

The thing here is the reviewer(s) stated their opinions about the card(s) sent, which is what they do (Being they are reviewers).
Nvidia knew all this before any cards were sent.

Once tested the reviewer(s) said what they thought about the cards.
In the case of one reviewer, Nvidia didn't like it.

Because Nvidia didn't like what was said by certain reviewer(s) they sent the mail out for all reviewers and blacklisted this particular reviewer to get them back "In line" with what Nvida wanted them to say regardless of whether the opinions were really true or not and also to make an example of them to the rest.

The mail, once sent out was not well received and had the response of it becoming known out in the open since it was a literal veiled threat to any and all reviewers that refused to tow the Nvidia line at all times.

The rest, while still not quite history at this point clearly says many reviewers didn't appreciate all this one bit.

As to the reviewers and what they already knew, they do realize this could happen - In fact both sides of it do.
It's like a see-saw, as long as things are balanced everyone is happy and some do play along, however some don't and that's how it is..... And Nvidia of course knows this too.

I mean sure, there's consequenses on both sides of any issue and in this instance it was Nvidia that crossed a line with a bad reaction and it blew up in their face, hence the massive reversal of their actions in the end.

Having the "Right" to do something doesn't automatically make it the right thing to do everytime - Depends on what it is to be done and the consequenses from doing it at all.

~Done.

 

[kruk]

An anti-competitive and anti-consumer company is threatening the reviewers? No surprises here. Remember GPP? The sooner people realize that these practices hurt every single consumer in the long run, the better it will be. Defending them for this is just wrong ...

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

All of you patting yourselves on the back and making fun of Nvidia backpedaling lost sight of the bigger picture. Nvidia already done damage and laughing its way to the bank. Expect to see a lot more ray tracing benchmarks whether they're vendor-agnostic or not. Now reviewers will put ray tracing benchmarks not because their audience wants it but because they don't wanna get shafted by Nvidia and don't have confidence in their reach to reverse it like HWUB.

And Nvidia counts on people like xkm1948 to normalise these kind of moves. HWUB should buy cards themselves? From where? Nvidia's unicorn ass? HWUB should stick to AIB card reviews? Cards that since 3000 series launch a day or so later than FE release? And Jay already explained that Nvidia also dictates AIB review outlet. I've seen too many people like him after reading almost all the comments regarding this matter on reddit/twitter. The problem is they already have a bias on their headspace that HWUB is biased. They cling too much to what HWUB's Steve says in the afterthought/conclusion section of his reviews. I'll admit that I don't think his conclusions are objective enough in my eyes but ultimately that's his opinion, however biased it may be. His data don't lie and he reviews a large catalogue of games that defeats any argument of choosing biased title. Ideally people should come to their own conclusion after reviewing the data provided by the reviewer, NOT looking for the reviewer's conclusion/afterthought to be agreeable.

 

[joemama]

Let me get one thing clear, did nvidia ask for a non-objective review or did they just ask for a ray tracing benchmark?
If it's just the latter I don't see any problems with nvidia.

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

Let me get one thing clear, did nvidia ask for a non-objective review or did they just ask for a ray tracing benchmark?
If it's just the latter I don't see any problems with nvidia.

Nvidia didn't ask anything. They gave him the card like everytime last few years. Didn't like his review that has only one or two ray traced game, didn't like his conclusion that he personally doesn't care about ray tracing atm and cut him off with the now infamous email.

 

[ebivan]

There was something similar with one of the biggest IT Tech Sites in Germany (heise.de) in 2018.
When nVidia send out a new pro forma NDA, heise.de refused to sign it and instead chose to publish the NDA in full lenght.

In eigener Sache: Nvidia-NDA als Maulkorb für Journalisten

Nvidia verlangt vor der Übermittlung von Informationen zu künftigen Produkten die Unterzeichnung einer sehr weitgehenden Vertraulichkeitsvereinbarung.

www.heise.de

Heise.de has not gotten any samples from nVidia since that time and has therefore bought their review samples themselves. Their reviews of nVidia products differ quite a bit from what you read everywhere else up till today..

 

[ratirt]

Not surprised about NV and action they have taken to manipulate or rather influence reviewers to show their product in a better light or a way that would put their product on top with the features these products have. (HWUB did show the RT and DLSS capabilities in full and with dedicated videos) Not surprised about NV actions in any way.
What surprises me is how other members here react to this, saying NV must have had a reason (sure it had, first and foremost reason is to have control over the reviews)
And of course the second most important thing, NV did it because HWUB shills over AMD products like some say here.
How can you guys even say that? If you are a tech enthusiast, like these guys from HWUB are, they are getting excited about the new tech either from NV and AMD, there should be no reason for you to draw that type of conclusion or rather looking for a reason to justify wrong doings from NV's hand.
Honest reviews are what we are all after not controlled or manipulated by the manufactures because they have a different view of the gaming industry. Anyone siding with the manufacturers (no matter which one) is a blindfolded fanboy and should be marked as one for future reference.

 

[Countryside]

Hey Nvidia can i get an free graphics card for an review, Sure only your review can't be objective and factual it just has to be the way we want it do be.

You must show the people the magic of the holy raytracing and say no bad word against it.

 

[biffzinker]

I'm in, I'll post a lengthy review that up sells the virtues of Nvida's vision for RTX in exchange for a Free card but no strings attached.

 

[wolf]

Love the products, the politics are pretty bloody average though.

 

[Lionheart]

tech tuber drama, meh, who gives a flying fk

hardware unboxed has been hardcore shilling for amd for quite a while, their videos are so biased and their charts are so tiny it hurts my eyes watching it. got caught with their pants done and potentially have free stuff taken away and they cry on internet hoping for a pitchfork internet mob. Grow a pair of balls hardware unboxed. Nvidia wanna pull the plug then you should just man up and buy your own fking reviewing cards.

JFC I am disgusted by that channel

GTFO! Most moronic BS I've ever read. I'm disgusted by your existences.

 

[Countryside]

I'm in, I'll post a lengthy review that up sells the virtues of Nvida's vision for RTX in exchange for a Free card but no strings attached.

Do you promise only to speak about ray tracing and not this blasphemy called rasterization because ray tracing is the future if so you might be the right person for the job.

 

[Shou Miko]

Problem is at this time and date there are 26 games that support Nvidia Ray Tracing if wikipedia is correct.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_ray_tracing_support

But honestly who games online with ray tracing on?

I don't think the majority of gamers in Battlefield V, Call of Duty, Fortnite and WoW is gaming with ray tracing on so Nvidia most be having a bad joke because people wants performance online not eye candy

 

[authorized]

tech tuber drama, meh, who gives a flying fk

hardware unboxed has been hardcore shilling for amd for quite a while, their videos are so biased and their charts are so tiny it hurts my eyes watching it. got caught with their pants done and potentially have free stuff taken away and they cry on internet hoping for a pitchfork internet mob. Grow a pair of balls hardware unboxed. Nvidia wanna pull the plug then you should just man up and buy your own fking reviewing cards.

JFC I am disgusted by that channel

That's BS, I've never seen any shilling. If they were, why would they recommend nvidia's cards and praise dlss 2 as a strong argument behind buying them? It's nonsense. Youtubers are allowed to have opinions that differ from yours.
It's not about free cards, it's about early access for launch reviews. I suspect you know that but like to troll.
I guess it wouldn't bother you if all reviews at launch and shortly after were little more than advertisements, just regurgitating the company line, but many enthusiasts want to buy those products as soon as they come out and don't want to wait a week for actual, proper reviews.

And before you ask yeah what nivdia did was "immoral" but legally they have every single fking right to NOT hand out frees stuff when the people who receive said free stuff shit all over it.

I gotta say Hardware Unboxed are some fking sneaky dudes. They know perfectly well where to stir up shit, they know which fan base to cater to to get this kind of internet mob going. Well player Hardware unboxed. Well played Tech tubers

So what? The world is a fking cruel place. They are in the tech reviewing business they need to learn to cope with it with all the ugliness involved.

How exactly should they "cope with it"? Stay quiet, let themselves be blackmailed and do reviews the way nvidia dictates them to, or go out of business?
They did cope with it properly by making this threat public, what's wrong with that?
It's odd that you seem to think bowing to corporate overlords and shady dealings are a proper way of conduct.

To me, the funniest part in this email was how nvidia painted themselves as part of a united front of all gamers and the whole industry.
Everyone's fully behind the shiny beacon that is RTX, it's just that holdout Steve who can't see the light and needs to be brought into the fold, by force if necessary.

 

[Whitestar]

This just in

 

[ratirt]

Problem is at this time and date there are 26 games that support Nvidia Ray Tracing if wikipedia is correct.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_ray_tracing_support

But honestly who games online with ray tracing on?

I don't think the majority of gamers in Battlefield V, Call of Duty, Fortnite and WoW is gaming with ray tracing on so Nvidia most be having a bad joke because people wants performance online not eye candy

It's more than that. The vision of future of games is RTX which NV clings to in the email and puts it on top of the reason to block reviewers from receiving the reference cards, I'm sure everyone can agree, RayTracing is the way to go. Objective review is what happens at this point, now. RT is the future but what you are getting now for your hard earned money (which NV also clings too cheekily ) is the key here. So if you buy a card with RT support now and you find yourself in a situation you need to disable it to run the game, blame it on your decision. HWUB said if you want RT go for it but don't expect to run any future game with RT enabled on your older gen card. RT is great but it is just starting to get in the graphics and you can tell how much toll it creates on a graphics cards supporting RT in 2020 with every other game release. This trend will rather keep up.