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[r.h.p]

good idea TPU , ive always found ur web site the best to get up to date and informative information around.
also the forums I find stress free and people always willing to help and chat

go TPU

 

[Imouto]

so people can no longer link to them? when i look at social media / other forums, all i see is our charts

Ever heard of "share buttons"?

huh? first time i hear about that, please make another thread to further discuss it

It is honestly useless to test a mid or low ranked GPU at ultra settings when there are plenty of settings that tank the performance and have nearly zero IQ returns. Then there is the hilarious fact that some cards don't run the game at ultra and that "zero" is as good as not testing it at all.

Sure, if I bring down the number of games to 5, at 2 resolutions, with 3 other cards compared.. and we'll be like everybody else.
27 comparison cards x 21 games x 4 resolutions = 2268 tests, at 2 minutes per run = 4536 minutes = 75.6 hours

It is 3 resolutions and you could drop quite a few games. Even game specific articles don't have these numbers.

27 cards * 3 resolutions * 2 mins = 162 min = 2.7 hours

send me your resume and some sample posts

Not my field. But you should consider it just looking at how many users are asking for just that.

 

[W1zzard]

Ever heard of "share buttons"?

Sure, but I'd say unrelated. How do you share a HTML DOM or Canvas on places that let you upload images only?

test a mid or low ranked GPU at ultra settings

But how can people compare graphics cards across the whole market then?

27 cards * 3 resolutions * 2 mins = 162 min = 2.7 hours

correct, for each individual game

I wish there was a free trial so I could see how the Patreon sponsored threads look like toxicity wise.

it's a completely separate subforum thats mostly empty atm, it'll be what patrons make of it

 

[TheLostSwede]

This is a loaded one...
uhmmm...

I really hope TPU would listen to its community, and while "the money" doesn't come from it, this is a core that is a pillar to this site, i feel.
W1zz is a very technically talented individual, and he is the main reason i like opening TPU a bunch of times a day, but other aspects of the website feel alien and changed for me since what they were just a few years ago.

Forum moderation changes is a big part of it - many of us "gave up" on being more active due to some unfortunate decisions from staff.
While i never got punished, i see many other users who do, over stuff they shouldn't.

With reviews - I have no idea why the pipe is so damn long from when a review is written to the moment its published. I know for a fact that some reviews in recent years waited months to be published. Why? That's a dis-service to both the community and reviewers. There are a bunch of talented individuals here.

We already have some review aspects stuck in 2007 with how products are tested and how results are being produced. Its 2020 and we don't have noise regulated case and cooler testing, we don't have min 1\0.1% lows and deeper frametime analysis of GPUs, we don't even have in-depth deep-dives into driver features and important tweaking tools. Not anymore.

In front page - The waves of meme PR news, regarding stuff that's pretty far away from common interest. I know people bash mr news editor, and 2019 would definitely be a year to learn from, but i know he can produce great content, he clearly has the technical capability of doing so. We're all human, we all can slip at times. 2020 is a year to improve.

I'd love to support TPU financially when some of those crucial issues will be addressed.

See, that last line in your comment, right there, tells you exactly why things aren't changing. You now have a chance to financially support a rather small publication that is asking for contribution, but you say no, because a few things aren't up to your standards. How do you expect things to change? Maybe with your small contribution, they will earn enough so they can make the changes you want, but clearly, you're the unwilling party here, so the changes you want aren't likely to happen.

I think TPU needs to reinforce it's core draw card - reviews of 'big ticket items'. Reviews of mice, keyboards, headphones and the occasional fan are a great supplement and gap filler, but let's face it, they're a dime a dozen and with the saturation in the market and the fact everyone has a difference taste, they're not going to get the reader count. During the long wait between GPU and CPU launches (and their subsequent brilliant reviews), I feel TPU needs to focus more on case, cooler and power supply reviews as these are components most will generally keep for 3 or more builds. For example, the level of technical detail in PSU reviews is excellent and greatly appreciated, with ripple tests, load regulation, temperatures and efficiency. Perhaps this Patreon expansion can help make this happen?

To be able to do "big ticket items" as you put it, reviews of other things have to be done as well, since these companies are also likely to put up ads on the site, which pays for the "big ticket items". I guess you've never 1. worked as a tech journalist and 2. never had your own business?
It's not possible to only write about certain things and on top of that, the site would be too much of a niche publication, so they'd lose readers and when the numbers goes down, so does the advertising money. Also, not everyone here has the same interest, so a mix of content is good imho.

You could make a Kickstarter for several goals too. For example:

- $500: Interactive charts like the ones at computerbase.
- $1000: Choosing sensible game graphic settings for GPU reviews.
- $2000: 0.1% lows charts in GPU reviews.
- $3000: Stop the clickbaiting and senseless rumors in the main site by firing btarunr.

$1 have you banned for life?
I mean seriously, clearly only your opinion count here, right? You have seven posts on the forums, so please...

Great idea TPU. Your site and content is great and while there's obviously going to be ads and sponsored content (tpu staff needs to eat like the rest of you), the toxic community centered around passive aggressiveness and drama is what's holding tpu back. I wish there was a free trial so I could see how the Patreon sponsored threads look like toxicity wise.
There's times in the past where I've needed feedback on my builds and went to this site only to see similar type of forum questions turn into personal attacks. I hope this Patreon weeds out the older, disgruntled accounts.

You could pay $4 and see, it's not like you have to tie yourself up for life...

 

[JAB Creations]

You could make a Kickstarter for several goals too. For example:

- $500: Interactive charts like the ones at computerbase.
- $1000: Choosing sensible game graphic settings for GPU reviews.
- $2000: 0.1% lows charts in GPU reviews.
- $3000: Stop the clickbaiting and senseless rumors in the main site by firing btarunr.

I think in general that is a great idea and also I laughed - I vaguely am aware of the rumors issue and will politely remain nuetral on that point.

 

[NRANM]

See, that last line in your comment, right there, tells you exactly why things aren't changing. You now have a chance to financially support a rather small publication that is asking for contribution, but you say no, because a few things aren't up to your standards. How do you expect things to change? Maybe with your small contribution, they will earn enough so they can make the changes you want, but clearly, you're the unwilling party here, so the changes you want aren't likely to happen.

Actually both approaches seem valid to me. The contributions are small enough that they do not pose a financial risk to users. However, Patreon is strictly voluntary, and no one should feel ashamed if they are not a patron. It is perfectly reasonable for a user to have certain standards and expectations, before he/she commits to a donation or patronage. Especially since TPU is doing better than ever, by W1zzard's own admission.

EDIT: And no one should be passive-aggressively guilted into becoming a patron, which seems to me you are doing.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

@W1zzard any plans to offer say a yearly option for the different levels? or just monthly?

 

[Imouto]

Sure, but I'd say unrelated. How do you share a HTML DOM or Canvas on places that let you upload images only?

Share the images, keep the good stuff for the site. win/win.

I'd say the scripts you are currently using wouldn't be that hard to modify to do both. And it would save you bandwidth. win/win/win.

But how can people compare graphics cards across the whole market then?

By cutting off at 60 FPS for each resolution? Every time you test a new GPU if it doesn't hit 60 FPS for a resolution please lower the settings to a lower tier of your choice removing most of the placebo settings. I don't really know why you bother testing a RX 570 at Ultra when no one would use them unless they are massive masochists.

You even did something similar with the Borderlands 3 article by choosing the "Ultra" preset instead of the "Badass" one that was a performance hog just for the sake of it. There are plenty of videos around doing an analysis of the different settings and most of them are inane for mid and low range GPUs.

I laughed real hard when the last review for the GTX 1650 Super Windforce came out and numbers for Control were well below acceptable at 1080p and directly insane for 1440p and 4K.

~7 FPS? Welp, that's useful and totally what I would do.

correct, for each individual game

What about the game specific articles? Is it that much harder to get the 0.1% stats for them?

$1 have you banned for life?
I mean seriously, clearly only your opinion count here, right? You have seven posts on the forums, so please...

I'm going to be the better man here and just ignore you.

 

[Soy]

I feel the above but I also still am a gold member. I feel like if if you want to have your words carry some weight here, you should chip in.

That being said I totally agree with the above but I also see moment where bta is trying to do better. If he keeps that up, it's all just a learning experience as far as I am concerned.

I'm more upset about the choice of software key "partners" frankly.



That was my sig for a bit, but I got a bad vibe from it, lol

I would like to support but refuse to do so as long as TPU continues to advertise the selling of keys not meant for resale. It is illegal, not a grey market thing. Those keys are not meant to be sold to the public. My money will never be used to condone unethical behavior.

 

[W1zzard]

@W1zzard any plans to offer say a yearly option for the different levels? or just monthly?

Isn't monthly better because you can cancel any time?

Share the images

except dynamic charts are not images

I would like to support but refuse to do so as long as TPU continues to advertise the selling of keys not meant for resale. It is illegal, not a grey market thing. Those keys are not meant to be sold to the public. My money will never be used to condone unethical behavior.

so many new faces here today, as mentioned before, with the bronze tier all ads will be gone, including cd key posts. will be interesting to see who actually cares enough

 

[cygnus_1]

I like Patreon, and I plan to pledge for TPU. But not until Feb 1st. And just my 2 cents, you should've held off on this post until Feb 1st. You see, Patreon always bills on the 1st of the month. No matter when you pledge/subscribe, you're next charge will be the 1st of the next month. For instance, if you pledge today it will renew and charge again in only a couple days. It's really dumb that they operate this way, and to me it means Patreon account holders should refrain from enticing signups toward the end of any given month. People new to Patreon that don't understand this can be very put off by it.

Just putting it out there in case there are folks here new to Patreon.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Actually both approaches seem valid to me. The contributions are small enough that they do not pose a financial risk to users. However, Patreon is strictly voluntary, and no one should feel ashamed if they are not a patron. It is perfectly reasonable for a user to have certain standards and expectations, before he/she commits to a donation or patronage. Especially since TPU is doing better than ever, by W1zzard's own admission.

EDIT: And no one should be passive-aggressively guilted into becoming a patron, which seems to me you are doing.

Sure, but if you're complaining about things, this is an easy way to show that you're willing to put your wallet where your mouth is and contribute something towards getting what you want.
There are some 89k forum members here, if everyone pitched in a bit, I'm sure TPU could do a lot more, although I have no expectations of that ever happening.
But coming on here and complaining about a million things and then saying that you're not going to contribute anything until you see all the things you want is a taking the piss imho.

 

[64K]

I've been online for around 35 years and I think people expect everything to be free online. It costs money just to have this site online and then there's the paid employees and hardware purchases when manufacturers don't provide samples. So many people are running an adblocker that removes one of the ways that a site can generate revenue to pay for all of this.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I would like to support but refuse to do so as long as TPU continues to advertise the selling of keys not meant for resale. It is illegal, not a grey market thing. Those keys are not meant to be sold to the public. My money will never be used to condone unethical behavior.

So take me for example, that have a legit business, I'm not allowed to buy a business key?
These companies aren't doing anything illegal, as I can go down to the local computer market and pay 3x the price for the same key, as I still don't get a physical disc to go with it.

Isn't monthly better because you can cancel any time?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think he was hinting at something like a discount if he paid for a year.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I'd gladly participate if you didn't spam the news section weekly with grey markey key store "promotions".

People being butthurt over that is ridiculous. There is legit 0 issue with it and ive been running on a key off one of those sites for both Windows 10 and Office 2019 with ZERO issues for over a year.

If you wanna pay out the ass for that software, be my guest. No one is stopping you.

 

[W1zzard]

you should've held off on this post until Feb 1st. You see, Patreon always bills on the 1st of the month [..] and to me it means Patreon account holders should refrain from enticing signups toward the end of any given month

now that you mention it ... you are absolutely right of course .. i didn't think of that ..

 

[TheLostSwede]

I've been online for around 35 years and I think people expect everything to be free online. It costs money just to have this site online and then there's the paid employees and hardware purchases when manufacturers don't provide samples. So many people are running an adblocker that removes one of the ways that a site can generate revenue to pay for all of this.

Now now, no need to make things up, the internet hasn't been publicly available for that long...
I've been online about 25 years and before that, it wasn't even possible for most people to get online, unless you count BBSes.
But yes, fully agree with the rest, I don't block ads here,as they're not intrusive or annoying.

 

[cygnus_1]

now that you mention it ... you are absolutely right of course .. i didn't think of that ..

It's not the end of the world. YOU GUYS are new to Patreon too so I'm not shocked to see it. But that's why I wanted to point it out to others that might also be new to it. Also, that's why I've set myself a reminder to come back to this thread on the 1st and go subscribe

 

[Soy]

Isn't monthly better because you can cancel any time?


except dynamic charts are not images


so many new faces here today, as mentioned before, with the bronze tier all ads will be gone, including cd key posts. will be interesting to see who actually cares enough

It is not about hiding the offensive ads it is about supporting a site that would have them at all. Just because it is hidden doesn't mean our money isn't supporting something wrong. Principle is what separates the conscientious from those without.

I moderated a site with 50k active users for many years. When ethical decisions are made, even if hard or you may think it will cost you money, it's surprising how many step up to support.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Stop the clickbaiting

Who DOESNT use clickbait these days? It's what drives people to the content. You are never NOT going to find this anywhere in today media. Get over it, get used to it. It's here to stay.

Or just stop consuming media. Your post is ignorant and borderline stupid.

I would like to support but refuse to do so as long as TPU continues to advertise the selling of keys not meant for resale. It is illegal, not a grey market thing. Those keys are not meant to be sold to the public.

You clearly have 0 clue.

My money will never be used to condone unethical behavior.

Then why do you even bother coming here?

 

[Rahnak]

By cutting off at 60 FPS for each resolution? Every time you test a new GPU if it doesn't hit 60 FPS for a resolution please lower the settings to a lower tier of your choice removing most of the placebo settings. I don't really know why you bother testing a RX 570 at Ultra when no one would use them unless they are massive masochists.

You even did something similar with the Borderlands 3 article by choosing the "Ultra" preset instead of the "Badass" one that was a performance hog just for the sake of it. There are plenty of videos around doing an analysis of the different settings and most of them are inane for mid and low range GPUs.

I laughed real hard when the last review for the GTX 1650 Super Windforce came out and numbers for Control were well below acceptable at 1080p and directly insane for 1440p and 4K.

~7 FPS? Welp, that's useful and totally what I would do.

Benchmarking is about testing everything on equal grounds. Of course no one in their right mind is going to use a 1650 Super to play at 4K. You do need, however, a common baseline for all your testing, in order to compare performance. That comes in the form of using the same platform (CPU, RAM, etc), as well as the same graphical settings. You could argue for testing at High settings instead of Ultra but testing one GPU at High and another at Ultra invalidates the results.

Having low 1% alongside average fps would be a nice addition though.

 

[64K]

Now now, no need to make things up, the internet hasn't been publicly available for that long...
I've been online about 25 years and before that, it wasn't even possible for most people to get online, unless you count BBSes.
But yes, fully agree with the rest, I don't block ads here,as they're not intrusive or annoying.

I was posting on bulletin board systems since the mid 80s. I consider that to be online.

It is not about hiding the offensive ads it is about supporting a site that would have them at all. Just because it is hidden doesn't mean our money isn't supporting something wrong. Principle is what separates the conscientious from those without.

I moderated a site with 50k active users for many years. When ethical decisions are made, even if hard or you may think it will cost you money, it's surprising how many step up to support.

I can't see ads anymore but when I did they weren't intrusive. Probably the least intrusive ads that I have seen on most sites.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I like how all these "new" members are in this thread. Which means they are actual TPU users who dont want to throw their name into the fire.

 

[Liquid Cool]

So...does Patreon allow you to support your favorite site through PayPal yet?

Best,

Liquid Cool

 

[damric]

A good selling point for this would be the ability to obtain/purchase old review samples, or at least get first dibs.

The rest of the benefits you list I don't care about, but I might send you a few dollars when I get paid simply because I love your content.