AnandTech Shuts Down, an Icon of Tech News and Reviews Rides into the Sunset

[hsew]

The writing was on the wall for a while now but still... Pressing F to pay respects.
They join the ranks of The Tech Report (I still remember those legendary SSD Endurance Tests and the fact that they were THE pioneers of frametime GPU testing)
Hardware Secrets
XbitLabs
HardOCP (admittedly didn't visit this site enough)
LegitReviews
Jonnyguru (Those 10/10 scores were straight-up legendary)

 

[Lew Zealand]

Reading Anandtech and Tom's got me into using PCs when I was primarily a Mac guy. It's where I learned about the tech when Apple transitioned to Intel CPUs and first heard about Hackintoshing. I remember that Radeon 9700 Pro review well as the same card was the sledgehammer upgrade available for Macs even in the AIM CPU days.

RIP, death of a Legend.

 

[jallenlabs]

Sad, was never a big fan of the site, but I used to visit it. Seems like sites that get bought up by large companies are strangled to death. I think Tomshardware is the only one that made that transition that I still visit.

 

[InVasMani]

Man what a sad way to die. Anandtech is with Techpowerup and Igorslab the sites i usually visit if i want to know something about tech. also Ian made a video about Anandtech closure.

Ian largely was Anandtech truth be told for a number of years. It really wasn't the same after he left to start doing his own thing. The technology coverage and depth analysis just wasn't in the same league after.

 

[64K]

Sad. That was my second favorite site next to this one and for a long, long time I read articles there about hardware that I was curious about and checked out benches. Farewell AnandTech.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Anand had always been one of my favorite tech sites (just behind TPU, which is why I've come to haunt this place ), they will be missed. I hope to see some of their folks join TPU with articles every now and then. That would be excellent.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Thanks to "AI", many clickbait scam sites have sprung up, purporting to have specs and reviews. Somehow, everything is indexed from above, as if they are sponsors, and if a person searches with Google and does not know what specific place, he often gets lost in some hallucinatory nonsense.

 

[The Von Matrices]

Frankly, i'm not surprised. Years ago, when their GPU test bench was destroyed in a house fire, and the writers pulled every excuse for YEARS as to why they were not building a new one, the writing was on the wall and screaming that anandtech was a zombie. Half a year ago registrations were closed due to "bots" and never re enabled. They've been going downhill for awhile, frankly i'm surprised it went this long.

More then once I was told by Ryan to "stop bringing negativity into the comments" when I asked when the GPU benches were coming back, when we'd been told for two years they were coming back. Red flag? That's the whole Moscow parade right there!

While I won't be quite as harsh as you, I do have to agree that the end of GPU reviews was the turning point for the company, not Anand departing. They still had great content by other staff writers after Anand left, but when Ryan stopped posting GPU reviews, I had to wonder about his management abilities. He effectively disappeared from managing the site after his house fire and was still missing even months after the event. The organization dwindled without any leadership. I'm surprised Purch didn't replace him at some point.

 

[Why_Me]

It's sad but at the same time, i stopped visiting Anand for years now so ....

This ^^ ... that site hasn't been the same for well over a decade now not to mention they had some of the worst mods of any tech site board.

Well that used to be a great site, but it ended a few years ago. I think Anand should have closed the site when he decided to quit. I hate what happened with Tom, Hardware. It used be so great for enthusiasts and now it is so commercial.

This ^^ ... Tom's before 2014 was happening and it was even better before they ran off the Brits back in 2010. The Brits on that site had been there since the beginning, with the only problem being they were internet bullies but they were funny as h3ll. Things got so bad that they gave the Brits their own forum on there and stuck them at the bottom of that board. It was free entertainment to see some n00b accidently posting in that forum asking for advice. They'd take time off talking football to tear him a new one. Good times.

 

[sLowEnd]

Bummer, but with how the site was doing for the past decade or so, it was a long time coming.

Hopefully the former staff do well in their future endeavours.

 

[Icon Charlie]

This ^^ ... that site hasn't been the same for well over a decade now not to mention they had some of the worst mods of any tech site board.

Anand left for Apple and the decline in the site was almost immediate. The crew there kept the lights on but it wasn't Anandtech any more.

Tech Report had the same problem when Scott Wasson was hired by AMD.

Tom's hardware was big enough that it didn't quite die when Thomas Pabst left in 2001, and now it has enough content and variety of reviews that I think it will continue to survive.

I know TPU is not a one-man show but here's hoping W1zzard loves his site so much that we're graced with his continued efforts and enthusiasm for many years to come.

Frankly, i'm not surprised. Years ago, when their GPU test bench was destroyed in a house fire, and the writers pulled every excuse for YEARS as to why they were not building a new one, the writing was on the wall and screaming that anandtech was a zombie. Half a year ago registrations were closed due to "bots" and never re enabled. They've been going downhill for awhile, frankly i'm surprised it went this long.

More then once I was told by Ryan to "stop bringing negativity into the comments" when I asked when the GPU benches were coming back, when we'd been told for two years they were coming back. Red flag? That's the whole Moscow parade right there!

You can add Tom Magee of the Register and CMDR Taco of Ars Technica as far as changes to the site when they left.

I was there when a few things went down. The Golden age of the Internet where you could learn to be an IT by reading Computer Currents/Micro Times. Even did tech reporting for a site or two during that time.

BUT once you sell your site the chances are that it will change and often than not these days not for the better.

I can validate on some what TheinsanegamerN comment as the quality of the content was declining almost as soon as Anand tech was sold.

An end of an era? Yea. But it turned into a crap site a long time ago.

 

[v12dock]

Wow this is a surprise...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

As the doc said, Anandtech was under Tom's and you can see how that went. Tom's is garbage, too many free lance and shills allowed to contribute content.

 

[AVATARAT]

Rest in peace AnandTech, it was a good site even if I don't read it often. But we live in sad times, monopolization and acquisitions

 

[mkppo]

I met Anand, Tom and Kyle at my first Computex sometime in the early 2000's, can't remember which year it was now, but none of them are doing what they did back then any more.

Bennett? If so, it was around their golden era. Quite a character that one.

Anandtech was going strong even after Anand left, they still had a few talented people working there. Since Ian left, however, the place has been a bit dark.

Nevertheless throughout the years there were some crazy talented people working there. I remember reading a phone review during the early years of android and I think it was Brian Klug who went into such depth that I kept thinking "why are these guys not killing it in the industry?" and soon enough he got hired by Apple. It used to surprise me that whatever they reviewed back then it was pretty much as deep a dive you'd get of that product.

They will be missed.

 

[64K]

So, besides here, where is the next best site for hardware and gaming news? Tom's and PCGamer went downhill long ago. The common denominator for all 3 is that they are owned by Future. Kind of sad isn't it? The future that Future brought.

 

[Why_Me]

So, besides here, where is the next best site for hardware and gaming news? Tom's and PCGamer went downhill long ago. The common denominator for all 3 is that they are owned by Future. Kind of sad isn't it? The future that Future brought.

Kitguru is decent for case reviews.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

So, besides here, where is the next best site for hardware and gaming news? Tom's and PCGamer went downhill long ago. The common denominator for all 3 is that they are owned by Future. Kind of sad isn't it? The future that Future brought.

Techspot, Guru3D, and Computerbase are all excellent.

 

[Wirko]

luckily he still does PSU reviews for Toms

Ah! I was wondering if this is the same man, and obviously the answer is yes:

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37085790800

I guess he's equipped and experienced enough to review PSUs up to a megawatt of power (coming to a PC near you sooner than you think).

Now I remember another guy with academic background, Johan De Gelas, who used to write great reports from the distant world of servers, along with some testing, for AT. I enjoyed reading that too.

 

[Why_Me]

Techspot, Guru3D, and Computerbase are all excellent.

Techspot aka AMD Unboxed. That and his accent is like listening to nails across a chalkboard.

 

[Wirko]

Same here. I hate video reviews and its tedious times based on YT engagement. Its simply horrible. Same as tutorials. I prefer a website with still captures of the actions. We're heading towards analfabetization again.
Very few explanations improve with a presentation unless live and interactive, its an art by itself.

Reading lets you understand things at your pace. Writting forces you to clarify ideas, have an order, and present a discourse.

Very true. I'm still waiting for an AI youtube-to-article converter, probably in vain. Maybe I could take one of the text-to-video converters, invert the matrices and see what happens?

 

[not_my_real_name]

So sad...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Techspot aka AMD Unboxed. That and his accent is like listening to nails across a chalkboard.

Incorrect. Steve and Tim do content for TS but it is a separate entity with other contributors. HUB is their rodeo Also, you read techspot. If you read it in his voice that's on you.

And if HUB are AMD biased someone needs to ask them to take down all of the AMD trash and bash content they have been doing the last couple of months. Many are going to get the impression they dislike AMD.

 

[Guwapo77]

When AnandTech original owners sold the site, it just went down hill. That use to be my go to site back in the day.

 

[docnorth]

At least my visits at Anandtech were much more than all my clicks on youtubers or any sort of video review combined. The site was indeed in decline, but mostly for the last 2 years. When Alder Lake came out their review(s) and comparisons with AMD 5xxx and the previous generations still was an interesting deep dive.