Sander Sassen after the fact

[digitalwanderer]

I actually got a PM at [h] about this:

Hey digi,

Someone on hardforum brought up Sander from a couple of weeks ago. Now that verifible benchies are out, how close was he? Here's his take:

Just two short weeks ago we were the first ever to publish detailed benchmark results for ATI's R520 architecture. We were met by a media onslaught from ATI with the message being that the results published must've come from a Ouija board and do not represent what the new graphic cards are capable of. They subsequently attempted to discredit me and despite my rebuttal (which took the ground from under every single one of their claims) many enthusiasts and many online publications bought into their scheme. Today my scores are for the most part vindicated, hence I ask you now: who’s been open, honest and frank about this from the get go? But more importantly, who continued to play fair game and decided not to join ATI in their game of smear tactics?

In a number of articles we've discussed in detail the features and performance of ATI's new architecture and have given our readers a closer look at what to expect. Many of you did not question our numbers, or the details given, but many others started to slander and discredit me in their forums, or prominently on their website. For example, Kyle Bennett was particularly outspoken and supportive of ATI and pretty much looks like a fool now; he apparently is an "ATI's bitch", as he so eloquently put it himself. Below are links to the articles we've written about ATI's R520 architecture, CrossFire and other issues concerning ATI. These articles were said to be false and have now been vindicated.

Here's our theory on [H]:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1028341854#post1028341854

Be interesting to see a thread over at B3D about it, since that forum was ground zero on the debate between sander and the ATI PR guy.

Sander has the full article up here, so how close does he seem in retrospect?

 

[Tim]

I actually got a PM at [h] about this:


Sander has the full article up here, so how close does he seem in retrospect?

Not close at all.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Yeah, but if he keeps insisting he was right all along, maybe people will start to think it's true.

 

[jjayb]

What's the full link to the thread on HardOcp. I can't seem to find it.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Yeah, but if he keeps insisting he was right all along, maybe people will start to think it's true.

That's what I was leaning towards too, I didn't get why he wrote his big "I WAS RIGHT!" piece today 'cause it didn't really seem like he was.

Then again, with the discrepencies I'm seeing in benchmarks depending on what site I'm at I guess I could make the case for pretty much anything at this point to.

 

[digitalwanderer]

What's the full link to the thread on HardOcp. I can't seem to find it.

Doh, sorry. Cut-n-paste error, here is the correct URL.

 

[AlphaWolf]

The guy is a self absorbed jackass. His accusations of slander are rather amusing. I wouldn't click on a hardwareanalysis link if they were giving away stuff.

 

[Tim Murray]

I was just bit in the behind by a horse?

 

[Kombatant]

Not close at all.

 

[Geo]

I have Bill Gates fortune.

Well, I figgered if Sander thinks wish fulfillment works for him, why not give it a try?

 

[Geo]

Not close at all.

I can hear Sander saying "Well, you have to correct for the changed-at-the-last-moment core and memory clocks".

Which doesn't explain where he got his "Pro". . .

 

[neliz]

Yeah, more like "how could I know that they would use something better than a P4 2.4ghz, change the drivers and actually have a different board in there.. my scores for the "Pro" are still right...

the scores for HL2 are 40% off (the gtx only losing 5% in speed while upping the resolution, the xt 50% from 10x7 to 16x12 (still seems to be a tie there in reality)
the xt scoring 50% less at 16x12 in doom3
the xt scoring over 50% less in farcry 16x12

I'm sorry sander, but I believe the overclocked x850 version before the "see! I WAS RIGHT all along, btw, can I have my press sample tomorrow. (otherwise I'll publish a story about Dave Orton and Marriott's (male) bartender."

There also seems to be a huge flaw in his logic.. either that or all other hardware sites have a wrong perception of r520's shader performance

Splinter Cell is a very shader heavy game and sees a huge performance boost from running two graphics cards in SLI as can be seen from the benchmarks. The extra pipelines that the G70 architecture has over the R520 clearly make all the difference here as the Radeon X1800 Pro and XT are no match for the GeForce 7800GT and GTX.

 

[Tim Murray]

Dig, to explain my horse-bite-on-ass comment:

For those of you that felt the need to join ATI in their smear campaign: you know who you are, you bet on the wrong horse here, and the horse bit you on the behind.

Oh Sander, you are truly a poet.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Dig, to explain my horse-bite-on-ass comment

Ah, thanks. I didn't read all of Sanders "piece", it turned me off too quick.

 

[Acert93]

The Sassen thing was good. Now everyone in the industry knows where he stands. I wish more of these guys would just come out and say how they feel.

Last month Tomshardware.com had a piece about their new agenda: testing stuff they buy. No more getting special promotions from dealers. I hope they do this... and I hope others, whatever their stance, are consistant.

Right now it is hard to trust many of the reviews sites. Kind of annoying.

EDIT: To clarify, "come out and say how they feel" ment, "Don't pretend not to be biased". This hokey dance of being "fair" is old. If you prefer an IHV just let us know and be done with it. I now know Sassen has poor journalistic ethics, did not answer my questions, and is anti-ATI. Therefore when I am looking for fair/unbaised benchmarks I wont be going to his site. But at least I know where he stands.

 

[kemosabe]

Fascinating - obviously it required too much insight to just stfu and let the tar dry off. Instead he pours another coat over himself and rolls around in the feathers.

 

[Geo]

Fascinating - obviously it required too much insight to just stfu and let the tar dry off. Instead he pours another coat over himself and rolls around in the feathers.

The O.J. Simpson strategy --just keep lying your ass off, because however small the chance it is all you have; and it worked for him. . .

 

[Sharkfood]

I'll bet this all had it's intended fall out...

That ATI will indeed think twice about rejecting some website owners to their fiesta launch events....

NOT.

 

[kyleb]

You really think that ATI is going to make a point to invite crackpots just to aviod their hissyfits?

 

[Sharkfood]

What part of the NOT did ya miss Kyle?
I'm thinking rope... I'm thinking voluntary actions.. tee hee