I think Futureshop is heading in the right direction with product reviews, if Futureshop can build credibility with its consumers as an reliable source for technology reviews. They can link product reviews to the product page from here, but as of right now, there are some issues that needs to be corrected to make it happen.
Graham wrote:
After securing some serious stock we pulled one from the line-up and put it through its paces. From unboxing to installation to a rather lengthy (all-night) round of testing at the Future Shop labs, we checked out every inch of the 512MB Alpha Dog. The results were impressive, satisfying and even slightly surprising.
Your so called
full review has no mentions about previous gen 8800GTS, no screen shots of any of the testing, no detailed testing information regarding to any of the tests you've ran with the games you've listed, no information about your test system, not even pictures of the card and its package! In your review, you simply tossed a few game titles and mixed it with a few cliches and called the card a masterpiece. Hate to break it to you, but no one's clapping for you.
The main problem in this review is that roughly 90% of it is more or less pure opinion with nothing solid to back it up. In particular, there are several terms you tossed around that needed more clarification.
Graham wrote:
The results were impressive, satisfying and even slightly surprising.
What 'results' were impressive? What 'results' were satisfying? What 'results' were surprising? I fail to find an answer to any of these questions throughout the review.
Graham wrote:
with a little elbow grease and the right rig you can stretch that gap further.
Results? Numbers? Screenshots? Temps?
Graham wrote:
The breakdown between the cards is pretty apparent. Although you'll pay a bit more of the GTS 512MB, you're getting a serious bump across the board. The GTS packs more punch and will put up bigger numbers for you for longer; it's the definition of a good investment.
What's a bit more? $200 more? $2 more?
BTW, the 512 GTS has only 62GB/s of memory bandwidth, not 64 like the original GTS.
Longer? As in it will eventually put up smaller numbers in the future? The shaders will eventually decide to 'retire' in the future?
Save the opinions for the conclusion, believe it or not, it will actually make you sound less bias.
Graham wrote:
Installing the card was a snap - a word of warning: make sure your power supply is up to the task. Though the core requirements from Nvidia recommend a 350-450w supply for the base card but you're going to want to be running at least a 600w for success with the more robust Alpha Dog. Seriously.
Have you got any evidence to prove nVidia's power recommendations as ill advised? "Seriously." doesn't make you any more creditable than pulling facts out of thin air.
Graham wrote:
If you're used to tweaking your cards you're going to want to pull your own drivers and utilities. There's a bit of leeway in performance on this one if you've got the skill so feel free to have some fun
Again. Results? Numbers? Screenshots? Temps?
Graham wrote:
The card simply flies under both XP and Vista. DX10 performance is fantastic, with smooth frame rates and zero stuttering.
Everything you've said above is subjective. Simply flies in both windows XP and vista... what flies in both xp and vista? Framerates? Resolution? Driver version? Temps? Settings? setup? Would it kill you if you just posted 3dmark numbers at the very least? Define smooth frame rates, what constitutes smooth framerates? What framrates constitudes zero stuttering?
Graham wrote:
There isn't a system on the planet that can run Crysis maxed out, but you can get a pretty sweet looking game going with a single GTS 512MB.
No, but what settings will make it run at 60fps?. WTF is pretty sweet looking game? Sounds lame.
Graham wrote:
Company of Heroes runs like butter on the GTS 512MB. Frame rates were steady and the game didn't run into any tearing, smearing or hiccups.
How'd you convert "like butter" to framerates? Again, what resolution did you run the game at? 1024x768? What settings did you run it at?
Graham wrote:
Lost Planet, Supreme Commander and Crysis all stepped up; each game was sharp with solid frame rates (For the record: do not max out your settings on Crysis. You may tear a hole in the space time continuum. That's not cool.)
Meaning what? You had a solid 10fps throughout those games?
Graham wrote
With the XFX GeForce 8800GTS 512MB Alpha Dog Edition you know it's money well spent - this is a full featured card, with a lot of bang for your buck and a fantastic price.
Is there
anything tangible you can use to back that up?
Graham wrote
It's a performance increase that's worth every penny.
I see a hardware improvement as you pointed out, but where's the performance
increase? Did I some how miss your attempt to show the differences between the gt and the 512 gts? Because I don't see it, have you tested the gt at all?
Graham wrote
Just a note in relation to the post below; we found that the frame rate increase across the GTS versus the GT to be well worth it whether you're gaming on a 19", a 20", a 22" or a 24". For the difference in price, the performance increase is worth it and future proofing your system above and beyond the lesser-powered GT is a good idea.
Where is the data? or are you pulling this out of nowhere?
Resolution is different than
screen size. A monitor with the same resolution as another but differ in screen size will put the same amount of stress on a video card as the second monitor. However, a monitor (independent of size) with a grater resolution will put more stress on the same video card. Please make note of what you are actually trying to imply. (varying resolution rather than varying screen size)
Overall, this review lacks professionalism (people are getting paid for this? Even amature reviews (who enjoys only fame for their work) are better than this!) and is pretty bias because it's filled with opinions from the author of the review and there are no tangible numbers to back observations and opinions. If reviews here are ever going to fly, it has to be much less opinionated with much more numbers and a certain level of professionalism involved.
Message Edited by coolme on
12-16-2007 10:50 PM
