Anybody, and I mean ALL of you out there, who think ANY division or department that is part of the Tom's hardware community, gets kickback money for leaning one way or the other, are befuddled. Completely, and totally, dumb.
Reviewers might try to highlight review data favorably, when appropriate, and when possible, based on actual data, because they like to get continued review samples from that company, but I've never once seen, heard of or known about, and neither has anybody else, any of them leaning in ONLY one direction, to the exclusion of relevant facts about another direction. They try to keep ALL manufacturers and vendors happy, but sometimes they have to call a stain a stain, even if somebody's feelings get hurt.
Other times they can call a stain a stain, but overshadow it with some other aspect that spins it in a better light, and I'm sure they do that whenever possible. There are NO companies like AMD or Intel, Nvidia or AMD, ASUS, Gigabyte, or any other major hardware vendor that has ANY kind of "hand" in Tom's hardware. That is patently false and if you believe that it's true, again, you are not the brightest penny at the bank.