Has Tomshardware website sold out to Intel?

Guest · Oct 12, 2001

I am a regular visitor to tomshardware.com as I know many of you are. I found the articles there to be relatively well balanced and informative. I even bought Toms book. Very interesting reading. However two recent articles seem to indicate Tom has lost his objectiveness. The first is the article and video of a melting Athlon. The fact that Athlons will fail in seconds without a heat sink and fan has been known since Socket A Athlons were first introduced. The test criteria which involved no heat sink and fan is almost completely unreal. How many times does the heat sink fall off? I have serviced problably over a hundred Athlons and this has never happened. I have seen fans fail and this would have been a far more objective test! Is Tom suggesting a fire hazard? Has anyone heard of a computer catching fire because the heat sink and fan fell off? If the purpose of the article was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Pentium 4's thermal diode and not to embarrass AMD then why not get a board from AMD that he was sure supported the diode which is a brand new feature and not offically released for sale except in laptops? This looked to be a scare tactic to influence people against the Athlon and towards the Pentium 4. This is very unlike the Tom I am used to reading.
My second beef is the recent article comparing the Celeron 1200 to the Duron 1100. Tom claims that both processors run at a 100mhz fsb. Unless AMD recently changed the Duron fsb I assume it is still running at 266mhz? Toms calls one of his sections "A Fair Fight". Is it really? You mention the Duron costs $102.00 yet the only refernce to the Celeron price is that processors tested are under $150.00. There is a graphic that shows a fake magazine cover with the AMD chip at 100.00 and the Celeron at $110.00. Where did Tom get these prices? You can buy an Athlon 1.2 ghz 266fsb processor for only $82.00!!! I got that price from the windrivers homepage.
These two articles seem to indicate that the man who previously exposed the Intel P3 1ghz problems has now sold out to Intel. How about it Tom?

Edited by techs on 10/12/01 00:03 AM.

Matisaro · Oct 12, 2001

No, he isnt getting more anti AMD, he is unbiased for the most part. The heatsink article sucked I will admit, but it does not indicate he is becoming an Intel loyalist, tom has done his share of bashing intel as well.(P31.13ghz anyone?). In this forum I have seen tom bashed from both sides, and when someone is bashed from both sides he is either an idiot or impartial. Which of these tom is is totally a personal oppinion.

~Matisaro~
"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
~Tbird1.3@1.5~

Raystonn · Oct 12, 2001

"then why not get a board from AMD that he was sure supported the diode"

The board he used did support the diode. However, the thermal diode in the CPU failed due to heat overload before the motherboard could see what was happening. AMD's solution is clearly not designed to handle such rapid temperature increases. I would have liked to have seen a test with a failed fan as well, but you cannot say his test was faulty. You can say this test shows nothing and is entirely irrelevant due to the fact that heatsinks rarely fall off, but you cannot say the test is faulty.

-Raystonn

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my employer. =

Unolocogringo · Oct 12, 2001

The Duron 1100 and the Celeron 1200 both cost $102. in 1000 unit quantities. EXACTLY the SAME. Retailers set the price you pay. So if the celeron costs more blame the retailer.

I aint signing nothing!!!

Guest · Oct 12, 2001

The Duron runs at 100 MHz frontside, which is doublepumped to "200 MHz" (using the rising and falling slope of the frequency signal to send the data)
Only T-Birds, MPs, and XPs run at 133 MHz frontside.
(of course, most Durons can be *OCed* to 133 MHz)

Also don't confuse OEM with retail prices. Plus, Tom compared the list prices, I think (could be wrong), and AMDs go cheaper than that, whereas Intels go a little higher.

Edit: Kant sbel totay. ;-)Edited by rsmemphis on 10/12/01 11:04 AM.

charliec2uk · Oct 12, 2001

I think that that article just expounded to different design stratagies. I thinks the circumstance was descirbed as a "heat emergency". I always think that an emergency is described as a worst case senario. I don't think that many cars have "run flat" tyres, simply because the chances of this emergency is quite low, albeit you can have them for a premium. I guess the Intel solution is a little more "military grade", so the processor has a contingency in the case of heat sink becoming dislodged during field excersise, but the question do we need military grade I will leave to others. Does Intel sell Military solution's? Maybe Mr. Raystonn can answer that.

Democracy Bernad, it must be stopped!

AmdMELTDOWN · Oct 12, 2001

>Tom claims that both processors run at a 100mhz fsb. Unless AMD recently changed the Duron fsb I assume it is still running at 266mhz?

Dr. Pabst is trying his best to inform and educate his audience, but somehow he has failed with you, you need to re-read all his articles and maybe you'll get a passing grade.

ps, not too many ppl know that a tbird will self destruct even with warnings by AMD, THG has shown a "wake up dude" video that many AMDzealot/fanboys/puppies would have prefered to be kept secret, WAKE UP DUDE!

"AMD/VIA!...you are still the weakest link, good bye!"

killall · Oct 12, 2001

it seems so, they even say that the results for the xp will have to be confirmed and they are not commenting on them

if in doubt blame microsoft...

Raystonn · Oct 12, 2001

Intel sells processors to virtually everyone...

-Raystonn

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my employer. =

Crashman · Oct 13, 2001

Tom's original intent was to show how the new Athlon would NOT fail, that it was an improvement over the earlier versions, but it failed anyway. Did you expect him to throw out the results?

Back to you Tom...

Atolsammeek · Oct 13, 2001

Do you even know what your talking about?

POPEGOLDX · Oct 13, 2001

>ps, not too many ppl know that a tbird will self destruct >even with warnings by AMD, THG has shown a "wake up dude" >video that many AMDzealot/fanboys/puppies would have >prefered to be kept secret, WAKE UP DUDE!

Nothing SECRET about intel being the number 2 in performance behind AMD

Guest · Oct 13, 2001

Even if (and I'm not saying he has) Tom has lost his objectivity, what of it? You read the information presented here and from other sources and make purchasing decisions based upon ALL the information available.

Simple, straightforward, no problems.

Guest · Oct 13, 2001

I've been hearding a lot of people *intel* recently trying to diss amd. The Subject: the amd melts when the heat sink falls off. I have a few things to say to these chaps:

1) Can't you find anything better than that? I mean seriously this is hardly grounds for a revolution here...
2) I'm hearing a lot about the PIV's performance in these tests but nothing about the PIII. Lets face it no matter how much Intel wants the PIV to be its flagship the PIII is still better. (Can anyone say Tualatin? or for those of us concerned with performance: dual Tualatin?)
3) I've been hearing this somewhat , but let me reiterate: I would rather burn my Athlon and then buy another one for the same price as one PIV.
4) When a heat sink "falls off" i don't think the processor is my main concern. I have a nice GF3 that will probably be destroyed by that heat sink.
5) Not to mention the fact that on its way down the heat sink has 100% probability of tearing out the wiring from the power supply, killing an essential component (VidCard) or shorting out some exposed wirin on the motherboard (copper conducts electricity very nicely). In any case your computer isn't exactly going to be operational any more.

Anyone want to field those?

<by the way this is nothing personal, but that partisan signiature about AMD/VIA the weakest link bla bla bla... is rather offensive. As an individual i try to keep mine unbiased. I am not infringing on your freedom of expression, however it was my duty/right to inform you that i find it offensive.>

I for one run Quake 3 on a P133(No MMX)I have no affiliatioin w/ Intel

Guest · Oct 14, 2001

%$%^@!!!

I for one run Quake 3 on a P133(No MMX)I have no affiliatioin w/ Intel

lhgpoobaa · Oct 15, 2001

lol
i brought that up ages ago
when the HSF falls off more than the processor is damaged. probably graphics card, and possibly mobo as it hits capacitors and wrecks the pins the HSF fan is attached to...

but with all good flame wars, what value does truth and facts have in it?

Religious wars are 2 groups of people fighting over who has the best imaginary friend.

Guest · Oct 15, 2001

Venting insanity. I suppose that all of these forums just consist of 49% flames (irrelevant arguments over what is essentially a matter of opinion) - 49% n00bs (who ask hardware questions that they should find the anwser to in any faq).

I'd judge that the forums have only 2% pertinent content:
1%- breaking hardware news and discussions thereof.
1%- breaking hardware and discussions thereof.

I for one run Quake 3 on a P133(No MMX)I have no affiliatioin w/ Intel

AmdMELTDOWN · Oct 15, 2001

"AMD/VIA!...you are still the weakest link, good bye!"

Guest · Oct 15, 2001

Hehe

Time to bake the donuts! err, change the signature

Edited by ChuckWits on 10/15/01 06:01 AM.

FatBurger · Oct 15, 2001

Just when I thought Meltdown's posts couldn't get any more pointless...

I post so you don't have to!
9/11 - RIP

Has Tomshardware website sold out to Intel?

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