Hardware Intel Core i3-4130 (Haswell) Review

I couldn't be arsed before but now I think it is getting to the point where we need to say "Oi.... come on." (AKA, I've always looked at your review, but I read Anandtech's, Tom's, Techreport's and multiple other sources also. So I make my own conclusion from all these. Which, no doubt, is how I've come to the conclusion that if I was say, collecting metadata of reviews, I might vote Bit-tech down on the CPU reviews and weight your article less accordingly.)

Also, to put your second paragraph into "perspective" then, why do you even bother? If all it is achieving is hassle and your test will never reflect real world usage... ?

 

so someone wrote it for you and has left or no longer available? DANG !

 

Basically, yeah.

 

I too check multiple sources (but never Tom's, I don't trust them) but I almost like the fact that BT focuses on older programs. Due to the fact that most benchers use the latest and greatest, it's hard to know if a new product actually has regressions for older software. AMD's FX series is a good example of this - it's actually a decent architecture for newly designed software, but it has regressions in many older programs.

If the test doesn't reflect real world usage, then yes, it's not really worth testing. Some artificial benchmarks that take full advantage of every instruction available to the CPU are nice because it shows theoretical maximum performance. I like tests such as gimp or handbrake because you can actually produce those results in the real world and have more concrete meanings than some arbitrary number.

But in the end, most people who read these sites don't care about real world results. If they did, AMD would be making at least another $1 billion a year in strictly CPU profits. But people like to show off and have the best of the best no matter how much they'll never take advantage of it.

 

I'm not being harsh at all. When BT review a GPU they show you what it can do in all of the current games. Thus they need to start doing the same with CPUs.

I mean look, let's put it like this. BT are obviously trying to sell these CPUs right? that's what reviews are for. So why are they making it very hard for people who want to build themselves a PC? You tell me what's the more likely of these two scenarios.

1. "Hmm I fancy playing Skyrim so I'll read BT's review and make my decision based on that".

2. "All of my mates are playing Battlefield 4 and I really fancy joining them. I think I'll check out BT's review to see how it performs before building myself a rig for BF4".

Oh snap.

It's quite obviously far more likely that people will want to build a gaming PC based on the latest 'killer apps'. Not ones from two + years ago.

Honestly I'm not being harsh, but BT's CPU reviews are pretty useless for those wanting to build a gaming PC to jump aboard the latest and greatest wave of games coming out for it.

 

Sorry Mate... I think we are getting our wires crossed here: I'm saying you can't say that the Forumites of Bit-Tech.net are ill-educated because Bit-tech's CPU reviews are seemingly out of date. Fact is, our loyalties lie in looking for ourselves. We like Bit-tech regardless of the reviews. The forum is nice and hospitable.

Otherwise I agree with you. ... although I must confess I stopped reading your above... just in case we have a needless argument.

 

thank you! I didn't realise whoever wrote or has the source for the 1 click cpcsuite isn't available (for whatever reason). so writing a new 1 click suite , especially since you guys odnt get paid (or not a lot) isn't high on the ` need to pay the mortgage` list

 

Not to be harsh, but it's been a long time since I've seriously paid attention to bit's reviews in any meaningful way. I like the writing style and the Britishisms, but Anandtech is my first go-to for reviews, then HardOCP and maybe a few others.

What bit has that the others don't is the community - bit has, in my opinion, the best community of any tech site that I've ever found.

 

guru3d.com is my go-to site. Excellent writing, just about as in-depth as you can get, no record of ever being biased or bribed, unusual testing equipment (such as IR cameras), and highly knowledgeable community. Also, their community is friendlier than most, with maybe only 2 or 3 regular users who can have a bad attitude. I also go to phoronix.com, but that's pretty much just linux news and benchmarks.

I think BT's community is nice but I wouldn't say its the best I've encountered. Every tech community has its arrogant and hate-spewing users and while BT has relatively very few, they're also very prominent.

 

+1 and +1

 

Well if it makes you feel any better, thermal imaging isn't exactly useful for everyday hardware tests, it's nothing more than "very interesting".

 

Yeah, not to cast aspersions on our competitors but for the purposes of a normal hardware review, a thermal imaging camera is little more than a fun visualisation toy. It can perhaps tell you where the manufacturers should have added another, or larger, heatsink but ultimately the device performs how it performs. It's probably most useful for the modding side of things - or for highly competitive overclockers - who will look to machine new heatsinks and other cooling parts to get the best from their hardware.

That said, we're always open to suggestions when it comes to our testing methodology.

 

You make that sound like a bad thing?