Q.A. Gone M.I.A.

I think a news bit would suffice perfectly. It doesnt need to be in hardware as hardware is there to be an index of sorts. It would be quite nasty if you're looking to buy a board that was released half a year ago and do a search in hardware and have to sift through a buch of preview articles.

A preview is technically an informal look at an upcoming product. Fits perfectly in the news section if you ask me. Keep the hardware section for the formal reviews.

And yes, I agree with everyone. Id rather an accurate review than an early one.

 

Because we believe the board we have is a duff one and hopefully we'll also get a new BIOS (fingers crossed) that represents the final final final product more accurately, so performance numbers will change.

 

It's not always necessary to blame the company - it could always be a case that Marketing sent out an unfinished product in a rush to get hype up about it. Just look at Dilbert

 

TBH even if a product is not in its final form, it is still nice to know a little bit about what to expect so I'd like to see something between a news piece saying something is released and a fully fledged review. Just a page or 2 overview with some product details, piccies and basic benchmarks (nothing fancy or indepth)

 

"A BIOS update should fix some of the problems..." Seen that a time or two, it would be nice to see an update after a BIOS revision (or two) to see if problems have been fixed, or if the reviewer was just being optimistic. Mind you, by that time there's plenty of real user feedback from the mugs punters who bought the early production kit.

In a review summary I want to know if a product's any good. Where it sits in relation to the competition. But that only gets it on the shortlist, I'm still going to wait to see user-opinion, so time is not of the essence, an accurate assessment of the product going into the shops is.

Tell it warts and all, if the manufacturer claims he will be fixing the problems seen before public release, hold the front page until he's given it his best shot.

 

cpemma, that'd be wonderful, but quite often manufacturers take the products back before it is possible to do an update.

 

Then that leaves it up to the manufacturers to give themselves a chance to improve their image, which it is in their best interests to do

 

I totally agree with the article, its nice to know your trying to evolve with the industry.

I also agree with the comments regarding a preview, a brief look at new products that will be of interest to us (no cheap crap). A brief intro, photos, spec and your inital view on what youve seen so far. Then when you get the retail version you could maybe do a quick look back at the changes theyve made since the sample (if its worth doing). Wack it in the news section.

Like most other people I like to have a quick look at the new gear, even if it is a while away from production, it would be great if we didnt have to stray elsewhere for it tho

 

i think many people on here have the same opinion as myself. i would rather see a quick run-down of a new 'thing', detailing its major benifits (and, where applicable, flaws), than a full review of something that is going to be different (fixed) when it hits the stores.

and as always, i would rather see a full and accurate review, rather than somthing that was rushed out to simply be the first to review a product. i dont come to bit-tech because its always the first ones to review, i come to bit-tech because i know the reviews will be fair, balanced, comprehensive and above all else, trustworthy. i really dont care if it takes you guys longer to do a review of something, i'd rather you take the time to do it properly, than rush and miss something fatal. after all, its my hard-earned cash thats going to be spent and i'd rather take good advice later, than bad advice sooner.

 

I think in our day and age most Manufacturers and companies in general feel that quantity > quality.

Getting that new piece of hardware out as soon as possible (even if it has bugs) is better then waiting and making it a as-close-to-perfect-as-possible product because if they wait technologies will change and they'll lose money.

Thats just our world and its just the world we live in now.


As far as the reviews go... how ever you guys do it now works. So just keep doing it

 

Hell, look how long it took them to get a decent socket A board/chipset out for the newer cpus (ie, nforce range), and even most of those werent perfect - how many years do you need on a socket to get things right? boards, memory, everything is being updated and superceeded so damn quickly now, its a hell of a hard ask to design a good board, that works well within the alotted timeframe and budget. I dont envy the board makers.

Also, theres an interesting thread at procooling where an actual power section motherboard engineer discusses how boards are tested - literally hot-dropping capacitors (yanking them out) until the machine fails, then once it does, put the last cap back in... hardly inspiring stuff.

Screw 'fastest', i want best. The best feature set, the most stable and the best board design. Get these things right, and add a decent bios, and it should BECOME a good overclocking board. Im sick of owning boards that have problems that they shouldnt.

Id call stability testing more important than benchmarking, but it doesnt sell the same as pretty numbers on a graph (why in the hell do people care if one system is 1% faster, ill never know)

Each to their own, i guess. Good article, a lot of us dont give a crap if its the fastest, especially if its just going to die a month down the track or be unreliable.

 

I agree with the approach bit-tech is taking; I'm currently looking for a new motherboard as I'm moving onto Socket 939, and since I only upgrade once every two to three years, I appreciate reviews which take stability as an important factor, and which are using the same board the public will get, rather than a pre-release.

 

I'd like to see a few benchmark comparisons where possible, no need for the full suite, and a brief paragraph containing the reviewers opinion, where the product is strong, where the product is weak, and what is ok but could be improved. Give us enough to have a rough idea of what to expect, because surely, they wont get any worse will they?