While I don't have a specific article that helped me steer towards or away from a product, this website does help me keep track of what's going on out there in the electronics world.
I have been a long time lurker (since 2002) and I moved from another tech website (PCmech). I loved it. The three days I had 1000 posts, helping out in General Hardware at the time was boatloads of fun. But then I got banned a few weeks later in OT. lol
But anyways. This website has not only influenced my buying decision, but my business decisions. From the information I have gathered at this website and your affiliate website Dailytech, I have entered the stock market when I was 18 sticking to technology and by following the trends made a fair amount of money. I opened up a Computer Consulting/Repair business with no degree of any sort all. I did this with the base knowledge I gained from your site allowing me to branch out through the internet to places and do things I didn't know were possible.
Now I would have to say 80% (out of butt number) of the information that I used in my experiences I have to thank the community that you have made. The information that they provided me - especially the clues - allowed me to solve many many problems on my own.
You gave me a job. And believe me, in return many products from Intel/AMD/ATi/Asus/Foxconn have been sold.
Newegg alone has grossed over $30k from ONE PERSON in the past 10 years.
Imagine how many others like me on this site you have influenced?
I stumbled across anandtech several years ago (probably 6-7) while researching hardware for my first do-it-yourself computer build. It was not the first website I visited and it was not the last, however it has since become the first source of information on any hardware decision I make. I still do other research when I'm planning a project, but inevitably I always begin here and sometimes end up here as well.
As a matter of fact, I've used the buyers' guides recommendations for the last 2 computers I've built (I've built 4 since that first one), including the one I asked my 10 year old son help me with, as a project to help him understand the insides of computers better. And, based on my pointing friends towards your buyers' guides, I know of 2 other computers that were built. I even managed to get one of those 2 friends to "cross the fence" from ars technica's buyers guides.
Anandtech has been an invaluable source of information on new and upcoming technology, interesting news articles, and cost focused buyer's guides for me, for the last 6+ years. Thank you for your hard work and diligence in being accurate, meticulous and presenting your findings in an easy to understand and immediately recognizable way.
I've been a self-employed small-business IT consultant since 1997. In 2005 I left the IT profession to try gardening & landscaping. In early 2010 I returned to small-business IT consulting. In the process of catching up with new developments from 3 years or since I'd been doing IT work, I heard about consumer-level flash-based SSDs.
I was attracted to the potential of the SSD to improve real-world desktop single-user performance in the SOHO setting. I read a lot of reviews and articles on SSDs on other web sites, and almost made the mistake of purchasing and older-generation Indilinx-based unit for my own computer.
It wasn't until I read (and re-read) Anandtech's "SSD Anthology" and "SSD Relapse" articles that I began to have a solid understanding of the underlying concepts and issues around SSD design, implementation, performance, and reliability. Reading these articles helped me become a lot more confident in my ability to understand SSD specifications, to interpret test results, and especially to read between the lines of the often over-excited, over-laudatory prose in many SSD reviews on other web sites.
Anandtech helped guide me to spend my money in a way that will best meet my needs (in my case, on an OWC Extreme 60GB SSD, circa 6/15/2010, SandForce-1200-based.) I'm now able to evaluate ongoing developments in SSD tech and to make competent SSD purchase recommendations to my customers as well.
In "SSD Anthology" & "Relapse," as in most other articles that appear on Anandtech, I appreciate the writers' gimlet-eyed criticism, judiciously-toned wit, technical competence, high expectations for produts, and unwillingness to heap undeserved praise on a product just because it's "the latest and greatest thing."
Anandtech is basically the authority (imo) on SSD's, and the many articles lead me in the right direction for my first purchase. I am thoroughly pleased with what I bought, and it boosted my confidence in the quality of Anandtech's articles. You guys write amazingly, well explained articles about other products too, especially CPUs. I very much like the fact that you guys actively converse with companies and issues that arise when you test products.
I started reading Anandtech almost 10 years ago when I was just a teenager. At the time, I barely understood how a computer worked but the more I read, the more I understood. Since then, I've built many computers for myself, family and friends, all based on information I got from this website. To me Anand's hardware analysis has always been the gold standard of online (and print) reviews.
I recently started a job managing IT for a small company and I can say without a doubt that Anandtech is reason I was able to get into this field. As I progress in my career and start making purchasing decisions for my company, I will continue to rely on this site as my primary source of hardware information. The benchmark data has always been accurate, reliable and applicable and I appreciate the fact that the articles are well written and easy to understand without watering down the nitty gritty details.
I took a hiatus from your site for a couple years while in college, but I'm back and glad to see the site is stronger than ever. Keep up the good work, Anand and co.
When the company I worked for had outgrown its home and was moving to a new, larger site, my incessant complaining about the engineering lab was rewarded with "Okay, smartass, YOU are now in charge of the engineering lab. Provisioning, HVAC, everything. Have fun." The squeaky wheel gets the kick.
I used Anandtech as the starting point for researching the state of the art for energy-efficient computing platforms. The ability of our facility to move heat out and bring power in was limited, so selecting platforms with good performance-per-watt and physical density was critical. Selecting the right platforms, having the numbers needed for proper planning, and removing the trial-and-error aspect by starting from the right building blocks resulted in needing much less than half the energy and cooling capacity which it would have otherwise.
Reading Anandtech articles is my primary means of keeping current with PC component technology and trends, and it was this knowledge that got me the responsibility and authority to do things right, and in the process save my company a lot of money.
BTW: It's Anandtech's articles I find useful. Dailytech? It's a pit. Unless you're a company selling T-shirts with "hater" slogans on them, I wouldn't advertise there.
I tend to exhaustively research any consumer electronics or computer-related purchase I may be considering. Anand Tech's articles have been a deciding factor in probably 75% of those purchases - over the past 7 years or so, this has equaled around $10k or more, on products ranging from cell phones to hard drives to heatsinks and monitors.
I work for a 500+ person Architecture and Construction company in Dallas, TX. I can't count how many times I've forwarded articles from Anandtech to our CTO to help guide purchasing.
Specific examples:
Our new laptops all have Corei5 processors instead of Corei7 solely because of your articles comparing their performance. A majority of our programs are still single threaded and the much higher turbo modes available to the i5 mobile line basically blew the i7 performance out of the water on 85% of our apps.
Your articles on SSD's prevented a significant investment in Samsung SSDs from Dell and hopefully will get us some good sandforce or intel SSDs instead for our next round of desktops.
Both of these examples represent 50+ computer POs.
Our next big push in the hardware area is going to be Tablet PCs for field personnel and virtualization for HPC in the office. So, I'm looking forward to more tablet PC / MID reviews and the virtualization articles are already circulating.
As some people have already stated, I too have shaped my purchase of an SSD based off your articles. There is a level of testing and investigating that you guys go through that simply is not seen elsewhere, and we are all better for it.
I started reading anandtech many many years ago, in this years my trust in this paper has been gaining increasing, now I trust anandtech.
When I need to choose some good hardware for a new PC I read anandtech and another paper. If both papers tells the same things, I bought my hardware, if not I'll continue finding information. Generally Anandtech is my first choice and the first paper to trust. Love the huge comparisons when they release it.
I'll hope to see this good site grow up as it worth.
Whenever I make a hardware purchase in the PC space, I've checked Anandtech for any tips and stuff. You are my number 1 site for serious technical analysis of anything PC.
Thank you for making this site the awesomest tech-site on the nets! I've been reading since 2000 or something :)
Based on what I've read in AnandTech I took a flutter on the Seagate hybrid drive (Momentus XT 500 GB) --- which is adequate but disappointing, largely because I am not convinced their caching firmware is as near as good as it could be with a different algorithm. I also plan to buy a RunCore 4 128GB for my MacBook Air this weekend.
It also goes the other way of course. I've been happy enough to read the tech details of the successive Intel chips since Penryn, but have felt no compelling need to buy a new iMac based on any of them, since they all seem to promise basically what I already have, only with more cores.
Now my favor request to you. While you are at the GPU show in San Jose next week --- I assume you will be there (!) can you swing by the Wolfram Research booth and try to get any info you can from them about their future parallelism plans. What Wolfram do right now as of Mathematica 7 is - dense floating point linear algebra and floating point FFTs are parallelized - there are some nice primitives for parallel computation, but these primitives are designed for cluster use, have some overhead, and require a lot of setup in terms of exporting the various pre-requisites to a calculation from the "driving" Mathematica kernel to the other kernels. What Wolfram have announced (in a video that was so noisy as to be basically useless) is that they are working with nVidia to do neat things on GPUs; some of which may involve graphical work like voxel processing, but they've not said much more than that.
What it would be nice to know is: given that CPU speed has basically stood still for ten years now, does Mathematica plan to make rather more aggressive use of all the parallelism that is available on modern computers in a USER-TRANSPARENT fashion for Mathematica 8?
For example: - where it makes sense aggressively using SSE (and soon AVX). This could be used in situations like plots, multi-dimensional numerical integration, and perhaps random number generation. Are there ways in which special function computations (eg power series and pade approximations) can utilize vector units even for calculation of a single value? [Doing so for, as I said, integration and plotting is rather easier.]
- have the main work horse functions inside the kernel run on multiple cores. The main Mathematica kernel is probably difficult to parallelize, but many of the functions that it calls out to are basically one form or another of searches in a large space which can be parallelized. And of course again numerical integration and plotting.
Let them know that I, for one, would be quite happy to accept a few incompatibilities with the past, or cases where patterns are matched and resolved in a different order, or suchlike, if this would give me a Mathematica that was substantially faster.
My favorite articles are the ones involving a mistake on the part of the manufacturer and seeing how quickly and honestly they respond. The recent example of AMD allowing Anand full control of their machine to set up a benchmark just shows how much they trust their product. I like to buy from companies that take pride in their work. This website is one of the best for not only benchmarking hardware performance, but also for insight into a company's character.
I own a small and growing design business. we primarily use photoshop to work on large image files. When we started I built my own computers to save on $. Then I decided it was a waste of time and started buying dells. Then the dells started breaking and i decided it's time to start building them again. When I decide to choose parts I browse Anandtech to make decisions. i.e. most recent build was i7-950,gtx460(for future 30in monitors), wd ssd 120gb, gigabyte mobo, 12gb ram. I've been building the same setup for the last few iterations, but come here to refine the parts list, the product reviews are unbiased and factual and there is very little fluff.
I've been reading this site for about 6 years now...and I visit it frequently. The reviews, analyses, recommendations, insights, et al, are very helpful. For example, recently, I wanted to know which Intel processor system I should build...LGA1156 or LGA1366? My main concern has to do with Graphics bandwidth. Will two PCIe 8x lanes on Lynnfield suffice for now and in the future? I want to do 3D gaming, especially flight simulators.
Anand has the right article on the Lynnfield vs. Bloomfield PCIe scaling. This has given me enough information for me to build a system...and just waiting for Thanksgiving.
The information on minimum frame rate, power/noise, efficiency are very useful.
I would suggest to Anand to also test 3D gaming using the same configuration as his previous article...just to see if the PCIe bandwidth is sufficient on either platform.
Since I browsing your site a few years ago, I havent stopped. I visit it almost every day to see whats new. I assemble PC computers for myself, friends and co-workers here in Denmark where I live. I very rerely buy any component before checking out what you have to say about it. Why? 1. You know your stuff or you find out 2. You are impartial (You would make a very good journalist btw) 3. Your reviews are thourough and consistant and stuctured (IE high quality) 4. Your articles goes very much into detail/depth about the tech and theory, but I, as a reader, am still able to choose how much detail I want to read without it taking away the essence of the article.
This may sound like a lot of praise, but honestly I can understand why companys send you their best stuff to review. I would like to see 1 thing on your site though. When Im looking for new "stuff" sometimes I have to browse for a while to find out what the current best is atm. F.ex, Im looking for a new SSD. I know the sandforce based ones are some of the best at the moment, but it would be nice if I could just click on a link and it would bring me to all the SSDs you reviewed and the specs/score so I know what to get(OCZ Vertex 1 or 2? X-25M? ect).
My first encounter with Anandtech was when I built my first computer a few years back. I was trying to decide which video card to buy which at the time was either an 8800gt or a 3870. I was trying to understand how Nvidia parts could have so few stream processors and still compete with ATI. The only place I found an answer was here at Anandtech, and to this day I think that was one of the most helpful articles have ever read before making a purchase. As I kept researching parts for my build Anandtech would come up over and over again, and when I finally got my new rig up and running I was visiting Anandtech on a daily bassis. Since then I have almost completed a computer engineering degree and although my level of computer expertise and knowledge has increased dramatically, I still get the best information for Anandtech in my opinion. I never make a major PC hardware purchasing decision without consulting Anandtech first. It ranks right up there with google and wikipedia for me. Also bench is just awesome when you know what you need and want a quick way to find out what would be the best match for those needs. This is a great site, and I hope you keep up the good, we can never have too many in depth reviews. thanks for all the help and info over the years.
I check anandtech at least a few times a week to see the newest developments and trends in computing technology. At the every least, I try to keep tabs on which products are the best in several categories and why.
Most recently, the Asus VG236H interested me for its bundling of the nVidia 3D vision kit. At the time, I had a regular 24" monitor from a few years back. Earlier this month, the backlight gave out, and I remembered the article, so I ordered one from newegg. I am quite happy with the result, and I do agree that its weakest point is the stand.
I have also been looking forward to the release of the ASRock Vision 3D 135B. I've been looking for a blu-ray htpc or media box that would also handle hulu for quite a while. My latest interest in vision 3d things also tacked on the requirement that it can do HDMI 1.4 or be vision 3d capable. I'm looking forward to reading the full review on this machine when it's available, as I'm fairly sure this is what I've been waiting for. If it has any significant flaws, I might just have to wait for another model to come along. I know you guys are going to do a review on it, because one of your reviewers posted in a forum that a review would be coming soon.
I was also impressed by the test results on the iPhone 4 antenna and reception issues. At the time, nobody had really released any scientific results other than losing a few bars here or there.
Keep up the good work, I really do appreciate the time you guys put into reviewing products. It influences my purchases and recommendations to others heavily.
Firstly, I noticed the improper usage of the word "impacted." One can say that something had an impact, but it is incorrect to say something was impacted. I see this frequently- it is not just Anandtech that is guilty!
Now on to something productive! Anandtech Bench has been very useful for me to compare CPUs, GPUs, and SSDs. I can easily find information about performance and value which I have found very helpful for purchase decisions. I now have an SSD in my system and found that I really don't need to upgrade my CPU or GPU any time soon.
I am also happy to state that I enjoy reading many of the technical articles that have been posted, such as the workings of DDR memory. In depth articles about CPU architecture and SSD technology also provide interesting reads.
Anandtech is one of the few sites I visit daily and I commend them for their efforts to bring technical information to the layman (me.)
I built my first rig in 2003. For just about every day since that time, I have leaned *heavily* on AT for hardware news and analysis. I can remember learning, at the time, about this small upstart of a company called AMD - which aside from the generally derrogatory tone taken by salespeople at big-box retailers I generally viewed as inferior to AMD. Over the process of a few months (in the summer of '03), I learned from AT that not only was this back-bencher not inferior to the mighty marketing behemoth that was Intel, but that their Barton-cored Athlon XP offerings were *superior* to Intel's Northwood-B P4's. In July, when time came to select a CPU - it was a Barton 2500+ with 512k of L2 that went into my rig, over the P4B 2.6Ghz.
But that's not the only benefit that Anandtech's work provided me. Another product I learned about was nVIdia's nForce 2 chipset. I learned that among all competitors, nForce 2 had the best perfoming memory controller, the best featureset, the best all-around performance, and the best onboard audio (in the form of the mythical beast: Soundstorm). This information actually drove me to spend a bit *more* on my motherboard, buying a high-end Asus model (A7N8X-Deluxe) as opposed to a bargain basement offering from the likes of Abit or Jetway).
The most valuable information comes from Anandtech is the comprehensive technical understanding of platforms. It was from Anandtech that I learned that clock frequencies should be symmetrical - that running your CPU and FSB at 400Mhz but your memory at 333Mhz would actually *hurt* performance and memory bandwidth. You needed to be able to synchronize your platform; and that for K7 - the entire architecture of which is designed around responsivity - even more important than the bandwidth is low access latency. This prompted me to spend a little extra on a Dual Channel kit of Geil Golden Dragon DDR400 with CL2.0 (remember when you could buy CAS2 RAM?) (if you never saw this stuff, it was something to behold - they printed a dragon circuit pattern on the PCB. I keep them around for their artistic value) as opposed to ValueRAM rated at the minimum spec on the platform. Having that general understanding is what makes me able to make truly informed decisions about what I buy from a hardware perspetive - and it is also what makes Anandtech unique.
It's that credibility that the site lends that creates advertising value. When I read an article on Anandtech, I genuinely (perhaps foolishly) consider the ads on their article pages; partially because they are often contextually valuable - but just as much because of the credence just appearing next to such authoritative information provides. It's hard for me to argue against the value of an SSD when I'm staring at an advertisement offering me 10% off of list prices alongside performance data that shows the SSD flattening mechanical drives.
The other, tertiary benefit that AT provides though is my business itself. For example, in reviewing Sandy Bridge (and upcoming K11 articles) if appears that CPU performance is about to take another 20-30% step forward. Without an Anandtech with reproducible scientific data and analysis showing not just *that* a new CPU is better (the review), but *why* (in such a way that a layman can comprehend and feel *good* about shelling out for it) (the analysis articles like "Sandy Bridge Exposed" and "Designing RV870"), I would not buy computer hardware the way I do now. Do I spend as much as the Tier 1's would have me? Absolutely not, but as a system builder I spend a *heck*of a lot more on hardware than I would without Anand's analysis to show me that there is value in the higher levels
I discovered this site around 2005 and was a casual visitor. Over time, quality and thorough reviews started to attract me more.
I build a lot of mid-ranged PCs for casual users (family, friends, ...etc.) I rely heavily on CPU and GPU reviews from AnandTech to decide which CPU/GPU is suitable for which type of users (Casual/Gaming).
AnandTech Mobo roundups and reviews a pushed me a lot towards ASUS, and I can't be any happier with their mobos.
What I really enjoy is how new technology is explained. SSDs, new CPU and GPU architectures, motherboard reviews and other explanations are aided with graphs and amazing simplicity.
I do visit other websites for news and reviews, but I ultimately rely on AnandTech for 50% of the decisions I take. I feel other websites are degrading since most of them started advertising products rather than actually reviewing them.
Like a couple others, I've been a lurker on this site for a while, roughly since late 2004, but I joined to share my story about the largest influence on my decision-making.
In the summer of 2006 I decided it was time to retire my Pentium 4 desktop and build something with a true dual-core for my return to college. I heard from here that Intel was releasing a new processor named Conroe toward the end of summer with some significant improvements, so I decided to wait and see until performance reviews came out. Until then I had earmarked enough to buy an AMD 4200+.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2045/1 When you wrote this article on Conroe's release date, I was floored. For the same price I was willing to spend, Intel had an equal offering that was faster than AMD's entire processor lineup, and offered the same performance as the FX-62 (AMD's flagship at the time) for one-quarter of the price. Tigerdirect was the only one selling OEM processors for the first couple months at that price, but I was willing stand a backorder. One month later, I made my first computer from scratch (previous computers bought were Dell builds) and was very pleased with Core 2. Ever since then I've been an avid reader of the reviews here, and it's the only RSS feed for technology that I have.
As a researcher I also like the methodology that goes into the testing of various products on this site. Compared to other tech review sites, I frequent this one the most (~95% of reading time). It's safe to say that, not only has the site made a profound difference on my purchases, but also that I learned the most in the operations of computing tech with the background that's given on this site, especially with newer technologies. Hope the quality at Anandtech continues for much longer!
I found Anandtech at some point in time and ever since then it has been an invaluable source of too much information. I don't pretend that I understand everything that gets written, especially the indepth technical stuff, but it all (mostly) gets read and sits in there somewhere to be regurgitated..
What I look for is completely unbiased what is happening now, what is happen in the future and what I need to think about to make the decisions about the hardware my company needs to buy.
For my company I read the CPU stuff, with particular attention to what is important re Virtualisation as that is were my focus is at until the end of the year. For myself the GPU, SSD and other bits are important.
What I look for from a site like yours is that I can understand what is important or needs to be considered before I recommend or make a purchase.
As long as your testing process is transparent and is open to scrutiny I feel confident that what I read is the truth.
Have any articles been written that affect anything I buy, perhaps not as when I buy is not when the article is written, prices change, specs change but at least I am aware of the the performance per buck that I need to make the decision on.
I have made one decision and influenced my company purchase in one way, by stopping the purchase of additional servers for our VMware environment around May this year, and postpone them until next year and planting the seed of a different specification based a several articles I have read on Anandtech.
Anandtech is a holistic thing, it's not one article, it's a culture of asking why?
I bought the parts to build a workstation about 6 months ago. I used Anandtech to figure out which processor to buy. Basically, an i5-750, or the Xeon equivalent. Since I wanted ECC RAM it meant going with the Xeon 3450. For SSDs I went with mirrored X25-V drives.
Of all tech sites I use this the most regularly. Since I am also a silence nut I use silentpcreview as much if not more during an actual build. However, that is after I have decided on CPU, mobo and SSD issues, the rest is just heat sink, case, fans, PSU, that sort of thing. I'm not suggesting that anandtech become SPCR btw, as I think it's easier to just concentrate on your niche and do that well.
I'll continue to use the performance and power figures from Anandtech to decide which CPU and storage to buy, and then build the system with an eye to silence with SPCR.
I'm still amazed that SSDs aren't as widespread as they should be. Take any old laptop and whack in an Intel SSD - it is as good as buying a new laptop, for a quarter the price or so. Amazing.
The information presented on this site is a reference point for any other IT site. There is no other site with such scientific approach to testing and benchmarking and the technology articles are as deep as a scientific presentation on that subject. Overall this is is as much a learning center as an steering point, a navigational reference about what is going on in the world. There is no other site that influence my buying decisions (personal and business) as anandtech.com. One small problem would be that Linux is mostly absent from tests and benchmarks . Coming from HPC and GRID world i miss the possible test and benchmarks that could be done on Linux platform (given that there is no other useful platform for HPC and GRID)(http://www.top500.org/stats/list/35/osfam) There are not many Linux OS for enterprise so the choice is easy. Anyway, thank you for your work! THANK YOU! Adrian
Rest assured that Linux and OSS will come in the picture again in our IT articles. I am definitely convinced that Linux is a great OS for enterprise servers. It is only a matter of time. If you have suggestions for good Linux testing that doesn't require weeks to setup, let me know.
We are working on a "vApusMark OSS", including Xen/KVM benchmarks. Johan.
Wouldn't bother with Xen as its on its way out "Even Redhat has dropped Xen". The true Linux VM's are Vsphere 4.1 and KVM "For corporate" . I have access to both so let me know if you need any help on that Johan. Just email my anandtech email address.
well ... this is the only good current linux testing tool that i know of : http://www.phoronix-test-suite.com/ ... they did a good job with this tool but they lack the scientifically view and depth of analysis that anandtech.com is so famous of ... maybe something a lot better can come up from both of your views.. i hope that you will have also some OpenCL tests in your linux test :)
On the matter of distros to be tested i will give my 2 cents :) : On corporate side will be : RHEL and Suse .. On consumer (free side) : Debian (and now the problems will arise : Debian with latest updates or (maybe and) Ubuntu? ...), CentOS (but in principle if you test RHEL, CentOS presence is redundant), OpenSUSE and Fedora (pretty bleeding edge distro). IMHO this will cover most of the Linux usage and users.... you could take a look at Page Ranking from Distrowatch.com to have some idea about the main Linux distros ...
Thanks, Adrian
P.S. Disclaimer :) : this are only my provisional opinions ... as soon as i learn something new i will change my mind :D
Gosh Anand! Do you even need confirmation? I don't have an enterprise story to marvel you but i've been following AnandTech for about a decade learning stuff, keeping up to date and getting a peek at what's still a mystery for other sources! AT is "the" solid, trusted source of hardware analysis and news for many important sites and tech enthusiasts around, me included.
Let me start this by saying Anandtech produces some of the most comprehensive, well written, and informative articles of technology ... period. Most sites mass produce one dimensional reviews that do nothing more that describe the pros and cons of superficial aspects of a product. One example of a superb Anandtech article is the review of the latest Ipod touch. All aspects of the device were analyzed. The screen was compared to the Iphones 4's screen, the quantity of RAM was scrutinized, and the general value of the device was analyzed. While most other review sites give free passes to popular companies such as Apple, Anandtech gives truly unbiased reports. Of course, as a person who builds his own desktops, I am always looking for detailed, unbiased reports on computer hardware. This is another area where Anandtech steps in. Their reviews cover all the bases when it comes to hardware reviews. I have never left a hardware review feeling that a piece of hardware was poorly covered. Reviews, however, are not the only area where Anandtech rises above the rest. Articles explaining the science behind the latest technology, various kinds of instructions, and interviews are all reasons I visit Anandtech on a daily basis. Finally, the greatest quality of Anandtech is its honesty. I know I have said it several times in the course of this comment, but Anandtech is completely non-biased. They say it exactly the way it is. Keep up the good work writers of Anandtech!
P.S.
Your SSD articles are the absolute best of the industry. My first purchase of a SSD will be determined by your reviews.
I cant count the number of times I go to the Bench especially now that its got GPU's to compare. I used it daily when I was thinking about a new proc and bought my Phenom II X2 555 based on the benchmarks I saw here!
Not only do I use it all the time but I constantly link to it on various forums I frequent when answering questions about build or upgrade advice. Just this week Ive linked to it a half dozen times.
The Anandtech Bench is not only an invaluable tool, but Id go so far as to say its the most valuable tool available to gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts like us looking to tweak their systems.
Here I was a complete newbie to computer building. I'd been stuffing my Dells with upgrades, but never built a whole machine. Then my Dell desktop simply died in September 2009 after six years of steady use. A new one would take too long to arrive. So I started reading reviews.
Anandtech had a nice rundown on all the new cpu's. The comparative performances led me to get an Intel i7 860. I loved that chip so much I got another.
Then I read about the Gigabyte P55M-UD2 motherboard on Anandtech. Based on the high marks the reviewer gave it, I got that board. Again, it was the perfect choice.
Anandtech helped me find the two most important parts of my new computer build. I was so happy with it that it got me started overclocking. I now overclock a similar build. Thanks Anandtech.
I'd like to say a word or two about your writeups. Needless to say, SSDs were covered in-depth in almost every review/preview of yours and helped most of us around the globe make a decision on what to buy. Considering the fact that unlike hard drives wherein there are few re-known manufacturers/OEMs such as Seagate, WD, Samsung, Hitachi (and the lesser known Fujitsu, Toshiba etc.), when it comes to SSDs there are more than a dozen of them which uses several types of controllers onboard (SF, Jmicron, Marvell etc) and ultimately when it zeroes down to buying one, it is extremely hard and confusing even for the geekiest of the US! Your articles have helped us make a timely and a wise decision. I'd like to thank all the SSD manufacturers as well, to have sent Anand a sample for review!
With regard to your benches, honestly words fail me! It makes a layman so easy to judge the prowess of a GPU/CPU or the SSD with those 20+ odd benchmarks which you must have painstakingly compiled. We used to have a Tom's list before but ever since the updations went haywire, I do not refer to them anymore. I have all the benches bookmarked so it makes me easy to suggest a component to my friends, relatives, members of the forum etc.
HTPC cards - did I make a mention before? You have reviewed every almost every other HTPC card with loads of enthusiasm. And the review speaks for themselves!
Take care Anand! Keep up the good work! We love you! Regards Ganesh
PS: Darn, I missed the opportunity to meet you when you had come down to Bombay, India sometime back but there's always a next time! :D
I first heard of AnandTech by an Intel Sales Rep that gave a presentation at a company where I previously worked. He said it involved independent hardware reviews.
Reading your hardware reviews has helped me out when selecting computer components. I buy pre-made computers, but I learned about making good price/performance decisions. The first real impact was me choosing an 8800GT over an 8800GTS video card. I also rely on your CPU, HDD and manufacturer reviews. Oh, your review also convinced me to buy one of Dell's UltraSharp displays. I must say it has not underperformed, and visitors will often compliment me on it.
So here's to hoping for a long relationship, AnandTech. Live long and well.
Without a doubt one of the "go to" sites for all things SSD.... Anandtech really dove head-first into this area before most other tech sites, & has kept abreast for a few years now. It's also excellent for all things "enterprisey".... Long may you live and proper!
AnandTech and The Tech Report are the premiere PC hardware review sites on the Net in my opinion. With so much unverified information on the Internet it's an enviable status for this site to have attained. When AT says "It is so" I feel confident in advising my friends,family and colleagues as their "go to" guy for computer information,purchasing and troubleshooting. AnandTech has reached iconic status which is certainly a credit to the staff and forum contributors. In a world where even the TV news shows we used to trust are engaged in bias battles and political agendas it's a refreshing change to have reliability in a field that relies so much on precision and competence.
Your article on Xen virtualization performance comparing performance between Xen 3.1 and 3.2 along with vmware was very helpful in demonstrating why my company should use Xen for their virtualization needs. At the time my company was in the process of testing various virtualization hypervisors, your performance results gave me something that I could show as an independent source of information and also to confirm and cross check my own tests.
That you independently came to the same conclusion as my team did in regards to Xen and HVM performance (that Xen can run a fully virtualized OS at the same or better speed as bare metal) was instrumental.
I've been following AnandTech for quite some time,could be,something like 2 years before Anand had started his Hometheater, but dont have any story and nothing to do with enterprise hardware/software but more to share my appreciations.
I am more into databases and GUI creations,But thanks to Anandtech, that I known more about the rabbit hole. The difference is like,from being treated like an "non-existing entity"(replace this with any word you fancy!,I dont mind) when ever I have issues,now,being content and knowing who is who.
Its more like, I am an "AnandTech" to most of my peers and friends to thier satisfaction. But when I fail, http://www.anandtech.com never. That makes my day.
For most recent stories it has to be SSD. Although the first one to bring SSD up to decent quality review were PC perspective.
The most important things to me is how Anandtech ( or mainly Anand himeself, cause other articles dont have similar view ) share so many similar points of view to my thinking and describe it in a easy to understand, but still technically detail review.
And this point of views, are actually consumer's point of view. Unlike most review sites which seems to botch up zillions of graph and data for no apparent reason. Anand brings up a questions that most of us have in mind and try to find out answers.
Things like efficiency of PSU, why we need it, what does it actually means, how the standard is tested, are they are cheat to get there? What are your PC actua power usagel? And prove you dont need a 1000W PSU even for Quad Core + SLI. Voice of Concern, 100+ MB Graphics drivers update? When was the last Review site bitch against it publicly? ARM CPU - Finally someone is interested in what is inside....
It is how Anand's review are written from consumer's prospective that makes me continue to visit here. While sometimes it may not be the most informative, it is definitely "the" place for all tech.
"Things like efficiency of PSU, why we need it, what does it actually means, how the standard is tested, are they are cheat to get there? What are your PC actua power usagel? And prove you dont need a 1000W PSU even for Quad Core + SLI. Voice of Concern, 100+ MB Graphics drivers update? When was the last Review site bitch against it publicly? ARM CPU - Finally someone is interested in what is inside...."
Yeah... That is great information as well I get from this site.
I stumbled across Anandtech for the first time in late 2006 when I was looking for information about video cards to upgrade my crappy emachines desktop to play the original call of duty. At the time I liked computers and was interested in them, but I didn't know anything about PC Hardware itself. I simply wanted to find enough info to get something that would let me play the game I wanted to play. That is until I stumbled across the articles that would change my life. As I began reading, stories and reviews of Nvidia's glorious G80 were the prominent things at the time and as I started to read about it and all the technology behind it, I was captivated and hooked and have never looked back. Needless to say the e-machines never got the upgrade but I did learn everything I needed to assemble my first PC (Q6600, 680i, 8800 GTS 640, Raptor, Gigabyte Aurora 570 case, Corsair RAM, Zalman 9700). Over the past (almost) four years I have probably spent around $7,000.00 on Newegg for various components and upgrade for that and other PC's I have built and I have been able to share my knowledge with others and influence their technology purchases as well. I think for an advertiser that is probably the area where Anandtech readers might have the most influence. I would guess the majority of us are the go to technology expert for family and friends and that adds up to a lot of dollars spent based on the stuff we know and learn about at Anandtech.
Anyway, thanks Anand and staff for what you do. I check the sight out every day and have always enjoyed the deep technical insight and expert analysis that makes this site always my first stop for hardware info.
3 years ago the only thing I knew was that my latest PC, 15 months old, was gasping its last breath. I'd had 3 built by the local "wiz-shop" at about $1,000 each, starting with a P2, then RDRAM P4 (it's the best but very expensive!) and another DDR P4. When it died I decided to go off the shelf for about $400. I needed one to run my business. All the local techs would say was, "It's cheaper to buy a new one than to have this one fixed." I had no idea about any of the components inside in the box; what they were, what they did. I knew where the on/off switch was. I'd reached the conclusion that computers are about as good as coffee makers. Buy a cheap one and buy another when it breaks. I didn't know anything - I trusted them. I grew up in the 50's - 60's when it was all mainframes.. "rocket science" and intimidating... 16" discs and stacks of cards punched in Fortran or Assembler.
My EE brother assured me I could build a PC - I'd built some Hi-Fi components from kits in the 70's so I decided to give it a whirl. First I had to learn what a motherboard was. I began doing research without a clue to what I was doing. Worse than that I didn't have a local teacher. I was on my own. DDR was EOL and DDR2/dual cores the "new thing." I went through a LOT of tech sites and read review after review. I learned a few things, but not much. One day I found Anandtech, more specifically, Gary and some of the other guys, Ryan and Jerrod... Gary was doing a G-33/690G uATX round up. Blink and you missed it. I was a tile and stone contractor, former bean counter, not a hardware wizard... but I am not afraid of building anything. After finding Anandtech my education really took off. I had a teacher! Since then I wake up with coffee and Andndtech. You became my "McGuffy's Reader.
I still don't understand a lot of it. I'm one of those who needs a hands-on show and tell. Your guys managed to do that on paper. My appetite was voracious. I began to understand components and how they interface, what makes one product superior to another and where to draw a line in bang for the buck. I have to admit it was a lot to assimilate. Establish minimum standards. I learned how to evaluate each component over the next 7-8 months. I read an extensive PSU round up that really woke me up. It's as important as the CPU? Duh... Graphics cards were a bit muddled and I am not a gamer BUT Anand educated me to the point I won't build a PC without one. You guys grabbed my attention, interest and rocked my world. Within 4 months I'd bought components - QUALITY parts - and built 6-7 PC.s for HTPC/SOHO for the experience. I transitioned from single core DDR into duals and DDR2. The timing was superb. DDR3 was only a rumor. I haven't had any failures and have built and fixed a dozen machines to date. Now I look forward to die shrinks. I want an SSD! You cover almost all the bases - how about tv cards and SFX PSU's?
I have come to mistrust the big boys and their big box specials. I hate bottom-line economics and despise greed. A great PC isn't simply a CPU - it's a sum of the parts inside. If you want to have a long-lasting machine you have to put in quality parts. You fight for BIOS updates - X58? - and I learned why that is so important. I don't think there is anyone else out there who is as much of a consumer advocate as Anandtech. It's terrific you are editorial and isolated from advertising dollars. I can't recall how many times I've read - "their review is slanted to get the ad bucks." Yeah, it makes a difference. I really miss Gary... everyone on your staff tells it like it is. No FEAR. Moreover, the mfrs KNOW how big a stick you guys carry. They seem to respect and respond because your readers ARE well informed.
It's nice to no longer be a member of the great unwashed uneducated masses. I can quickly peruse a review or article and understand what is presented. It ain't Greek no more. It's nothing to be afraid of and education is the only way to get past that. Maybe one of these days I'll understand chip architecture but it doesn't keep me from reading the articles. or wanting a new rig. I don't know where we'd be without Anandtech (and the Egg). I would still be buying off the shelf boxes with only mediocre performance and longevity. I read DT but always come back to AT as the definitive source. Anandtech should be required reading before posting a review on Newegg...
A long time ago, when Intel released the Core 2 family, the ISP that i worked here in Brazil was in need of new computers for technical support area. My boss was about to buy 15 machines equipped with Pentium IV 3.06ghz (i dont remember the exact model now) and i stopped him when he was going to pay for the machines, because i know that wasnt the best thing to do, because i am a everyday reader of anandtech since the launch of Athlon XP, and i could prove to my boss that he was wrong by doing that purchase. Of course Core 2 duo was expensive than Pentium IV, but luckily enough, i've found a big intel specific sales on my town, proving that he could do the best thing by buying these machines at a low cost added to the purchase! At that time, the staff of technical assistance thanked me for the big upgrade (Pentium III to Core 2 Duo.... imagine that!) Thanks Anandtech! I even signed up on the site just to write that! thanks!
Anand - I remember when you build this website in 1997. I just began getting into understanding PCs and bought all my peripherals and such for my first PC at the age of 17 thanks to your reviews. Later that year I decided to follow in your footsteps and a friend and I built a website called CTRL-ALT-DEL.com. We could never compete with the level of knowledge and quality of your articles so we decided to focus on leaking ATI and nVidia beta drivers and generally do some crazy shit like how far could we overclock a AMD Duron going outside during winter at -40C. We became very popular rather quickly and had a pretty strong following of about 25k people on our forums. Things got a bit out of hand (2-3terabytes of traffic / month back then was A LOT) and we ended up shutting down shop and giving the url away.
I attempted to rekindle the feeling I had with ctrl-alt-del with a new site called MAXReboot.com and it was very successful again due to the beta drivers we leaked but by this time I graduated college and had a full time job. I also lived with my girlfriend and the time the site took away from all that was tremendous. I just could not keep up with it all so I had to let it go again.
You're very lucky to have been able to take a passion and make it your life's work. I've followed your website now for 13 years ... I can't think of any other website I've been going to for this long!
I stumbled across AnandTech many years ago when I had decided to build my first PC. The information in the articles has always been great. I've also learned a lot through the forums; amazing how much knowledge and experience your regulars have!
Yesterday I just finished buying the parts for a new build. Your articles on motherboard chipsets helped me make the decision to go with AMD/890FX (a break from my Intel past), along with NVIDIA (even though I have a family member who works for ATI). I really didn't pick out any component for this build without researching its pluses and minuses through AnandTech.
These days, I scour AnandTech for all the info before I recommend a product for evaluation at work.
In late 2008 we had a high-performance computing project coming up, and at that time AMD Opteron processors were once again being eclipsed by the new Intel chips. It was a dynamic time. We went with an Intel cluster, based in part on your work. So I consider AnadTech highly influential.
... that I, for one, check Anandtech every single day. In fact it is one of the only web sites that I visit every single day to check for updates. And I spend money on computer equipment and personal electronics. Anandtech's articles provide me with information that strongly influences the purchasing decisions I make.
As a computer science grad student in an informatics lab, I was tasked with selecting and procuring about $190K worth of HPC hardware. The AnandTech articles on current and future CPU architectures and HPC configs were invaluable and led to decisions about what to purchase.
AnandTech has really established itself as the standard for timely, impartial, thorough technical analysis of current hardware, and I always check the site for advice on the computer hardware I purchase.
i had been a sometimes reader for about 4 years - all that changed with what i still believe is the most authoritive review of technology ever written on a retail hardware site - the original ssd piece.
on the recommendations in that original article i sourced myself the intel ssds. i have never looked back. now anandtech is on my first "to do list" every day. i now basically look to anandtech to provide me updates and reviews on everything, and then fill in the gaps from other sources.
since then the articles that have changed my life on anadtech are:
the nvidia 470/SLI/MSI afterburner the asus 3d 120mhz gaming monitor (with 3dvision) the asus g73 gaming notebook the story on the behind the scenes work to develop and launch the ati/amd video cards
you guys should be proud - your inbiased and thouroughly reviewed pieces are heads and shoulders above the rest of the "let's rewrite the <insert company here> press release, insert the stock imagery, and palm the free samples" journalism that seems to be taking root amongst the review sites these days.
and to help crystalise this better - if anandtech says it's worth having, it probably is. your recommendations actually mean something to me as opposed to the recommendations from those that i mention above.
As already said by some other readers: SSD was a big hit for me too, and I read the best and most comprehensive articles here on AnandTech.
As I'm on a budget (the company finances are handled by my wife and she can be a killer on my IT investments), I had no second shot on SSD-s (one fail and I will have no second chance of buying them).
The detailed data and analysis in the articles helped me to choose the best candidates for mi (X25), and I'm more than happy with the performance of our notebook fleet now.
im waiting for an Tegra2 powered LG phone after first reading about both of them here on anandtech. i come here daily for all current and upcomming hardware news and reviews
i also got my nvidia 480 gtx after reading about it here.
I think there is no one reader of your site who can say that they have not found your articles, insightful, unbaised or intelligent. I am not a person who comments much (this is my first post here) but I could not let this opportunity pass to thank you for the advice received over the last 10 years or so. If i have been in the position to make a purchase, for my own systems or for the units i have sold over the years, I would rely heavily and make judgement calls based on reviews, comments and advice given here.
I agree with most of the comments on here in relation to our work, and would also like to take my own opportunity to say thank you and keep up the good work, much appreciated!! I hope you never lose the passion of what you do, as this is evident in all your articles and what keeps me interested. Now for a toast!!! (Couldn't help it I'm Irish, and i needed an excuse to have another small one!!!)
May you get all your wishes but one, so you always have something to strive for.
I'm mostly just a simple consumer though it has affected my IT purchases for my small(2 employees) online business I run.....
Bought a Intel X25-M G2 SSD after reading all the treatises and reviews from Anand on SSDs up to that point
Bought 2 Dell Studio XPS16's after Jarred's great reviews on the excellent RGB LCD
A year ago I weighed my options b/t Iphone 3GS and Pre via Anand's Reviews (chose the Pre and am very happy about it, though I do wish there were more software updates from Palm/HP)
Back when Dual Core CPUs first came out I read each new release's reviews religiously about the real world time-savings it offered for a multi-tasker like me, and not just random benchmarks, or single program benefits.
I'm sure there's more but the detailed interviews and real-word assessments of all 4 of these decisions have been very informative and have made me excited to buy the products I have.
You were the first to actually illustrate the problem people were reporting with the iPhone 4 reception. Furthermore, your trick to get the fieldtest mode was inspired and I have many times linked to that article just to educate people who didn't understand why the bars was enough. (I did buy one anyway:) Your articles on SSDs, CPUs and CPUs are fantastic. Keep up the good work.
I definitely take your recommendations as the most serious online. More than recommendations, you provide a place to explain the field and are unique in that regard. Whatever item I would buy for my computer I would check here first to understand the field and the best items.
I've been hanging out here for a while, initially for the PC component reviews but I was very happy when you turned your thorough analysis and benchmarking to servers. Medium sized companies simply don't have the clout to ask vendors for test units to asses performance so getting independent benchmarks is essential for choosing the right equipment. There are equipment other benchmarks out there but the thorough transparent and unbiased approach of Anandtech is a big draw for me. I still love the consumer gadget and component reviews but the server reviews are what is relevant to my daily work. I would be even happier to see you review entry and mid level iSCSI SAN solutions (hint, hint).
Recently the company I work for purchased eight Dell R910 Servers. The articles on this site were a great help is leading us to this decision. They replaced our previous VM Ware cluster of SunFire's (Opteron Based) and a few older Dell's (Intel Based). We look at articles involving the R910's directly to get performance data, as well as power consumption data, which was extremely useful. As it let us know real world power draw (Dell does not give these specs). The performance of the Xeon 7500's in a VM environment was also very handy.
At first I was set thinking we should continue with AMD's, but the data shown here showed Intel was the better choice at the time of purchase.
Well first off, this is THE site on the web for everything SSD related. I would never think of ever purchasing another SSD product in the future without first checking this site to see what you think about it.
I think if it weren't for this site, SSD's would have taken a nose dive after the first gen and would be no where as popular as they are. It likely would have taken the industry twice as long to figure out why their crap isn't selling if you hadn't pointed it out to them. Every manufacturer selling SSD's should give you royalties for saving their companies from themselves.
Apart from that i do read most of your computer hardware reviews, but don't always base my decisions solely on your articles other than with SSD's, however i do take your recommendations to heart. I frequent this site almost daily, to keep up with new and upcoming computer hardware.
I read Anandtech for about 10 years and many of its hardware reviews helped me made purchases either for me and my friends, but also for the companies I've worked for (as an IT consultant or IT Manager).
But the most influential thing were, by far in the past couple of years, the SSD articles. Now every database server for the mid-market or entry level I either order for clients or just recommend to them has Intel X25-M or E RAIDs that helps performance in a big way, about 6 such SSDs replacing up to 20 SAS 15k rpm drives...
More that this, I've start replacing productivity notebooks drives to SSDs, it also helped the performance and it's more safely to use on the field or when moving.
It all began back in 2005. I was looking to get back into PC gaming. Stumbled across Anandtech and Toms Hardware. To cut a long story short, from 2005 to now, reading Anandtech and Toms has given me a great perspective on the state of PC gaming, PC desktops and even mobile hardware.
Focusing on Anandtech, it has influenced my decisions on the big "wars" going on in computing hardware. Intel vs AMD. Nvidia vs ATI. Mac vs PC. Laptop vs Desktop.
It is hard to encapsulate it, but every facet of computing hardware is dissected on Anandtech. Some accuse various tech sites of bias one way or another, and sometimes accuse them of being "paid off" by one side of the "hardware wars" or the other.
Regardless, the most important thing I come to learn is how the winds are shifting.
For example, Intel was suffering with the Pentium 4. Hence I went AMD64. Then Intel Core and Core 2 came out. Hence I went with Intel Macs when the transition happened. Then Nvidia was doing some killer stuff with their G92(?) 8000 series and 9000 series (hence my username). Then the GTX280 was too hot, too big, so I went to ATI 4830 512MB. Then ATI came and killed Nvidia with the 5 series. Then Fermi is out, but the 6000 series from AMD/ATI will be out soon.
Most important, as you can see, is gaining information on CPU, GPU, RAM and OS features, and benchmarks, benchmarks, benchmarks. Also good to keep an eye on Apple and non-Apple products by visiting this site.
To sum it up, Anandtech has influenced my purchasing decisions on:
Intel (bought Intel Mac, not Nehalem CPUs for desktop -- too expensive) Intel (bought Intel Core 2 and overclocked 10-20%) AMD (bought AMD64, then Intel Core2, then AMDX2, AMD make great gaming CPUs which are affordable) Nvidia (bought 8500GT, then another for 8500GT SLI) Intel + Nvidia + Gigabyte mobo (helped my company buy about 3 units of PCs to act as MYOB server/clients and as CCTV PCs - these were Intel Core 2 + 8500GT, Gigabyte mobos and Raid1 two hard disks) ATI (bought 4830 512MB after I sold my 8500GT SLI rig) iPad (bought) iPhone4 (wondering deeply about it, haven't bought yet) SSD (haven't bought, no TRIM support on Macs) 7200rpm 2.5" drives (bought, good speedup) 10,000 rpm 3.5" drives (did not buy, too expensive for purposes)
I should just say, for the record, I am pleased with value for money when it comes to ATI cards. But I did run into the usual "It's good hardware but the constant dhttp://www.anandtech.com/show/3936/a-favor-share-y... issues & benchmarks such as [Starcraft2 with AA] make you think twice."
Oops. Not sure what happened in my previous comment. I meant to say:
I should just say, for the record, I am pleased with value for money when it comes to ATI cards. But I did run into the usual "It's good hardware but the constant driver issues & benchmarks such as [Starcraft2 with AA] make you think twice."
I started reading probably 10 years ago and... AT is not quite as interesting as it used to be... there are a number of reasons for that; the biggest being that the x86 platform is just not sexy anymore. Performance gains are methodical, people have long ago figured out which applications scale horizontally, and individual components in the enterprise lag behind the consumer market because they are purchased as part of a larger solution.
That said, you guys do a good job of covering the basics: the marketing presentations delivered to the media. You cover it from a "boots on the ground" perspective with the ability to relate back to what it means. Over the years I've built a number of personal PCs from recommendations on this site and you've never steered me wrong. So few sites focus squarely on the x86 desktop market that (and do it professionally) you should keep on trucking. I'd like to see more full system build guides though. Anandtech Bench is great for building a PC.
If I had one complaint about AT itself, it's that it reads like its written by a bunch of former engineers. Which isn't in and of itself a bad thing, but the business conclusions drawn by AT's articles often tend to fail in realizing how the enterprise procurement process works. These articles often confuse me because it feels like AT is trying to branch out into enterprise from the perspective of a small business. Either stay away from the business conclusions or get the conclusions from an enterprise IT consultant/manager who is aware of the differences in ordering single machines vs. volume.
I actually discovered this site via the article Shoebox Showdown (2007). I've always had this dream to build a machine in a MicroATX box that has sadly never come to fruition since the price/performance has never been justified.
As others have pointed out, this website was the primary motivator behind my first SSD purchase - the Intel X-25M. I read it regularly and I enjoy reading your comprehensive reviews and guides on everything from home theater setup to smartphone testing. I trust this tech site more than any other site I read.
That said, I will echo the sentiment that DailyTech is a terrible site. Too many misleading headlines, an immature forum community, and mediocre writing.
I'm probably one of the oldest readers of the site. I first started reading back probably around 1997 or 1998 in college. Anand was still in High School i believe. The two best sites back then for cutting edge were anandtech and Tom's Hardware. I remember his first Pentium II reviews influenced my roomate to buy the P2 along with a Voodoo video card for OpenGL quake! I was much poorer so Anand's reviews on the AMD K6 combined with a Riva 128 (memories of bad gamma settings making everything dark) gave me my poor man's gaming rig back in the day. This was also the first computer i built with much help from this site(replacing my AST) and lasted me until until i bought my celeron 300a/Abit BH6 to overclock for my new poor mans rig.
A lot of hardware sites have come and gone, but i don't think any have maintained the quality of reviews that Anandtech has.
I work for a school district and some of the reviews that are meant for the average home user can effect our purchases as well. We may be looking for a notebook lab or something and besides trialing a notebook we would want some benchmark comparisons and Anandtech.com provides some of the most thorough reviews out there. One thing that I like about Anand is that power and general efficiency are larger topics than at most sites. That is a very important aspect as knowing the whole truth keeps your trust with the site (even if you don't like the product in the review).
We would be considered a small/medium business by our staff amount but when we are talking technology I would say we are on the smaller side of things. Even still, the articles that apply to small/medium business likely apply to us as well.
I found an excellent article on the FujiFilm FinePix A330.
You reviewed the Macro capabilities and found them excellent (which they are). I promptly purchased one on eBay (even at the time I think that article was more than a couple years old).
It is still going strong, and I am able to get very nice shots of circuit boards, SMD components, and A/V equipment and car parts that I sell online.
I also come to Anandtech when I want any news of Video cards. I have purchased my last 6 video cards based on information on this site. I will not buy a video card without knowing the memory bandwidth and the number processing units and their clocks. I never have any money and the most I have ever spent on a video card is surely under $150, so those reviews are important to me so I can get a card capable of the minimum level of performance for a couple years.
Processor reviews: Anandtech convinced me to try Intel processors again with their in-depth articles on core technology (pun intended). I have since built a few Core PC's, instead of AMD. I am looking forward to trying the new AMD lineup based on Anandtech's reviews of the Athlon II core and the excellent performance it offers.
Memory is another area where fine articles at Anandtech have kept me from jumping on a advertiser's bandwagon. DDR3 was not ready 3 years ago, and your thorough tests showed that there wasn't an advantage over DDR2. And since then there are articles showing that DDR3 is now the RAM to choose.
I'm an IT Director. 90% of the time before I make a decision, I consult Anandtech and a couple of other trusted websites for benchmark information, etc. and then use that information to make a decision.
So this website has played a part in directing where my $200K budget goes each year since circa 2001 or so.
The vast majority of that obviously comes from reading the articles and reviews.
I have been wanting to purchase an SSD since they first came out, but have been leery of them. There was very little solid information about the different models on the internet, that was until you became the unoficial SSD guru. With the plethora of well organized, informative, and comparative articles on SSD's I was able to safely make the decision to purchase a 160 GB X25-M 34nm. Intel should definetly send some thanks your way, as should OCZ.
I am a high school student and I can say that though I read several other hardware review sites AnandTech reviews are a cut above the others in terms of accuracy and detail and I read them word for word. I decided to go with an i5 750 and x25-m g1 based on your reviews last year. I also decided to upgrade from my ipod touch 2g to a used ipod touch 3g for my pocketable browser last week instead of going for the newer generation touch or a galaxy s based on your performance reviews and CPU architecture analysis. I'm planing on saving a few hundred dollars this year and waiting for Cotex A9 in tegra 2 or similar soc. Keep the smartphone reviews coming, especially the performance and soc information. You guys are the best.
While I can't say that there's any one specific article, my current IT department at work visits Anandtech on a regular basis, as do I.
In fact, the new CAD station that was recently built for me (for CATIA), relied on performance indicators for the selection of the Intel Core i7 980X as the processor to use. I personally, reviewed the article here to find out what it can do in terms of overclocking, which for what I do, is an important consideration moving forward. (CATIA V5R20 is the last release that will support the "big iron" UNIXes such as AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris; and therefore, I needed something that would be able to keep up with the pace that I work at.)
Another system that is currently in the process of being built that also relied heavily on information from Anandtech is our 48-core AMD Opteron-based FEA compute node. We are starting to get into larger scale parallel processing (both shared memory and distributed memory processing), and the benchmark results from Ansys Fluent and LS-DYNA helped us determine which processors to get.
If I had to make one comment, criticism/feedback, would be to do more testing with HPC programs (because there ARE HPC customers or those wanting to get into HPC) where Anandtech is an important source of information. Additionally, running LINPACK (something that was done previously, but doesn't seem to be the case anymore) is also important because I've found that it taxes and tests a system for stability better than any other program out there.
So, I would DEFINITELY like to see more HPC and compute-intensive benchmarks; and I fully understand that those benchmarks typically take a significant amount of time compared to other more "conventional" benchmarks.
I would also like to add that Anandtech is also a source of information pertaining to SSDs as well.
Some/most/nearly all of the new builds at my company's IT department are being built with SSDs in them.
The benchmarks that are often presented include sequential and random reads and writes, but I would like to see more h2benchw results (especially the swap portion, where it mimicks the file/data access pattern of a swap file/drive).
This is important to my line of work because when you're dealing with a 60 GB swap file, and solving an FEA case using a direct sparse solver, the performance of the swap file I/O subsystem becomes critical to the overall performance of the simulation (at least in terms of total run time). Tests conducted in-house have demonstrated that it can vary by nearly a factor of 10(!) (i.e. 10 TIMES as slow WITH a large swap file vs. with the minimum swap file size using an iterative solver); so, more benchmarks for those types of applications would also be beneficial in guiding future IT business decisions looking forward.
I got the courage to do my first PC build from reading Andandtech. Waaaay back in the day, your reviews of the AMD K6-3 got me fired up about the value/performance of that chip. I had by far the best bang-for-your buck desktop possible at that time.
Any long time reader of AT has no doubt about the sites impact. It's clear that the leadership of AT has influenced even Intel, prompting the chip giant to up it's game significantly, while also leading to their abandonment of such hated practices as the notorious paper release.
Way back in the day (April 1998) Anand wrote a wonderful review on the ABIT BX6 motherboard and its over clocking functionality. Living in South Africa it was not an easy task to import but I was able to find a company in the States that would export the motherboard to South Africa.
Upon ordering the board and I then purchased the first Intel Celeron (266Mhz with 0k Cache) which waited to be installed until the board arrived (several weeks.) When it arrived and every thing was installed - I was able to over clock the Celeron to 400Mhz with out any extra cooling!
I like to believe that for a short time - I had the fastest home computer in South Africa running at 400Mhz when the fastest CPU then was Pentium II 300Mhz
I am pleased to say the system worked perfectly over clocked for many years.
I find the Bench facility is of HUGE relevance for purchasing, especially for purchasing for the office, the sysmark scores are invaluable, especially when they're there and you can compare them on a single page and send a screen shot to my manager about why this one should be purchased over that one.
I would however love to see some server CPUs included on the Bench though, it would make my job a hell of a lot easier!
I found Anandtech so long ago it seems near forever, 10 years+? I have based all my PC builds around knowledge I gained here. Sure I visit other tech sites, you know the ones but none even come close to Anandtech. Anandtech is unbiased and thorough, what more can you ask for. Hell my home page has been Anandtech nearly forever and I do not see it changing any time soon.
The very first article I ever read on anandtech was the most profound. Someone had linked a review about power supplies to this website. The article showed how they were not all created equal. This was a real eye opener because when Anand put each one in a high end system they each had a different level of being stable. What I think he did at the time was over clock the test system to see how stable it would last. Some of the 200 watts power supplies were more stable then a 300 watt. No one did anything like this back in the day. This was a real eye opener for noob that was just starting out in the tech field; I started out testing for Y2K. Ever since that review Anandtech has been my source for hardware reviews and helps make the best choices when it come to hardware.
I have been a reader of Anandtech for going on 8 years now and while I don't make a large number of posts the information that I get from Anandtech is invaluable.
I am the Senior Network Engineer for the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation arm of a large computer forensics lab in the United States. I have many stories about Anandtech influencing my outlook on things by providing me with good, scientific data that I can present to my peers and my director however I'm just going to touch on two of them.
We are presently outfitting to move a part of our operations to a new space and as a result needed to acquire a number of servers to support the increase in infrastructure and still have a few around for the inevitable short notice requirement that will crop up in the future. As soon as I found out that I was going to have to make a purchase order to supply this need I came here and re-read all of the recent server articles, especially those dealing with using higher powered servers to virtualize existing servers. The information that I got from reading the articles about the servers, as well as the recent "ask the experts" features on virtualization I was able to make a well informed decision on a set of HP servers that should meet our needs for some time to come. This happened in spite of the fact that some of my older colleagues still subscribe to the philosophy that "virtualization is evil" because physical servers do a better job thanks to the hard data and expert opinions that I found here.
Secondly, one of the current hot topics here is how much the use of solid state drives could reduce our caseload (by increasing throughput if you'll pardon the computer metaphor). A large part of my contributions to our meetings on the subject has come from Anand's SSD reviews in regards to expected performance increase, particular brands that we should look into, reliability and more. My director was so impressed with the information that I was able to supply that I have been given authorization to do the use case testing for the software that is commonly used in our lab so that we can justify the purchase of new SSDs and which SSDs we ultimately purchase will have been influenced in no small part by Anand's dedication to accuracy.
While many people may not be as interested in some of the technical details that you go through when you do an in-depth examination of a product, in my line of work questions about architecture and the exact nature of where data resides and how it gets there come up quite often. Thank you again for providing detailed, accurate information in as concise a format as possible.
Nearly every purchase I have made has been influenced by an article I have read on AnandTech. I consider the site to be the definitive voice on SSDs, video cards, motherboards and processors (and more, but those are the products I buy most frequently). I have also purchased a power supply on a review recommendation. The site is fair and balanced and has unprecedented access to the companies and products they review.
I check AnandTech daily, sometimes several times a day; the only other site with that much influence over me is (unfortunately) my Facebook page. The funny thing is, my IT manager told me the same...
I'm building a new system based largely on recommendations and articles from this site. I've been reading this site for years and it was from reviews here that I chose my first motherboard; a FIC model for an AMD K6-233 way back in the day. I basically learned to build my systems by reading this site.
My new computer is eventually destined to be a HTPC. Lian Li PC-C33 Case ASUS Crossfire IV motherboard 8GB Gskill DDR3 memory Crucial C300 128GB SSD WD 2TB HDD AMD Phenom II 6-core 2.8 Ghz CPU 2x ATI 5850 Video cards Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
Between this site and Newegg its just about all you need to build a machine. Maybe a trip to the local Fry's for things that slip between the cracks. :)
The company I work for sells solutions to telcos. One of our solutions is a billing system that takes call detail records from phone switches, and performs the entire billing process applying tons of logic and tons of information relative to suscriptors, countries, plans, promotions, etc. One of the strengths of this solution is that it's made to scale horizontally, and was proven in 2007 to process over a hundred million call records in 11 hours, using 8 dual core machines. The main Oracle database is relaxed because all calculation are done in the commodity boxes (using local, embedded databases).
Back in 2007 a large and well known Mexican telco entered our local market (Colombia), purchasing many small cable providers, investing many millions, and eventually becoming one of the major broadband and TV providers in the country.
By the second half of 2008 they purchased a gvmt license to become a carrier of long distance voice calls in our country, and also begun selling (voip) phone lines. They chose my company's solution for billing of phone calls.
When the project begun I was to provide hardware specifications for the platform, which I did (modest 4 quad core servers). It was december 2008, and their IT staff was all sold up into the virtualization hype of the day, which if you remember were times of was first-era virtualization with vendors saying "performance is near to native" but reality being much, MUCH worse.
I tried to explain to their IT staff that the CPU consumption profile of our app would not virtualize well. I tried to tell them that those lines like "performance is almost as good as native" were vendor crap. I was not successful to convince them on my own, those guys were deeply entrenched in all the hype, and the vendors had dthem convinced that everything could be virtualized, and should be, to leverage consolidation.
To my rescue came an artilce here on anandtech (I tried to find it for you just now but couldn't, sorry) that performed a benchmark, a performance comparison of native vs virtualized, betwen 4 different loads: idle, kernel compilation, some sort of website app, and an OLTP database. The performance loss was considerable in the web app and specially in the OLTP scenario. I forwarded their IT staff this article and explained to them that the nature of our app was very OLTP and CPU intensive and that if they insisted in virtualziing they would expect that kind of performance drop. They were mute for a couple days. Later I found the areticle got them scared, because they were in the middle of a massive corporate-wide effort on "virtualizing everything", and until then had believed that performance was just as good as netive (remember, we are talking 2008).
So they agreed to not use virtualized servers for our app, and went back with some serious questions to their virtualization vendor regarding their project. Hopefully they had more success in consolidating their IT because of this.
It was under the guidance of Anandtech that back in the era of intel's Prescott Pentium 4, all the hardware configurations i set up were Opterons, given the horrible performance hole intel got itself back then. The afforementioned 8 dual core machines setup had a contractual requirement of billing 104 million calls in less than 12 hours). It was done in just 11 hours, and I believe had they not been Opterons but Xeons, we could have been in trouble.
On the less corporate side, me living in south america means I have to import stuff like high end video cards and the like, which makes them even more expensive (due to import fees and exchange rate), which makes the purchase decisions ever more paramount.
Anandtech has helped me with every single purchase for like 5 years, however, not everything is a happy story. Since those first couple articles about SSDs, I've known that would be the best possible upgrade for my computer, I've known there's an order of magnitud in disk peformance, to a point Anand's personal coumputer will never again be without an SSD, and yet, given the cost of SSDs, exchange rate, and import fees, I've had to endure almost two years now, knowing that theres SSD paradice but that I cannot enjoy it. Had I not known perhaps I'd have been a little happier =P All I can do is wait for that new generation of intel's higher density nand chips to go mainstream and lower everybody's prices. Or perhaps the generation after that... maybe, someday.
Items that I would not have bought were it not for AnandTech reviews: -ASUS A7N8X Deluxe -SAPPHIRE RADEON 9500 128MB -AMD K6-2 Chomper 500MHz Socket 7 Processor -Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JB -Linksys WMP54G -AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton 2.2GHz -Two computer cases -Several different CPU coolers
Items where AnandTech played a part of my purchase decision (through review or competitive assessments): -ViewSonic P95F+B -Linksys WRT54G -CORSAIR 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM (3x) -Logitech MX1000 -LITE-ON 18X DVD±R Model LH-18A1P-184 -ECS N6200A-256DZ GeForce 6200 -SAMSUNG STORY Station 1TB -Logitech MX Revolution -Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500 GB -Logitech Z-5500 -Logitech Harmony 900 Remote Control (Black) -Logitech Performance Mouse MX -Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB (2x) -Linksys WMP55AG PCI -Logitech MX900
Other than the above, whenever I'm in the market for a video card, a motherboard, anything storage related (HD, flash mem, etc.), a computer case, CPU cooler, computer monitor, or computer peripheral I often check AnandTech first before going elsewhere. Additionally, computer purchases by friends and companies I have worked for (including a whole host of computers at one college, for their PC labs) have been influenced by what I read on AnandTech.
Ended up buying the intel GEN 2 160GB SSD after reading the articles on the topic, and the tests themselves obviously. And my system is running smoother than any system I have ever built and owned previously! (i7 920 setup)
So, I think Intel owes you a lot of money :-)
PS: Current computer acctually hinders me as I type this post, the HDD is going mad with something, I dont know what it could possibly be, but it is a good example for why I now find such discomfort using computers that lacks SSD
I own a small business and manage another with a combined 15 employees in the legal field. We started small and grew over time. Computers have been my hobby since a child, and I built all of the computers and servers in my office. Whenever, over the course of time, we built or upgraded computers, I would always check Anand Tech for reviews on components in order to make intelligent informed purchasing decisions. In my opinion, compared to other tech sites, Anand Tech seemed the most credible becasue they explained their testing methodologies and utilized them as long as practicable to compare component development over time. Many other web sites seem like nothing more than paid mouthpieces of the manufacturer so I coudn't trust a word they said. Credibility is paramount in evaluating a source of information and Anand Tech has felt credible to me as a reader for years. I only built file servers with RAID and destop computers, not really "enterprise" solutions. We were a small business trying to save money. We needed value and reliability. Anand Tech provided the analysis I needed in order to make intelligent purchasing decisions. I must have spent $30,000 or more on computer parts and software over the last 5 years and Anand Tech certainly influenced how I spent that money.
I'm for real. You have my contact info in my profile. Feel free to contact me for further information.
Anandtech is an excellent & reliable techsite. I built my first do-it-yourself pc 3 years ago, and I selected every component based on the reviews of AT. And even after that, all my upgrade decisions were also greatly influenced by AT reviews. I also shared links to numerous articles published in AT with my friends and cousines to help them with their purchasing decisions. I also love the word "Anand" because of its Indian\Bangladeshi origine. The only thing that makes me sad is the inability of AT to arrange an international give-away. However I still love AT. Long live Anandtech. God bless you...
I was already an Anandtech reader when you first started posting about SSDs early on. I was really impressed with the way that you educated the buyers on what specs were good and why, and how you worked with OCZ to create a better product. So many things are just Marketing points now-a-days. I.e., a 12MP camera isn't necessarily better than a 5MP camera, you can still make a 12MP POS put it on a shelf at Best Buy next to a 5MP and the only specs they show on the box a the MPs...you took SSDs beyond the marketing specs and you were able to educate the buying market and thus sway the manufacturers. So many manufacturers make what sells not what is good.
BTW- I was also impressed with how you could take your computer knowledge and apply it in the mobile phone/device space. They are quickly merging, but still have their differences.
I build a new computer every 2 years or so... for the past 4 cycles of this (including my newest computer, built last week), I've been using Anandtech reviews as a starting point. I tend to spend several weeks researching before I put together a new computer. While I don't exclusively use Anandtech reviews, I do a lot of my initial research on here--I trust your reviews and opinions.
Further, I greatly enjoy keeping up with hardware news by dropping by a couple times a week. Your technical articles on various things, from SSDs to memory to CPU interals (such as your article on load line calibration on the QX9650) are great reads--full of good technical detail, with excellent explanations. I feel that I can trust the articles I read on Anandtech.
Most recently, Anandtech reviews played a large factor in my decision of which PSU, CPU (chipset decision between 1156 & 1366), SSD, and video cards to purchase for my new machine.
The last time I read and used Anantech for a buyers guide was for my purchase of a Nvidia 8800 GT. I have used Anandtech since the founder was 15-16 years old and still in college. (Did he ever finish?)
I recently looked to your website again as I need to build another system from the ground up. Three years in the PC world is like 100 in human years. It is time. Anyway I have found that the video card selection is clear thanks to your website. The Nvidia GTX 460 1 Gb review was well done and I agree that it is the card to have. I am severely disappointed that there is no review and/or mid-range guide to help me select a mother board that will offer SLI (like with the Nvidia 8800GT) nor a recent guide to help me select all the other components of a mid-range performance video gaming system. Things have changed and I may actually have to resort to switching to Intel from AMD to get SLI. (God help me.) Until God does help me can Anandtech please get some recent comprehensive guides up on the website helping consumers with the selection of the most recent hardware selection in a good mid-range gaming system? We depend on you and when you recommend something, we buy it! Thank you.
Just in case my last comments are taken the wrong way. I do love your website and your reviews. It is just that your reviews/guides for the various levels of systems used to come out more often and were way more comprehensive. You would offer lets say a mid-range system and then offer alternates for upgrading paths for certain components. Please do not slip on that. I bought a hell of a system based on your recommendations last time I did a ground up custom build.
Now though it may be a case of the market doesn't offer what I want. AMD CPU, bleeding edge motherboard, SLI support for a pair of Nvidia GTX 460 1Gb, etc. I have to figure it all out and need your expert help.
Your partner companies should know this. You test it and recommend it, we buy it! That is because to date we trust you. We know you are giving the best unbiased hardware reviews on the planet. Lose the trust you lose us. Keep up the good work and get another guide out!
I spent about a month digging through various laptop reviews, and I eventually settled on a Asus u35jc due to it being recommended here. So far, I've been extremely pleased with the purchase. (I liked some of Asus's other systems, but wanted something a little lighter. I didn't even realize the u35jc existed until I read about it here.)
the first one is by far the best in my opinion. Tweakit tends to lack selection of new boards, and Tom’s Hardware lacks detail. My suggestion is to go through the Super7 boards in Anandtech with at least one bus speed >100 MHz. Make sure it has high stability scores , and then check the features. If you’re keeping your RAM for a while but still want to use the 100 MHz bus speed with it you’ll have to get a VIA MVP3 based board. I guess those are the critical issues. Any other questions?
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
109 Comments
Back to Article
Murloc - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
could make a topic about itsciwizam - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
While I don't have a specific article that helped me steer towards or away from a product, this website does help me keep track of what's going on out there in the electronics world.And the forums are godsend, even OffTopic :P
Kevin Day - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
How should stories be submitted, in the comments?dmeader - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Your article on the device convinced me not to buy the new iPod Touch.Theguynextdoor - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I have been a long time lurker (since 2002) and I moved from another tech website (PCmech). I loved it. The three days I had 1000 posts, helping out in General Hardware at the time was boatloads of fun. But then I got banned a few weeks later in OT. lolBut anyways. This website has not only influenced my buying decision, but my business decisions. From the information I have gathered at this website and your affiliate website Dailytech, I have entered the stock market when I was 18 sticking to technology and by following the trends made a fair amount of money. I opened up a Computer Consulting/Repair business with no degree of any sort all. I did this with the base knowledge I gained from your site allowing me to branch out through the internet to places and do things I didn't know were possible.
Now I would have to say 80% (out of butt number) of the information that I used in my experiences I have to thank the community that you have made. The information that they provided me - especially the clues - allowed me to solve many many problems on my own.
You gave me a job. And believe me, in return many products from Intel/AMD/ATi/Asus/Foxconn have been sold.
Newegg alone has grossed over $30k from ONE PERSON in the past 10 years.
Imagine how many others like me on this site you have influenced?
To your health and prosperity Anand.
Dyelynn - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I stumbled across anandtech several years ago (probably 6-7) while researching hardware for my first do-it-yourself computer build. It was not the first website I visited and it was not the last, however it has since become the first source of information on any hardware decision I make. I still do other research when I'm planning a project, but inevitably I always begin here and sometimes end up here as well.As a matter of fact, I've used the buyers' guides recommendations for the last 2 computers I've built (I've built 4 since that first one), including the one I asked my 10 year old son help me with, as a project to help him understand the insides of computers better. And, based on my pointing friends towards your buyers' guides, I know of 2 other computers that were built. I even managed to get one of those 2 friends to "cross the fence" from ars technica's buyers guides.
Anandtech has been an invaluable source of information on new and upcoming technology, interesting news articles, and cost focused buyer's guides for me, for the last 6+ years. Thank you for your hard work and diligence in being accurate, meticulous and presenting your findings in an easy to understand and immediately recognizable way.
Lloyd from Washington State
Gilbert Osmond - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I've been a self-employed small-business IT consultant since 1997. In 2005 I left the IT profession to try gardening & landscaping. In early 2010 I returned to small-business IT consulting. In the process of catching up with new developments from 3 years or since I'd been doing IT work, I heard about consumer-level flash-based SSDs.I was attracted to the potential of the SSD to improve real-world desktop single-user performance in the SOHO setting. I read a lot of reviews and articles on SSDs on other web sites, and almost made the mistake of purchasing and older-generation Indilinx-based unit for my own computer.
It wasn't until I read (and re-read) Anandtech's "SSD Anthology" and "SSD Relapse" articles that I began to have a solid understanding of the underlying concepts and issues around SSD design, implementation, performance, and reliability. Reading these articles helped me become a lot more confident in my ability to understand SSD specifications, to interpret test results, and especially to read between the lines of the often over-excited, over-laudatory prose in many SSD reviews on other web sites.
Anandtech helped guide me to spend my money in a way that will best meet my needs (in my case, on an OWC Extreme 60GB SSD, circa 6/15/2010, SandForce-1200-based.) I'm now able to evaluate ongoing developments in SSD tech and to make competent SSD purchase recommendations to my customers as well.
In "SSD Anthology" & "Relapse," as in most other articles that appear on Anandtech, I appreciate the writers' gimlet-eyed criticism, judiciously-toned wit, technical competence, high expectations for produts, and unwillingness to heap undeserved praise on a product just because it's "the latest and greatest thing."
Thank you Anand, and Anandtech!
mikidutzaaa - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I am a sysadmin at a medium/large company and Johann's articles really helped shape our server acquisitions, he's the man!mikidutzaaa - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I bought a SSD after reading your articles and it really improved my computing experience, thank you!DOOMHAMMADOOM - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Anandtech is basically the authority (imo) on SSD's, and the many articles lead me in the right direction for my first purchase. I am thoroughly pleased with what I bought, and it boosted my confidence in the quality of Anandtech's articles. You guys write amazingly, well explained articles about other products too, especially CPUs. I very much like the fact that you guys actively converse with companies and issues that arise when you test products.dacollins - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I started reading Anandtech almost 10 years ago when I was just a teenager. At the time, I barely understood how a computer worked but the more I read, the more I understood. Since then, I've built many computers for myself, family and friends, all based on information I got from this website. To me Anand's hardware analysis has always been the gold standard of online (and print) reviews.I recently started a job managing IT for a small company and I can say without a doubt that Anandtech is reason I was able to get into this field. As I progress in my career and start making purchasing decisions for my company, I will continue to rely on this site as my primary source of hardware information. The benchmark data has always been accurate, reliable and applicable and I appreciate the fact that the articles are well written and easy to understand without watering down the nitty gritty details.
I took a hiatus from your site for a couple years while in college, but I'm back and glad to see the site is stronger than ever. Keep up the good work, Anand and co.
Spazweasel - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
When the company I worked for had outgrown its home and was moving to a new, larger site, my incessant complaining about the engineering lab was rewarded with "Okay, smartass, YOU are now in charge of the engineering lab. Provisioning, HVAC, everything. Have fun." The squeaky wheel gets the kick.I used Anandtech as the starting point for researching the state of the art for energy-efficient computing platforms. The ability of our facility to move heat out and bring power in was limited, so selecting platforms with good performance-per-watt and physical density was critical. Selecting the right platforms, having the numbers needed for proper planning, and removing the trial-and-error aspect by starting from the right building blocks resulted in needing much less than half the energy and cooling capacity which it would have otherwise.
Reading Anandtech articles is my primary means of keeping current with PC component technology and trends, and it was this knowledge that got me the responsibility and authority to do things right, and in the process save my company a lot of money.
Spazweasel - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
BTW: It's Anandtech's articles I find useful. Dailytech? It's a pit. Unless you're a company selling T-shirts with "hater" slogans on them, I wouldn't advertise there.cserwin - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Amen.Ryestag - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Agreed. It's kinda the opposite of what Anandtech is ...l3bowsk1 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I tend to exhaustively research any consumer electronics or computer-related purchase I may be considering. Anand Tech's articles have been a deciding factor in probably 75% of those purchases - over the past 7 years or so, this has equaled around $10k or more, on products ranging from cell phones to hard drives to heatsinks and monitors.ZmaxDP - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I work for a 500+ person Architecture and Construction company in Dallas, TX. I can't count how many times I've forwarded articles from Anandtech to our CTO to help guide purchasing.Specific examples:
Our new laptops all have Corei5 processors instead of Corei7 solely because of your articles comparing their performance. A majority of our programs are still single threaded and the much higher turbo modes available to the i5 mobile line basically blew the i7 performance out of the water on 85% of our apps.
Your articles on SSD's prevented a significant investment in Samsung SSDs from Dell and hopefully will get us some good sandforce or intel SSDs instead for our next round of desktops.
Both of these examples represent 50+ computer POs.
Our next big push in the hardware area is going to be Tablet PCs for field personnel and virtualization for HPC in the office. So, I'm looking forward to more tablet PC / MID reviews and the virtualization articles are already circulating.
Thanks!
unbellum - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
As some people have already stated, I too have shaped my purchase of an SSD based off your articles. There is a level of testing and investigating that you guys go through that simply is not seen elsewhere, and we are all better for it.sblantipodi - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I started reading anandtech many many years ago,in this years my trust in this paper has been gaining increasing,
now I trust anandtech.
When I need to choose some good hardware for a new PC I read anandtech and another paper. If both papers tells the same things, I bought my hardware, if not I'll continue finding information.
Generally Anandtech is my first choice and the first paper to trust.
Love the huge comparisons when they release it.
I'll hope to see this good site grow up as it worth.
Thanks for your work, we all appreciate it here.
hfarberg - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Whenever I make a hardware purchase in the PC space, I've checked Anandtech for any tips and stuff. You are my number 1 site for serious technical analysis of anything PC.Thank you for making this site the awesomest tech-site on the nets! I've been reading since 2000 or something :)
name99 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Based on what I've read in AnandTech I took a flutter on the Seagate hybrid drive (Momentus XT 500 GB) --- which is adequate but disappointing, largely because I am not convinced their caching firmware is as near as good as it could be with a different algorithm.I also plan to buy a RunCore 4 128GB for my MacBook Air this weekend.
It also goes the other way of course. I've been happy enough to read the tech details of the successive Intel chips since Penryn, but have felt no compelling need to buy a new iMac based on any of them, since they all seem to promise basically what I already have, only with more cores.
Now my favor request to you. While you are at the GPU show in San Jose next week --- I assume you will be there (!) can you swing by the Wolfram Research booth and try to get any info you can from them about their future parallelism plans.
What Wolfram do right now as of Mathematica 7 is
- dense floating point linear algebra and floating point FFTs are parallelized
- there are some nice primitives for parallel computation, but these primitives are designed for cluster use, have some overhead, and require a lot of setup in terms of exporting the various pre-requisites to a calculation from the "driving" Mathematica kernel to the other kernels.
What Wolfram have announced (in a video that was so noisy as to be basically useless) is that they are working with nVidia to do neat things on GPUs; some of which may involve graphical work like voxel processing, but they've not said much more than that.
What it would be nice to know is: given that CPU speed has basically stood still for ten years now, does Mathematica plan to make rather more aggressive use of all the parallelism that is available on modern computers in a USER-TRANSPARENT fashion for Mathematica 8?
For example:
- where it makes sense aggressively using SSE (and soon AVX). This could be used in situations like plots, multi-dimensional numerical integration, and perhaps random number generation. Are there ways in which special function computations (eg power series and pade approximations) can utilize vector units even for calculation of a single value? [Doing so for, as I said, integration and plotting is rather easier.]
- have the main work horse functions inside the kernel run on multiple cores. The main Mathematica kernel is probably difficult to parallelize, but many of the functions that it calls out to are basically one form or another of searches in a large space which can be parallelized. And of course again numerical integration and plotting.
Let them know that I, for one, would be quite happy to accept a few incompatibilities with the past, or cases where patterns are matched and resolved in a different order, or suchlike, if this would give me a Mathematica that was substantially faster.
nermie - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
My favorite articles are the ones involving a mistake on the part of the manufacturer and seeing how quickly and honestly they respond. The recent example of AMD allowing Anand full control of their machine to set up a benchmark just shows how much they trust their product. I like to buy from companies that take pride in their work. This website is one of the best for not only benchmarking hardware performance, but also for insight into a company's character.infiniteset - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I own a small and growing design business. we primarily use photoshop to work on large image files. When we started I built my own computers to save on $. Then I decided it was a waste of time and started buying dells. Then the dells started breaking and i decided it's time to start building them again. When I decide to choose parts I browse Anandtech to make decisions. i.e. most recent build was i7-950,gtx460(for future 30in monitors), wd ssd 120gb, gigabyte mobo, 12gb ram. I've been building the same setup for the last few iterations, but come here to refine the parts list, the product reviews are unbiased and factual and there is very little fluff.manandeman - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I've been reading this site for about 6 years now...and I visit it frequently. The reviews, analyses, recommendations, insights, et al, are very helpful. For example, recently, I wanted to know which Intel processor system I should build...LGA1156 or LGA1366? My main concern has to do with Graphics bandwidth. Will two PCIe 8x lanes on Lynnfield suffice for now and in the future? I want to do 3D gaming, especially flight simulators.Anand has the right article on the Lynnfield vs. Bloomfield PCIe scaling. This has given me enough information for me to build a system...and just waiting for Thanksgiving.
The information on minimum frame rate, power/noise, efficiency are very useful.
I would suggest to Anand to also test 3D gaming using the same configuration as his previous article...just to see if the PCIe bandwidth is sufficient on either platform.
Thanks,
Manandeman
B.B - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Since I browsing your site a few years ago, I havent stopped. I visit it almost every day to see whats new. I assemble PC computers for myself, friends and co-workers here in Denmark where I live. I very rerely buy any component before checking out what you have to say about it. Why?1. You know your stuff or you find out
2. You are impartial (You would make a very good journalist btw)
3. Your reviews are thourough and consistant and stuctured (IE high quality)
4. Your articles goes very much into detail/depth about the tech and theory, but I, as a reader, am still able to choose how much detail I want to read without it taking away the essence of the article.
This may sound like a lot of praise, but honestly I can understand why companys send you their best stuff to review.
I would like to see 1 thing on your site though. When Im looking for new "stuff" sometimes I have to browse for a while to find out what the current best is atm. F.ex, Im looking for a new SSD. I know the sandforce based ones are some of the best at the moment, but it would be nice if I could just click on a link and it would bring me to all the SSDs you reviewed and the specs/score so I know what to get(OCZ Vertex 1 or 2? X-25M? ect).
Keep up the good work
Ryestag - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Click on BENCH on the top right (under the search box) and then select SSD. Here's a link :)http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU/88
spunlex - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
My first encounter with Anandtech was when I built my first computer a few years back. I was trying to decide which video card to buy which at the time was either an 8800gt or a 3870. I was trying to understand how Nvidia parts could have so few stream processors and still compete with ATI. The only place I found an answer was here at Anandtech, and to this day I think that was one of the most helpful articles have ever read before making a purchase. As I kept researching parts for my build Anandtech would come up over and over again, and when I finally got my new rig up and running I was visiting Anandtech on a daily bassis. Since then I have almost completed a computer engineering degree and although my level of computer expertise and knowledge has increased dramatically, I still get the best information for Anandtech in my opinion.I never make a major PC hardware purchasing decision without consulting Anandtech first. It ranks right up there with google and wikipedia for me.
Also bench is just awesome when you know what you need and want a quick way to find out what would be the best match for those needs.
This is a great site, and I hope you keep up the good, we can never have too many in depth reviews.
thanks for all the help and info over the years.
strolfey - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I check anandtech at least a few times a week to see the newest developments and trends in computing technology. At the every least, I try to keep tabs on which products are the best in several categories and why.Most recently, the Asus VG236H interested me for its bundling of the nVidia 3D vision kit. At the time, I had a regular 24" monitor from a few years back. Earlier this month, the backlight gave out, and I remembered the article, so I ordered one from newegg. I am quite happy with the result, and I do agree that its weakest point is the stand.
I have also been looking forward to the release of the ASRock Vision 3D 135B. I've been looking for a blu-ray htpc or media box that would also handle hulu for quite a while. My latest interest in vision 3d things also tacked on the requirement that it can do HDMI 1.4 or be vision 3d capable. I'm looking forward to reading the full review on this machine when it's available, as I'm fairly sure this is what I've been waiting for. If it has any significant flaws, I might just have to wait for another model to come along. I know you guys are going to do a review on it, because one of your reviewers posted in a forum that a review would be coming soon.
I was also impressed by the test results on the iPhone 4 antenna and reception issues. At the time, nobody had really released any scientific results other than losing a few bars here or there.
Keep up the good work, I really do appreciate the time you guys put into reviewing products. It influences my purchases and recommendations to others heavily.
AnAnandUser - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Firstly, I noticed the improper usage of the word "impacted." One can say that something had an impact, but it is incorrect to say something was impacted. I see this frequently- it is not just Anandtech that is guilty!Now on to something productive! Anandtech Bench has been very useful for me to compare CPUs, GPUs, and SSDs. I can easily find information about performance and value which I have found very helpful for purchase decisions. I now have an SSD in my system and found that I really don't need to upgrade my CPU or GPU any time soon.
I am also happy to state that I enjoy reading many of the technical articles that have been posted, such as the workings of DDR memory. In depth articles about CPU architecture and SSD technology also provide interesting reads.
Anandtech is one of the few sites I visit daily and I commend them for their efforts to bring technical information to the layman (me.)
Sahrin - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
What purchasing behaviour *doesn't* AT impact?I built my first rig in 2003. For just about every day since that time, I have leaned *heavily* on AT for hardware news and analysis. I can remember learning, at the time, about this small upstart of a company called AMD - which aside from the generally derrogatory tone taken by salespeople at big-box retailers I generally viewed as inferior to AMD. Over the process of a few months (in the summer of '03), I learned from AT that not only was this back-bencher not inferior to the mighty marketing behemoth that was Intel, but that their Barton-cored Athlon XP offerings were *superior* to Intel's Northwood-B P4's. In July, when time came to select a CPU - it was a Barton 2500+ with 512k of L2 that went into my rig, over the P4B 2.6Ghz.
But that's not the only benefit that Anandtech's work provided me. Another product I learned about was nVIdia's nForce 2 chipset. I learned that among all competitors, nForce 2 had the best perfoming memory controller, the best featureset, the best all-around performance, and the best onboard audio (in the form of the mythical beast: Soundstorm). This information actually drove me to spend a bit *more* on my motherboard, buying a high-end Asus model (A7N8X-Deluxe) as opposed to a bargain basement offering from the likes of Abit or Jetway).
The most valuable information comes from Anandtech is the comprehensive technical understanding of platforms. It was from Anandtech that I learned that clock frequencies should be symmetrical - that running your CPU and FSB at 400Mhz but your memory at 333Mhz would actually *hurt* performance and memory bandwidth. You needed to be able to synchronize your platform; and that for K7 - the entire architecture of which is designed around responsivity - even more important than the bandwidth is low access latency. This prompted me to spend a little extra on a Dual Channel kit of Geil Golden Dragon DDR400 with CL2.0 (remember when you could buy CAS2 RAM?) (if you never saw this stuff, it was something to behold - they printed a dragon circuit pattern on the PCB. I keep them around for their artistic value) as opposed to ValueRAM rated at the minimum spec on the platform. Having that general understanding is what makes me able to make truly informed decisions about what I buy from a hardware perspetive - and it is also what makes Anandtech unique.
It's that credibility that the site lends that creates advertising value. When I read an article on Anandtech, I genuinely (perhaps foolishly) consider the ads on their article pages; partially because they are often contextually valuable - but just as much because of the credence just appearing next to such authoritative information provides. It's hard for me to argue against the value of an SSD when I'm staring at an advertisement offering me 10% off of list prices alongside performance data that shows the SSD flattening mechanical drives.
The other, tertiary benefit that AT provides though is my business itself. For example, in reviewing Sandy Bridge (and upcoming K11 articles) if appears that CPU performance is about to take another 20-30% step forward. Without an Anandtech with reproducible scientific data and analysis showing not just *that* a new CPU is better (the review), but *why* (in such a way that a layman can comprehend and feel *good* about shelling out for it) (the analysis articles like "Sandy Bridge Exposed" and "Designing RV870"), I would not buy computer hardware the way I do now. Do I spend as much as the Tier 1's would have me? Absolutely not, but as a system builder I spend a *heck*of a lot more on hardware than I would without Anand's analysis to show me that there is value in the higher levels
7amood - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I discovered this site around 2005 and was a casual visitor.Over time, quality and thorough reviews started to attract me more.
I build a lot of mid-ranged PCs for casual users (family, friends, ...etc.)
I rely heavily on CPU and GPU reviews from AnandTech to decide which CPU/GPU is suitable for which type of users (Casual/Gaming).
AnandTech Mobo roundups and reviews a pushed me a lot towards ASUS, and I can't be any happier with their mobos.
What I really enjoy is how new technology is explained. SSDs, new CPU and GPU architectures, motherboard reviews and other explanations are aided with graphs and amazing simplicity.
I do visit other websites for news and reviews, but I ultimately rely on AnandTech for 50% of the decisions I take.
I feel other websites are degrading since most of them started advertising products rather than actually reviewing them.
IGemini - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Like a couple others, I've been a lurker on this site for a while, roughly since late 2004, but I joined to share my story about the largest influence on my decision-making.In the summer of 2006 I decided it was time to retire my Pentium 4 desktop and build something with a true dual-core for my return to college. I heard from here that Intel was releasing a new processor named Conroe toward the end of summer with some significant improvements, so I decided to wait and see until performance reviews came out. Until then I had earmarked enough to buy an AMD 4200+.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2045/1
When you wrote this article on Conroe's release date, I was floored. For the same price I was willing to spend, Intel had an equal offering that was faster than AMD's entire processor lineup, and offered the same performance as the FX-62 (AMD's flagship at the time) for one-quarter of the price. Tigerdirect was the only one selling OEM processors for the first couple months at that price, but I was willing stand a backorder. One month later, I made my first computer from scratch (previous computers bought were Dell builds) and was very pleased with Core 2. Ever since then I've been an avid reader of the reviews here, and it's the only RSS feed for technology that I have.
As a researcher I also like the methodology that goes into the testing of various products on this site. Compared to other tech review sites, I frequent this one the most (~95% of reading time). It's safe to say that, not only has the site made a profound difference on my purchases, but also that I learned the most in the operations of computing tech with the background that's given on this site, especially with newer technologies. Hope the quality at Anandtech continues for much longer!
lorribot - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I found Anandtech at some point in time and ever since then it has been an invaluable source of too much information. I don't pretend that I understand everything that gets written, especially the indepth technical stuff, but it all (mostly) gets read and sits in there somewhere to be regurgitated..What I look for is completely unbiased what is happening now, what is happen in the future and what I need to think about to make the decisions about the hardware my company needs to buy.
For my company I read the CPU stuff, with particular attention to what is important re Virtualisation as that is were my focus is at until the end of the year. For myself the GPU, SSD and other bits are important.
What I look for from a site like yours is that I can understand what is important or needs to be considered before I recommend or make a purchase.
As long as your testing process is transparent and is open to scrutiny I feel confident that what I read is the truth.
Have any articles been written that affect anything I buy, perhaps not as when I buy is not when the article is written, prices change, specs change but at least I am aware of the the performance per buck that I need to make the decision on.
I have made one decision and influenced my company purchase in one way, by stopping the purchase of additional servers for our VMware environment around May this year, and postpone them until next year and planting the seed of a different specification based a several articles I have read on Anandtech.
Anandtech is a holistic thing, it's not one article, it's a culture of asking why?
greenguy - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I bought the parts to build a workstation about 6 months ago. I used Anandtech to figure out which processor to buy. Basically, an i5-750, or the Xeon equivalent. Since I wanted ECC RAM it meant going with the Xeon 3450. For SSDs I went with mirrored X25-V drives.Of all tech sites I use this the most regularly. Since I am also a silence nut I use silentpcreview as much if not more during an actual build. However, that is after I have decided on CPU, mobo and SSD issues, the rest is just heat sink, case, fans, PSU, that sort of thing. I'm not suggesting that anandtech become SPCR btw, as I think it's easier to just concentrate on your niche and do that well.
I'll continue to use the performance and power figures from Anandtech to decide which CPU and storage to buy, and then build the system with an eye to silence with SPCR.
I'm still amazed that SSDs aren't as widespread as they should be. Take any old laptop and whack in an Intel SSD - it is as good as buying a new laptop, for a quarter the price or so. Amazing.
Scabies - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
If I want to find out what to buy, I go to Newegg.If I want to find out why I should buy it, I go to Anandtech.
adrian_sev - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
The information presented on this site is a reference point for any other IT site. There is no other site with such scientific approach to testing and benchmarking and the technology articles are as deep as a scientific presentation on that subject. Overall this is is as much a learning center as an steering point, a navigational reference about what is going on in the world. There is no other site that influence my buying decisions (personal and business) as anandtech.com. One small problem would be that Linux is mostly absent from tests and benchmarks . Coming from HPC and GRID world i miss the possible test and benchmarks that could be done on Linux platform (given that there is no other useful platform for HPC and GRID)(http://www.top500.org/stats/list/35/osfam) There are not many Linux OS for enterprise so the choice is easy.Anyway, thank you for your work! THANK YOU!
Adrian
JohanAnandtech - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Hey Adrian,Rest assured that Linux and OSS will come in the picture again in our IT articles. I am definitely convinced that Linux is a great OS for enterprise servers. It is only a matter of time. If you have suggestions for good Linux testing that doesn't require weeks to setup, let me know.
We are working on a "vApusMark OSS", including Xen/KVM benchmarks.
Johan.
ChrisRice - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
Wouldn't bother with Xen as its on its way out "Even Redhat has dropped Xen". The true Linux VM's are Vsphere 4.1 and KVM "For corporate" . I have access to both so let me know if you need any help on that Johan. Just email my anandtech email address.adrian_sev - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
well ... this is the only good current linux testing tool that i know of :http://www.phoronix-test-suite.com/ ... they did a good job with this tool but they lack the scientifically view and depth of analysis that anandtech.com is so famous of ... maybe something a lot better can come up from both of your views.. i hope that you will have also some OpenCL tests in your linux test :)
On the matter of distros to be tested i will give my 2 cents :) :
On corporate side will be : RHEL and Suse ..
On consumer (free side) : Debian (and now the problems will arise : Debian with latest updates or (maybe and) Ubuntu? ...), CentOS (but in principle if you test RHEL, CentOS presence is redundant), OpenSUSE and Fedora (pretty bleeding edge distro).
IMHO this will cover most of the Linux usage and users.... you could take a look at Page Ranking from Distrowatch.com to have some idea about the main Linux distros ...
Thanks,
Adrian
P.S. Disclaimer :) : this are only my provisional opinions ... as soon as i learn something new i will change my mind :D
thartist - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Gosh Anand! Do you even need confirmation? I don't have an enterprise story to marvel you but i've been following AnandTech for about a decade learning stuff, keeping up to date and getting a peek at what's still a mystery for other sources!AT is "the" solid, trusted source of hardware analysis and news for many important sites and tech enthusiasts around, me included.
greginator - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Let me start this by saying Anandtech produces some of the most comprehensive, well written, and informative articles of technology ... period. Most sites mass produce one dimensional reviews that do nothing more that describe the pros and cons of superficial aspects of a product. One example of a superb Anandtech article is the review of the latest Ipod touch. All aspects of the device were analyzed. The screen was compared to the Iphones 4's screen, the quantity of RAM was scrutinized, and the general value of the device was analyzed. While most other review sites give free passes to popular companies such as Apple, Anandtech gives truly unbiased reports. Of course, as a person who builds his own desktops, I am always looking for detailed, unbiased reports on computer hardware. This is another area where Anandtech steps in. Their reviews cover all the bases when it comes to hardware reviews. I have never left a hardware review feeling that a piece of hardware was poorly covered. Reviews, however, are not the only area where Anandtech rises above the rest. Articles explaining the science behind the latest technology, various kinds of instructions, and interviews are all reasons I visit Anandtech on a daily basis. Finally, the greatest quality of Anandtech is its honesty. I know I have said it several times in the course of this comment, but Anandtech is completely non-biased. They say it exactly the way it is. Keep up the good work writers of Anandtech!P.S.
Your SSD articles are the absolute best of the industry. My first purchase of a SSD will be determined by your reviews.
MacLeod1592 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I cant count the number of times I go to the Bench especially now that its got GPU's to compare. I used it daily when I was thinking about a new proc and bought my Phenom II X2 555 based on the benchmarks I saw here!Not only do I use it all the time but I constantly link to it on various forums I frequent when answering questions about build or upgrade advice. Just this week Ive linked to it a half dozen times.
The Anandtech Bench is not only an invaluable tool, but Id go so far as to say its the most valuable tool available to gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts like us looking to tweak their systems.
ehume - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Here I was a complete newbie to computer building. I'd been stuffing my Dells with upgrades, but never built a whole machine. Then my Dell desktop simply died in September 2009 after six years of steady use. A new one would take too long to arrive. So I started reading reviews.Anandtech had a nice rundown on all the new cpu's. The comparative performances led me to get an Intel i7 860. I loved that chip so much I got another.
Then I read about the Gigabyte P55M-UD2 motherboard on Anandtech. Based on the high marks the reviewer gave it, I got that board. Again, it was the perfect choice.
Anandtech helped me find the two most important parts of my new computer build. I was so happy with it that it got me started overclocking. I now overclock a similar build. Thanks Anandtech.
Ganesh_balan - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Hey,I'd like to say a word or two about your writeups. Needless to say, SSDs were covered in-depth in almost every review/preview of yours and helped most of us around the globe make a decision on what to buy. Considering the fact that unlike hard drives wherein there are few re-known manufacturers/OEMs such as Seagate, WD, Samsung, Hitachi (and the lesser known Fujitsu, Toshiba etc.), when it comes to SSDs there are more than a dozen of them which uses several types of controllers onboard (SF, Jmicron, Marvell etc) and ultimately when it zeroes down to buying one, it is extremely hard and confusing even for the geekiest of the US! Your articles have helped us make a timely and a wise decision. I'd like to thank all the SSD manufacturers as well, to have sent Anand a sample for review!
With regard to your benches, honestly words fail me! It makes a layman so easy to judge the prowess of a GPU/CPU or the SSD with those 20+ odd benchmarks which you must have painstakingly compiled. We used to have a Tom's list before but ever since the updations went haywire, I do not refer to them anymore. I have all the benches bookmarked so it makes me easy to suggest a component to my friends, relatives, members of the forum etc.
HTPC cards - did I make a mention before? You have reviewed every almost every other HTPC card with loads of enthusiasm. And the review speaks for themselves!
Take care Anand! Keep up the good work! We love you!
Regards
Ganesh
PS: Darn, I missed the opportunity to meet you when you had come down to Bombay, India sometime back but there's always a next time! :D
Eddie313 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I come to anandtech.com really for everything, I'm always building get info on the latest hardware. Love the forums and the site.ArenaNinja - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
I first heard of AnandTech by an Intel Sales Rep that gave a presentation at a company where I previously worked. He said it involved independent hardware reviews.Reading your hardware reviews has helped me out when selecting computer components. I buy pre-made computers, but I learned about making good price/performance decisions. The first real impact was me choosing an 8800GT over an 8800GTS video card. I also rely on your CPU, HDD and manufacturer reviews. Oh, your review also convinced me to buy one of Dell's UltraSharp displays. I must say it has not underperformed, and visitors will often compliment me on it.
So here's to hoping for a long relationship, AnandTech. Live long and well.
jed22281 - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Without a doubt one of the "go to" sites for all things SSD....Anandtech really dove head-first into this area before most other tech sites, & has kept abreast for a few years now.
It's also excellent for all things "enterprisey".... Long may you live and proper!
Will Robinson - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
AnandTech and The Tech Report are the premiere PC hardware review sites on the Net in my opinion.With so much unverified information on the Internet it's an enviable status for this site to have attained.
When AT says "It is so" I feel confident in advising my friends,family and colleagues as their "go to" guy for computer information,purchasing and troubleshooting.
AnandTech has reached iconic status which is certainly a credit to the staff and forum contributors.
In a world where even the TV news shows we used to trust are engaged in bias battles and political agendas it's a refreshing change to have reliability in a field that relies so much on precision and competence.
todoralexandrov - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
I've ordered my first SSD drive on Sep 16. If it wasn't for anandtech's SSD articles this wasn't going to happen it 2010.don_k - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Hi there,Your article on Xen virtualization performance comparing performance between Xen 3.1 and 3.2 along with vmware was very helpful in demonstrating why my company should use Xen for their virtualization needs. At the time my company was in the process of testing various virtualization hypervisors, your performance results gave me something that I could show as an independent source of information and also to confirm and cross check my own tests.
That you independently came to the same conclusion as my team did in regards to Xen and HVM performance (that Xen can run a fully virtualized OS at the same or better speed as bare metal) was instrumental.
asmoma - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Your palm pre review made me and one of my friends buy a palm pre. And i'm now a webOS missionary in Norway(pre and pixi is not released in Norway).sanjeev - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
I've been following AnandTech for quite some time,could be,something like 2 years before Anand had started his Hometheater, but dont have any story and nothing to do with enterprise hardware/software but more to share my appreciations.I am more into databases and GUI creations,But thanks to Anandtech, that I known more about the rabbit hole.
The difference is like,from being treated like an "non-existing entity"(replace this with any word you fancy!,I dont mind) when ever I have issues,now,being content and knowing who is who.
Its more like, I am an "AnandTech" to most of my peers and friends to thier satisfaction.
But when I fail, http://www.anandtech.com never.
That makes my day.
iwodo - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
For most recent stories it has to be SSD. Although the first one to bring SSD up to decent quality review were PC perspective.The most important things to me is how Anandtech ( or mainly Anand himeself, cause other articles dont have similar view ) share so many similar points of view to my thinking and describe it in a easy to understand, but still technically detail review.
And this point of views, are actually consumer's point of view. Unlike most review sites which seems to botch up zillions of graph and data for no apparent reason. Anand brings up a questions that most of us have in mind and try to find out answers.
Things like efficiency of PSU, why we need it, what does it actually means, how the standard is tested, are they are cheat to get there?
What are your PC actua power usagel? And prove you dont need a 1000W PSU even for Quad Core + SLI.
Voice of Concern, 100+ MB Graphics drivers update? When was the last Review site bitch against it publicly?
ARM CPU - Finally someone is interested in what is inside....
It is how Anand's review are written from consumer's prospective that makes me continue to visit here. While sometimes it may not be the most informative, it is definitely "the" place for all tech.
nvidia2008 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
"Things like efficiency of PSU, why we need it, what does it actually means, how the standard is tested, are they are cheat to get there?What are your PC actua power usagel? And prove you dont need a 1000W PSU even for Quad Core + SLI.
Voice of Concern, 100+ MB Graphics drivers update? When was the last Review site bitch against it publicly?
ARM CPU - Finally someone is interested in what is inside...."
Yeah... That is great information as well I get from this site.
n0x1ous - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
I stumbled across Anandtech for the first time in late 2006 when I was looking for information about video cards to upgrade my crappy emachines desktop to play the original call of duty. At the time I liked computers and was interested in them, but I didn't know anything about PC Hardware itself. I simply wanted to find enough info to get something that would let me play the game I wanted to play. That is until I stumbled across the articles that would change my life.As I began reading, stories and reviews of Nvidia's glorious G80 were the prominent things at the time and as I started to read about it and all the technology behind it, I was captivated and hooked and have never looked back. Needless to say the e-machines never got the upgrade but I did learn everything I needed to assemble my first PC (Q6600, 680i, 8800 GTS 640, Raptor, Gigabyte Aurora 570 case, Corsair RAM, Zalman 9700).
Over the past (almost) four years I have probably spent around $7,000.00 on Newegg for various components and upgrade for that and other PC's I have built and I have been able to share my knowledge with others and influence their technology purchases as well.
I think for an advertiser that is probably the area where Anandtech readers might have the most influence. I would guess the majority of us are the go to technology expert for family and friends and that adds up to a lot of dollars spent based on the stuff we know and learn about at Anandtech.
Anyway, thanks Anand and staff for what you do. I check the sight out every day and have always enjoyed the deep technical insight and expert analysis that makes this site always my first stop for hardware info.
lestr - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
3 years ago the only thing I knew was that my latest PC, 15 months old, was gasping its last breath. I'd had 3 built by the local "wiz-shop" at about $1,000 each, starting with a P2, then RDRAM P4 (it's the best but very expensive!) and another DDR P4. When it died I decided to go off the shelf for about $400. I needed one to run my business. All the local techs would say was, "It's cheaper to buy a new one than to have this one fixed." I had no idea about any of the components inside in the box; what they were, what they did. I knew where the on/off switch was. I'd reached the conclusion that computers are about as good as coffee makers. Buy a cheap one and buy another when it breaks. I didn't know anything - I trusted them. I grew up in the 50's - 60's when it was all mainframes.. "rocket science" and intimidating... 16" discs and stacks of cards punched in Fortran or Assembler.My EE brother assured me I could build a PC - I'd built some Hi-Fi components from kits in the 70's so I decided to give it a whirl. First I had to learn what a motherboard was. I began doing research without a clue to what I was doing. Worse than that I didn't have a local teacher. I was on my own. DDR was EOL and DDR2/dual cores the "new thing." I went through a LOT of tech sites and read review after review. I learned a few things, but not much. One day I found Anandtech, more specifically, Gary and some of the other guys, Ryan and Jerrod... Gary was doing a G-33/690G uATX round up. Blink and you missed it. I was a tile and stone contractor, former bean counter, not a hardware wizard... but I am not afraid of building anything. After finding Anandtech my education really took off. I had a teacher! Since then I wake up with coffee and Andndtech. You became my "McGuffy's Reader.
I still don't understand a lot of it. I'm one of those who needs a hands-on show and tell. Your guys managed to do that on paper. My appetite was voracious. I began to understand components and how they interface, what makes one product superior to another and where to draw a line in bang for the buck. I have to admit it was a lot to assimilate. Establish minimum standards. I learned how to evaluate each component over the next 7-8 months. I read an extensive PSU round up that really woke me up. It's as important as the CPU? Duh... Graphics cards were a bit muddled and I am not a gamer BUT Anand educated me to the point I won't build a PC without one. You guys grabbed my attention, interest and rocked my world. Within 4 months I'd bought components - QUALITY parts - and built 6-7 PC.s for HTPC/SOHO for the experience. I transitioned from single core DDR into duals and DDR2. The timing was superb. DDR3 was only a rumor. I haven't had any failures and have built and fixed a dozen machines to date. Now I look forward to die shrinks. I want an SSD! You cover almost all the bases - how about tv cards and SFX PSU's?
I have come to mistrust the big boys and their big box specials. I hate bottom-line economics and despise greed. A great PC isn't simply a CPU - it's a sum of the parts inside. If you want to have a long-lasting machine you have to put in quality parts. You fight for BIOS updates - X58? - and I learned why that is so important. I don't think there is anyone else out there who is as much of a consumer advocate as Anandtech. It's terrific you are editorial and isolated from advertising dollars. I can't recall how many times I've read - "their review is slanted to get the ad bucks." Yeah, it makes a difference. I really miss Gary... everyone on your staff tells it like it is. No FEAR. Moreover, the mfrs KNOW how big a stick you guys carry. They seem to respect and respond because your readers ARE well informed.
It's nice to no longer be a member of the great unwashed uneducated masses. I can quickly peruse a review or article and understand what is presented. It ain't Greek no more. It's nothing to be afraid of and education is the only way to get past that. Maybe one of these days I'll understand chip architecture but it doesn't keep me from reading the articles. or wanting a new rig. I don't know where we'd be without Anandtech (and the Egg). I would still be buying off the shelf boxes with only mediocre performance and longevity. I read DT but always come back to AT as the definitive source. Anandtech should be required reading before posting a review on Newegg...
Live Long and Prosper.
Powerbacon - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
A long time ago, when Intel released the Core 2 family, the ISP that i worked here in Brazil was in need of new computers for technical support area.My boss was about to buy 15 machines equipped with Pentium IV 3.06ghz (i dont remember the exact model now) and i stopped him when he was going to pay for the machines, because i know that wasnt the best thing to do, because i am a everyday reader of anandtech since the launch of Athlon XP, and i could prove to my boss that he was wrong by doing that purchase.
Of course Core 2 duo was expensive than Pentium IV, but luckily enough, i've found a big intel specific sales on my town, proving that he could do the best thing by buying these machines at a low cost added to the purchase!
At that time, the staff of technical assistance thanked me for the big upgrade (Pentium III to Core 2 Duo.... imagine that!)
Thanks Anandtech! I even signed up on the site just to write that! thanks!
Ryestag - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Anand - I remember when you build this website in 1997. I just began getting into understanding PCs and bought all my peripherals and such for my first PC at the age of 17 thanks to your reviews. Later that year I decided to follow in your footsteps and a friend and I built a website called CTRL-ALT-DEL.com. We could never compete with the level of knowledge and quality of your articles so we decided to focus on leaking ATI and nVidia beta drivers and generally do some crazy shit like how far could we overclock a AMD Duron going outside during winter at -40C. We became very popular rather quickly and had a pretty strong following of about 25k people on our forums. Things got a bit out of hand (2-3terabytes of traffic / month back then was A LOT) and we ended up shutting down shop and giving the url away.I attempted to rekindle the feeling I had with ctrl-alt-del with a new site called MAXReboot.com and it was very successful again due to the beta drivers we leaked but by this time I graduated college and had a full time job. I also lived with my girlfriend and the time the site took away from all that was tremendous. I just could not keep up with it all so I had to let it go again.
You're very lucky to have been able to take a passion and make it your life's work. I've followed your website now for 13 years ... I can't think of any other website I've been going to for this long!
PowerEngineer - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
I stumbled across AnandTech many years ago when I had decided to build my first PC. The information in the articles has always been great. I've also learned a lot through the forums; amazing how much knowledge and experience your regulars have!Yesterday I just finished buying the parts for a new build. Your articles on motherboard chipsets helped me make the decision to go with AMD/890FX (a break from my Intel past), along with NVIDIA (even though I have a family member who works for ATI). I really didn't pick out any component for this build without researching its pluses and minuses through AnandTech.
Thanks for being here!
watersb - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
These days, I scour AnandTech for all the info before I recommend a product for evaluation at work.In late 2008 we had a high-performance computing project coming up, and at that time AMD Opteron processors were once again being eclipsed by the new Intel chips. It was a dynamic time. We went with an Intel cluster, based in part on your work. So I consider AnadTech highly influential.
bji - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
... that I, for one, check Anandtech every single day. In fact it is one of the only web sites that I visit every single day to check for updates. And I spend money on computer equipment and personal electronics. Anandtech's articles provide me with information that strongly influences the purchasing decisions I make.azazello - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
As a computer science grad student in an informatics lab, I was tasked with selecting and procuring about $190K worth of HPC hardware. The AnandTech articles on current and future CPU architectures and HPC configs were invaluable and led to decisions about what to purchase.AnandTech has really established itself as the standard for timely, impartial, thorough technical analysis of current hardware, and I always check the site for advice on the computer hardware I purchase.
zero2espect - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
i had been a sometimes reader for about 4 years - all that changed with what i still believe is the most authoritive review of technology ever written on a retail hardware site - the original ssd piece.on the recommendations in that original article i sourced myself the intel ssds. i have never looked back. now anandtech is on my first "to do list" every day. i now basically look to anandtech to provide me updates and reviews on everything, and then fill in the gaps from other sources.
since then the articles that have changed my life on anadtech are:
the nvidia 470/SLI/MSI afterburner
the asus 3d 120mhz gaming monitor (with 3dvision)
the asus g73 gaming notebook
the story on the behind the scenes work to develop and launch the ati/amd video cards
you guys should be proud - your inbiased and thouroughly reviewed pieces are heads and shoulders above the rest of the "let's rewrite the <insert company here> press release, insert the stock imagery, and palm the free samples" journalism that seems to be taking root amongst the review sites these days.
zero2espect - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
and to help crystalise this better - if anandtech says it's worth having, it probably is. your recommendations actually mean something to me as opposed to the recommendations from those that i mention above.mura - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
As already said by some other readers: SSD was a big hit for me too, and I read the best and most comprehensive articles here on AnandTech.As I'm on a budget (the company finances are handled by my wife and she can be a killer on my IT investments), I had no second shot on SSD-s (one fail and I will have no second chance of buying them).
The detailed data and analysis in the articles helped me to choose the best candidates for mi (X25), and I'm more than happy with the performance of our notebook fleet now.
hoohoo51 - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
im waiting for an Tegra2 powered LG phone after first reading about both of them here on anandtech. i come here daily for all current and upcomming hardware news and reviewsi also got my nvidia 480 gtx after reading about it here.
i would be truly lost without anandtech
paulkww - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
I think there is no one reader of your site who can say that they have not found your articles, insightful, unbaised or intelligent. I am not a person who comments much (this is my first post here) but I could not let this opportunity pass to thank you for the advice received over the last 10 years or so. If i have been in the position to make a purchase, for my own systems or for the units i have sold over the years, I would rely heavily and make judgement calls based on reviews, comments and advice given here.I agree with most of the comments on here in relation to our work, and would also like to take my own opportunity to say thank you and keep up the good work, much appreciated!! I hope you never lose the passion of what you do, as this is evident in all your articles and what keeps me interested. Now for a toast!!! (Couldn't help it I'm Irish, and i needed an excuse to have another small one!!!)
May you get all your wishes but one, so you always have something to strive for.
sideshow23bob - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
I'm mostly just a simple consumer though it has affected my IT purchases for my small(2 employees) online business I run.....Bought a Intel X25-M G2 SSD after reading all the treatises and reviews from Anand on SSDs up to that point
Bought 2 Dell Studio XPS16's after Jarred's great reviews on the excellent RGB LCD
A year ago I weighed my options b/t Iphone 3GS and Pre via Anand's Reviews (chose the Pre and am very happy about it, though I do wish there were more software updates from Palm/HP)
Back when Dual Core CPUs first came out I read each new release's reviews religiously about the real world time-savings it offered for a multi-tasker like me, and not just random benchmarks, or single program benefits.
I'm sure there's more but the detailed interviews and real-word assessments of all 4 of these decisions have been very informative and have made me excited to buy the products I have.
Samoht - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
You were the first to actually illustrate the problem people were reporting with the iPhone 4 reception. Furthermore, your trick to get the fieldtest mode was inspired and I have many times linked to that article just to educate people who didn't understand why the bars was enough. (I did buy one anyway:)Your articles on SSDs, CPUs and CPUs are fantastic. Keep up the good work.
johnspencer - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
I definitely take your recommendations as the most serious online. More than recommendations, you provide a place to explain the field and are unique in that regard.Whatever item I would buy for my computer I would check here first to understand the field and the best items.
tech6 - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
I've been hanging out here for a while, initially for the PC component reviews but I was very happy when you turned your thorough analysis and benchmarking to servers. Medium sized companies simply don't have the clout to ask vendors for test units to asses performance so getting independent benchmarks is essential for choosing the right equipment. There are equipment other benchmarks out there but the thorough transparent and unbiased approach of Anandtech is a big draw for me. I still love the consumer gadget and component reviews but the server reviews are what is relevant to my daily work. I would be even happier to see you review entry and mid level iSCSI SAN solutions (hint, hint).Stuka87 - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
Recently the company I work for purchased eight Dell R910 Servers. The articles on this site were a great help is leading us to this decision. They replaced our previous VM Ware cluster of SunFire's (Opteron Based) and a few older Dell's (Intel Based). We look at articles involving the R910's directly to get performance data, as well as power consumption data, which was extremely useful. As it let us know real world power draw (Dell does not give these specs). The performance of the Xeon 7500's in a VM environment was also very handy.At first I was set thinking we should continue with AMD's, but the data shown here showed Intel was the better choice at the time of purchase.
screes680 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
Well first off, this is THE site on the web for everything SSD related. I would never think of ever purchasing another SSD product in the future without first checking this site to see what you think about it.I think if it weren't for this site, SSD's would have taken a nose dive after the first gen and would be no where as popular as they are. It likely would have taken the industry twice as long to figure out why their crap isn't selling if you hadn't pointed it out to them. Every manufacturer selling SSD's should give you royalties for saving their companies from themselves.
Apart from that i do read most of your computer hardware reviews, but don't always base my decisions solely on your articles other than with SSD's, however i do take your recommendations to heart. I frequent this site almost daily, to keep up with new and upcoming computer hardware.
Mugur - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I read Anandtech for about 10 years and many of its hardware reviews helped me made purchases either for me and my friends, but also for the companies I've worked for (as an IT consultant or IT Manager).But the most influential thing were, by far in the past couple of years, the SSD articles. Now every database server for the mid-market or entry level I either order for clients or just recommend to them has Intel X25-M or E RAIDs that helps performance in a big way, about 6 such SSDs replacing up to 20 SAS 15k rpm drives...
More that this, I've start replacing productivity notebooks drives to SSDs, it also helped the performance and it's more safely to use on the field or when moving.
nvidia2008 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
It all began back in 2005. I was looking to get back into PC gaming. Stumbled across Anandtech and Toms Hardware. To cut a long story short, from 2005 to now, reading Anandtech and Toms has given me a great perspective on the state of PC gaming, PC desktops and even mobile hardware.Focusing on Anandtech, it has influenced my decisions on the big "wars" going on in computing hardware. Intel vs AMD. Nvidia vs ATI. Mac vs PC. Laptop vs Desktop.
It is hard to encapsulate it, but every facet of computing hardware is dissected on Anandtech. Some accuse various tech sites of bias one way or another, and sometimes accuse them of being "paid off" by one side of the "hardware wars" or the other.
Regardless, the most important thing I come to learn is how the winds are shifting.
For example, Intel was suffering with the Pentium 4. Hence I went AMD64. Then Intel Core and Core 2 came out. Hence I went with Intel Macs when the transition happened. Then Nvidia was doing some killer stuff with their G92(?) 8000 series and 9000 series (hence my username). Then the GTX280 was too hot, too big, so I went to ATI 4830 512MB. Then ATI came and killed Nvidia with the 5 series. Then Fermi is out, but the 6000 series from AMD/ATI will be out soon.
Most important, as you can see, is gaining information on CPU, GPU, RAM and OS features, and benchmarks, benchmarks, benchmarks. Also good to keep an eye on Apple and non-Apple products by visiting this site.
To sum it up, Anandtech has influenced my purchasing decisions on:
Intel (bought Intel Mac, not Nehalem CPUs for desktop -- too expensive)
Intel (bought Intel Core 2 and overclocked 10-20%)
AMD (bought AMD64, then Intel Core2, then AMDX2, AMD make great gaming CPUs which are affordable)
Nvidia (bought 8500GT, then another for 8500GT SLI)
Intel + Nvidia + Gigabyte mobo (helped my company buy about 3 units of PCs to act as MYOB server/clients and as CCTV PCs - these were Intel Core 2 + 8500GT, Gigabyte mobos and Raid1 two hard disks)
ATI (bought 4830 512MB after I sold my 8500GT SLI rig)
iPad (bought)
iPhone4 (wondering deeply about it, haven't bought yet)
SSD (haven't bought, no TRIM support on Macs)
7200rpm 2.5" drives (bought, good speedup)
10,000 rpm 3.5" drives (did not buy, too expensive for purposes)
All the best.
nvidia2008 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I should just say, for the record, I am pleased with value for money when it comes to ATI cards. But I did run into the usual "It's good hardware but the constant dhttp://www.anandtech.com/show/3936/a-favor-share-y... issues & benchmarks such as [Starcraft2 with AA] make you think twice."nvidia2008 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
Oops. Not sure what happened in my previous comment. I meant to say:I should just say, for the record, I am pleased with value for money when it comes to ATI cards. But I did run into the usual "It's good hardware but the constant driver issues & benchmarks such as [Starcraft2 with AA] make you think twice."
kashwashwa - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I still think Anandtech's ridiculously in-depth SSD articles are some of the best tech articles I've ever read.They are essentially the entire reason I ended up buying an SSD drive.
Exelius - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I started reading probably 10 years ago and... AT is not quite as interesting as it used to be... there are a number of reasons for that; the biggest being that the x86 platform is just not sexy anymore. Performance gains are methodical, people have long ago figured out which applications scale horizontally, and individual components in the enterprise lag behind the consumer market because they are purchased as part of a larger solution.That said, you guys do a good job of covering the basics: the marketing presentations delivered to the media. You cover it from a "boots on the ground" perspective with the ability to relate back to what it means. Over the years I've built a number of personal PCs from recommendations on this site and you've never steered me wrong. So few sites focus squarely on the x86 desktop market that (and do it professionally) you should keep on trucking. I'd like to see more full system build guides though. Anandtech Bench is great for building a PC.
If I had one complaint about AT itself, it's that it reads like its written by a bunch of former engineers. Which isn't in and of itself a bad thing, but the business conclusions drawn by AT's articles often tend to fail in realizing how the enterprise procurement process works. These articles often confuse me because it feels like AT is trying to branch out into enterprise from the perspective of a small business. Either stay away from the business conclusions or get the conclusions from an enterprise IT consultant/manager who is aware of the differences in ordering single machines vs. volume.
geniekid - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I actually discovered this site via the article Shoebox Showdown (2007). I've always had this dream to build a machine in a MicroATX box that has sadly never come to fruition since the price/performance has never been justified.As others have pointed out, this website was the primary motivator behind my first SSD purchase - the Intel X-25M. I read it regularly and I enjoy reading your comprehensive reviews and guides on everything from home theater setup to smartphone testing. I trust this tech site more than any other site I read.
That said, I will echo the sentiment that DailyTech is a terrible site. Too many misleading headlines, an immature forum community, and mediocre writing.
someguyinmd2010 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I'm probably one of the oldest readers of the site. I first started reading back probably around 1997 or 1998 in college. Anand was still in High School i believe. The two best sites back then for cutting edge were anandtech and Tom's Hardware. I remember his first Pentium II reviews influenced my roomate to buy the P2 along with a Voodoo video card for OpenGL quake! I was much poorer so Anand's reviews on the AMD K6 combined with a Riva 128 (memories of bad gamma settings making everything dark) gave me my poor man's gaming rig back in the day. This was also the first computer i built with much help from this site(replacing my AST) and lasted me until until i bought my celeron 300a/Abit BH6 to overclock for my new poor mans rig.A lot of hardware sites have come and gone, but i don't think any have maintained the quality of reviews that Anandtech has.
xeopherith - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I work for a school district and some of the reviews that are meant for the average home user can effect our purchases as well. We may be looking for a notebook lab or something and besides trialing a notebook we would want some benchmark comparisons and Anandtech.com provides some of the most thorough reviews out there. One thing that I like about Anand is that power and general efficiency are larger topics than at most sites. That is a very important aspect as knowing the whole truth keeps your trust with the site (even if you don't like the product in the review).We would be considered a small/medium business by our staff amount but when we are talking technology I would say we are on the smaller side of things. Even still, the articles that apply to small/medium business likely apply to us as well.
nubie - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I found an excellent article on the FujiFilm FinePix A330.You reviewed the Macro capabilities and found them excellent (which they are). I promptly purchased one on eBay (even at the time I think that article was more than a couple years old).
It is still going strong, and I am able to get very nice shots of circuit boards, SMD components, and A/V equipment and car parts that I sell online.
I also come to Anandtech when I want any news of Video cards. I have purchased my last 6 video cards based on information on this site. I will not buy a video card without knowing the memory bandwidth and the number processing units and their clocks. I never have any money and the most I have ever spent on a video card is surely under $150, so those reviews are important to me so I can get a card capable of the minimum level of performance for a couple years.
Processor reviews: Anandtech convinced me to try Intel processors again with their in-depth articles on core technology (pun intended). I have since built a few Core PC's, instead of AMD. I am looking forward to trying the new AMD lineup based on Anandtech's reviews of the Athlon II core and the excellent performance it offers.
Memory is another area where fine articles at Anandtech have kept me from jumping on a advertiser's bandwagon. DDR3 was not ready 3 years ago, and your thorough tests showed that there wasn't an advantage over DDR2. And since then there are articles showing that DDR3 is now the RAM to choose.
KaRRiLLioN - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I'm an IT Director. 90% of the time before I make a decision, I consult Anandtech and a couple of other trusted websites for benchmark information, etc. and then use that information to make a decision.So this website has played a part in directing where my $200K budget goes each year since circa 2001 or so.
The vast majority of that obviously comes from reading the articles and reviews.
BrianTho2010 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
Anand,I have been wanting to purchase an SSD since they first came out, but have been leery of them. There was very little solid information about the different models on the internet, that was until you became the unoficial SSD guru. With the plethora of well organized, informative, and comparative articles on SSD's I was able to safely make the decision to purchase a 160 GB X25-M 34nm. Intel should definetly send some thanks your way, as should OCZ.
A Big Thanks from a long time reader,
Brian
Zink - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I am a high school student and I can say that though I read several other hardware review sites AnandTech reviews are a cut above the others in terms of accuracy and detail and I read them word for word.I decided to go with an i5 750 and x25-m g1 based on your reviews last year. I also decided to upgrade from my ipod touch 2g to a used ipod touch 3g for my pocketable browser last week instead of going for the newer generation touch or a galaxy s based on your performance reviews and CPU architecture analysis. I'm planing on saving a few hundred dollars this year and waiting for Cotex A9 in tegra 2 or similar soc.
Keep the smartphone reviews coming, especially the performance and soc information. You guys are the best.
alpha754293 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
While I can't say that there's any one specific article, my current IT department at work visits Anandtech on a regular basis, as do I.In fact, the new CAD station that was recently built for me (for CATIA), relied on performance indicators for the selection of the Intel Core i7 980X as the processor to use. I personally, reviewed the article here to find out what it can do in terms of overclocking, which for what I do, is an important consideration moving forward. (CATIA V5R20 is the last release that will support the "big iron" UNIXes such as AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris; and therefore, I needed something that would be able to keep up with the pace that I work at.)
Another system that is currently in the process of being built that also relied heavily on information from Anandtech is our 48-core AMD Opteron-based FEA compute node. We are starting to get into larger scale parallel processing (both shared memory and distributed memory processing), and the benchmark results from Ansys Fluent and LS-DYNA helped us determine which processors to get.
If I had to make one comment, criticism/feedback, would be to do more testing with HPC programs (because there ARE HPC customers or those wanting to get into HPC) where Anandtech is an important source of information. Additionally, running LINPACK (something that was done previously, but doesn't seem to be the case anymore) is also important because I've found that it taxes and tests a system for stability better than any other program out there.
So, I would DEFINITELY like to see more HPC and compute-intensive benchmarks; and I fully understand that those benchmarks typically take a significant amount of time compared to other more "conventional" benchmarks.
alpha754293 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I would also like to add that Anandtech is also a source of information pertaining to SSDs as well.Some/most/nearly all of the new builds at my company's IT department are being built with SSDs in them.
The benchmarks that are often presented include sequential and random reads and writes, but I would like to see more h2benchw results (especially the swap portion, where it mimicks the file/data access pattern of a swap file/drive).
This is important to my line of work because when you're dealing with a 60 GB swap file, and solving an FEA case using a direct sparse solver, the performance of the swap file I/O subsystem becomes critical to the overall performance of the simulation (at least in terms of total run time). Tests conducted in-house have demonstrated that it can vary by nearly a factor of 10(!) (i.e. 10 TIMES as slow WITH a large swap file vs. with the minimum swap file size using an iterative solver); so, more benchmarks for those types of applications would also be beneficial in guiding future IT business decisions looking forward.
Octoberblue - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I got the courage to do my first PC build from reading Andandtech. Waaaay back in the day, your reviews of the AMD K6-3 got me fired up about the value/performance of that chip. I had by far the best bang-for-your buck desktop possible at that time.Any long time reader of AT has no doubt about the sites impact. It's clear that the leadership of AT has influenced even Intel, prompting the chip giant to up it's game significantly, while also leading to their abandonment of such hated practices as the notorious paper release.
Narf23 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Way back in the day (April 1998) Anand wrote a wonderful review on the ABIT BX6 motherboard and its over clocking functionality. Living in South Africa it was not an easy task to import but I was able to find a company in the States that would export the motherboard to South Africa.Upon ordering the board and I then purchased the first Intel Celeron (266Mhz with 0k Cache) which waited to be installed until the board arrived (several weeks.) When it arrived and every thing was installed - I was able to over clock the Celeron to 400Mhz with out any extra cooling!
I like to believe that for a short time - I had the fastest home computer in South Africa running at 400Mhz when the fastest CPU then was Pentium II 300Mhz
I am pleased to say the system worked perfectly over clocked for many years.
Collie147 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
I find the Bench facility is of HUGE relevance for purchasing, especially for purchasing for the office, the sysmark scores are invaluable, especially when they're there and you can compare them on a single page and send a screen shot to my manager about why this one should be purchased over that one.I would however love to see some server CPUs included on the Bench though, it would make my job a hell of a lot easier!
Fair play Anand, keep up the fantastic work.
dubyadubya - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
I found Anandtech so long ago it seems near forever, 10 years+? I have based all my PC builds around knowledge I gained here. Sure I visit other tech sites, you know the ones but none even come close to Anandtech. Anandtech is unbiased and thorough, what more can you ask for. Hell my home page has been Anandtech nearly forever and I do not see it changing any time soon.Bill
Jeffg010 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
The very first article I ever read on anandtech was the most profound. Someone had linked a review about power supplies to this website. The article showed how they were not all created equal. This was a real eye opener because when Anand put each one in a high end system they each had a different level of being stable. What I think he did at the time was over clock the test system to see how stable it would last. Some of the 200 watts power supplies were more stable then a 300 watt. No one did anything like this back in the day. This was a real eye opener for noob that was just starting out in the tech field; I started out testing for Y2K. Ever since that review Anandtech has been my source for hardware reviews and helps make the best choices when it come to hardware.Uyukio - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
I have been a reader of Anandtech for going on 8 years now and while I don't make a large number of posts the information that I get from Anandtech is invaluable.I am the Senior Network Engineer for the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation arm of a large computer forensics lab in the United States. I have many stories about Anandtech influencing my outlook on things by providing me with good, scientific data that I can present to my peers and my director however I'm just going to touch on two of them.
We are presently outfitting to move a part of our operations to a new space and as a result needed to acquire a number of servers to support the increase in infrastructure and still have a few around for the inevitable short notice requirement that will crop up in the future. As soon as I found out that I was going to have to make a purchase order to supply this need I came here and re-read all of the recent server articles, especially those dealing with using higher powered servers to virtualize existing servers. The information that I got from reading the articles about the servers, as well as the recent "ask the experts" features on virtualization I was able to make a well informed decision on a set of HP servers that should meet our needs for some time to come. This happened in spite of the fact that some of my older colleagues still subscribe to the philosophy that "virtualization is evil" because physical servers do a better job thanks to the hard data and expert opinions that I found here.
Secondly, one of the current hot topics here is how much the use of solid state drives could reduce our caseload (by increasing throughput if you'll pardon the computer metaphor). A large part of my contributions to our meetings on the subject has come from Anand's SSD reviews in regards to expected performance increase, particular brands that we should look into, reliability and more. My director was so impressed with the information that I was able to supply that I have been given authorization to do the use case testing for the software that is commonly used in our lab so that we can justify the purchase of new SSDs and which SSDs we ultimately purchase will have been influenced in no small part by Anand's dedication to accuracy.
While many people may not be as interested in some of the technical details that you go through when you do an in-depth examination of a product, in my line of work questions about architecture and the exact nature of where data resides and how it gets there come up quite often. Thank you again for providing detailed, accurate information in as concise a format as possible.
Zanfib - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Nearly every purchase I have made has been influenced by an article I have read on AnandTech. I consider the site to be the definitive voice on SSDs, video cards, motherboards and processors (and more, but those are the products I buy most frequently). I have also purchased a power supply on a review recommendation. The site is fair and balanced and has unprecedented access to the companies and products they review.I check AnandTech daily, sometimes several times a day; the only other site with that much influence over me is (unfortunately) my Facebook page. The funny thing is, my IT manager told me the same...
Thanks Anand, keep up the good work.
Chernobyl68 - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
I'm building a new system based largely on recommendations and articles from this site. I've been reading this site for years and it was from reviews here that I chose my first motherboard; a FIC model for an AMD K6-233 way back in the day. I basically learned to build my systems by reading this site.My new computer is eventually destined to be a HTPC.
Lian Li PC-C33 Case
ASUS Crossfire IV motherboard
8GB Gskill DDR3 memory
Crucial C300 128GB SSD
WD 2TB HDD
AMD Phenom II 6-core 2.8 Ghz CPU
2x ATI 5850 Video cards
Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
Between this site and Newegg its just about all you need to build a machine. Maybe a trip to the local Fry's for things that slip between the cracks. :)
vladimir_atehortua - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
The company I work for sells solutions to telcos. One of our solutions is a billing system that takes call detail records from phone switches, and performs the entire billing process applying tons of logic and tons of information relative to suscriptors, countries, plans, promotions, etc. One of the strengths of this solution is that it's made to scale horizontally, and was proven in 2007 to process over a hundred million call records in 11 hours, using 8 dual core machines. The main Oracle database is relaxed because all calculation are done in the commodity boxes (using local, embedded databases).Back in 2007 a large and well known Mexican telco entered our local market (Colombia), purchasing many small cable providers, investing many millions, and eventually becoming one of the major broadband and TV providers in the country.
By the second half of 2008 they purchased a gvmt license to become a carrier of long distance voice calls in our country, and also begun selling (voip) phone lines. They chose my company's solution for billing of phone calls.
When the project begun I was to provide hardware specifications for the platform, which I did (modest 4 quad core servers). It was december 2008, and their IT staff was all sold up into the virtualization hype of the day, which if you remember were times of was first-era virtualization with vendors saying "performance is near to native" but reality being much, MUCH worse.
I tried to explain to their IT staff that the CPU consumption profile of our app would not virtualize well. I tried to tell them that those lines like "performance is almost as good as native" were vendor crap. I was not successful to convince them on my own, those guys were deeply entrenched in all the hype, and the vendors had dthem convinced that everything could be virtualized, and should be, to leverage consolidation.
To my rescue came an artilce here on anandtech (I tried to find it for you just now but couldn't, sorry) that performed a benchmark, a performance comparison of native vs virtualized, betwen 4 different loads: idle, kernel compilation, some sort of website app, and an OLTP database. The performance loss was considerable in the web app and specially in the OLTP scenario. I forwarded their IT staff this article and explained to them that the nature of our app was very OLTP and CPU intensive and that if they insisted in virtualziing they would expect that kind of performance drop. They were mute for a couple days. Later I found the areticle got them scared, because they were in the middle of a massive corporate-wide effort on "virtualizing everything", and until then had believed that performance was just as good as netive (remember, we are talking 2008).
So they agreed to not use virtualized servers for our app, and went back with some serious questions to their virtualization vendor regarding their project. Hopefully they had more success in consolidating their IT because of this.
It was under the guidance of Anandtech that back in the era of intel's Prescott Pentium 4, all the hardware configurations i set up were Opterons, given the horrible performance hole intel got itself back then. The afforementioned 8 dual core machines setup had a contractual requirement of billing 104 million calls in less than 12 hours). It was done in just 11 hours, and I believe had they not been Opterons but Xeons, we could have been in trouble.
On the less corporate side, me living in south america means I have to import stuff like high end video cards and the like, which makes them even more expensive (due to import fees and exchange rate), which makes the purchase decisions ever more paramount.
Anandtech has helped me with every single purchase for like 5 years, however, not everything is a happy story. Since those first couple articles about SSDs, I've known that would be the best possible upgrade for my computer, I've known there's an order of magnitud in disk peformance, to a point Anand's personal coumputer will never again be without an SSD, and yet, given the cost of SSDs, exchange rate, and import fees, I've had to endure almost two years now, knowing that theres SSD paradice but that I cannot enjoy it. Had I not known perhaps I'd have been a little happier =P
All I can do is wait for that new generation of intel's higher density nand chips to go mainstream and lower everybody's prices. Or perhaps the generation after that... maybe, someday.
Vladimir Atehortúa
IPTotal Software S.A.
Colombia
Exirtis - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
Wow, over the years (2000 until now)...Items that I would not have bought were it not for AnandTech reviews:
-ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
-SAPPHIRE RADEON 9500 128MB
-AMD K6-2 Chomper 500MHz Socket 7 Processor
-Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JB
-Linksys WMP54G
-AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton 2.2GHz
-Two computer cases
-Several different CPU coolers
Items where AnandTech played a part of my purchase decision (through review or competitive assessments):
-ViewSonic P95F+B
-Linksys WRT54G
-CORSAIR 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM (3x)
-Logitech MX1000
-LITE-ON 18X DVD±R Model LH-18A1P-184
-ECS N6200A-256DZ GeForce 6200
-SAMSUNG STORY Station 1TB
-Logitech MX Revolution
-Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500 GB
-Logitech Z-5500
-Logitech Harmony 900 Remote Control (Black)
-Logitech Performance Mouse MX
-Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB (2x)
-Linksys WMP55AG PCI
-Logitech MX900
Other than the above, whenever I'm in the market for a video card, a motherboard, anything storage related (HD, flash mem, etc.), a computer case, CPU cooler, computer monitor, or computer peripheral I often check AnandTech first before going elsewhere. Additionally, computer purchases by friends and companies I have worked for (including a whole host of computers at one college, for their PC labs) have been influenced by what I read on AnandTech.
duveit - Thursday, September 23, 2010 - link
Ended up buying the intel GEN 2 160GB SSD after reading the articles on the topic, and the tests themselves obviously. And my system is running smoother than any system I have ever built and owned previously! (i7 920 setup)So, I think Intel owes you a lot of money :-)
PS: Current computer acctually hinders me as I type this post, the HDD is going mad with something, I dont know what it could possibly be, but it is a good example for why I now find such discomfort using computers that lacks SSD
faster - Thursday, September 23, 2010 - link
I own a small business and manage another with a combined 15 employees in the legal field. We started small and grew over time. Computers have been my hobby since a child, and I built all of the computers and servers in my office. Whenever, over the course of time, we built or upgraded computers, I would always check Anand Tech for reviews on components in order to make intelligent informed purchasing decisions. In my opinion, compared to other tech sites, Anand Tech seemed the most credible becasue they explained their testing methodologies and utilized them as long as practicable to compare component development over time. Many other web sites seem like nothing more than paid mouthpieces of the manufacturer so I coudn't trust a word they said. Credibility is paramount in evaluating a source of information and Anand Tech has felt credible to me as a reader for years. I only built file servers with RAID and destop computers, not really "enterprise" solutions. We were a small business trying to save money. We needed value and reliability. Anand Tech provided the analysis I needed in order to make intelligent purchasing decisions. I must have spent $30,000 or more on computer parts and software over the last 5 years and Anand Tech certainly influenced how I spent that money.I'm for real. You have my contact info in my profile. Feel free to contact me for further information.
dreamsurgeon - Sunday, September 26, 2010 - link
Anandtech is an excellent & reliable techsite. I built my first do-it-yourself pc 3 years ago, and I selected every component based on the reviews of AT. And even after that, all my upgrade decisions were also greatly influenced by AT reviews. I also shared links to numerous articles published in AT with my friends and cousines to help them with their purchasing decisions. I also love the word "Anand" because of its Indian\Bangladeshi origine. The only thing that makes me sad is the inability of AT to arrange an international give-away. However I still love AT. Long live Anandtech. God bless you...Sunraycer - Monday, September 27, 2010 - link
I was already an Anandtech reader when you first started posting about SSDs early on. I was really impressed with the way that you educated the buyers on what specs were good and why, and how you worked with OCZ to create a better product. So many things are just Marketing points now-a-days. I.e., a 12MP camera isn't necessarily better than a 5MP camera, you can still make a 12MP POS put it on a shelf at Best Buy next to a 5MP and the only specs they show on the box a the MPs...you took SSDs beyond the marketing specs and you were able to educate the buying market and thus sway the manufacturers. So many manufacturers make what sells not what is good.BTW- I was also impressed with how you could take your computer knowledge and apply it in the mobile phone/device space. They are quickly merging, but still have their differences.
morikal - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - link
I build a new computer every 2 years or so... for the past 4 cycles of this (including my newest computer, built last week), I've been using Anandtech reviews as a starting point.I tend to spend several weeks researching before I put together a new computer. While I don't exclusively use Anandtech reviews, I do a lot of my initial research on here--I trust your reviews and opinions.
Further, I greatly enjoy keeping up with hardware news by dropping by a couple times a week. Your technical articles on various things, from SSDs to memory to CPU interals (such as your article on load line calibration on the QX9650) are great reads--full of good technical detail, with excellent explanations. I feel that I can trust the articles I read on Anandtech.
Most recently, Anandtech reviews played a large factor in my decision of which PSU, CPU (chipset decision between 1156 & 1366), SSD, and video cards to purchase for my new machine.
Keep up the good work!
rickitguy - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - link
The last time I read and used Anantech for a buyers guide was for my purchase of a Nvidia 8800 GT. I have used Anandtech since the founder was 15-16 years old and still in college. (Did he ever finish?)I recently looked to your website again as I need to build another system from the ground up. Three years in the PC world is like 100 in human years. It is time. Anyway I have found that the video card selection is clear thanks to your website. The Nvidia GTX 460 1 Gb review was well done and I agree that it is the card to have. I am severely disappointed that there is no review and/or mid-range guide to help me select a mother board that will offer SLI (like with the Nvidia 8800GT) nor a recent guide to help me select all the other components of a mid-range performance video gaming system. Things have changed and I may actually have to resort to switching to Intel from AMD to get SLI. (God help me.) Until God does help me can Anandtech please get some recent comprehensive guides up on the website helping consumers with the selection of the most recent hardware selection in a good mid-range gaming system? We depend on you and when you recommend something, we buy it! Thank you.
rickitguy - Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - link
Just in case my last comments are taken the wrong way. I do love your website and your reviews. It is just that your reviews/guides for the various levels of systems used to come out more often and were way more comprehensive. You would offer lets say a mid-range system and then offer alternates for upgrading paths for certain components. Please do not slip on that. I bought a hell of a system based on your recommendations last time I did a ground up custom build.Now though it may be a case of the market doesn't offer what I want. AMD CPU, bleeding edge motherboard, SLI support for a pair of Nvidia GTX 460 1Gb, etc. I have to figure it all out and need your expert help.
Your partner companies should know this. You test it and recommend it, we buy it! That is because to date we trust you. We know you are giving the best unbiased hardware reviews on the planet. Lose the trust you lose us. Keep up the good work and get another guide out!
nfriedly - Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - link
I spent about a month digging through various laptop reviews, and I eventually settled on a Asus u35jc due to it being recommended here. So far, I've been extremely pleased with the purchase. (I liked some of Asus's other systems, but wanted something a little lighter. I didn't even realize the u35jc existed until I read about it here.)sanmike - Sunday, October 3, 2010 - link
Thank you for clarifying your remarks. I know itsanmike - Sunday, October 3, 2010 - link
Thank you very much for sharing . http://www.attorneylawonline.comncrubyguy - Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - link
I sent this email to a friend over 12 years ago (11/24/1998):Sites to check out for motherboard reviews:
http://www.anandtech.com
http://www.tweakit.com
http://www.tomshardware.com
the first one is by far the best in my opinion. Tweakit tends to lack selection of new boards, and Tom’s Hardware lacks detail. My suggestion is to go through the Super7 boards in Anandtech with at least one bus speed >100 MHz. Make sure it has high stability scores , and then check the features. If you’re keeping your RAM for a while but still want to use the 100 MHz bus speed with it you’ll have to get a VIA MVP3 based board. I guess those are the critical issues. Any other questions?