The reason why a number of people (including myself) have received an infraction and a number of warnings with respect to these "personal attacks" is precisely because this isn't a matter of opinion.
It is not my
opinion that if you overclock card X and compare it to an overclocked card y that this represents a fair comparison. It is not my
opinion that if you overclock card X and compare it to a stock clocked card Y that this is an unfair comparison in cases where stock clocked card Y can overclock as well.
The reason why people are risking their posting histories on this forum is precisely because there's a fact at stake. This fact is with respect to 'review fairness'. I've never seen more biased reviews/bad journalism/bad reviews as the video card reviews that are done by many of the sites out there. Using 2 games to conclude that x is faster than y OVERALL? Using one USER overclocked card against another stock clocked card and concluding that the former is faster than the latter ALWAYS?
Let's put it this way: Show me one review that has a user overclocked 5850 against a stock clocked 460, that concludes that the 5850 is much faster than the stock clocked 460 ALWAYS, as was done in many of the 460 (user overclocked) reviews and in many posts on this sub-forum. JUST ONE. This is why so many 'zoners' are up in arms at these comparisons: they just don't happen to Nvidia.
There is a controversy here. Performance is an objective matter (that can fluctuate based on drivers, games and so forth, but it is quantifiable and not a matter of debate). This is why I tend to read Alienbabeltech reviews (comprehensive games list, check out this one:
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=23490&all=1). Take a look at the hardware list: They use
only factory overclocked cards. They use lots of games. They offer conclusions re: raw performance and price/performance (if that's your thing). That's a comprehensive review. I wish their testing was cited far more frequently. So many other shoddy, frankly garbage reviews, are brought to this forum as if they support the conclusions often made.
Guess what - they don't. And there are a number of people who notice it.