What is the best hardware review site?

[OneOfTheseDays]

It's amazing how many more hardware sites there are now compared to a few years ago. We've seen some come and go, but for the most part the major sites have all managed to stay afloat. I think overall AT is the best site for computer reviews, period. I love the layout of their reviews and the reviewers are all very knowledgeable for the most part.

My only complaint is that I'd wish they'd branch out more and start reviewing more hardware that is not directly related to computers (i.e. LCD TV's, etc.). They are definitely starting to move in this direction though, which is a good thing. I was wondering what sites you guys rank up there as the best in terms of reviews?

 

[McManCSU]

Toms Hardware is alright, but like you, AT is my favorite.

 

[Eomer of Aldburg]

for me, I like the hardware reviews best at Guru3d. Forum wise, Anandtech is much better!

 

[DaveSimmons]

www.SilentPCReview.com is best for noise and thermal testing testing, www.Sudhian.com has the best SFF/cube coverage, but for video, CPU and motherboards AT is #1.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

HardOCP is very good.

 

[hardcandy2]

johnnyguru.com for PSU's.

 

[Imyourzero]

Originally posted by: McManCSU
Toms Hardware is alright, but like you, AT is my favorite.

What's the deal with TH anyway? There have been a few articles over there that caught my eye as being fairly thorough and interesting, but I've seen so many people badmouth the site that I'm not sure whether to trust the info or just take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Shawn]

AT fo' shizzle.

 

[latino666]

I like reading Firingsquad

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Imyourzero
What's the deal with TH anyway? There have been a few articles over there that caught my eye as being fairly thorough and interesting, but I've seen so many people badmouth the site that I'm not sure whether to trust the info or just take it with a grain of salt.

For years, Tom's was the absolute worst hardware info site on the internet, bar none. In the last few months, though, they've made a 180 degree turnaround. I'm thinking that either they have a new owner, or somebody different is calling the shots, at the least.

 

[secretanchitman]

techreport.com is also a good source for reviews...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

best- AT, SPCR, Frostytech.

ok- Tom's, motherboards.org, guru3d, madshrimps, techpowerup

lol- [H ].

IIRC, the beef with Tom's (I think THE Tom is long gone) was biased info. Intel? Anyway, I liked AT way more once I found it. I still check out Tom's regularly, amid all the crap there are occasionally some very good articles. At least they whipped up a better webpage now.

 

[ShawnD1]

I still love this one the most
http://www.xbitlabs.com/

 

[Lord Banshee]

xbitlabs for me too

but they seem not to get all the hardware AT and tomshardware gets.

 

[Bremen]

IIRC, the beef with Tom's (I think THE Tom is long gone) was biased info. Intel?

IIRC it started with the Pentium III 1.13GHz fiasco. Then Tom was quite critical of RDRAM and the P4 since they basically ramped up clock speeds at the cost of performance... most enthusiasts would agree with these points, but Tom managed to piss off Intel PR people. Good luck running a hardware review site when the manufacturers won't send you samples...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: hardcandy2
johnnyguru.com for PSU's.

QFT.

EDIT: I've also become accustomed to visit the forums of a product I intend to buy. You really do learn a lot about their customer service in this manner. For example, on the "official" Asus forums, there is no one from Asus--absolutely no Asus reps. And the manner of which Corsair removes posts is frightening on their forums... It's very interesting. eVGA seems to have one of the best forums that I've seen so far (as far as product specific forums go).

 

[Slugbait]

It's been so long, but if I remember correctly, Tom's got a lot of criticism (especially here and at AGN3D) for being biased toward whomever was advertising at the time. People were posting multiple benchmark reviews from other sites that were in direct opposition to Tom's "objective" reviews. It was like watching ATI, but without that whole corporate PR environment thing going on.

A few years ago, people forgot all about Tom's when Kyle started jetisoning people from his forum with a rail gun. It was bizarre...behavior like that of someone who decided the ritalin wasn't working anymore or something.

AFAIK, Tom sold out for real quite awhile ago...dunno what he's doing now.

Anyway, I get my reviews from boot Magazine (now Maximum PC). Minimum BS, and that whole thang...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Maximum PC jumped the shark years ago

 

[Auric]

'nutha vote for xbitlabs.

 

[thecrecarc]

johnny guru for PSU
anandtech for everything else

 

[schneiderguy]

I like anandtech the best

firingsquad used to be good but now their website layout SUCKS and theres too many flash ads that are using 50% or more of my cpu :|

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Maximum PC jumped the shark years ago

I agree. Their magazines got thinner, their ads got thicker, and they hardly review all available products for a given article.

CPU (Computer Power User) magazine is still :thumbsup: !

 

[Gamingphreek]

Quiet Computers/Thermal Analysis - SPCR
In-Depth Micro architecture analysis - Beyond3d, Anandtech
Optical Drives- ClubCDFreaks, CDRLabs
PSU and Related - JonnyGuru and SPCR
General Reviews- Xbit, Anandtech
Drivers- TweaksRUs

Guru3d is nice, but it is not really in depth. Hilbert is a nice enough guy in his forums and what not, but I don't feel he knows NEAR the amount that Anand and the others do.

As for Tom's Hardware, Tom himself was very very intelligent. However, he hired a staff full of morons and didn't bother to manage them properly. Not only that, the Editor's over there were equally horrible as they could never seem to find a consistent way to bench objectively. I believe they got in trouble at one point for accepting money from Intel. Everything seems quiet over there now...as was said earlier, I believe Tom himself quietly slipped away.

-Kevin

 

[jpeyton]

The Tech Report

 

[40sTheme]

I have to read everywhere to get a good sense of a product's actual performance. I like every review site the same because some touch on other areas rather than 'T3H L33TZ0RZ P3RF0RM4NC3' and stuff.