TheOverclocker Issue 21 | Página 3

True Story Bro! W ritten in my least inspired state I plead with you fellow reader, do not by discouraged for there may be no methodology to how I approach this but there certainly is a point. Some changes have taken place within the magazine, while transparent to you, the gravity of these changes may not be understated. With an ever changing mission statement here, for the first time I am driven to provide a sufficiently better reading experience than we have in previous issues. Part of that is detailing true, honest and unfiltered thoughts on what it is we feel about products, ideas and the state of the overclocking and the hardware ecosystem as a whole. It needs no stating, but just in case anybody had it we, or rather I, was unaware of the plight or more aptly the future of the component business as it relates to the end user. I shall state it explicitly. Overclockers sell hardware. They sell hardware in ways no competitive gamer could. It is not to say that I have no respect for the immense dedication and talent required in reaching the echelons of gaming stardom, no – it’s simply that a competitor destined for greatness playing on an AMD machine or a SNB-E machine has a future determined not by the hardware but every other facet of the domain. To that end I would argue that hardware vendors, particularly of the graphics card business should divorce themselves from previous practices that in the past were beneficial but presently serve little to no purpose. Let’s be honest with ourselves, a GTX 680 at 1,110Mhz has the same performance as any other GTX 680 at the same frequency. There’s nothing to be said about such a graphics card and it would be a complete and utter waste of time to even suggest there is something valuable to be taken away from such a product profile let alone a review. So I would think vendors need differentiate themselves from the competition in more meaningful ways and as a result, their components will in turn deserve purchase and editorial not only “It’s a losing battle and one that is increasingly more ridiculous as manufactures are funneled into uniformity by the various IP vendors.” in this publication but in many others. The problem we faced with scoring systems is not with the values assigned to products, but rather the patent futility of attempting to articulate differences between components that are otherwise identical. It’s a losing battle and one that is increasingly more ridiculous as manufactures are funneled into uniformity by the various IP vendors. We will not stop reviewing hardware even with the products that don’t stand out, however we will not be concerned form here on in with components that do nothing other than offer what everybody else can offer, more directly reference design components. More so, we shall not be moved by a 5% overclock on any part, as that doesn’t translate into anything meaningful for competitive, casual and seasoned overclockers (or gamers for that matter). As such, for the sake of sincerity, honesty and most importantly transparency with you our readers and the vendors, we would like to charge ourselves with more personal, unobstructed and if you will, more sincere reviews and editorial content. It may seem counter-productive but at the end of it all, the reason you read this magazine is for an, open and unbiased opinion. It’s not a technical collation of papers, but a magazine which is largely opinion based on technical merit. With that said, welcome to Issue 21 of TheOverclocker Magazine, enjoy it and we will see you next time around. MOA Baby! [ Neo Sibeko - Editor] Issue 21 | 2012 The OverClocker 3