It is interesting to take a peek behind the curtains once in a while. I wish the interview was technical, especially in the exciting area of Si photonics. I appreciate the content nonetheless. But you are correct, the number of AT hardware reviews have decreased and depending on the reviewer, the quality has also dropped.
Finally, a shout-out to Duke Nukem himself, Mr. Ryan Smith. Henceforth, referred to as "The Duke". You heard it here first!
Yeah, its a problem. Indepth technical 'reviews' are what this site is known for. These types of articles are nice to have every now and then but should be considered just a bonus. And yeah, it is partially marketing opportunity for Intel but as long as it objective there doesn't have to be a conflict of interest. Not really why I come to this site though.
I only post this because I think its important to keep written media around from societal perspective (speaking generally not just tech journalism). Anandtech was one of the best examples in the tech space and it would be nice to have them return to prior form.
Judging by my stress levels, I've done more reviews in recent memory than I've ever done at AnandTech, and there's always something more to talk about and microarchitecture deep dives end up stretching for pages and pages, along with the actual product reviews. Not sure where you get the idea that we've dropped quality: Billy's SSD reviews are second-to-none, Andrei's SoC and Arm server analysis goes above and beyond what others test. Gavin on motherboards is going into detail about VRM and thermals in a way we've never done before at AnandTech, and Ganesh continues to do amazing work on HTPCs.
I don't think anyone wants to directly address the elephant in the room, but there hasn't been a GPU review for over a year. Ryan seems like he is going through a mental crisis that prevents him from releasing GPU reviews, but nothing can be done about it because he's the big boss and they are always on their way even though they never come out. At this point if they do come out they'll be obsolete.
I think this was a good article and I enjoyed reading it. It doesn't get too technical but introduces the readers to a lot of interesting concepts, which is a good thing. I, myself, shared the article with several coworkers and looked more into neuromorphic computing. Thank you for that.
I think the criticisms though revolve around 2 factors. 1. GPUs. I just don't come to Anandtech for GPU information anymore. I don't follow twitter or anything so I don't know why you stopped doing them but I miss them. I still remember the original Matrox Millennium review, loved it. I used to come to Anandtech for all my tech research. I even found some old AT articles I *printed* as a child lol. You're the reason I went TnT and then Geforce and then 9800 Pro, etc. But maybe this is less relevant given that we can't actually buy GPUs anymore anyway. 2. The market has changed. There are fewer revolutionary products available now and the major players have consolidated. In some ways, it's just not as interesting as it used to be. It's yet to be seen but maybe the M1 changes this?
Anyway, thanks for the article and keep up the great work!
The obvious elephant in the room is GPUs. Given what they are used for these days and what they mean to the industry they have to be covered at the same level as you cover CPUs. Aside from the current situation which kinda makes them a moot point GPUs and video cards are practically half the industry. You (Anandtech) used to cover them and thats mainly what I am pointing at.
Motherboards used to be a weak spot here and I haven't looked at review in a long time so its very good too see VRM analysis as besides feature set thats the biggest differentiator. The one thing I would say its would be nice to see more of a visual representation of VRM temp results, looking at big table of numbers kinda sucks. It would also be nice to power consumption numbers for a given stock and overclocked CPU to see another for another metric and know just how much VRM is producing in waste heat.
The SSD reviews go over my head honestly, nothing I do really pushes storage that hard.
This site is one of the few that covers almost everything in the industry instead of the new hotness or redundant benchmarks of minor tweaks in AIB hardware. Please do not listen to the people complaining about insight articles like this, its hard to find these things anywhere else. Every other site is just spam about how GPUs are unavailable, I don't understand why people want more of the same thing that everyone else is already covering.
Find me another site with journalist that has the depth of knowledge to even being questioning what Intel Labs are doing.
May be I am old, I generally skim read reviews nowadays. Already knowing 90% of information and reviews are only their for confirmation and finding interesting oddities. But these information being presented here is new and interesting.
There's a lot going on with Intel's Silicon Photonics, I went into some good detail with the team there. I could write a good article on it, just have to find the time.
Yes please. But I think it will take a lot of time because most of people aren't physicist here. And trying to explain something extremely complex into something easily digestible is going to take lots of thoughts and time. Which somehow most people do not appreciate
I'm sorry but I can't resist a little humor here. So 700 PhD's have been farting around while the rest of Intel couldn't get 10nm working or a new architecture over the last 5 years? Seems like the priorities are a little off.
judging from his answer about working together they need to look at getting better value for the Dollar! Echo others marketing flim flam, said it before will say it again Intel spends fortunes on getting its name into headlines and product reviews
Great article, thank you to Drs Cutress and Uhlig! Some very interesting research areas to look at over the next decade or two, and good insight into some of the current "tough problems". This really is the stuff that you can't get from other sites: a solidly TECHNICAL interview that's still accessible to the layperson. I'm old enough to remember Anand's explainer-style articles that excited me when I was growing up... it seems some things just get better with age, and AnandTech is one of them.
(ah, and for the many who want GPU review after GPU review, have you headed over to Gamer's Nexus? You're welcome.)
I'm curious how hamster neurons compare with rat neurons. I'd imagine that hamsters would be closer to mice than rats, but even among rats there's a huge difference between a pack rat and a brown rat.
Awesome read about a group at Intel I didn't know much about. Really surprised at how large their headcount is! Always interesting to read about groups whose job it is to "dream big". Seems so far away from most of our industries. Thanks Ian!
By the way, I studied at the university where the director of Intel also studied and I really liked the way they teach there. But it was very difficult in terms of time, it was always not enough. As it turned out, Santa Clara University and Stanford University are very demanding, and at some point I realized that I was doing nothing. As a result, I turned to the service https://edubirdie.com/pay-for-homework, which helped me tremendously in my work and did almost everything for me. I strongly advise the guys who will enter the same university to use this site.
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30 Comments
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DannyH246 - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
haha - no reviews of hardware, but another marketing presentation from Intel.Alistair - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
"quantum practicality" - nice, i like that conceptYB1064 - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
It is interesting to take a peek behind the curtains once in a while. I wish the interview was technical, especially in the exciting area of Si photonics. I appreciate the content nonetheless. But you are correct, the number of AT hardware reviews have decreased and depending on the reviewer, the quality has also dropped.Finally, a shout-out to Duke Nukem himself, Mr. Ryan Smith. Henceforth, referred to as "The Duke". You heard it here first!
Operandi - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Yeah, its a problem. Indepth technical 'reviews' are what this site is known for. These types of articles are nice to have every now and then but should be considered just a bonus. And yeah, it is partially marketing opportunity for Intel but as long as it objective there doesn't have to be a conflict of interest. Not really why I come to this site though.I only post this because I think its important to keep written media around from societal perspective (speaking generally not just tech journalism). Anandtech was one of the best examples in the tech space and it would be nice to have them return to prior form.
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Judging by my stress levels, I've done more reviews in recent memory than I've ever done at AnandTech, and there's always something more to talk about and microarchitecture deep dives end up stretching for pages and pages, along with the actual product reviews. Not sure where you get the idea that we've dropped quality: Billy's SSD reviews are second-to-none, Andrei's SoC and Arm server analysis goes above and beyond what others test. Gavin on motherboards is going into detail about VRM and thermals in a way we've never done before at AnandTech, and Ganesh continues to do amazing work on HTPCs.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
My guess is they're either trolling or referring to GPUs.Holliday75 - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Yeah most likely. While I do love seeing those reviews, these articles open up a side of the biz we don't get to see often and are really enjoyable.wrkingclass_hero - Wednesday, March 3, 2021 - link
I don't think anyone wants to directly address the elephant in the room, but there hasn't been a GPU review for over a year. Ryan seems like he is going through a mental crisis that prevents him from releasing GPU reviews, but nothing can be done about it because he's the big boss and they are always on their way even though they never come out. At this point if they do come out they'll be obsolete.shabby - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
What about Ryan? 🤔shabby - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Why can't you be forthcoming and say what the hold up is? Did he get addicted to mining or did his house actually burn down?BigDH01 - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
I think this was a good article and I enjoyed reading it. It doesn't get too technical but introduces the readers to a lot of interesting concepts, which is a good thing. I, myself, shared the article with several coworkers and looked more into neuromorphic computing. Thank you for that.I think the criticisms though revolve around 2 factors.
1. GPUs. I just don't come to Anandtech for GPU information anymore. I don't follow twitter or anything so I don't know why you stopped doing them but I miss them. I still remember the original Matrox Millennium review, loved it. I used to come to Anandtech for all my tech research. I even found some old AT articles I *printed* as a child lol. You're the reason I went TnT and then Geforce and then 9800 Pro, etc. But maybe this is less relevant given that we can't actually buy GPUs anymore anyway.
2. The market has changed. There are fewer revolutionary products available now and the major players have consolidated. In some ways, it's just not as interesting as it used to be. It's yet to be seen but maybe the M1 changes this?
Anyway, thanks for the article and keep up the great work!
Operandi - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
The obvious elephant in the room is GPUs. Given what they are used for these days and what they mean to the industry they have to be covered at the same level as you cover CPUs. Aside from the current situation which kinda makes them a moot point GPUs and video cards are practically half the industry. You (Anandtech) used to cover them and thats mainly what I am pointing at.Motherboards used to be a weak spot here and I haven't looked at review in a long time so its very good too see VRM analysis as besides feature set thats the biggest differentiator. The one thing I would say its would be nice to see more of a visual representation of VRM temp results, looking at big table of numbers kinda sucks. It would also be nice to power consumption numbers for a given stock and overclocked CPU to see another for another metric and know just how much VRM is producing in waste heat.
The SSD reviews go over my head honestly, nothing I do really pushes storage that hard.
whatthe123 - Thursday, March 4, 2021 - link
This site is one of the few that covers almost everything in the industry instead of the new hotness or redundant benchmarks of minor tweaks in AIB hardware. Please do not listen to the people complaining about insight articles like this, its hard to find these things anywhere else. Every other site is just spam about how GPUs are unavailable, I don't understand why people want more of the same thing that everyone else is already covering.ksec - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Find me another site with journalist that has the depth of knowledge to even being questioning what Intel Labs are doing.May be I am old, I generally skim read reviews nowadays. Already knowing 90% of information and reviews are only their for confirmation and finding interesting oddities. But these information being presented here is new and interesting.
@Ian, ignore the negativity.
Jorgp2 - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Yeah.But it seems boring to me as a consumer, only interesting thing here is silicon photonics.
IanCutress - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
There's a lot going on with Intel's Silicon Photonics, I went into some good detail with the team there. I could write a good article on it, just have to find the time.ksec - Wednesday, March 3, 2021 - link
Yes please. But I think it will take a lot of time because most of people aren't physicist here. And trying to explain something extremely complex into something easily digestible is going to take lots of thoughts and time. Which somehow most people do not appreciateAlistair - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
"quantum practicality" - nice, I like that conceptwebdoctors - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Wow, 700 ppl. No idea its that big. That's pretty crazy, they could field several startups at that size. Like the next Palo Alto Networks, Nuvia, etc.Hulk - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
I'm sorry but I can't resist a little humor here.So 700 PhD's have been farting around while the rest of Intel couldn't get 10nm working or a new architecture over the last 5 years? Seems like the priorities are a little off.
IanCutress - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
...literally my second question.alufan - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
judging from his answer about working together they need to look at getting better value for the Dollar!Echo others marketing flim flam, said it before will say it again Intel spends fortunes on getting its name into headlines and product reviews
flgt - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hL5Om4IJ4&t=..."Everyone is trying to do some random new thing, 99% of which doesn't matter, and the basics get neglected." J. Keller
shabby - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Thanks for the link, 30 min into 👍heickelrrx - Wednesday, March 3, 2021 - link
you should read the article before commentCarmen00 - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Great article, thank you to Drs Cutress and Uhlig! Some very interesting research areas to look at over the next decade or two, and good insight into some of the current "tough problems". This really is the stuff that you can't get from other sites: a solidly TECHNICAL interview that's still accessible to the layperson. I'm old enough to remember Anand's explainer-style articles that excited me when I was growing up... it seems some things just get better with age, and AnandTech is one of them.(ah, and for the many who want GPU review after GPU review, have you headed over to Gamer's Nexus? You're welcome.)
Wereweeb - Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - link
Silicon photonics is the next big thing that can revolutionize computing. Thank you for covering it, Ian.wrkingclass_hero - Wednesday, March 3, 2021 - link
I'm curious how hamster neurons compare with rat neurons. I'd imagine that hamsters would be closer to mice than rats, but even among rats there's a huge difference between a pack rat and a brown rat.thecoolnessrune - Wednesday, March 3, 2021 - link
Awesome read about a group at Intel I didn't know much about. Really surprised at how large their headcount is! Always interesting to read about groups whose job it is to "dream big". Seems so far away from most of our industries. Thanks Ian!nickbor34 - Saturday, January 15, 2022 - link
By the way, I studied at the university where the director of Intel also studied and I really liked the way they teach there. But it was very difficult in terms of time, it was always not enough. As it turned out, Santa Clara University and Stanford University are very demanding, and at some point I realized that I was doing nothing. As a result, I turned to the service https://edubirdie.com/pay-for-homework, which helped me tremendously in my work and did almost everything for me. I strongly advise the guys who will enter the same university to use this site.