July 6th, 2007
AMD removes bogus benchmarks
[Update 8/17/2007 - AMD caught passing junked benchmarks red handed]
[UPDATE - 1:00 PM - AMD has done the right thing and removed the objectionable slides this morning. Thank you AMD. Blog title was changed from "AMD drags feet on taking down bogus benchmarks".]
There’s been a lot of controversy and debate when I exposed AMD for posting deceptive benchmarks on Barcelona and it lead to an announcement from AMD that they would take down the deceptive benchmarks and post honest scores. There’s just one problem; AMD intends to take their time taking down the grossly misleading scores. In fact we may not see anything change for a few weeks until newer “honest scores” are posted. After a lengthy back and forth email discussion with AMD yesterday where I tried to reason with AMD that it would be best to remove the deceptive scores immediately, I’ve been informed that they “will ultimately be down” and that AMD will be sure to alert me when they are down.
In light of AMD’s convenient feet dragging, it’s hard to believe that AMD is sincere that they were just innocent bystanders.If you’re wondering why this even matters, AMD vigorously defended itself by saying that they posted the simulated Barcelona 2.6 GHz scores - a product so far out that it doesn’t have a launch date - and older Intel quad-core CPUs back in April. So therefore AMD wasn’t aware of the much better Intel scores as if to imply that AMD didn’t post deceptive benchmarks at the time it was posted. The problem is that AMD still posted scores for a non-existent AMD product based on “simulated” results which is completely bogus and deceptive.
The bigger problem is that even though AMD posted these deceptive benchmarks back in April, it wasn’t widely reported and not many people knew about it. But sometime this week, these deceptive charts were widely distributed among the press which led many technology news sites to blindly regurgitate these deceptive AMD benchmarks as proof of how wonderful AMD’s new Barcelona product will be. As an example of how widespread these bogus benchmarks have spread, here’s a list of stories glowing about Barcelona citing AMD’s simulated Barcelona 2.6 GHz scores going up against older Intel products with lower outdated scores.
- The Inquirer
- TechReport (Parroting the Inquirer)
- x-bit labs
- bit-tech
- TGDaily
So we have a situation where AMD distances itself from the news sites that are regurgitating these bogus numbers that AMD has already agreed to take down. AMD then denies distributing the deceptive slides yet everyone points back to AMD being the ultimate originator of the slides and everyone points back to AMD’s website as validation. Now I have no reason to believe AMD is not telling the truth that they didn’t send the slides, but the slides on their production website is STILL acting as an official source of validation. So regardless of whether AMD sent the slides or not, AMD intends to conveniently benefit from the false accolades being given to them by these news sites regurgitating AMD’s deceptive benchmarks because AMD won’t immediately take down the deceptive benchmarks. In light of AMD’s convenient feet dragging, it’s hard to believe that AMD is sincere that they were just innocent bystanders.
AMD has promised to take down these deceptive benchmarks but they intend to take their time doing it. I’ve already asked AMD about 5 times to take down those deceptive benchmarks as soon as possible via email and I don’t seem to be getting anywhere so I will bring this issue to the public. Hey AMD, take down those deceptive benchmarks now!
George Ou is Technical Director of ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
