Kyle Bennett of HardOCP Joins Intel as Director of Enthusiast Engagement

[btarunr]

Kyle Bennett, owner of tech publication HardOCP that ruled the web for over two decades, has joined Intel in the position of Director of Enthusiast Engagement. Following his departure, HardOCP will "mothballed," in that it will not generate new content, its IP and existing content will be owned by Bennett. HardForum.com, on the other hand, will be sold to a company Bennett is familiar with, demonetized, and run by volunteers and funded by Patreons. At Intel, Bennett will work under Technology Leadership Marketing, and will lead the company's efforts to "reconnect with the top of the high-performance consumer pyramid which contains hardware enthusiasts, overclockers, gamers, and content creators."

Kyle Benett is among a handful superstar tech journalists Intel soaked up in recent times as Raja Koduri and Chris Hook build Intel's Infinity Gauntlet with them. These include Ryan Shrout from PC Perspective, and Damien Triolet from Hardware.fr (albeit via AMD). Anand Lal Shimpi probably was one of the first and most prominent tech press leaders who left his publication for the industry. AMD's arsenal includes Scott Wasson from The TechReport and the famous overclocker Sammi Maekinen. Lars Weinand from RivaStation works for NVIDIA (also via AMD). Kyle Bennett is famous for a mountain of work in the DIY PC sphere, but in recent times is most recently credited for exposing and leading an awareness campaign against NVIDIA's poorly conceived GeForce Partner Program (GPP). We wish Kyle Bennett all the very best in his new endeavor and pray that he doesn't allow DIY PC and overclocking to become as expensive a hobby as fast cars (which unfortunately is the direction in which it's headed).




Personal note from W1zzard: In some ways you have to thank Kyle for TechPowerUp, too. Shortly after getting my feet wet with enthusiast tech, developing a shader unlock on Radeon 9500 non-Pro (around 2002), I became moderator of the HardOCP graphics card subforum. This made me embrace hardware even more, and I found two other enthusiasts who I teamed up with to start "OCFaq", a "Tech Questions and Answers" kind of project, which quickly turned into a more complex site. The other two guys lost interest at some point, so it was just me pushing out content, while all the decisions still had to be made by our trio, which slowed down things a lot. In the end I decided to roll my own and founded TechPowerUp - the very site you are browsing now.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[AmioriK]

"Technology Leadership Marketing "

Oh boooy....

 

[dj-electric]

"Technology Leadership Marketing "

Oh boooy....

Its a very good thing that after some incidents Intel actually recruits the best of the best to make sure performance figures are legitimate.

 

[Zubasa]

Its a very good thing that after some incidents Intel actually recruits the best of the best to make sure performance figures are legitimate.

That is if Intel intends to actually do that.
I doubt Intel was really that ignorant of what was going on with their earlier performance figures.

 

[krykry]

That is if Intel intends to actually do that.
I doubt Intel was really that ignorant of what was going on with their earlier performance figures.

These guys aren't called the "best tech journalists" for no reason. The main reason for anyone to become famous in the tech journalism, is great work ethic.

If they retain their ethics standards from when they were tech journalists, then Intel will go in good direction.

 

[AmioriK]

Its a very good thing that after some incidents Intel actually recruits the best of the best to make sure performance figures are legitimate.

Given Intel's track record of "legitimate" competition? Yeah...

This news upsets me. Now we see another unbias voice on PC hardware become immediately bias. As many here on TPU will already know; I really do not like Intel, and it's not because I'm an AMD fanboy, either. It's because I know what Intel is like, and I know how much monopoly hurts the industry that i am so passionate about. But I won't derail the thread with that, as it is somewhat off topic.

 

[dj-electric]

Given Intel's track record of "legitimate" competition? Yeah...

This news upsets me. Now we see another unbias voice on PC hardware become immediately bias. As many here on TPU will already know; I really do not like Intel, and it's not because I'm an AMD fanboy, either. It's because I know what Intel is like, and I know how much monopoly hurts the industry that i am so passionate about. But I won't derail the thread with that, as it is somewhat off topic.

Company has bad rep with performance numbers, hires the best workforce and makes a super-team of grounded enthusiasts to make sure it doesn't happen, and people get mad.
What else could they do? This is a right move. is this the right move? only the future will tell. Not liking Corp A over Corp B has nothing to do with it. The hardwre industry is not an anime. There are no heroes here, just people who get up to work so they could make money.

 

[ZhangirDuyseke]

These guys aren't called the "best tech journalists" for no reason. The main reason for anyone to become famous in the tech journalism, is great work ethic.

If they retain their ethics standards from when they were tech journalists, then Intel will go in good direction.

Intel is already in good direction and has been. What's up with intel hatred?! Is it normal to hate Intel, Nvidia, Windows 10 in TechPowerUp forums?

 

[Ferrum Master]

Intel is already in good direction and has been. What's up with intel hatred?! Is it normal to hate Intel, Nvidia, Windows 10 in TechPowerUp forums?

Don't you see the TPU logo is red?

But jokes aside... if you poke deeper, we have fanboys of every camp. Except for Microsoft, everyone like to hate M$.

 

[Bones]

Intel didn't hire these guys and get them under contract for no reason.

One possible reason would be to polish their image and use these guys to do it with their previous resume preceding them.

Another possible reason to hire and get these guys under contract is to stop them from slamming Intel if and when they do screwup. If the one(s) you're wanting to critizise has you by the proverbial nads via contract, they have you nailed down and silenced at their discresion.
I can promise you there is no time clock getting punched by any of these guys - It was all business with contracts and clauses.

Intel probrably will benefit from them being under their wing and they too will prosper, just don't expect things from them to be the same anymore from this point foward.

 

[AmioriK]

Company has bad rep with performance numbers, hires the best workforce and makes a super-team of grounded enthusiasts to make sure it doesn't happen, and people get mad.
What else could they do? This is a right move. is this the right move? only the future will tell. Not liking Corp A over Corp B has nothing to do with it. The hardwre industry is not an anime. There are no heroes here, just people who get up to work so they could make money.

consumer mainstream CPUs between 2010 and 2017 , what was the main thing that happened during this period of absolutely zero innovation? AMD Bulldozer.

Then Ryzen appears and you get the hexa 8700K which cost the almost same as the 7700K before it, but with 50% more cores. Do you see where I'm going with this? Ryzen is a hero, because Ryzen put in the hands of the every day man and woman, more processing power than ever before, at a price that almost anyone can afford. Where does one draw the line between simply only caring about profit, than actually caring about driving forward innovation and making good products? Because I'm telling you right now the 9900K is absolutely not worth $500. And then there's the "F" CPU's.... (F stands for "FU" to the consumer Btw i could not have achieved a place in Top 10 of TPU WCG team in credit/day without Ryzen. Now that's a good cause

Maybe I overlooked the direction they are going in. Maybe I am too harsh on Intel. I am a very emotional person, and sometimes my own issues clouds my vision. I like tech so I guess i have to focus on one thing to hate so i don't just implode into a husk filled with hatred and resentment ._. Okay I make you a deal, okay? I will drop my hatred of intel from now. I will make them a clean slate, forgetting all current prices of Intel CPUs and, let's say, next year I will consider them again. But only if they are priced at what i think it is worth. Because atm there is not a single intel CPU i feel is worth what i am paying for it. Oh, and only if they move off 14nm++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Intel is already in good direction and has been. What's up with intel hatred?! Is it normal to hate Intel, Nvidia, Windows 10 in TechPowerUp forums?

TPU is actually more pro-Intel/Nvidia than AMD i think... I don't mind NVIDIA that much, at least they still push the performance when AMD is not competing lol. Windows 10 is great, what do you mean ? ;D

 

[steen]

Kyle Benett is among a handful superstar tech journalists Intel soaked up in recent times as Raja Koduri and Chris Hook build Intel's Infinity Gauntlet with them. These include Ryan Shrout from PC Perspective, and Damien Triolet from Hardware.fr (albeit via AMD). Anand Lal Shimpi probably was one of the first and most prominent tech press leaders who left his publication for the industry. AMD's arsenal includes Scott Wasson from The TechReport and the famous overclocker Sammi Maekinen. Lars Weinand from RivaStation works for NVIDIA (also via AMD).

Let's not forget the Beyond3D crew that pre-dated all these. Original founder: ImgTec & Intel (IIRC), Arun/Uttar (Can't remember his real name "the nvidia supporter"): ImgTec/ARM?, Dave Baumann: AMD, Ryszard Sommefeldt: ImgTec/AMD, + others I may have forgotten.

 

[Recus]

So biggest HJW sold out?

 

[AmioriK]

Okay I make you a deal, okay? I will drop my hatred of intel from now.

I just decided that I cannot do this. I am too angry/resentful/filled with hate

Better Red, than in the Shed, cuz i spent all my rent money on an intel CPU

 

[nemesis.ie]

Lets hope Kyle does some good and pushes them to be more honest and offer better value.

As some have suggested, I hope they aren't just going to give him a desk and lounger on the roof (see Silicon Valley TV show) to keep him quiet.

If that's the plan Charlie at Semi-A will be getting a cheque with lots of zeros on it for a job there soon too.

 

[bug]

I see no one bothered to mention there will be no more HardOCP after this move. Only HardForum will go on.

 

[Xaled]

Good for Kyle but I hope won't be bad for us.
His stance against the GPP program was legendary :/

 

[INSTG8R]

I see no one bothered to mention there will be no more HardOCP after this move. Only HardForum will go on.

Pretty sure it said “mothballed” in the second line? As In shut down.

 

[s3thra]

Long time [H] reader here - very happy for Kyle, but mourning the loss of the tech news and review side of their website. I think I have found my new home for updates and reviews at TPU though.

 

[bug]

Pretty sure it said “mothballed” in the second line? As In shut down.

Yeah, some interesting wording there.
Either way, they haven't published anything interesting since the GPP debacle. I used to enjoy their "highest playable settings" reviews, but they dropped those a while ago. I'm still hoping someone else will pick up that format, it was super-interesting to see whether the extra 5-10fps other reviews showed oy could actually enable you to up some setting.

 

[INSTG8R]

Yeah, some interesting wording there.
Either way, they haven't published anything interesting since the GPP debacle. I used to enjoy their "highest playable settings" reviews, but they dropped those a while ago. I'm still hoping someone else will pick up that format, it was super-interesting to see whether the extra 5-10fps other reviews showed oy could actually enable you to up some setting.

Yeah I’ll admit it’s been a long time since I’ve been there, maybe reading reviews on my last PSU.

 

[Chomiq]

So biggest HJW sold out?

People have to earn money to make a living.

 

[kastriot]

Well 1st thing that matters in this world is $/hour so i wish him alot of it.

 

[AmioriK]

@W1zzard don't leave TPU and join Intel i think i would kms if you did

and people thinking i'm joking lol........... (ಥ ͜ʖಥ)

 

[bug]

People have to earn money to make a living.

Kyle said this isn't about money, but rather about the need to do something new after two decades.