Micro Center apologizes for insulting AMD graphics cards

[mongeese]

WTF?! In a post explaining how to pick a graphics card, Micro Center said that AMD's products needed "modification or regular maintenance to keep working as intended," while Nvidia’s were "plug and play." Micro Center’s CEO has since apologized.

It’s reasonable to root for one team over another, but Micro Center didn’t just exhibit a preference for Nvidia, they outright lied about the quality of AMD graphics cards.

Here’s the offending portion of the original post, immortalized in tweet form.

Typically AMD graphics cards are more affordable but can require some modification or regular maintenance to keep working at intended. On the other hand, Nvidia graphics cards function much like video game consoles and essentially work in a plug and play fashion.

The ease of use and stability of Nvidia GPUs have made them the most popular choice among gamers and streamers. Nvidia cards also support ray tracing and DLSS, which work together to provide gamers the highest quality graphics possible without sacrificing frame rates.

AMD graphics cards are just as easy to use as Nvidia’s. They both require the same amount of driver maintenance and benefit equally from repasting and cleaning every year or two. Both qualify as plug (tighten a screw!) and play. And while Nvidia’s cards do have the benefit of ray tracing and DLSS, AMD’s cards have similar features, as Micro Center’s President and CEO Rick Mershad describes in his apology.

Incorrect information pertaining to AMD graphics cards was inadvertently published on our website.

This was published without properly vetting the information within, and we deeply apologize for the error. AMD graphics cards offer top-of-the-line performance, including ray tracing and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) for maximum visual performance, as well as easy installation, with no upkeep beyond standard driver updates.

He goes on to promise to monitor Micro Center’s posts better. To their credit, searching for graphics cards on Micro Center’s website yields a reasonable mix from both AMD and Nvidia, all equally overpriced and unavailable.

We’re pretty sure that the post was written by a lone Nvidia fanboy without approval. If nothing else, the post’s bad grammar indicates that it wasn't reviewed by anyone senior.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90208-micro-center-apologizes-insulting-amd-graphics-cards.html

 

[gigantor21]

I didn't even know Micro Center ran pieces like this. Oof.

As an aside, my local one is inundated with AMD cards at 80-100% markups. They might be able to sell them if they brought prices down a bit...

 

[Nobina]

That sounds like something Jensen from Nvidia would say . Looks like AMD still has some dirt on their name from their past. I used to really dislike AMD Catalyst Control Center and games generally ran better on Nvidia hardware. Today it's more like 50/50 and AMDs new software is at the very least on par with Nvidia though Nvidia still seems like a more premium brand in many peoples eyes. They do have RT and DLSS going but it won't be exlusive to them for long.

 

[Kirby1]

I wonder if one fanboy tweet was worth getting fired over.

 

[Irata]

So the regular alignment, tune ups, rotation and blinker fluid changes for my video card were for nothing ? Bummer.

I wonder if one fanboy tweet was worth getting fired over.

If you work in customer communications and hurt the company‘s public image, probably. Although personally I‘d say a relocation to a position with zero customer or supplier contact should be fine.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Although personally I‘d say a relocation to a position with zero customer or supplier contact should be fine.

For a retailer that is most likely to be the desk in the back parking lot.

 

[Grinnie Jax]

Had no issues with my XFX 6700XT card at all. Out from the box, drivers installed as intended, games running fine, mining just fine. Had the fan curve set up to my preference and that was all I did. So I have no idea why those complains keep following AMD cards.
P.S. I even had more problems with NVIDIA card before, which was switching to reduced color range every time I restarted my PC - tiresome, had to switch back to full color range every time. AMD don't play these tricks.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I see no need to apologize

 

[nnguy2]

I see no need to apologize

I think we found the poster... Lol

 

[Lounds]

This is so unprofessional for a retailer to say. If I were a manufacturer I wouldn't want to supply them after reading utter made up rubbish like this.

 

[RudyBob]

If they will put down graphics cards they will put down anything

 

[NightAntilli]

I see no need to apologize

Says the one heavily invested in nVidia stock.

The fanaticism of nVidia apologists is through the roof. This comment is a blatant lie, and AMD didn't deserve it, and especially the customers of Microcenter didn't deserve it either.

I truly hope that AMD can do to nVidia what they did to Intel. At least with Intel, the trashing was somewhat warranted. With nVidia, AMD gets trashed even when they do the right thing and have good products. A lot of people need to be put in their place, because they have lost sight of what is important and what isn't.

 

[paul1122]

I've been removing my picture creating device from inside my modernized electrical computing assembly and checking fan tension, rotating the memory chips, etc. for over 20 years now!

It was an S3 though, you you actually HAVE to do all that. Think I'm gonna get a Trident and save the headaches.

 

[hahahanoobs]

"repasting and cleaning every year or two"

LMAO!!! That's what it meant by maintenance?! You mean the 12 people on the planet that actually do that? Is it an AMD thing?
I have never repasted a GPU... because they don't need it. Unless it's shoddy paste. Does AMD use shoddy GPU paste?

This whole story is weird. Are we sure it isn't April 1st? Microcenter has been around forever, which makes this story so much more confusing.

 

[OortCloud]

Ooops - somebody hasn't used an AMD card for a while. I wonder if they were referring to the old Catalyst drivers etc? AMD cards back then were more hard work than nVidia and it took a long time for the drivers to catch up, but they are fine these days. My trusty Radeon 9800 Pro whilst a great card definitely needed some finagling at times!

 

[Eldritch]

"To their credit, searching for graphics cards on Micro Center’s website yields a reasonable mix from both AMD and Nvidia, all equally overpriced and unavailable."

Mayersen got no chill.

 

[Puiu]

It read like a bad reddit troll post.

 

[johnnyxp64]

What exactly were they expecting when they hired UserBenchmark to start writing for them?

 

[Ludak021]

So what happens now when someone reads this new statement and buys AMD card excerpting features like DLSS and Raytracing but under a different name and discover there aren't any, yet? Microcenter writes another "apology" ?!
As screwed up as the situation is, biases aside, nVidia cards do offer more, whether you need those features or not. Clearly the cards cannot be priced the "same" just on merits of FPS?! But they are.

 

[godrilla]

The same Microcenter that told us we have to camp out like peasants for days to get a chance to purchase a graphics card, The same Microcenter that scalped prices while making statements of preventing scalpers from purchasing more than 1 card per month, and now the same Microcenter lead by a simpleton not smart enough to use a troll account to hide his bias!

 

[Irata]

So what happens now when someone reads this new statement and buys AMD card excerpting features like DLSS and Raytracing but under a different name and discover there aren't any, yet? Microcenter writes another "apology" ?!
As screwed up as the situation is, biases aside, nVidia cards do offer more, whether you need those features or not. Clearly the cards cannot be priced the "same" just on merits of FPS?! But they are.

RDNA2 cards can‘t do RT ? That‘s new for me

Other than that, the same thing would happen to customers expecting a meaningful performance uplift from reBar on nVidia GPU or any features on a GTX 1xxx series nVidia GPU.

There is a minimum research customers need to do but that does not excuse misleading statements or outright lies from stores.

 

[poohbear]

Says the one heavily invested in nVidia stock.

The fanaticism of nVidia apologists is through the roof.

I dont get why anyone would just invest in Nvidia. AMD is a great stock too. Went from $50 in April 2020 and it's at $85 today. Sure, Nvidia has performed much better ($250 Apr 2020 & $780 today), but AMD has more room to grow now. A 200% increase for Nvidia in one year leaves little room for growth anymore.

 

[Sir Alex Ice]

So far have owned 1800Xt, 4850 and 7950 Radeon cards by Gecube, MSI and Sapphire. All died within a few years, either on the shelf after being upgraded from or in use.

There was no overclocking involved, though for the 4850s there was some replacement of cooling with Thermalright GPU and VRM parts. They ran much cooler and especially quietter in my HAF 912 with 20cm fan blowing outside cool air on them in addition to the Scythe fans I mounted on Thermalright.

When I took them out they were running fine, couple of years later I thought to give them away, but they refused to work. So maybe their PCBs got warped by the Thermalright cooling over time, but the 7950 just died and refused to work one morning.

I just stopped buying Radeon for gaming after so much bad luck and switched to nvidia by evga. First a GTX 970 which is stil working fine in its 2nd PC and I hope the RTX 2070 Super I have now will do the same after the same 5 years of use as the 970.

 

[Danny101]

I've been using ATI/AMD cards since 2003. I see no reason to change now. I didn't know or think about the remove, clean, and repaste procedure process though. Might explain I guess why my ATI AIW 9700 Pro card went kaput after 10 years of use. I at least cleaned the dust off every now and then. While I always tried to get better performance by tweaking the settings, I generally avoided over clocking. Heat is the enemy of electronics and over clocking is a very fast way to introducing heat. Granted I was a bit shy about the liquid cooling options. Something about 'iquid' and 'electronics' gives me anxiety'. Once the idea of overclocking enters my mind to achieve extra performance due to some game being too much for the computer to handle, then it's really time to look at a new build anyway.

 

[Danny101]

Microcenter really stepped in it. Best to not comment on OEM products as a retainer. There are more reviewers to shake a stick at for the buying public. It's not good business, nor a good look for a retailer. Whoever posted the comment would be fired, if I was in charged.