So obviously Ian Cuttress and Anand Lal Shimpi both left the site almost a decade ago, and the current crop of writers are whatever. I mean, check out this Zionism 14900KS review in which the phrase “represents the last processor to end an era as Intel is removing the ‘i’ from its legendary nomenclature for future desktop chip releases” exists. My comrade in chains, Anandtech was one of the first sites I recall reading that complained about how nonsensical the “Core i” branding was! Everybody hates that shit! Intel branding has always been dogshit!!!

There’s also this Arctic Freezer 36 which does not feature the cheaper-and-better Thermalright g@mer line coolers which are very popular right now. A lot of their laptop reviews lately lack many comparison data points, so on. It’s kinda sad.

Aside from having a really good layout that worked on the 14.4k throttled rural internet I had when I was 15, I also just really enjoyed reading stuff like the 2008 “Best Dual Core At $70” comparison between the Pentium E5300 and Athlon 7850, or basically any graphics card reviews between 2008 and 2013. That GT 240 hitpiece is a banger. The old laptop reviews of stuff like that Gateway Id49c taught me exactly why 768p laptop screens looked like garbage. I got like 70% of my computers autism from Anandtech, it was often a really handy reference guide.

Nowadays I try to read it and it’s just junk like you see above. Some of it reads like press copy, almost. Nothing as funny as blowing out multiple AM2+ boards with a Phenom 9950BE, no joy. Makes me sad. Is this what it feels like to be a bitter, nostalgic boomer?