Idea for a twist on 'Bang for buck'.

[MSIC]

I read with interest your recent reviews of the 8800GTs, and always like your Bang for Buck feature, it's both useful and, as far as i can tell, unique in the IT reviewing online world.

Your line here got me thinking:

For reference, a £95 HD 3870 512MiB would have a HEXUS.bang4buck rating of 1.83 - offering, as we know, the same performance as Sapphires HD 3870 ULTIMATE but at a lower price by foregoing the more-expensive passive-cooling solution. Got all that?

How feasible would it be to have, in addition to the Bang For Buck feature, as graph where the competing cards have a normalised price / performance curve, so that we can say "for card A to be the same BFB as card B, it needs to be priced at £xx, assuming card B stays the same".

Let me explain a little more.
Let's say you are comparing 3 cards, A, B and C.
Card A ends up being the best BFB at £100, card B sells for £80 and card C for £120.
My proposed graph would have bar charts in, with card A remaining at £100 (as it is the current champion). Card B however would be at, say, £69. Card C at £102. This would mean that at those prices each is of equivalent value, BFB. Any card then found under those prices would be better value.

This way, when we spot bargains online we can they more confidently say that so-and-so really is a bargain, until someone else spots that card B has also reduced etc.

What do you think?
Is the idea clear enough?
I know there is a bit more maths involved, but i view it as an extension of the BFB model.

[directhex]

penalises things like nonstandard cooling doesn't it?

[MSIC]

Yes it does, but then so does the current BFB system. I believe that readers can mentally factor that in.
The current BFB system is all about graphical horsepower for a given price, so something may not score as highly on that chart, but for a good number of people is still the better buy (due to features, cooling etc).
I think that my suggestion fits right in with that, as it's just an extension of what there currently is.

Anyone else any opinions? Is this too complicated, or does it seem clear?

[Michael H]

It's not a bad idea, but realistically the prices for all cards change making a comparative BANG4BUCK change almost daily. We do provide the aggregate normalised marks for our benchmark suites, which allow you to determine an up to date bang for buck.

Whilst prices are constantly in flux (in the hours or days between writing a review and publishing it the prices can change dramatically which means having to regraph BANG4BUCK each time ), the aggregate marks will remain constant making it easy for you to work out the actual bang for buck at the prices on the day your buying.

Normalised aggregate score/Actual price = BANG4BUCK.

[MSIC]

Fair enough, but thanks for thinking about it.
By the way, are you new to Hexus Micheal H?
Stick around, it's not a bad forum...

[DR]

Originally Posted by MSIC

Fair enough, but thanks for thinking about it.
By the way, are you new to Hexus Micheal H?
Stick around, it's not a bad forum...

He is the latest HEXUS staff member and works from our Studios/labs daily!

[TAKTAK]

Originally Posted by Michael H

It's not a bad idea, but realistically the prices for all cards change making a comparative BANG4BUCK change almost daily. We do provide the aggregate normalised marks for our benchmark suites, which allow you to determine an up to date bang for buck.

Whilst prices are constantly in flux (in the hours or days between writing a review and publishing it the prices can change dramatically which means having to regraph BANG4BUCK each time ), the aggregate marks will remain constant making it easy for you to work out the actual bang for buck at the prices on the day your buying.

Normalised aggregate score/Actual price = BANG4BUCK.

but what if you could script something to use the prices off scans site so that it updated automatically? so that it looks something like the folding @ home sig things with a graph that updates midday or somthing?

Not something thats going to happen right now, cos of the amount of work you guys have at the moment. but maybe a future thing?

[PeterStoba]

TAKTAK has it spot on!

That's a good idea though, could really help some people

[DR]

Originally Posted by TAKTAK

but what if you could script something to use the prices off scans site so that it updated automatically? so that it looks something like the folding @ home sig things with a graph that updates midday or somthing?

Not something thats going to happen right now, cos of the amount of work you guys have at the moment. but maybe a future thing?

We have a busy development schedule ahead of us all I can say for now is watch this space....

[TAKTAK]

sounds good

i shall wait with baited breath

I take it that is all part of the new forum?