Well I think that we, the community have a responsibility of keeping the sport clean.... Some would say "you are jealouse", might be.. But hey I get free hw often? I am not complaining in this regard...
What bothers me, is that we are setting high entry barriers, scaring off the people wanting to persuit overclocking or more specific, benchmarking on hwbot.. People wont bother, when knowing there is no chance....
Now long ago, Hwbot did an amazing thing, introduced pro league, Andre, Hicookie and others doing extreme binning for vendors could go here, it works as a PR reference for the companies, without squezing the normal bloke wanting to compete...
I started OC and benchmarking back in the days, of which you could make a top20 futuremark submissions, with a setup worth less than 1500 USD, if I didnt start, I sure as hell wouldnt start knowing that my brand new 4000 USD+ setup would just get run over by people with the right contacts in OC League.
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And honestly I couldnt care less about the stores interest, it is good that they are taking care of overclockers, though I wish it was with focus on community, not specific individuals, but that said - the main issue as I see it, is when those individuals dont have the balls to join PRO League...
It is up to us, to 'decide' what is considered acceptable, and what isnt, the honor codec... Sure people can break it, not follow, and the crew wont be able to spot for a long time, but so what? Is spotting the troublemakers a valid reason for not setting rules? I only one person that truely believes this...