It looks as if the review embargo has lifted a bit early.
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9703 [...] index.html

PC Perspective PC Perspective and Tweaktown #1 Tweaktown #2 have both published reviews

For those that might be interested in how ATI/AMD announces this type of information TechPowerUp has published the email they received:

http://www.techpowerup.com/63335/AMD_launches_Radeon_HD_48xx_Series_Today.html

It starts out "Yes we have just made a decision to change something"

This is amazing to me. They lifted the NDA early.

It looks like the dam had started leaking - including 4850's on sale so they probably did smart thing.

Four models of 4850 on sale and in stock for $279US or 1695 Swedish Crowns

NV will have to drop the price on the 280 quick

Yea they need to drop the noise level to imo. lol

Best,

3Ball

These results look good indeed. They definitely show that ATI is a player again. I'm waiting for the 4870, though, so I've got another month of waiting.

They have kept the 4870 pretty well zipped up in comparison to the 4850. I am getting suspicious about the performance. I wouldn't be shocked if it isn't that much better than an OCd 4850.

TechPowerUp website is posting some interesting benchmarks. What stands out most to me is that the HD 4850 is handling AA/AF filters nicely.

.... this card WOW....... cant wait till they release the 4870 with a HIS IceQ cooler wow

The AA/AF fix is appeasing. I wouldn't say wow based on its 8800GT comparison but I do say wow for ATI making a good leap forward from the HD 3800 series. It definitely needs a dual slot cooler though...I wouldn't dive into a single slot card.

I dont think theres anything to be suspicious over. I just think ATI knows they have a good performing card in the rv770, and wanted to really drop the bomb on Nvidia.

There wasn't that much hype or FUD coming from ATI pre-gtx280 launch, so I think they were waiting for a rather over confident-of-late Nvidia to misstep and really price their new cards astronomically high, making the new Radeons that much better looking in comparison, and Nvidia looking a bit blindsided

Already there are rumblings of the "new" 9800GTX+, price cuts from Nvidia, etc. in response. I think this was part of the plan, but then again I might just be crazy

I have a bad feeling that this card is going to be very popular and will end up being over priced. Ye old supply and demand......................

Actually there was. Look down a bit further at my post about the 4850/4870 benchmarks. Released by AMD (unless they are photoshopped), you can see the 4850 vs 8800GT comparison. The graph representation of the 4850 performance over the 8800GT is being shot down pretty quick with the benchmarks coming out today.

If you take the parallel analysis with the 4870 vs 9800GTX......well...you get my picture. Unless there is a necessary driver update....I am still a little skeptical about the 4870 being any better than the 9800GTX. But I hope that I will be proven wrongo dongo because I want one

That is another concern of mine. The popularity in combo with the GDDR5 in it's rarity might make the pricing not worth it. Again....I am sure hoping that they don't fall off the face of the planet like the Wolfdales right after their release.

I think we all remember HD3850s going for $249 and over and still being in short supply early on.
With Nvidia feeling under pressure and talking about releasing a $229 9800GTX+ we might see prices "normalize" a bit sooner this time 'round since it looks like Nvidia might want to compete on a price/performance basis.