Now if only they OC the HD 5970...

" there's bound to be a lot of headroom for some manual overclocking goodness with this variant."

... and I base this opinion with absolutely nothing.

I love articles that say stuff like this and provide nothing to support it. Things like "It has been this way with other cards" is pure assumption.

Almost six months and we're still waiting for 5800 series cards with custom PCBs. Well I guess we're also waiting for them to drop in price too ^_^.

Anyway, I would like to see this card tested and I'd reserve judgment on it till I see some overclocking results.

If there is a variant which allows higher stock clocks via a custom PCB and cooling solution, then can be fair to assume, given cooling and power as the main restrictive elements of the card and not the GPU/memory itself, that it will increase headroom in the OC department.

That is with the assumption that the GPU/memory are not the limiting factors. I think it is a sound prediction. It is an assumption that has been made many many times in the PC parts industry, that is almost always true.

Now, if this custom PCB were to use only lower binned GPUs and memory that max out at 760/1050, then it would be a false guess, but generally, the vendors use higher binned parts for higher performing variants.

Sure he was talking out his ass, but his ass might not be that stupid.

Man, i plan on getting one of the 5850's in the next week or so, i really hope the price does not go down shortly after that... going for the ASUS version, looks clean...

Good buy! But I personally would go for the HIS version. Why? Because they're basically the same thing with different stickers, and HIS includes a Gamer's Kit!!!!!!! Hahaaa

Except asus has a much much better bios, and an unlocked clock speed. For more performance, go with the asus or msi versions.

Ok, caved in and got the ASUS 5870!!! not the 5850!!!, this thing is a beast!!! ASUS has unlocked the voltage which allows for higher overclocks and covers it under warranty for 3 years!!!