What's with the (lack of) availability of DirectCU 5850s?

Maybe there's a larger demand than stock and ASUS are having trouble keeping up.

If the online stores are saying that they will be getting more in 3-4 Weeks then I doubt its being replaced.

It's my fault.

They didn't actually say they were getting more in 3-4 weeks. I told them that I needed a video card now and he basically let me know I shouldn't wait for this because it'd be *at least* 3-4 weeks, and it was out of their hands since it's their supplier who's out of stock.

This was with Anitec and BestDirect, both of whom had limited stock till this week. It's been out of stock at Newegg for at least a month now and it's gotten wonderful reviews so you'd figure they'd try to restock.

Hasn't it always been the only one that did this?

The reason there are no DirectCu's available on most sites is due to a shortage, I spoke with a rep over at Asus and he explained that most DirectCu's were shipped overseas and that it would take a few weeks before we start seeing them back in stock. Newegg had them back in stock but they only lasted 2 days. Right now you can still get one if you want :

http://www.bing.com/shopping/search?q=Asus%205850%20Dir...

If you opt for the "Bing" cash back you can save up to 40.00$

The demand is just too high ATM, zipzoom had 19 units @ 319.99$ (free shipping) and they sold out in less than 48Hrs ..

Well I am not surprised at all seing that the 5850 is one of a small few cards that are worth the money in retail while the rest is either old or lower end. Hell even at this point old 3870s and 4850/70 still sell like hot cakes and are hard to come by. People are going to find upgrades one way or another in this crappy economy. I am even stripping down RVRs for the hard drives atm. Even the old IDE drives still got plenty of value. You got two options either wait or get craty and maybe you will either get lucky and find a good opportunity or end up paying more than the card is worth.