AMD Delays Radeon 4800 Launch To June 23
Taipei (Taiwan) - In the latest round of rumors from Computex 2008, we learned that AMD managed to upset the majority of its partners by delaying the Radeon 4850 512MB GDDR3, code-named Makedon.
AMD has decided not to launch its new graphics cards on June 18 as originally planned. Instead, ATI will be briefing members of the press around this date and launch the product in the following week. Since Nvidia is going to launch non-competing parts on June 17, it sounds like a reasonable decision not t o launch its new GPUs just one day later.
However, add-in-board companies have the cards available right now or can receive them within 24 hours of time. Given the current market climate, some companies believe AMD should have launched the cards at Computex.
We were told that there are "tens of thousands of boards just sitting there" and AMD’s partners are not too thrilled.
However, it looks like that AMD is using the delay to change its launch strategy. The GDDR5 equipped 4870 will now launch at the same time as the 4850 512MB GDDR3, but it is unclear whether there are enough GDDR5 chips to enable AMD to ship the 4870 in volume right off the bat.
Two updated dates for your calendar are: June 17: Nvidia launches GeForce GTX 200 series. June 23: AMD launches Radeon 4800 series.
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yadge Man, that sucks kind of. I probably wasn't going to be buying one until July sometime anyway though.Reply
At least the 4870 will launch with it. I just want to see some real numbers on them. -
virtualban My system upgrade and my true interest in graphics (for purchase reasons) is postponed until GTA4 comes to PCs, but still I'm eager to participate as a spectator to the "wars" and the sooner they start, the better. At least there seems to be some competition in the graphics arena currently, unlike in cpu-s...Reply -
xx12amanxx Yeah im getting tired of these delay's too. If they have thousand's of these board's ready to go what is the thing we are missing? To me it almost sound's like something is wrong...Reply -
kylewaller At least the 4870 and 4850 will be launching at the same time. Well hopefully anyway.Reply
Also, xX12amanXx, words ending in "s" do NOT need apostrophes... *facepalm* -
hannibal Well they are not in hurry, and they get more time for drivers optimization. I think that this time there should be enough cards, so no paper release this time... i hope...Reply -
kansur0 The only reason I can see for the delay is that AMD suspects they will be the new GPU crown holders after the 18th. Right now all eyes are on the next nVidia launch because they have currently been in the lead for some time now. Even if they launch now every enthusiast not wearing a green shirt will be waiting for the nVidia flagship card to be sure they are buying the fastest product. It is only a few weeks. I think this is a smart move.Reply
Time to refine drivers to better compete with nVidia flagship.
Compete head to head with nVidia. If they are indeed the fastest they may take back some market share from nVidia and convert some people.
They will also have more cards to sell so they will guarantee that supply is ample if people do want to buy it.
They can also see pricing and possibly undercut nVidia with a faster product and guarantee they can compete with price/performance ratio.
All in all...a good move. Let's hope they take back the crown to keep tech up and prices down!!! -
^ lol @ kylewaller and xX12amanXx... apostrophes after ever s lolReply
thats great I wonder what school he went to
anyway's what's up guy's? how's life for you all at tom'shardware.com
thi's site is awsome -
gm0n3y @thogrom,Reply
Ironically, the apostrophe in tom'shardware is correct (should be Tom's Hardware).
As for this news, I just want to see some reviews of the 4000 series cards.