Originally Posted by jake123 If ATI is not going to sell it, but have other "partners" do it, I have a problem with that. It's not like they don't sell their own brand products. I also agree with you that if ATI is going to have others sell their 650, they really do not have a real say in when it will be available for sale. So far, none of their "partner" are announcing it anywhere on their websites. Here's a question...if the card was "tested", given to various groups to review, then whose card was furnished to them? Was it a "partner's card", or was it ATI. If ATI, then why not just manufacture them for sale? This is become like another "WMD search".
If one were to guess one would probably conclude that “reference” cards were used for reviewer evaluation rather then a finalized product. Unless the reviewer makes mention of the production state of the specimen we have no way of knowing what was actually used. In the past, ATI reference video cards were supposedly made by “Sapphire” and reference motherboards too, so perhaps a company like Sapphire made reference Theater 650 Pro cards.