Radeon 4850 launch pulled in for today

[Azza]

clicky

Since you can buy Radeon 4850 in most of the countries in Europe and even in Israel, someone at AMD has decided to change the NDA and launch date for 4850 cards for today or we mean now.

We've learned that if you got Radeon 4850 scores AMD will be ok if you post some „early numbers“ but the presentation of Radeon 4870 remains under embargo until 25th or Wednesday time. This has been confirmed by high ranked sources inside ATI / AMD and if you don't trust us, simply call AMD and double check.

Thousands of Radeon 4850 have already been sold in retail / etail stores and there is no way to control this. We've learned that distributors and shops got these cards between three and one week ago and that they were just waiting for ATI's final ok.

What a mess and most of the people won’t be ready with the reviews but many will at least till Monday. DAAMIT people you should execute this one at least a bit better.

This was also reported from Tweaktown earlier this morning.



Can you chaps even confirm this at all?

[Chris P]

UK NDA is different as far as I am aware...

I see no issue with posting scores if you have them but no information will come from SCAN regd release dates / scores etc

EDIT: We are double checking with the relevant people

Update: We can confirm the NDA has been brough forward for the 4850 & 4870, of course this new date is still under NDA so I can't release the new date, but watch this space.

[asmith]

Damm makes me wish I hadnt brought a 3870 just a few months ago.... Can't wait for Scan to stock these cards more so the 4870

[Azza]

Thanks for that Chis.

Ill continue to hammer F5 on the shop then.

[LuckyNV]

well HD4850 has always been 25th June for a while now, but HD4870 has been some what of a mystery, so either both have been brought forward or 25th is for both cards, or something else

[Azza]

Chris did you get this email?

Yes we have just made a decision to change something.

Here’s what we’re planning to do. Effective 3:00 PM CET today we will be lifting the embargo preventing the publishing of ATI Radeon HD 4850 performance previews. These performance previews may include ATI Radeon HD 4850 benchmarks, photos of the ATI Radeon HD 4850 hardware, information printed on related packaging or photos of the packaging itself, information provided in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series strategy deck (attached) and related pricing information.

All other ATI Radeon HD 4850 related information provided at the NDA press briefings continues to fall under the embargo until 12:01am EDT on June 25th, as does all information and benchmarks related to the ATI Radeon HD 4870.

Basically what’s happened is our partners have started selling the products and in some cases reviewers that we have and have not sampled have already bought and received the product and published stories. We’re not able to control the situation anymore so we need to give the media the ability to publish info.

@ LuckyW


Originally it was meant to be 18th, but because of the bad yields of the GDDR5 chips AMD decided to delay the launch until the 25th for both 4850 and 4870.

It was reported that the 4870 would come in very very limited numbers on the 25th and that some retailers would not be getting stock in until the day before or even a few hours before the launch. AMD then shown a slide the other day when they demo'd the new tech demo for 48xx series cards that shown the 4870 to be available on the 8th of July. But ive been told that a certain Scan competitor (begins with O ) would be having a large amount of 4870 cards on launch day.

Yesterday a lot of shops in the EU where putting the 4850 onto their sites as instock and available to buy. A few shops in HK have been selling the card for over a week and there have been so many samples of the cards being given out or people buying it elsewhere around the globe almost as if the cards have been released.

And then today this info has come out.




---------------------------> edit


TechPowerUp and Tweaktown reviews of the 4850 are up.


And also...


AMD HD 4850 launched

As of 3PM CET the NDA for the Radeon HD 4850 Series has been lifted. Since this came as a surprise to everyone our reviews are not finished yet. However, I have decided to make them public and you can watch as new information comes in.

-------------->


Come on Chris wack the cards up, you know you want to.

[EzyRyder]

Come on Scan, I want (probably) to buy one!!!

[Azza]

I want to buy three. LOL


This has to be the most messed up launch of a computer product ever.


Call the AMD rep or go find him / her and slap 'em with a wet fish to be honest guys.

[stormy]

I need one too

[Skyboat]

lol my ATI funds have been stuck in limbo atm now, will end up buying the 4870 next wednesday when I get access to them back

[father smurf]

Call the AMD rep or go find him / her and slap 'em with a wet fish to be honest guys.

[Azza]

Yeah, exaclty like that.

[Noxvayl]

Yeah well if the card performs what are you complaining about? You are getting it earlier than planned

*frantically pressing F5 on scans AMD Graphics page*

[Azza]

Found another place with the cards listed.

*taps foot*

[Carlh]

Azza,

Please PM me with a link to where you have seen these cards listed.

We have spoken to AMD today and have been advised that the 4850 and 4870 ARE still under NDA as per the post by Chris above

[EzyRyder]

Azza, how do you find these places?!!! ... I never find anything