Hi all

I'm getting really mad here in good old Europe. All NVidia GTX275 and GTX285 are officially off the market. And ATI still can't deliver either 5870 or 5850 - the problem in fact seems to be so bad that even 4890s and 4870s are now in short supply, since many seem to switch over to older cards for their order.

Is it easy to get an HD5870 in the US? I have zero experience with those online shops, and I'm assuming they also have a lot of stuff on back order?

If ATI doesn't have a delivery shedule in 10 days, all bets are off as to where I get my card. It's insane - a Phenom II 965 with 4GB and a SSD sits idle in the shop waiting for a card... painful to even think about it.

Newegg has had them in spots. I check every day just out of interest. But, mostly, I do not see them.

It has been reported that TSMC (who makes ATI and Nvidia GPU chips) has had a new problem with their 40nm production process yields -- dropped to 40 percent. This affects BOTH ATI and Nvidia 40nm GPUs.

There is also a rumor that ATI did not pre-order enough GPU chips because it expected Nvidia 300 to be on the market by now. Because they have the market to themselves, they are selling more product than expected. Consequently, they have raised the suggested selling prices on some cards (no rumor that they have done that for the HD5870).

One can expect HD5xxx and G300 (when it launches) shortages until early next year -- or later? But, there will be cards for sale -- just have to grab one the minute you see one for sale on line.

TSMC Yields Drop

Prices for the 295 have shot up dramatically from when I bought my card. I see some 285 and 275 cards available on Newegg.com right now...

As for ATI, only the 5750 cards seem to be in stock. The 5850's are all on backorder.

-Skater

Thanks guys. So setting my retailers (or myself) to get them overseas is not the magic bullet solution either.

I'm seriously contemplating a 4890 for now - it would still beat my 9600GT, and spare me the "driver switch dance" between Forceware and Catalyst. And then maybe get the 5870 later when things have calmed somewhat.

One could save money with HD4870 1GB -- depends on prices in your area. My 500MB plays everything out right now. Still, one probably will be able to grab an HD 5870 sometime in the next couple weeks -- when the next batch is released. FWIW.

The 4890 is so cheap - compared to what I'd be spending on the 5870 - that I'd try to get that extra bit of performance instead of the 4870. It will still be slower than the originally planned GTX285 which in turn is slower than the HD5870, so going even lower makes no sense.

In fact I see there are a few factory-overclocked models (for about 200EUR, compared to 300 for the HD5870) which reach the performance of a GTX285 in some games. Which would get me close to my original config, but with a safe upgrade path (chipset and driver-wise) for a HD5870 as soon as they drop slightly in price.

HD5870 is unavailable here as well, but if you order it now they say they (Conrad and/or Atelco, I forgot which one) will ship 20.11. No idea whether that is trustworthy.

It isn't. That's the usual two weeks which keep moving ahead... and ahead... and ahead...

At least my shop has more than hundred 4890 listed.

Okay, the match is over: I ordered a Sapphire 4890 Vapor-X today, which is a very low factory overclock with a better (quieter) than Reference cooler design.

Seems 5870s will remain white elephants well into December.

This article rumors that availability in Europe is better than in USA. But, prices are escalating.

Some HD58xx in Europe -- Few in USA

No competition. As I've often said, as an ATI fan, I want Nvidia to do well enough to keep ATI prices down. We need competition. Competition is good

We also need TSMC to increase yields on 40nm chips.