Just get around to deciding to order this card and... It's back-ordered everywhere until at least late November.

Any of you industry-insiders know why? And didn't AMD pull something exactly like this last year or the year before?

Can't be good for their Christmas sales or what cards the OEM manufacturers go with!

d.

OK, 11/25/09 is what I'm hearing. Anybody else?

Didn't quite follow my threads, did you... this has been the reason my system was delayed 5 weeks until I opted for a 4890.

Talk of them not being available in the UK until next year... Think I am going to get a 4890 too.

The pain is that you can't go Nvidia either. A GTX285 sometimes might be the better choice (not for Arma2, though) but those are out of stock too. The only card readily available with any speed is in fact the HD4890.

TSMC is having trouble supplying ATI and Nvidia with GPU chips. And, ATI expected competition from Nvidia in this time frame which would mean less sales -- so did not order enough GPU chips from TSMC last Summer. Because TSMC is having "yield" issues with their manufacturing process, ATI and Nvidia are getting even fewer chips than they ordered.

My interpretation of the most credible rumors indicate Nvidia Fermi (G300) will be available in limited quantity around February and in quantity around April.

ATI HD5870 will be available in spurts (check daily and when you see one grab it) until early December (4 weeks ???). Then better quantities.

But, that's all rumor and conjecture.

What about this, Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X 2048MB. Would there a need for 2048MB or should I go 1042MB and save some money?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-212-SP

Test reports indicate 500MB is enough for screen resolutions up to 1650x1050 (what I run at with my 500MB HD4870 -- and, I run nearly all the popular games smoothly with max settings no AA -- I just got ARMA2, not installed yet). 1GB is useful at 1920 and above with AA enabled -- and seems to do everything needed.

I guess it depends on if someone wants to "see" a difference versus "measuring" one but not "seeing" it in game play. 2GB might give an "invisible but measurable" difference.

Mace, the Vapor X is a nice design, I couldn't get one but researched it and found it doing well on the noise front especially. Still hope my "plain" HD4890 will not be a hair dryer.

Great (if disappointing) info guys!

Allen, you know your stuff!

Actually, the card I ordered is part of a Cyberpower rig, so I'm unable to order it directly. That's what I get for not building my own system (as I did for the last four or five).

I wonder if buying from a boutique system vendor increases or decreases your chances of getting a card any time soon.

Still, amazing that they got this wrong again--- even with the solid rationales Allen offered. It leaves money on the table for dear AMD/ATI.

Thanks again guys.

Andrew