Quote Originally Posted by tajoh111 View Post
I think there is definitely a design flaw or something about the 4890.

When I bench 3dmark06. I can run the 4890 at 1000 mhz(this is with 300 cfm of air directly on top mind you and 100 percent fan setting). When I run 3dmark 05 I can run it at 975, when I run 3dmark03, I can't even run it at 945.

I don't see why there is so much variability in the clocks of these card. I think stability is definitely an issue when there is such variation in runable bench speeds. AMD needs to stop this marketing propaganda, e.g anandtech overclock extravaganza, that these cards are so bulletproof for overclocking, when they might have potential issues in the future even a stock speed.

I think these type of tests are important because they give show how well a card is built for the long term. I have used this analogy before, but I akin it to the test of elevators. We don't test elevators using only it rated weight. They test way way beyond that to ensure longterm strength. If something can run at 150% percent capacity then running at its designed specs will be a cake walk and thus running at that speed for a couple years will be ensured.

I am sure there is a reason company like ATI exclusive companies like powercolor have reduced their warranty times from lifetime to 1 year. The engineers are the best guys at knowing this type of stuff. Diamonds another company that offers 1 year warranty. I think AMD cards are not built for longterm lifetime warranties. Sapphire has by far the best warranty as an AMD exclusive(two or three years), and they are famous for their bad RMA service.
xfx offer lifetime. yay