Quote Originally Posted by SKYMTL View Post
While it may sound "anti ATI", I don't agree that it is a good thing. Basically, the samples sent to reviewers directly from ATI will be capable of pulling in some ridiculous clock speeds because they are based off of HD 5870 PCBs. People will look at the resulting overclocks and get the wrong impression. It also pops the HD 5830 into a high-end PCB design that is out of its price league.

The other problem with this is a matter of quality assurance. Instead of getting ATI-approved PCBs and whatnot, board partners are left to their own devices and we ALL know that can result in lower quality products making it into the market at launch. Yes, we will get some kick arse designs but there are always those who want to cut some small corners.


ACK!!! Ninja'd!!!
Am i wrong in assuming that nvidia had given permission to partners to make non reference cards around the same time the GTX 280 was released?

Nvidia generally gives more control to the partners and even when the GTX 480 releases i am sure that we will find non reference cards flooding the market quite soon.

Yes people will get a wrong impression about card overclocking in general but we can always put notices and notes that can clarify why and how. I mean who ever overclocks a new card does so with Internets help. I still have a hard time modding a proper firmware for a custom XFX 275