AMD Readies Radeon HD 5830, Seals Upper-Mainstream Gaps (tpu+nordic)

[zalbard]

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.

Are you saying that no reviewers are going to get retail samples? I am pretty sure all more or less serious IT sites will have to do the second review once they see what is actually hitting the shelves.
But yes, I agree, that's bad business.
No reference design is obviously a poor thing to do. But, on the other hand... there will finally be at least some difference between the brands but the sticker and the cardboard box...