I think at the very worst, we are looking at a 2900xt like launch. And even then it will be likely better than that launch because even Charlie thinks this card will be faster than the 5870(while the 2900xt wasn't faster than the gtx8800, used more power and it was six months late). Even if the scores are indeed 5 percent better, with better drivers, I think we can squeeze out another 10 percent or more since this is a totally new generation. Heck 10% is really conservative since this is totally new technology. If Nv gets to the source of what is causing the poor clocks and implements this into the refresh(still at 40nm), and gets up to its target clocks, we should be getting a card by the time the gtx 485 comes out that is indeed 50% faster than a 5870 even by Charlie's initial estimates.

However if the 1200mhz clocks are true, it might look like the gtx 480 is a 2900xt just dying for a refresh.