ThruIT

It’s a great time to be a hardware guru…Intel’s recent release of the i5/ new i7 CPU and ATI’s unveiling of the 5000 series GPU’s at the end of September (Reviews: 5870 | 5850) are making more then one would-be DIYer salivate. The opportunity exists for both these manufactures to attack both the mid-range and the high-end markets, with the goal of making the enthusiast community want to rush out and get the latest for their new(ish) Win7 installs.  The time to build a new system hasn’t been this good for a while, with this climate allowing many to build modest systems with their GPU as their biggest expense and not suffer a CPU bottleneck.

While the 5870 has a stratospheric price (MSRP $399) and high-end performance but  it’s lesser  sibling that has garnered much attention. Given a soft launch along with the flagship 5870, the 5850 (MSRP $299)has been both extremely popular and hard to find. Granted both have not been as easy as finding a deer in a forest, as both cards are consistently on backorder at most major electronics retailers (newegg, amazon, zipzoomfly, tigerdirect etc).  While one can find the 5870, the 5850 has been largely MIA. Rumor around the internets is that the prices on these new cards have actually increased (!) after launch to the MSRPs listed above.

The intense demand for the 5850 over the flagship product may be the less rigid PSU requirements and the shorter length of the 5850, making it more suited for mid-range builds with smaller cases. Nevertheless, it seems like this shortage of 5000 series Radeon cards could be a major lost opportunity for AMD/ATI. With Nvidia having not yet released their upcoming 300 series GPUs  ATI is left with a product that undercuts the existing Nvidia product line in both price and performance.  If ATI had the cards to sell, then they could be making off like bandits.

In the meantime, press F5 and pray that the little button says “in stock”

Have you had an easier time finding one? Let us know where.