News ATI's X850 XT PE & X800 XL available over the coming weeks

Earlier today, we learnt that ATI's new R480 and R430 chips will be hitting the retailers over the coming weeks. We all know the heartache that was 2004 - delayed releases, invisible products, and cancelled products, but it looks as if we may finally start to see some volume for ATI's high-end video cards very soon.

Board partners are preparing the first batch of X850 XT PE and X800 XL video cards for the press as we speak, and consumer boards will follow in the next batch, a week or so later we assume. Samples of the X850 XT PE cards should start to arrive in the first week of January, as one Taiwanese board partner is putting finishing touches on to their board implementation. The company has a reasonable volume of R480 chips and is finalising things as we speak.

The reports for the Radeon X800 XL cards are similar to the X850 XT PE's, with samples expected to ship in the next two weeks. However, this could easily slip to the end of January, as it is a new core, based on a new fabrication process at 110 nanometres. The X800 XL has sparked some great interest from the press and consumers alike - providing the cards arrive in good volume at the SRP of $299. We are eagerly awaiting NVIDIA's reply to this product if these reports are true.

I'm excited about R430 - I'm ready and waiting to take a look at a retail product sample over the coming weeks. For now, we'll hold our breath until we see the cards in our hands, or on the (virtual) shelves of the many online retailers out there.

 

Finally; video cards available in volume

 

how much is the X800XL going to in uk £?

 

you can't say for sure. if demand is high, then retailers are going to jack up the price.
RRP for the X800XL is $299US iirc, which is a steal!

 

If the US rrp is $299, then the UK rrp will be close to £299.

Even though today's exchange rate means that $299=£154.86

This is why some companies call the UK "Treasure Island"

Might be time for that weekend break in NY?

 

Absolutely, unjustifiable UK price hikes are one of my pet peaves. I recently looked into upgrading some software via download.

US price: $599 = £310
UK price: £470

That's over a 50% price increase, even if 17.5% VAT and 8% import duty were applicable, that still leaves roughly 25% of the cost increase unaccounted for - WHY!

 

It all for the money. But I may get a X800XL if the price stay around $299 it may be less as most retail item come under srp after time maybe this will also lower the cost of last gen high end ex 9800xt is still going for around $299

 

Don't forget that these are PCI-Express only for the time being, as ATI still don't have their bridge chip, RIALTO, ready for use. The reports that I have heard from a number of board partners suggest that this will not arrive until the March/April/May timeframe. This will fall in to the same timeframe as the release of R520 - ATI's next generation chip.

If both launches fall very close together, I doubt that R480 and R430 will actually be bridged to AGP, as the faster next generation SKU's will be literally just around the corner.

I expect the cards to retail for about £230-250 in the UK. The 6800GT's are currently priced around the £300-315 mark, but I would expect that to drop to £260-280 once the X800 XL arrives in volume.

 

The price hike isn't so bad for things that have to be specially made for the UK (Cars, TVs etc) but when the component is IDENTICAL it kinda takes the p***. Even if they're UK specific, normall only a few bits have to be different as well.....

 

The only UK price I've found is £265 from Komplett

Stock not expected until 1st Feb.

 

That's a lot more expensive that I was anticipating

 

Correction - OCUK could have them in for anywhere between £175-£235 end of Jan/early Feb.