Radeon HD 4850 pushed back to late June?

AMD is delaying the launch of the Radeon HD 4850 by one week, according to check with card makers on the show floor. While the card is already believed to be shipping to PC makers and will still be shown to the press on June 18th, an actual launch is now set for June 23rd, or just under a week later than a launch that would have released the cards on the same day as the media receives the device. The change has reportedly left board makers "upset" as they now have to sit on unsold 4850 cards for 20 days.

The delay is credited to a desire to avoid launching the new Radeons the same day as NVIDIA's GeForce GTX line makes its first appearance, overshadowing the AMD launch. It also gives the company a chance to place the launch of the 4850 on the same day as the higher-end 4870 model and target a wider audience at once.

The new Radeon 4800 line is said to mark a return to form for AMD, and for the Radeon HD 4870 may be twice as fast as NVIDIA's fastest single-chip card so far, the GeForce 9800 GTX.

Filed under: peripherals, digital imaging, upgrades/storage
Other story tags: NVIDIA, AMD, ATI, Radeon, GTX