Get an R600 date with Daamit
Promises to take you out, stands you up
*UPDATE We have now confirmed with DAAMIT that launch and retail availability will be on the 14th, one day ahead of 8800 Ultra's arrival in retail, following a paper launch on the 2nd. This paper launch was also the cause for the ATI R600 rumour to appear.
AS THE OFFICIAL unveiling of R600 gets ever closer, more and more concrete dates are starting to appear. And disappear. And move.
The latest news is that while DAAMIT was hoping for a top-to-bottom public launch of its R600 range - from the Radeon HD 2400, through the HD 2600, up to the HD 2900 XTX - that is now not going to happen.
The launch of the Radeon HD 2900 series is now being pulled up to May 2, instead of the previous May 14 date. On that May 14 date, the 2600 and 2400 will appear. However, both of these are soft launches. Whilst the 2900 will appear on the 2nd, it won't be available to buy until the 14th. Whilst the 2600 and 2400 will be unveiled on the 14th, neither of those cards will be widely available until the middle of June at the earliest.
Depending on who you believe, the limited retail availability is either down to big customer orders (from Dell, natch, and HP) or poor manufacturing.
Lastly, don't expect to see the Radeon HD 2900 XTX at all this month. That card, which has 1GB of DDR4 memory, has performed so poorly in initial performance previews that it may well be pushed back indefinitely, whilst the kinks with DDR4 are worked out.
Reports have been appearing all over the web to talk about availability and initial sampling, including at VR-Zone, the inimitable Dailytech and our old pal Fudzilla. Look for the PR wave of benchmarks to hit for the 2900 XT next week.
