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UK availability and pricing

Seeing AMD launch blazing-fast graphics cards with no retort from NVIDIA is becoming something of an alarmingly-regular occurrence. Today, the Sunnyvale, California-based semiconductor manufacturer has raised the bar in the graphics stakes with the introduction of its ATI Radeon HD 5970 - a dual-GPU solution that we've concluded is the fastest gaming card money can buy.

Our in-depth analysis of the card itself can be found by clicking here, but for those who've already concluded that nothing other than the fastest will do, we're now taking a look at what you can expect to pay for a Radeon HD 5970 on day one.

As always, we've collated pricing and availability for a handful of big-name retailers. Here's how it looks as of 11:30am, Wednesday November 18.

UK Market
retailer	product	availability	price
scan.co.uk*	XFX Radeon HD 5970 2GB	Pre-order	£470.58
	XFX Radeon HD 5970 2GB Black Edition	Pre-order	£477.08
ebuyer.com	XFX Radeon HD 5970 2GB	Pre-order	£467.76
	PowerColor Radeon HD 5970 2GB	Pre-order	£484.99
	Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB OC	Pre-order	£489.99
	XFX Radeon HD 5970 2GB Black Edition	Pre-order	£510.00
novatech.co.uk	HIS Radeon HD 5970 2GB	Pre-order	£573.86
dabs.com	No products listed	N/A	£N/A
cclonline.com	No products listed	N/A	£N/A
*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.

At present, it's looking fairly grim, with nothing in stock at most of the UK's popular online retailers. However, despite similar availability problems with recent Radeon HD 5000-series products, AMD is adamant that this is a hard launch, and we've seen enough boxed Radeon HD 5970s to believe that they will filter through to retailers in the very near future. Novatech, for example, claims it will have stock later today, albeit in limited quantities.

Having expected cards to appear at between £400-£450, there's clearly a sign of inflated launch-day pricing. Over-eager consumers could find themselves paying up to and over £570 if they don't shop around. Hold onto your wallets, and you may find that both availability and pricing improves over the coming days.

Head on over to page two for a brief look at European and US availability.

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