The UK
HEXUS reviewed the DX11 Radeon HD 5870 graphics card on September 23rd and reckoned it was a decent high-end GPU that would appeal to the well-heeled enthusiast.Priced at over £300 on launch, stock was in considerable constraint. Our sources indicated that the majority of initial cards were delivered to the OEMs rather than the channel, helping explain the dearth of retail GPUs in the market.
Nine days on, we take another look at supply and pricing in the channel, to see if matters have improved for Radeon HD 5870.
Bear in mind that all the following GPUs are identical. Differentiation is based on price, bundle, and the manufacturer's warranty.
The table shows the pricing and availability at five etailers at 10am on Wednesday, 23rd September and Friday, 2nd October.
UK Market |
 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| retailer | product | availability (23/09/09) | price (23/09/09) |
availability (02/10/09) |
price (02/10/09) |
| scan.co.uk* | PowerColor Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £332.91 | Pre-order | £309.91 |
| Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £344.41 | In-stock | £308.41 | |
| XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £344.41 | Pre-order | £309.33 | |
| ASUS Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £344.41 | Pre-order | £309.35 | |
| ebuyer.com | PowerColor Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £299.99 | Pre-order | £299.99 |
| Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £309.99 | Pre-order | £309.96 | |
| XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £309.99 | Pre-order | £309.95 | |
| novatech.co.uk | Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £321.99 | In-stock | £308.19 |
| ASUS Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £367.99 | Pre-order | £332.91 | |
| GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £321.99 | Pre-order | £332.91 | |
| HIS Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £321.99 | In-stock | £310.49 | |
| PowerColor Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £321.99 | Pre-order | £321.99 | |
| XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £321.99 | In-stock | £321.99 | |
| Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Pre-order | £321.99 | In-stock | £308.19 | |
| dabs.com | Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Not listed | Not listed | In-stock | £299.00 |
| XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Not listed | Not listed | Pre-order | £299.00 | |
| cclonline.com | Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Not listed | Not listed | In-stock | £302.99 |
| XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Not listed | Not listed | Pre-order | £305.16 | |
| HIS Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Not listed | Not listed | In-stock | £310.56 | |
| ASUS Radeon HD 5870 1GB | Not listed | Not listed | In-stock | £314.55 | |
| *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. | |||||
Out of the 20 Radeon HD 5870 1,024MB cards in the line-up, none were listed as in-stock on launch day. The average pre-order price was £327.57, representing a ~£30 premium on what we expected.
Looking at the situation today, nine cards (45 per cent) are listed as being in-stock and ready to ship. Average price has dropped to £311.24, and most bundles continue to include a voucher for the upcoming DX11-based DiRT2.Appreciating that one Radeon HD 5870 is much like another, stock availability isn't really an issue in the UK. How about Europe and US?
