Introduction

ATI did a great job keeping details about the new 5000 series under wraps until about two weeks ago. I guess it was shortly after they showcased Eyefinity that we started to see some leaks of pictures, specifications and even a benchmark here and there. This leads me to wonder if this was planned by marketing or a poor choice of who they chose to keep under NDA? Either way, it did stir up a lot of interest and quite possibly made the launch more anticipated than even ATI had imagined.

I have, in the past, been accused of being an NVIDIA, “fanboy”. If you consider the problems I had with the 8000 to 9000 series of ATI cards that I had, which I feel forced me to look for an alternative then OK, but before making accusations, know my history. It’s true that up until the launch of the XT 2900, I probably didn’t have an ATI card in one of my systems for a couple of years, I did get the opportunity to review that card and gave it either a Gold or Editor's Choice (I was with Overclockers Club back then), since I truly felt the card was the best the market had to offer. What did I get for that? I was called an ATI “fanboy and a kiss up”. Since reviewing that card, I have used both ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards in my systems equally.

I guess you could say that I wear three hats. First, I have a responsibility as an Editor to make sure that the reviews and articles published on my site reflect as much objectivity as possible, so there is no bias involved. As a computer enthusiast, I desire the best of everything and raw horsepower is all I am after. As a consumer, I choose to invest in a product that offers me all the options straight out of the box, without any promises of what it can and will do, eventually. As a consumer, I am disappointed and this is the basis of this article.