There have been no fewer than fourteen video card launches this year. Seventeen if you count launches globally, and almost thirty if you include integrated video. Despite fast sales, the harried, bulky mass of the upgrade market has thrown its hands in the air, waiting for the launches to settle, to see the card or cards that stay standing.

Many people, justly, bought a 9600 GT. Some people, early adopters, got burned by their now-cheap 9800s. ATI, everyone said, wait for ATI. Which is over, and the HD 3850 stands vicious. The 3870 is sold out everywhere. Intel’s success has directly benefited ATI and AMD, who have made cards that excel in CrossFire, with efficient cards that have really made multi-GPU a reality.

Interestingly, there seem to be few, if any drastic, architecture changes for HD 4000. It’s all scale down, add more. PowerColor, a long-time board partner, shows just how well this strategy pays out for the HD 4850.

• http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/540/