14 DAY TRIAL // If you are forced to change your video card, consider yourself at the crossroads. This is a moment when the major players in the video card industry are both on the edge: Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GT and AMD's Radeon HD 3870 represent a very attractive sub-$250 offer. In fact, they were so attractive that they have sold out as soon as they hit the retailers' shelves. Now they are not to be found anymore, so you'd better hold your upgrading ideas.
But how could such successful pieces of hardware merely disappear? They are not exclusive computer parts such as the Optimus Maximus keyboard, whose value consists in their being scarce. Well, rumor has it that AMD is facing a dangerously low stock of the RV670 graphics processor; but that's just rumors. There is got to be something else, and the information that has leaked out of AMD's laboratories shows that the Radeon HD 3870 production has been ceased since the board is overheating because of a faulty resistor, but the issue should be solved by next week and the cards will start showing up on the shelves again.
I could not help noticing that the situation resembles the Challenger space shuttle, whose failure laid in a small faulty component that was worth under 50 cents. Radeon HD 3870 did the same, of course at a much smaller scale: a bad resistor costing about 10 cents at most, keeps the much-expected video card away from the buyers' hands.
AMD is however trying to compensate the lack of supply and tried to shift the production quotas of Radeon HD 3870s to Radeon HD 3850s, as the two are almost similar. Before the incident, a larger amount of RV670 graphics processors have been allocated to Radeon HD 3850 cards manufacturing rather than Radeon HD 3870s.
The producer has announced a $219 retail price for the 3870 series, but as the cards shipment increases, there should be a significant price drop. And since the holidays are closing in, it would be a nice idea to make yourself a surprise and get one of the currently most wanted cards.