Factory overclocked boards coming next week
We had a nice chat with one of the AMD AIB partners and according to solid info AMD allowed partners to design the HD 6850 PCB by themselves. This means that, from day one, all of the HD 6850 might be different in some way as partners will certainly try to differentiate from the competition.
This move by AMD explains the Sapphire blue-PCB HD 6850 that was pictured recently and we are sure that all partners will come up with their own PCB. We were also told that we won't wait long to see factory overclocked and special edition cards, as these will be ready pretty soon, during the first week or two. The cards are apparently being finalized and partners are surely testing to find the overclocking sweet spot.
On the other hand, the HD 6870 will be offered as an AMD reference design, while non-reference boards, as well as the factory overclocked ones will come at a later date.
We still don't know the overclocking potential of the HD 6850, but we will probably get a clear picture ones first reviews start to appear.
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