What ever happened to the ASUS EAH4870? Off the market?

[Shaitan00]

Quick question for everyone - a few weeks ago ASUS released the AEH4870 - a video card I was really looking forward to buying ... But then quickly after I realized it started to "disapeer", a lot of stores removed it as a produce from their listing, newegg set it "Deactivated" and most stores that still list it are out-of-stock...

Now I know 2-3 stores that still have a few - and typically I am a huge ASUS fan ... but this has be a little worried. Does anyone know what happened to cause this? Is the video card bad? recall? issues?

Any information would be greatly appreciated - I was hoping to buy a 4870 today and if not this then maybe the VisionTek ...
(ASUS board - ASUS video card - only makes sense)

If not - which would you recommend? Given that they are all pretty much the same price...
Thanks,

 

[CrystalBay]

That's a good question their boards are MIA... The Asus graphic card forums yield no answers either... I would go with the Visiontek mine has been problem free.

 

[JPB]

Plenty of them here.

In stock at MWave and some other places. Don't know about the credibility of a few of the stores though.

IN STOCK at MWAVE

 

[CrystalBay]

Hmm, comes with GRID + $30 rebate too...

 

[Aikouka]

Mine didn't come with GRID . I think they're being removed for the ones with the better heatsinks, hence the rebate to try to push them out of stock? I don't mind since mine performs well at decent temperatures and has some hot chick in body armor on it .

EDIT:

Oh and I bought mine from ZZF and last I looked they were out of stock. I originally found the card on NewEgg, and they don't even list it anymore. It could also be the introduction of the 1GB card.

 

[Piuc2020]

Why do you need ASUS? Does it have a different cooler or anything?

Just get a VisionTek, it's guaranteed for life.

 

[Shaitan00]

Well ASUS typically has great hardware (in my experience)
And I am buying an ASUS mobo (always good to stick with the same manufacturer)
And they are the same price...

All put together - given they are the same card - I would assume Asus was the better choice....

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: Shaitan00
Well ASUS typically has great hardware (in my experience)
And I am buying an ASUS mobo (always good to stick with the same manufacturer)
And they are the same price...

All put together - given they are the same card - I would assume Asus was the better choice....

All Asus do is get Foxconn to physically make the card as reference design (like everyone else) then slap an Asus sticker on it and sell it as Asus. Visiontek is a better choice, unless you can find one with a good bundle.

 

[shangshang]

why do people assume that just because Asus uses an ATI GPU like the other brands, the board is the same as other brands? Have you stop to think that there are a bunch of little electrical components and traces on the board that can make a world of difference between being able to overclock with good stability and not so good stability. I suppose a Ferrari drives the same as a Pinto too because both have glass windows and round tires?

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: shangshang
why do people assume that just because Asus uses an ATI GPU like the other brands, the board is the same as other brands? Have you stop to think that there are a bunch of little electrical components and traces on the board that can make a world of difference between being able to overclock with good stability and not so good stability. I suppose a Ferrari drives the same as a Pinto too because both have glass windows and round tires?

When people say 'reference design' that doesn't just include the cooler- it includes everything, PCB, Components memory etc. What happens is ATI issue a technical documentation to the AIB partners which is the 'reference design' - that includes what resistors to use and power circuitry that would best suit ATI's GPU design (ATI also qualify a Bios for use on their cards- so AIBs have to have any custom Bios' Ok'd by ATI first). This way ATI can control how much it will cost at the end of the day because they decide what are the most cost effective components that will withstand the tolerances of their GPU+ power circuitry.

 

[sourthings]

Bought this exact card for my girlfriend's computer today. From http://www.infonec.ca Picked it up locally here in Toronto, didn't come with any game.

After I installed it, it sure was running hot, idling at 79. I did the xml profile edit thing to set the fan to 40% at all times, now it idles at 45 and loads at around 60.

Seems to be a good enough card, went with Asus for that same reason. There was nowhere local I could get Visiontek today, and I really don't like to buy Sapphire, their cards are crap imo, had two fail on me before, x1900xt and an x1900gt.

 

[Piuc2020]

Originally posted by: shangshang
why do people assume that just because Asus uses an ATI GPU like the other brands, the board is the same as other brands? Have you stop to think that there are a bunch of little electrical components and traces on the board that can make a world of difference between being able to overclock with good stability and not so good stability. I suppose a Ferrari drives the same as a Pinto too because both have glass windows and round tires?

Sylvanas got the nail right on the head, reference means exactly that, it's a card that uses ATI's technical reference specifications.

Very few manufacturers (Gigabyte and not much else come to mind) change something that than the cooler, they add more-layer PCBs, better power circuitry and even different materials but all HD 4870's on the market right now are exactly the same.

Even if cards were different, even if ASUS put little magic powder on their components it could still fail and that's why warranty is the most important factor and that's why VisionTek is one of the best brands to buy.

Assuming that just because your motherboard is ASUS than an ASUS card will work better, I think that is much weirder and irrational.