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They signed the NDA in good faith, so why would they break it? AMD would find the first one who breaks it, sue them and cut them off of future news. Why would they do this? To leak information on a video card? Give me break! Just wait two more weeks.
MetaDFF - I ordered my 2407 last month. They actually ship from the US now since the A04 are built in Mexico (so no duty). Dell didn't tell me that, Purolator did, when I questioned the delay on the shipping.
If Nvidia was truly worried about the 2900XTX coming out and taking the GPU crown, they likely planned on releasing this at the GTX price point. Thus dropping the cost on the rest of their product line. Now, with the 2900XTX not being the be-all-and-end-all of GPUs (reportedly), they may be...
I don't know what the prices are like now, but the 180 have been a great deal lately. The newer 180b's have had most, if not all, of the new 182 revisions.
I'll check when I get home but....
The raised plastic piece can be removed, so even if it is from the 'lower' part you'll still be fine. Keep in mind though, that the fan will need a bit of room to blow out or turn it off entirely, in which case, I would suggest removing the plastic piece anyhow.
45nm chips SHOULD be available Q4 this year. We'll see, but that's following the road map.
As far as your E6600 vs Q6600 problem... Like I said, it's up to you. I doubt you'll see a performance bump from the E6600 to the Q6600, but I don't know what you're using this for.
Good luck!
Edit: We...
Not necessarily... I mean for the same price he can have both CPUs, he'll just have to wait for price drops in Q3 to get the Q6600. Even if he never sells the E6600 and uses it for a key chain (oh the humanity!) then he is still no worse off (financially).
Maybe you should look at it this way...
You can buy a e6600 today for about $266 (maybe more or less, I'm not clear on US pricing right now). The Q6600 is double that, $530(?).
Now, the Q6600 will be $266 in a few months.
So you could buy the E6600 now, and the Q6600 in a few months...
IMO it's an unnecessary addition to the cards. I certainly won't use the audio off the video cards.
Unfortunately this is also a cost driver. Raising the price of the card.
Q3 is July, August, September.
Q1 January, February, March
Q2 April, May, June
Q4 October, November, December
Even though different corporations use different fiscal years, when discussing quarters with the general public, they use this system. It keeps things clear.
I almost got them to price match themselves because they have $5.99 shipping on now (NCIX). When I went to purchase the case it was OOS at Direct Canada, but since I had already put it in my cart, I processed the purchase anyhow. Sure enough the next day (yesterday), the order wen through. Now...