Reading around today, some over excited folk got their wires crossed and claimed AMD would be launching their upcoming R600XT on May 2nd.

That's simply not correct - Nvidia is launching the 8800 Ultra on May 2nd at a retail price of at least $999 USD but supply will be very low due to yield and pricing related issues. The word on the streets of Taipei tells us that unless Nvidia reduce their 8800 Ultra pricing, you'll have a hard time actually buying this part.

We got a little hot under the collar when the rumors starting circulating around that the Radeon HD X2900XT was being released on May 2nd but after some simple phone calls to our friends here in Taiwan, they confirmed the launch is May 14 and product should be for sale on the day or soon after with fairly decent quantity.

As far as drivers go, that is really the million dollar question. DailyTech managed to somehow score the chance to benchmark the R600XT and XTX cards but without much performance difference between both, it seems like there is a driver issue - or AMD are in for a further world of hurt.

From what we've been hearing in Taipei though, ATI are working busier than ever on new driver revisions which MIGHT increase performance but of course nobody knows what will happen for sure. One company claimed that ATI are waiting for "the best driver" which means if the driver is still not 100% by May 14th, we could see further delays.