AMD says 4890 outselling GTX 275 by 30 to 1 at launch

DESPITE NVIDIAN SPINNERS going into overdrive to convince the world that the GTX275 was real and available at launch, the confusion of the whole 'is it or isn't it a paper launch?' seems to have taken its toll, with sales stats to make the Goblin greener and sick to the stomach.

Rubbing its hands together with glee, AMD reports that initial sales for its Radeon HD 4890 – which was released and widely available on April 2nd – are outstripping the GTX275 at a rate of 30 to 1.

AMD – which, like Nvidia, sells GPUs to partners rather than flogging complete graphic boards – claims this particular piece of SpInfo comes from two of the largest resellers in Europe.

Although our INQuiring minds may be inclined to take AMD's claims with a large pinch of salt, it's also worth bearing in mind that good launches tend to put a few thousand cards in the channel, whilst mostly-paper launches barely manage two dozen.

So if Nvidia would just fess up to the fact that it's launch was mainly just for show, it would go a long way towards explaining the large discrepency in numbers being touted by its rivals. But we hardly expect the Green Team to do that anytime soon, do we?

When the INQ asked Nvidia's Italian stallion Luciano Alibrandi for a comment, we were told "definitely this is not the data we have".

What data Alibrandi does have, however, he is obviously not ready to share with us st'INQers, despite his protest of 'If AMD shows you theirs, I'll show you mine'.

What a tempting offer. µ

An Nvidian spinner pulls some sales figures out of his crevis