Its retarded either way, completely political decision. If the product hasnt been recognized officially by the manufacturer how in god's name can you consider it a retail part???

Dunno, what status would you give Mars cards?

If it's on the company's product roadmap, and there are actual pieces with the company name laser etched on them, as well as in the microcode, I would consider that recognized by the manufacturer, regardless as to whether or not there is retail availability. ;)

If you can buy it, I consider it retail in my book. Pre-order shouldn't be considered though...

The way Intel does it is they have a date for the announcement. Then they have the actual launch date. They have already announced it a while back but have not officially launched it yet.

Thats a tough one, they're a limited run... but you can theoretically buy them in retail.

Yeah, if its not officially launched by the company then its not retail in my eyes.

your eyes lie!!! :taunt:

They are getting boints, so I guess it is good enough for the Bot.


http://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/core_i7_980x

(They are put in the wrong catagory though, listed under i7 not i7 extreme

price at provantage is enticing :D

Brace for impact guys, boints will be lost at an astonishing rate but we will rebuild them.