ATI should employ more illegal workers, they seem to know how to get through customs...

by "more" I mean "some" not that I'm implying they do already....

I hope this mixup doesn't stop your ability to get pre-release hardware for reviews.

you're human after all! Ha!

I'm kinda intriqued how a bunch of dongle cables could get caught up in custom border shenagins. But I'll give ATI the benifit of the doubt, and say it wasn't their fault this time. Although they better hurry up and get the issue resolved. Christmas isn't too far away......

I love that word "dongle"

"Excuse me, but thats my dongle your touching."

Nice DAMAGE Control SCOTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks to me like ATI F'd up twice......

1st not being dilligant in following up on customs rules and regs
2nd not following up on un read e-mails their VIP Press.

However Scott... IF ATI hangs you out to dry on this after all of their F ups than I'll never buy another Card from them again...(until their next gen hits that is.............just kidding). Sorry for all of the implied profanity but ATI better get their SHIP together, they are so full of IT!!!!!! Someone was wrong here and it wasn't you...

How about a ficticous tongue in cheek review of a quadruple Sli/Crossfire multi/multi GPU solution from GraphicsZilla that renders F.E.A.R. at 3840*2160 with 16X AA and 32 AF with full HDR at 80FPS available today at NOEGGS.COM, complete with a retraction that says product couldn't be shipped due to inclemant weather.

Ah, honesty. I've come to expect it from TR. I read this site before any other site for a reason.

Hopefully ATi understands this was just a mix-up and the incident blows over without further issue. I can't imagine it'll take all that long to get a shipment of dongles squared away. I mean, surely a coporate shipment can be delivered in a timely fashion. Heck, a single dongle you buy from Newegg gets shipped cross-country in three days, and that's free shipping. The length of time we see between yesterday and when the Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition is launched (again) will let you know whether or not the dongles were really the issue.

I think we should see a short news post on TR and other websites that mention what happenend and then make snide comments.

Its only a common practice.

i think the real lesson to be learned is USE THE DAMN PHONE. people rely on emails too much as if they are registered mail

"Customs" problems? Yeah right. ATI needs to get real and start over.

Stuff like this happen to most publications one time or another, just like glaring errors in the post-corrections that the author doesnt have control over himself. Its just to suck it up and be honest with the readers, which you've always done a good job with.

Maybe the customs folks were short of some Christmas ( er, Holiday) Tree ornaments ? And if you really are gullible enough to believe ATi's latest story, I can probably find a few bridges for sale at a very reasonable price. A far more reasonable explanation can be found in the persistent shortage of ATi's GPU chips for the X1000-series. ATi burned up a bunch of their 90nm material quota on the production wafers with their defective clock design last Fall and have had to loop through a full production/QA cycle with the fixed design. It is only in the last couple of weeks that reasonable quantities of the non-Crossfire X1800XTs have become retail-available. Supply of GPUs to ATi's highly-irritated-by-delays board partners in time for Christmas deliveries of standard X1800XT obviously take precedence over supply of GPUs for the marginal-interest Crossfire master board.

If only every other site treated its readers with this respect and openly discussed things like this when they happen.

I wont mention any names, but we all know lots of sites where the owner/operator(s) would try to place blame on others.

Good job here Scott, and good job ATI by trying to do the right thing.

It is always the intention and thought that counts.

So, anyone interested in an x850 XT PE PCI-E?

heh. maybe ATI should have asked for a response to the email, and telephoned the non-respondees just to confirm they had received it!

freakin' canadians ruining christmas again...

If this happened to a certain guy wHo shall remain nameless, he'd whine about it for a year. Nice to see an honest admission of the facts without trying to stir up a bunch of crap just to get attention. ATi obviously has their problems, but NVidia went through similar things when they were trying to catch ATi. Kudos to you for not trying to villianize ATi just because it's good publicity.

I picture some guy at customs opening up a box of dongles and going WTF??? Who still uses dongles? This must be a mistake, send em back.

Appreciate the quick explanation. When you say "customs snag", was that Canadian customs, US customs, or what? I'm curious why TR did not get the email from ATI in time. What happened? Did other press outlets really receive the email, or is that just what ATI said? Boy, a screwup like this is the last thing ATI needs. Thanks.

If ATi is still mad at you guys, you can blame me. I can take the heat.

Shouldn't that be:

...Customs snag...

?

YOU NEED AN ASS WHOOPING NOW. ;)
Have to like the honesty. You get kudos for that. Can't say that for most sites. They would of let this pass.

And I was so set to sell a kidney to go buy it....

Feeling a bit shortchanged:)

wow...and I almost first posted on this paper launch, too...

Congrats on your first product paper launch! I don't think many hardware sites can boast such claims!

To your defense one could argue that ATI crated their own misfortune on that one: had ATI always launched their products in the real world as well as the virtual one, we would all be laughing light-heartedly at this incident.

Instead they're trying to salvage what little reputation they have in the subject of paper-launching.