When AMD's Radeon HD 5000-series "Evergreen" GPUs hit the streets last month, it quickly became apparent that the company rushed its new DirectX 11-enabled graphics cards to market. AMD simply didn't have enough units to go around and getting your paws on an HD 5870 was very difficult. Today, the pickings are still pretty slim with no 5850 or 5870 cards in stock at Newegg and many other major e-tailers, but AMD says that will change – in time.
In addition to confirming the company's inability to meet the demand for its new video cards, AMD's CEO Dirk Meyer said he "expects that situation to improve over the coming weeks and months." Unfortunately, he didn't say whether or not the lack of supply is related to manufacturing troubles – nor was there mention of a short-term strategy to churn out more 5000-series cards.
For now, it seems you'll have to hunt for a Radeon HD 5850 or 5870 if you want one. At this point in time, ZipZoomFly has one 5850 card and two 5870 models available. Should you happen to see them in stock elsewhere, please leave a comment to inform others.