A category I've become aware of as of this latest release is 'Made By AMD' cards that are then sold by their partners, thus 'MBA' cards. Yes, this is AMDs cooler design, sold to their partners, unfortunately.
I agree with you about the bad design end of the connector, but they considered that a "bad batch" of cables at the beginning as well until they realized it was something different. So in other words I am skeptical on this whole AMD fiasco just like everyone was on the Nvidia issue until they get to the bottom of things. This is actually going to be a big recall unlike Nvidia's issue though.
Nvidia stuck it's head in the sand on its connector issue. Still a design flaw in my mind. Not that I wouldn't get the card if the money were ample.
Given how long it took to replicate, and that the issue is rooted in user error - you didn't see review houses having the same issue until one happened upon the actual problem - I can see Nvidia remaining silent. Anything they said would have created potential liability where there should be none.
I see it as more of a split between bad design and end user error, but more on the end user error. Not too much to ask to make sure your cable is plugged into you $1,600 video card securely. Could it have been a better design? Yes, but let's not let everyone off the hook that easily. I'll be curious how AMD handles this issue and how many people carry the angry mob torches against them like they did Nvidia.
The timing is bad for AMD. Usually there is a break for chinese new year. So they stock ahead in preparation. Depends on how many batches are defective, they may not have sufficient replacement cards at the present
That assumes that almost all stock was blown through right at the beginning of the release. With the regular releases it seems they had a decent bit of stock but putting it out a batch at a time. If that's the case, replacements shouldn't be an issue but it will hurt the amount of new stock released for a while.
