Just gonna weigh in on a couple things here.

1. I do not have any new cards from AMD. I don't have tracking numbers and I haven't received a product briefing, reviewers guide, or even an official release date. I am way beyond giving a crap about unreleased products (they're nice but I've determined that I can easily stay relevant without any release day reviews anymore) so I don't really run around trying to dig these details up in the industry and read the same site you guys do. I know basically nothing about 3xx.

2. There's nothing wrong with letting fans have a sneak peek of something ahead of time. I've heard that Intel seeds processors to game streamers, and Nvidia gave away a whackton of G-SYNC modules.

3. With that said I agree with Ryan's point that something should be independently evaluated prior to release (based on my retailer experience if it's in stores now and a reviewer hasn't had a card for a few days the review won't be ready in time) and from my past experience when a product is objectively really good the brand is beating down the doors of the most trusted journalists to prove how much ass they just kicked.

This behavior looks more like "we can't win with the usual formula here, so let's throw something else at the wall and see if it sticks"

But just like the rest of you I'm speculating.

Ryan may also know more than he says (also speculation) and I'm intentionally waiting until after I post this to ask him so that I'm not revealing something I shouldn't.

The industry is very small and nothing is a secret.