Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but. The thing is standard or 'lesser' 460s, including for example the MSI Cyclone, or even a Palit if you must, can achieve well over 900 MHz with a good core - such results are everywhere. That suggests the extra PCB upgrades of something like the Hawk are not required to reach that sort of level. i.e. they will only come into play when paired with an absolutely exceptional core, and then, and only then, those PCB upgrades may help that core reach the lofty heights of, say, 950+ MHz. Most cores wont even do 900 MHz whatever PCB they're on, so that brings me back to my original point - why make a card like the Hawk when chances are the random core it gets paired with wont get anywhere near taking benefit of the fantastic PCB. A great PCB needs to be gauranteed to be paired with a great core or the product is a crazy proposition imho.
But at the current price I'd buy one tomorrow if I was in the market for a GPU, just on the off chance the core on it is worthy of the PCB
EDIT: missed that post by mikeo - at least somebody understands my point
Point understood. When cherry picking the GPU, where do you draw the line though? The higher the line, the more expensive the card.
The hawk GPU's are cherry picked to the point they are guaranteed stable at 780MHZ under any conditions. For this it is likely they have been verified to something well above 780MHz in order to guarantee long term stability, something not done on a cheaper card.
Side Note: Also worth noting that there is no way of knowing what speed the 900MHz OC GPU on the palit card, would be getting if i was on the hawk
I do understand your valid point, although the reality if we cherry picked the GPU's to 900MHz say, they would be shipped at 900MHz and be a hell of a lot higher to the point you would not be happy with the price. At least with the current price of the hawk, even if you run at stock its pretty good value.
My hawk came today and died today
RIP
what happened
All to get a 'freebie pack' - it better be good 
