GPUs & Graphic Cards

3 October 2008 - SAPPHIRE is introducing two new graphics families aimed at mainstream users. The new SAPPHIRE HD 4550 has 80 stream processors, core clock speeds of 600MHz and 512MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 900MHz (1.8GHz effective). The SAPPHIRE HD 4350 has a similar architecture, and has the same 80 stream processors and 600MHz core clock speed, but uses the more cost effective DDR2 memory running at 400MHz (800MHz effective). All the other features are similar to the SAPPHIRE HD 4550.

30 September 2008 - TUL introduces value segment VGAs, HD4550 and HD4350 Series. With all the latest features, the new series delivers superior high-definition experience to a new level at home, work and gaming. PowerColor HD4550 clocks at 600MHz core speed and 900MHz memory speed while HD4350 clocks at 600MHz and 400MHz respectively.

26 September 2008 - Seems like Radeon HD 4830 will have 640 stream processors instead of the 480 as we learned previously. It comes with 256-bit memory interface with 512MB GDDR3 memories. Since AIB partners are free to design their own cards therefore we should be seeing different card solutions with different clocks and memory sizes/types from each makers. The launch for Radeon HD 4830 is set at October 21st and it is targeted primarily at Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT with a less than US$150 price tag.

23 September 2008 - AMD is preparing to launch the RV770LE card in October and it will be officially known as Radeon HD 4830. This card will be built by AIBs themselves and it is targeted at the GeForce 9800GT and 9600GT segment. RV770LE is known to have 480 stream processors and expected to be clocked differently by each AIB.

17 September 2008 - ZOTAC enhances its award-winning GeForce GTX 260² and GeForce GTX 260 AMP²! Edition with 24 additional processor cores for a total of 216. The new enhanced ZOTAC GeForce GTX 260² and GeForce GTX 260 AMP²! Edition delivers performance that obliterates the competition. “We sought to squeeze extra performance from the NVIDIA GTX 260 graphics processor. By adding 24 additional processor cores, we saw performance gains up to 10-percent in the latest DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1 and CUDA enabled 3D games and software applications,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

17 September 2008 -

12 September 2008 - MSI today unveils non-reference R4850-T2D512 graphics card with Quad Pipe thermal design. In order to allow the -T2D 512 Quad Pipe graphics card to provide better stability and overclocking performance at full speed, MSI R&D team added a large heatsink in the graphics memory and power module to enhance the cooling performance. So that the overall cooling efficiency will substantially increase by 107%, enabling gamers to enjoy the ultimate gaming experience of R4850-T2E512 Quad Pipe graphics card.

9 September 2008 - We have seen how the Radeon HD 4650 card performs and now we check out an own designed Radeon HD 4670 card from MSI.

1 October 2008 - Palit today unveils a series of new Radeon™ 4600 series graphics cards; Radeon HD 4670 Super equipped with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, HD 4650 Super+1GB with 1024MB of GDDR3 memory, HD 4650 Sonic and HD 4650 Super with 512MB of DDR2 memory.

26 September 2008 - AMD has prepared a slide on the Radeon HD 4830 performance vs the GeForce 9800 GT with 6 games benchmarks. No words on the system configuration or drivers used for these tests. AMD is banking heavily on this card to outperform and to outsell the GeForce 9800 GT at the same price point. In another slide, it stated that the Radeon HD 4830 series delivers up to 1.6x the performance per watt of AMD’s previous generation GPUs. 6.73 GigaFLOPS per Watt vs 4.10 GigaFLOPS per Watt for the HD 3850.

23 September 2008 - Palit announces Palit Radeon™ HD 4870 1GB Sonic Dual Edition with pre-overclocked 750 MHz core speed and 3.8 GHz memory speed. This innovative Sonic Dual Edition card features the overclocking friendly “Smart Switch” allowing users to easily turbocharge the card to 775 MHz core and 4GHz memory speed. Furthermore, Palit HD 4870 1GB Sonic Edition is equipped with advanced DisplayPort and HDMI making it a future proof graphics card.

19 September 2008 - ZOTAC unleashes its new GeForce Synergy Edition graphics card lineup, the GeForce 9800GT Synergy Edition and GeForce 9600GT Synergy Edition for budget-minded gamers and enthusiasts. "Previously you had to purchase an expensive add-in card to experience PhysX technology. Our ZOTAC GeForce Synergy Editions allow gamers to take advantage of PhysX technology without having to purchase a separate add-in PhysX card,” Mr. Berger added.

17 September 2008 - BFG announced GeForce® GTX 260 MAXCORE™ graphics cards in three factory overclocked versions; OC, OC2, and OCX. BFG’s GeForce GTX 260 MAXCORE graphics cards boast 216 processing cores—24 more cores than a standard GeForce GTX 260. The BFG GeForce® GTX 260 OC, OC2, and OCX MAXCORE graphics cards will be available at leading online and in-store retailers throughout North America and Europe beginning the week of September 15, 2008.

12 September 2008 -

11 September 2008 - AMD today announced two new workstation products; ATI FirePro V8700 and FirePro V3750. V8700 comes with 1GB frame buffer memory and has 800 shader units while V3750 features 256 MB of frame buffer memory with 320 shader processing units. The new ATI FirePro™ V8700 and ATI FirePro™ V3750 are expected to being shipping in fourth quarter 2008.

9 September 2008 - We checked out a self designed Radeon HD 4650 card from MSI. Benchmarks and overclocking scores included.