AMD breaks speed barrier with air-cooled 1GHz GPU

AMD makes big claims for the Radeon HD 4890

AMD claims to have reached a new top speed for graphics processing. The company's latest ATI graphics cards are able to reach 1GHz, a new top mark for a factory-produced, air-cooled graphics card.

The Radeon HD 4890 is said to be able to reach up to 1.6 teraflops through the single GPU. In addition to better graphics performance, AMD also suggests that the new cards can be used to help process other tasks though protocols such as OpenCL.

The use of graphics processors for general computing, also known as 'GPGPU', has picked up in recent years.

GPUs are specially suited for handling multiple operations at once, and many chipmakers are looking to use them to help in parallel processing tasks, such as rendering video, crunching financial information and constructing environmental or physics simulations.

AMD is pursuing GPGPU in both its consumer and enterprise lines through the Stream project.

"Throughout the 40-year history of AMD, we have continually focused on technology firsts that deliver superior value to the customer," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president of AMD's products group.

"The 1GHz ATI Radeon HD 4890 continues that tradition by increasing the performance and compute power of our flagship single-GPU solution, ensuring a great experience whether our customers are playing the latest DirectX 10.1 game or running GPU accelerated applications built with OpenCL."