AMD rolls out new cards

AMD has rolled out its newest Radeon graphics cards

AMD has rolled out the newest incarnation of its Radeon HD graphics card line.

The Radeon HD 4870 X2 sports 2GB of GRRD5 memory. It is capable of 2.4 teraflops of processing power from a pair of 750MHz GPUs and some 1600 stream processors. The company has dubbed the card as the "world's fastest", citing benchmarks.

At $549, the 4870 X2 is being targeted towards high-end multimedia consumers and gamers.

For those looking to spend a bit less, the company is planning to offer a $399 Radeon HD model next month dubbed the 4850 X2. That card will a pair of 650mhz GPUs and slower GDDR3 memory.

Both cards will support DirectX 10.1 and tessellation, a technique used to make textures appear smoother on the screen. The cards will also support the Crossfire X connection, allowing two cards to function as a single unit. The feature is a favorite among high-end gaming system builders for beefing up graphics performance.

"The response from OEMs, system integrators, game developers, press and, most importantly, from gamers has been incredibly positive," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's graphics products group.

"The new products join a line-up of stellar offerings, all of which are designed to give gamers experiences that approach eye-definition computing."

The company also announced a partnership with Blizzard Entertainment.

Under the deal, AMD will become a chief sponsor for the World of Warcraft maker's annual BlizzCon convention in October and install the new cards on all systems used for gameplay at the conference.