AMD details speeds and feeds on Radeon HD 6800 cards

AMD has released the specifications for its two latest graphics cards, the Radeon HD 6850 and HD 6870.

The second-generation DirectX11 cards are an update to the HD 5800 series graphics architecture, but are priced at $179 (£114) for the 6850 and $239 (£152) for the 6870, a significant reduction considering the improvements in processing, the company said.

The new cards feature advanced tessellation handling, more efficient use of DirectCompute features and better image quality, according to AMD.

"We believe in the value of tessellation," said Eric Demers, chief technical officer of AMD's GPU Division. "It adds value and gives screen images a more organic look. It's also more nuanced, since a brute force approach [to tessellation] is wasteful."

Both cards use a 256-bit memory bus and 1GB of GDDR5 RAM, but the 6850 uses 960 stream processors, 48 texture units and runs at 775MHz, compared to the 6870's 1,120 stream processors, 56 texture units and a 900MHz clock.

The cards come with two DVI ports, two mini-DP sockets in line with DisplayPort 1.2 specifications and an HDMI 4.1a port, and can support up to three displays from a single port.

AMD is hoping to extend its lead in the DirectX11 market, which it has held since the standard was launched.

"Every major game developed for DirectX11 was built on AMD hardware," said Matt Skynner, general manager of the company's GPU Division.

"We've shipped 12 million DirectX11 chips in the first year, giving us around 90 per cent of the market. We've also got a ton of momentum, as the best just got better."

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