AMD Introduces the ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series Graphics Cards for the Masses

AMD Introduces the ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 Series Graphics Cards for the Masses, Delivering Up To Double the Game Performance of the Competition at the Same Price1

? HD gaming gets easier with the ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 series, setting a new standard for mainstream graphics, delivering superior gaming and HD multimedia experiences at low power and exceptional prices ?

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — September 10, 2008 –AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the ATI RadeonTM HD 4600 series, mainstream graphics offerings that deliver exceptional gaming and HD multimedia performance while consuming less power than a standard light bulb.2 Comprising the ATI Radeon™ HD 4670 and the ATI Radeon™ HD 4650 graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series leverages the leading technology found in the award-winning ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 series, including support for the latest DirectX® 10.1 games, superior HD multimedia capabilities and industry leading performance-per-watt3, all delivered at affordable prices for the mainstream graphics segment. The combined features and technologies and incredible prices makes the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series a superb all-around performer, ideal for playing the latest games or driving a high quality home theatre entertainment experience.
The ATI Radeon HD 4670 and ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics cards feature AMD’s TeraScale graphics engine, with 320 stream processing cores, and are based on AMD’s advanced second generation 55nm process. The result is that even in today’s most demanding games like Crysis, the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series delivers up to double the performance of competing products at the same price.1 Both the ATI Radeon HD 4670 and ATI Radeon HD 4650 deliver substantial gaming horsepower with minimal power draw – the ATI Radeon HD 4670 operating at under 60 watts and the ATI Radeon HD 4650 operating under 50 watts under full load – eliminating the need for additional power connectors and making installation a cinch. The ATI Radeon HD 4670 is immediately available with a frame buffer of 512MB GDDR3 memory with an MSRP from USD $79, while a 1GB DDR3-based variant is scheduled to ship later this month. The ATI Radeon HD 4650 features a frame buffer of 512MB GDDR2 memory and is expected to be available later in the month at an MSRP from USD $69.

“Today, AMD is providing mainstream users – one of the largest segments of the market – with superior graphics products and performance at previously unheard of prices,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “The success of the ATI Radeon™ HD 4000 series validates that AMD’s shift away from the traditional means of producing large, hot, monolithic graphics chip continues to be a successful strategy AMD continues to execute against its timelines and deliver leading graphics performance at every price point.

“Mainstream graphics cards – those priced under $100 – represent more than two-thirds of all desktop graphics sold today4,” said Dean McCarron, founder and principal, Mercury Research. Providing competitive solutions in this segment is a mandatory requirement to have a strong position in the graphics market.”

“The ATI Radeon HD 4670 proved to be an excellent performer, especially considering its low-power operation and affordable price,” said Marco Chiappetta, HotHardware.com. “AMD’s new ATI Radeon HD 4670 handily outperformed the ATI Radeon HD 3650 and GeForce 9500 GT across a broad range of benchmarks and just missed hitting the mark set by more expensive offerings. The ATI Radeon HD 4670 performed very well in our benchmark testing, which included a number of popular 3D applications and SD and HD video playback tests.”

Leading DirectX 10.1 support
Only AMD graphics offer top-to-bottom DirectX 10.1 support and the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series continues that legacy. Leading game developers are working with AMD to create a new generation of game titles utilizing DirectX® 10.1 to deliver improved features and performance for a better game experience. Developers including Electronic Arts’ Phenomic Studio and its forthcoming fantasy online real-time strategy game BattleForge™, and SEGA and its futuristic military real-time strategy game Stormrise™, both exploit DirectX 10.1 for advanced gaming performance and visual realism.

“As one of the largest computer system manufacturers in North America targeting the mainstream gaming space, we are committed to building systems that deliver tremendous value to our customers,” said Eric Cheung, CEO, CyberPower. “The leading edge technology that AMD is delivering to the mainstream marketplace with the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series is unsurpassed and we are proud to support AMD’s efforts to bring a high-end gaming experience to the masses.”

“You don’t have to be a professional gamer to appreciate the incredible performance delivered by the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series for under $100,” said Orlando Garcia, president and CEO, Frag Dominant.

Stunning HD viewing experience
The ATI Radeon HD 4600 series brings high-definition, home theatre quality video features to the mainstream segment. AMD has incorporated its second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) for advanced hardware HD video processing ensuring a smooth HD viewing experience on HD-capable monitors. In addition, it features support for HDMI 7.1 surround sound audio for an immersive big-screen entertainment feel.

Home theater enthusiasts will be captivated by ATI Avivo™ HD technology that delivers sharp images and vibrant color fidelity for Blu-ray™ and HD content. In addition, ATI Avivo™ HD technology delivers dynamic contrast adjustment for a crisp, vibrant picture with incredible quality, the ability for users to upscale DVD content to nearly twice the display resolution of HD content5, as well as take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with picture-in-picture capabilities for bonus features such as director commentary.

Unsurpassed performance-per-watt
Built with efficiency, scalability and performance in mind, the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series sets a new performance-per-watt standard for mainstream graphics products, thanks to the enhanced bandwidth of DDR3, new power management capabilities that provide greater performance and efficiency, and 55nm technology. The series features AMD’s second generation ATI PowerPlay™ technology which allows for automatic power adjustments based on the activity of the graphics processing unit (GPU), resulting in significant power savings when the GPU is idle. Moreover, ATI PowerPlay enables advanced clock gating, as well as increased voltage and memory scaling, delivering performance on demand with exceptional efficiency.

Ecosystem support
The ATI Radeon HD 4600 series is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies offering custom designs of the products. Building high-performance versions of the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series products are ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology and VisionTek.

Chip news from AMD at the GSMA Mobile World Congress

Today at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced an expanded portfolio of products and technologies to enable such popular, media-rich applications as mobile TV, 3D games and high-fidelity audio, delivering immersive entertainment to tomorrow’s mobile phones and handheld devices.
AMD has enhanced its established line of innovative, open-standard handheld device technologies with upcoming AMD Imageon processors, as well as next-generation 3D and vector graphics cores available for licensing. These new AMD offerings are designed to allow device manufacturers and network operators to support today’s most popular applications, as well as cutting-edge applications that will thrill tomorrow’s mobile consumer.

According to analyst firm iSuppli, premium mobile content such as music, games and video is gaining momentum as a key revenue driver for network operators. In fact, mobile content now surpasses messaging as the largest data segment, representing 51 percent of total data revenue.

“In many mobile phone markets worldwide, voice and messaging services are beyond the point of saturation,” said Pam Tufegdzic, analyst, iSuppli Corporation. “To continue to grow their subscriber base and increase return on their investments, network operators no longer see premium mobile content as a value-added competitive advantage, but rather as a mainstream service necessary for market entry.”
As a leading supplier of media processors and graphics cores for the handheld market, AMD works with an ecosystem of device makers, software developers and baseband suppliers to deliver innovative technology solutions that can yield truly immersive mobile content.
The latest technology offerings to broaden the popular family of AMD Imageon processors will include:

• AMD Imageon D160 mobile TV solution, a complete hardware and software package that will enable OEMs to design cutting-edge mobile devices that receive over-the-air broadcast TV signals transmitted in the DVB-T and DVB-H standards, currently used in various markets worldwide. This turnkey, antenna-to-display solution also will enable mobile TV functionality to be designed in a USB-powered device for watching live television on notebook PCs, PDAs, portable media players and other USB-enabled handheld devices.
• AMD Imageon M210 audio processor is designed to enable a high-definition, fully integrated audio subsystem capable of delivering more than 100 hours of music playback in airplane mode. This new audio processor will be ideal for both multi-function, mainstream mobile phones and portable music players.
• AMD Imageon A250 application processor for feature phones will combine the best of AMD’s latest multimedia technology for video recording and playback, photo imaging, and high-resolution displays, offering performance rivaling today’s stand-alone consumer electronics devices while maintaining long system battery life. This new application processor is designed to help phone manufacturers reduce the time and cost associated with system integration.

Graphics To Go AMD is committed to delivering stunning graphics to consumers everywhere by licensing intellectual property (IP) to mobile chipset suppliers. AMD announced several IP deals during the past year as part of this business. Building on that success, unique next-generation AMD graphics cores are available to leverage the same innovative AMD technology that provides an immersive graphics platform from PCs to game consoles such as the Microsoft Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system.

• AMD Z180 OpenVG 1.x graphics core offers the only available hardware-accelerated native vector graphics solution, ideal for advanced user interfaces, navigational systems and portable devices optimized for animation and Flash-style content.
• AMD Z460 OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics core will deliver fully programmable shader models for realistic 3D graphics, designed to revolutionize the mobile gaming experience for portable devices.

New AMD handheld technology will be available for OEMs and silicon supplier licensees to sample beginning this month. Features enabled by these new products and technologies are expected to start appearing in mobile devices in late 2008 and 2009.

AMD Launches ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 based on 55 nanometer production

AMD today announced the immediate availability of the ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2 graphics processor, expanding the visual boundaries of PC entertainment well beyond the 1080P High Definition (HD) threshold. The industry’s first graphics processor to break the Teraflop (one trillion floating point operations per second) barrier, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 nearly doubles the performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 introduced in November 2007.²

Through an elegant yet aggressive design, the 55 nanometer process-based ATI Radeon 3870 X2 combines two ATI Radeon HD 3870s on a single graphics board, connected through integrated CrossFire™ technology. ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is also the first performance-leadership graphics product in the world to support Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX® 10.1 technology. The ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers a new class of price and performance leadership with unbelievable enthusiast value at a suggested retail price of US $449.

This launch follows on the success of the recently released ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 and ATI Radeon™ HD 3600 series graphics products, completing a comprehensive portfolio of next-generation 55nm GPUs that deliver unparalleled price, performance and energy efficiency from entry-level to performance-leadership class products.

“PC gaming enthusiasts demand the ultimate in performance and scalability for their HD gaming experience and the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 sets the standard by which all should be compared in this segment,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Product Group, AMD. “With this launch we reaffirm our commitment to enthusiast performance leadership and send a clear message that the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is the new gold standard of the PC gaming world.”

Ultimate Performance
With the upcoming introduction of Microsoft’s DirectX 10.1 specification, gamers can expect more realistic gaming environments while developers have access to an increased amount of tools and resources to enhance overall image quality. Through delivering top-to-bottom DirectX 10.1 support, ATI Radeon HD 3000 series users can enjoy a more complete gaming experience now and in the future.

“We’re pleased to see our newest DirectX 10 technology brought to market so soon with the introduction of AMD’s latest enthusiast hardware,” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows, Microsoft. “One of the greatest advantages of PC gaming is the rapid pace at which the experiences evolve and improve. ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 delivers on the promise of DirectX 10 gaming with significantly improved visuals and enhanced performance.”

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 will also provide support for ATI CrossFireX™, the innovative next-generation AMD multi-GPU technology designed to support up to four GPUs. Software support to enable ATI CrossFireX is planned for late Q1 2008.

Ultimate HD Experiences
With the launch of ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, AMD continues to support the industry-leading Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and ATI Avivo™ HD for exceptional platform efficiency and image quality for H.264 and VC-1 high definition content. Enhanced HDMI functionality is also offered via integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video.

“Alienware prides itself on staying at the forefront of HD gaming innovation so that our brand stands for the best possible experience for our customers,” said Patrick Cooper, director of product group, Alienware. “With the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 in our Area-51 ALX CrossFire platform, we can push the boundaries of visual realism one step further and provide enthusiast gamers with the perfect blend of next-generation features, performance and platform efficiency.”

Ultimate Efficiency
The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is the first enthusiast graphics processors to use TSMC’s 55nm process technology. The smooth transition to 55nm has allowed for a 2X increase in performance-per-watt over the previous generation. Through an elegant board design, the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers exceptional acoustics that are roughly equivalent to a single ATI Radeon HD 3870. When combined with ATI PowerPlay™ technology, the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers exceptional idle power efficiency with the ability to dynamically raise or lower GPU power depending on the usage scenario.

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 launches with broad availability and ecosystem support from AMD’s Add-in-Board (AIB) and Systems Integrators (SI) partners. AIB partners building boards based on the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 include Asus, ASK, Club3D, Diamond Multimedia, HIS, ITC, Jetway, MSI, Sapphire, Triplex, Tul and Visiontek. Systems integrators launching ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 series include ABS, Alienware, Canada Computers, CyberPower, Falcon-Northwest, iBUYPOWER, Maingear, Systemax and Velocity Micro.

AMD launches ATI Radeon E2400 for highend graphics in embedded market

AMD (NYSE: AMD) just introduced the ATI Radeon™ E2400, a high-performance graphic processing unit that delivers the latest 2D, 3D and multimedia graphics performance to the embedded market in a solution that reduces footprint, reduces design complexity, and helps speed time to market. The benefits of the ATI Radeon E2400 make it ideal for demanding embedded graphics applications such as test and instrumentation, human machine interfaces (such as Kiosks, Point-of-Sale, and Automated Teller Machines), display walls, patient monitoring, casino and arcade gaming, and various multi-display applications. The new graphics technology is backed by a planned five-year availability and long-term support offering reliability for a variety of applications on operating systems featuring Microsoft DirectX® 10 and OpenGL 2.0.

ATI Radeon E2400 offers exceptional performance and flexibility in a compact package size for a wide variety of high quality graphics applications. Built on 65nm process technology, the ATI Radeon E2400 includes AMD’s revolutionary Unified Shader Architecture with support for Microsoft DirectX 10 allowing customers to develop advanced content for many applications. The device package incorporates 128MB of on-chip GDDR3 memory for graphic-intensive applications, eliminating the space, effort, and cost of external memory designs.

For designs that require a low profile solution in space constrained environments, AMD offers the ATI Radeon™ E2400 MXM-II module based on the open standard MXM-II specifications. This compact graphics subsystem provides a documented upgrade path while enabling a plug-in solution for fast time-to-market. ATI Radeon E2400 MXM-II uses the ATI Radeon E2400 core and 256MB GDDR3 memory.

The ATI Radeon E2400 is scheduled to ship this month in production quantities. AMD will showcase the product both at Embedded World 2008 in Hall 9 Stand 9-231, February 26-28, 2008 in Nuremberg, Germany, and at Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley in booth 1036, April 14-18, 2008 in San Jose, California.

AMD unleashes the ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series

AMD today announced the introduction and availability of the ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 and ATI Radeon™ HD 3600 series, the leading-edge entry-level and mainstream graphics processors (GPU) in the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 series. Ranging in price from USD $49-$65 suggested e-tail pricing (SEP) for the ATI Radeon HD 3400 series and USD $79-$99 SEP for the ATI Radeon HD 3600 seriesⁱ , the new graphics solutions deliver unmatched value to the consumer. Both series continue to advance AMD’s leadership by delivering display connectivity through DisplayPort™ integrated into the GPUⁱⁱ, allowing AMD to exceed current manufacturing expectations in the industry. As part of the first family of graphics cards built using 55nm process technologyⁱⁱⁱ, both series provide exceptional performance-per-watt for a quiet and power-efficient experience at unbelievable price points.

Blu-ray or HD DVD disc playback can be enjoyed in full HD glory (1080p)^iv thanks to AMD’s proprietary unified video decoder (UVD) technology found on the ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series, ensuring movies play back smoothly and with incredible detail. Immersive home theater environments can be created using the built-in support for six channel (5.1) Dolby Digital® surround audio transmission through HDMI. In addition, the ATI Radeon™ HD 3450 will support fully silent (passive) cooling, delivering the ideal solution for home theater PCs.

“With the ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series, AMD is delivering outstanding graphics performance to the mainstream,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president, AMD Graphics Products Group. “AMD is leading the industry by delivering top-to-bottom DirectX® 10.1 support with modular graphics capabilities for easy upgradeability. It’s part of our commitment to deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience™ to more users than ever before.”

AMD continues its display leadership with both series by offering the world’s first GPUs with integrated DisplayPort support. DisplayPort offers twice the bandwidth of DVI, and is poised to deliver low-cost high resolution and bit-depth panels.

“Dell and AMD have been leaders in driving the DisplayPort standard since its inception”, said Bruce Montag, office of the CTO, Dell. “AMD is demonstrating its technology leadership with the introduction of dual integrated DisplayPort capability in the ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series graphics.”

Gamers looking for graphics processors that allow for further scalability will find that both series boast ATI CrossFireX™, which delivers the option of multi-GPU upgradability. ATI Hybrid Graphics allows users to combine an ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 GPU with a compatible AMD 7-Series chipset to provide exceptional 3D performance, adding further value to the gaming experience. With support for Microsoft® DirectX 10.1 support, gamers can play the top HD games with life-like 3D graphics, stunning realism, and great shading effects. Full support for PCI Express® 2.0 technology allows for twice the throughput of current PCI Express cards^v, which means gamers will be ready for demanding graphic applications.

The ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series have already enjoyed broad customer adoption and are designed into a significant number of major OEM mainstream and entry-level PCs scheduled to be shipped in 2008.

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