ATI Technologies’ New King of the Hill primarily known as the code-named R360 product is now being qualified by the company’s Add-In-Board partners who expect it to go into mass production this September. Its key specifications have been known for quite some time ago and things that interest computer enthusiasts the most are its core and memory clocks as well as estimated performance figures.

The most powerful VPU of the Fall 2003 will be clocked at 450MHz for the core and 750MHz for 128 or 256MB of 256-bit DDR SDRAM memory. At this point ATI and its AIB partners think that good-old DDR SDRAM memory is still more preferable than new and lucrative for memory makers DDR-II SDRAM. Even though some of RV360-based graphics cards are expected to be equipped with GDDR2 memory developed in collaboration with ATI, the highest-end oriented R360 will be equipped with typical DDR memory, as unofficial sources claim.

ATI’s new graphics monster will utilize a new type of VPU cooler, a more efficient one to cool down the powerful 0.15 micron R360 VPU running at astonishing 450MHz.. Other features of ATI graphics cards will remain untouched: the product will come equipped with D-Sub, DVI-I and TV-Out connectors.

Both versions of the R360 with either 128 or 256MB of DDR SDRAM memory will be clocked similarly and will score 6750 – 7000+ marks in the 3DMark03 benchmark, suggesting that R360 is something more than an overclocked R350 and we should expect architectural improvements as well.