ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, has updated its lineup of professional graphics cards with the new Radeon HD 2000-series processors, which promise to improve performance substantially thanks to unified shader architecture as well as some software tricks. Besides, the new ATI FireGL V8650 is the first single-chip graphics card with a frame-buffer of 2GBs.

“The rich feature set of these new ATI FireGL boards represents AMD’s industry-leading GPU engineering excellence and provides unprecedented power for design professionals. AMD’s ability to continually offer graphics innovation at the high end, while delivering full-featured products at the entry level reflects our strategy of enabling the ultimate visual experience for professional designers and those who consume their content,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, AMD graphics products group.

The new graphics cards are The ATI FireGL V8650, FireGL V8600, FireGL V7600, FireGL V5600, and FireGL V3600, first three of which are based on the ATI Radeon HD 2900 technology, whereas the latter two are powered by ATI Radeon HD 2600 technology. The new graphics chips contain 320 or 120 unified shader processors depending on the ASIC – ATI R600 or ATI RV630 – used.

Besides DirectX 10 compatibility, there are several key features that distinguish the new series of ATI FireGL workstation graphics boards: 2GB of memory on the ATI FireGL 8650, AMD’s unique AutoDetect feature, which instinctively optimizes the graphics driver based on the user’s specific software applications even while running multiple programs simultaneously. With AutoDetect, end users are no longer required to manually adjust application specific settings, even when toggling between different applications, according to AMD.

The new series of ATI FireGL workstation graphics accelerators from AMD are expected to begin shipping in September 2007 and will be available from workstation OEMs, system integrators and channel partners worldwide.

Prices and specs look as follows:

• ATI FireGL V8650 – 320 unified shader processors, 700MHz core-clock, 512-bit memory bus, 2GB of memory. $2799.
• ATI FireGL V8600 – 320 unified shader processors, 700MHz core-clock, 512-bit memory bus, 1GB of memory. $1899.
• ATI FireGL V7600 – 320 unified shader processors, 600MHz core-clock, 256-bit memory bus, 2GB of memory. $999.
• ATI FireGL V5600 – 120 unified shader processors, 800MHz core-clock, 128-bit memory bus, 1GB of memory. $599.
• ATI FireGL V3600 – 120 unified shader processors, 600MHz core-clock, 128-bit memory bus, 512MB of memory. $299.