ATI, graphics business unit of Advanced Micro Devices, on Thursday unveiled its new code-named Redwood graphics processor that brings DirectX 11 and Eyefinity capabilities to the sub-$100 graphics cards market. The novelty has all chances to become rather successful on the market due to virtual lack of competition.

The new ATI Radeon HD 5600-series (which currently consists of model 5670) is based on the code-named Redwood graphics processor that is made using 40nm process technology and consists of 627 million of transistors. The new chip features 128-bit memory bus and can boast with support of DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.2, hardware-accelerated HD video decoding and post-processing, ATI Eyefinity technology that allows to plug up to three standard-resolution displays to a single graphics card (provided that there is enough connectors) or up to three monitors with 2560x1600 resolution as well as ATI’s latest technologies that trim power consumption and so on. Like all members of the Evergreen family, the novelty is made using 40nm process technology at TSMC.

ATI Radeon HD 5670 operates at 775MHz, features 400 stream processing units, 20 texture units, 8 render back ends and uses 4.0GHz GDDR5 memory.

“AMD recently celebrated the shipment of its two millionth DirectX 11 graphics chip. AMD has already enabled DirectX 11 support for the majority of the PC market and today’s introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics card is yet another clear indication of AMD’s commitment to address the strong market demand for DirectX 11-capable graphics cards,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager of AMD graphics group.

ATI Radeon HD 5670 will compete against Nvidia GeForce GT 240 as well as ATI’s previous-generation Radeon HD 4850 and 4770, which all lack DirectX 11 support as well as some other advanced features of the HD 5000-series, e.g., Eyefinity, advanced video decoding engine and so on.

Suggested e-tail price of ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB is $99. It will be available shortly from various partners of AMD’s graphics business units.

Tags: ATI, AMD, Radeon, Redwood, Evergreen, DirectX