According to a report, ATI Technologies had ceased the production of its own “Built by ATI” RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB, RADEON 9600 PRO, RADEON 9600 and RADEON 9200 PRO graphics cards. The move is aimed to free the market space for the recently released RADEON 9800 XT, RADEON 9600 XT and RADEON 9600 SE graphics cards.

In an attempt to consolidate its product lineup for holiday season and Spring 2004, ATI ceased the production of some “Built by ATI” products, FiringSquad said quoting ATI Technologies. The list includes RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB, RADEON 9600 PRO, RADEON 9600 and RADEON 9200 PRO graphics cards. As a result, ATI now offers the following products:

• RADEON 9800 XT - $499;
• RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB – $299;
• RADEON 9600 XT - $199;
• RADEON 9600 SE - $129;
• RADEON 9200 128MB – $99;
• RADEON 9000 64MB – $79;

Other manufacturers of graphics cards are free to decide whether to manufacture the mentioned graphics cards discontinued by ATI or not. Quite some companies are likely to continue to marketing the mentioned products, probably, with the exception of the RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB – a $499 card that is slower than the RADEON 9800 XT also shipping now.

At the moment all graphics cards mentioned herein are available directly from ATI Technologies via its online store or in some shops over here. Though, considering that there are equal prices for some products with different performance, the obvious choice for the majority of customers will be the faster one.

Officials from ATI did not comment on the story to X-bit labs. There is no information about timeframes for the actual discontinuance of the products pointed out herein.