X-bit labs

ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro Pre-Orders Accepted, Specs Unclear.

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 09/16/2007 | 03:55 PM ]

CORRECTION: Contrary to the reports and expectations, ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro graphics card features fully-fledged ATI R600 graphics processor with 320 unified shader processors, 16 texture units, 16 render back ends and 512-bit memory controller as the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT model. For details read our news-story “AMD Says ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro – Limited Edition Product”.

Perhaps, positions of Advanced Micro Devices are not so good on the market of graphics processors, however, the company still has something to show and sell. Based on reports from certain European retailers, the company is readying a quiet launch of a new performance-mainstream product.

A number of computer hardware stores in Germany have started to list what is believed to be a new performance-mainstream product from ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, as available for pre-order. Unfortunately, nothing is known about ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro graphics cards, therefore, it is unclear whether the product was officially launched by AMD, or graphics cards maker Infotek Corp., best known for GeCube brand-name, has started to sell the new product without negotiations with chip provider.

According to Geizhals.at price-watch system, GeCube Radeon HD 2900 Pro 512MB graphics cards can be pre-ordered from numerous online stores for €226 - €231 ($313 - $320).

It is expected that ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro product features fully-fledged R600 graphics processor with 320 unified shader processors at 600MHz, 256-bit memory bus and 512MB of GDDR3 memory at 1600MHz. Actual performance of the novelty is unknown, however, some sources believe that the new product will achieve approximately 8500 points in 3DMark06 benchmark. Unfortunately, Advanced Micro Devices has not unveiled specifications of its new performance-mainstream graphics cards.

Theoretically, besides the HD 2900 Pro AMD may also release HD 2900 GT eventually that will feature 256-bit memory bus and reduced amount of shader processors.

Advanced Micro Devices did not comment on the news-story.