While Advanced Micro Devices is preparing to release its code-named ATI RV670 product, its add-in-board partners received clearance to introduce ATI Radeon HD 2900 GT graphics cards, another cost-effective offering based on the flagship graphics processing unit (GPU). This time, however, the graphics adapters will feature cut-down versions of the R600 GPU.

On Monday Club 3D graphics card supplier announced its Club 3D HD 2900 GT graphics board, whereas Sapphire Technology started to list the product in its product matrix, thus, started to accept orders from its clients. The novelties are projected to emerge on the market shortly, however, just like in case of ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro-based products, it is uncertain whether the supplies will last for long.

ATI Radeon HD 2900 GT graphics cards will be equipped with cut-down ATI R600 chips with 240 unified shader processors and 256-bit memory interface, according to graphics cards makers. It is unclear whether the amount of texture units and render back ends was also reduced from what the fully-featured code-named R600 GPUs offer. Add-in graphics cards suppliers will equip Radeon HD 2900 GT boards with 256MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 1600MHz, whereas the chip will be clocked at 600MHz.

Actual pricing of ATI Radeon HD 2900 GT graphics boards is likely to be from $199 to $249 in the U.S. and €199 - €249 in Europe, making it the best choice among DirectX 10-compliant offerings in those price-ranges for gamers, as the model HD 2900 GT is projected to be considerably faster than single-chip Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS or dual-chip Radeon HD 2600 X2. On the other hand, the HD 2900 GT requires a lot of power and a plenty of space inside computer case and does not support high-definition video acceleration or high-quality post-processing. Therefore, the choice will not be obvious for mainstream users.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.