Radeon HD 2400 XT and 2600 XT review

So to get you a quick overview of AMD's Radeon product line. Basically we see three new product series:

• ATI Radeon HD 2400; a value series
• ATI Radeon HD 2600; mainstream performance segment
• ATI Radeon HD 2900; enthusiast segment

Today is obviously all about the Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 series. All these products are Vista DX10 compatible and the entire 2400/2600 series is made on the all new 65nm fabrication process.

Under codename RV630, ATI developed the Radeon HD 2600 and it'll become available in two (Pro and XT) models. The value-targeted RV610-based products will carry the ATI Radeon HD 2400 name with two models; Pro and XT again.

Both RV610 and RV630 support PCIe 2.0 for increased bandwidth. Native support for CrossFire remains, as with current ATI Radeon X1650 XT and X1950 Pro products. Compared to the R600 (HD 2900 XT), AMD is manufacturing RV610 and RV630 on a 65nm manufacturing process as it's on a quest for low power consumption and our review today will show that's exactly the case. Expect RV610 products to consume around 25 to 35 watts. RV630 requires more power nearing 75 Watts.

What's interesting to see is that AMD-ATI is launching several products within its lineup (now your going HUH right ?). Well for example of the HD 2600 XT you'll see no less than three versions, check it out:

So that makes six products actually.

Radeon HD 2400 Pro & XT

The Radeon HD 2400 series will be the cheap DirectX 10 compatible product. It'll also include ATI Avivo HD technology for HD video playback and get this: It has built in audio that it can transmit to your HDMI connector. This is a new function on the entire HD 2000 series.

The graphics core itself has 180 million transistors, which lead to 40 Stream (unified shader) processors inside that core. There will be a Pro and XT version of these cards and clock speeds will respectively be clocked at 525 and 700 MHz on the core. For all cards we can tell you that the shader domain runs at the same speed as the core. We tried to unlock this but it's a no-go, they run synchronously.

Memory wise it can't get any cheaper. You are looking at 64-bit memory; these cards will come in 128/256MB GDDR2 configurations and some board partners can opt for 256MB GDDR3. The Pro will have its memory clocked at 400-500 MHz where the XT model will have a 700-800 MHz (x2) memory clock frequencies.

Prices of these two product will remain below 89 USD with the pro starting at an astounding 59 bucks. Here in Europe I however have spotted a Pro version already below 50 EUR, amazing. Let's have a look at the Radeon HD 2600 Pro/XT, next page please.