Page 2 - Radeon 2400 - 2600

Okay then, let's get started. We are starting off today with a quick overview of the actual cards announced. Although this day is all about the Radeon HD 2900 XT, there are four other cards announced as well. You will not see results of these cards before the 1st of July though. So that makes the 2400 and 2600 series a paper launch for now. Let's have a quick peek at them, shall we?

So 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

We'll focus on the 2400 and 2600 series in this page. Some keywords here: All the products are DX10 compatible, the 2400/2600 series is made on the all new 65nm fabrication process.

Under codename (ASIC) RV630, ATI developed the Radeon HD 2600 and it'll come 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.

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. Expect RV610 products to consume around 25 to 35-watts. RV630 requires more power at around 75 to 128-watts.

Radeon HD 2400 Pro & XT

HD 2400 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 which it can transmit toward your HDMI connector. Basically this is a new function on the entire HD 2000 series.

The graphics core itself has 180 transistors which lead towards 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 / 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.

Memory wise it can't get any cheaper. It's 64-bit memory and these cards will come in 128/256MB GDDR 2 configurations, and some board partners can opt for 256MB GDDR3. The Pro will have its memory clocked at 400 MHz where the XT will have a 800 MHz (x2) memory clock. Prices of these two product will remain below 99 USD.

Radeon HD 2400 Pro

Radeon HD 2400 XT

Radeon HD 2600 Pro &  XT

The HD2600 is probably what you guys will buy the most. It's again a fully DX 10 ready product and can do everything the 2400 series can, yet a tad better and faster. 1080P HD decoding? Not an issue. We see the Avivo HD technology for hardware HD video processing with 5.1 audio over HDMI. We'll explain this a bit better in the coming pages. Here's also where the Crossfire fun starts. Have a look at some photos and you'll see the new recently introduced Crossfire connectors (bridged just like NVIDIA's SLI connector). You insert two of these cards in a compatible mainboard, apply the two Crossfire bridges, enable it in the Catalyst driver and you are home-free.

The Radeon HD 2600 series will again be released in two fold, a Pro and an XT version. The GPU core has 390 million transistors; which is a friggin lot for a mid-range product. We see a good number of shader processors; 120 Stream Processing Units. And despite not one member of the press physically had his hands on one, I think the XT can be very interesting. Clock speeds will be high, very high. Expect the Pro to be clocked at 600 MHz and that XT at an amazing 800 MHz. Now among board-partners and models this will vary a little. But again ... 800 MHz for a mainstream graphics card with such a large number of transistors is an all new record by itself.

Radeon HD 2600 Pro

The memory then. I was really hoping to see AMD be the first to go for a 256-bit wide memory bus, but unfortunately just like the competition they are sticking to 128-bit. Configurations will differ, but you'll see 256Mb models based on DDR2, GDDR3 and even GDDR4 memory. That memory will be clocked at roughly 400 MHz for the Pro up-to 1100 MHz for the XT models. Talk about a difference. I tell you, that XT is going to rock. Prices for the Pro will likely be set at a 99-129 USD pricetag with the XT somewhere at 179-199 USD.

Radeon HD 2600 XT