AMD, Nvidia Processors Go Head To Head

Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) recently released new graphics processors as the two chip makers continued to compete on discrete graphics products while emerging as allies in promoting the possibilities of GPU computing in the face of CPU giant Intel's uncertain steps in that direction.

Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 200 series includes the GeForce GTX 280, available for a suggested manufacturers' price of $649, and the GeForce GTX 260, with a price tag of $399. The GTX 280, with 240 processors and a full gigabyte of frame buffer memory, is clearly Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia's latest edge-pushing, high-end consumer card, while the 192-processor, 896-MB GTX 260 has humbler specs, but not by much.

Up the road in Sunnyvale, Calif., AMD's latest pair of consumer cards from its ATI graphics division targets a lower portion of the discrete market. The new ATI Radeon HD 4800 series will deliver a teraflop of graphics performance, according to Rick Bergman, GM of AMD's Graphics Products Group.

And the Radeon HD 4850, released in late June, will do it for less than $200, Bergman said. The 4870, released in early July, is more powerful than the 4850, and more expensive at roughly $300.

"We've adopted a new model for this product and [we're] going forward," Bergman said, outlining what he described as an important shift in AMD's strategy for discrete graphics. "It's targeting the $200 to $300 part of the market because we think that's the meat of the market."

The third card in the 4800 series, aimed at the $500-range ultra-enthusiast segment, is the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, initially priced at $549. Released Aug. 12 in tandem with the more affordable Radeon HD 4850 X2 ($399), the 4870 X2 is described by AMD as the world's fastest graphics card, delivering 2.4 teraflops of processing power on a single card. It's also the first consumer graphics card with two gigabytes of memory, according to AMD.

Some analysts believe the 4870 X2, coupled with some Nvidia price cuts, marks the return of head-to-head price competition between ATI and Nvidia at the high-end.

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