CES 2010: AMD Unveils DirectX 11 Mobile Graphics Processors

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series offers the highest graphics performance in the world for laptops, according to AMD, and outperforms the previous generation 4000 series by more than 40 percent. The 5000 series is broken up into four market segments, and all graphics cards under the series support DirectX 11. The cards also feature AMD's Eyefinity technology, which supports up to six separate displays.

The Radeon HD 5800 model is the highest-performance GPU, one designed for gaming enthusiasts. The 5800 graphics processors have more than 1 billion transistors and offer computing power of up to 1.12 teraflops. AMD claims the 5800 series will provide 30 frames per second or better for most current PC games running at 1,920 x 1,200 resolution.

The 5600 and 5700 series, meanwhile, are still performance-focused mobile GPUs but offer less power than the 5800. The 5400 series cards are mostly targeted toward the mainstream and low-end segments.

AMD said all 5000 series GPUs support GDDR memory, as well as ATI Stream technology for enhanced performance between the GPU and CPU. The chip maker also said the performance-per-watt efficiency was dramatically improved " up to four times " from previous mobile GPUs because of the new 40nm architecture. The 5000 cards were designed to use less battery power while idling.

The Mobile Radeon HD 5000 series gives AMD another leg up on chief rival Nvidia in the DirectX 11 race. AMD already released its first DX11-capable GPU for desktops, while Nvidia was forced to the delay the release of its own DX11 card.