AMD: New Radeon 6000 Series GPUs Ideal For Partners

AMD on Tuesday launched its Radeon HD 6670, 6570 and 6450 graphics cards -- the lower end of its Radeon 6000 GPU line-up, which the chipmaker says provides ample opportunity to its channel partners.

AMD’s Radeon 6000 series cards support Microsoft’s DirectX 11 APIs [application programming interfaces] and include AMD’S Eyefinity multi-display technology, which can expand the desktop to 3-6 displays running simultaneously on one graphics card. It also includes AMD’S App Acceleration, which accelerates graphics processing on GPU-intensive applications.

In an interview with CRN on Monday, AMD said each of the three new AMD Radeon HD 6000 series cards is available in North America from all AMD partners for under $100, and features multiple optional configurations for AMD partners to leverage in their own solutions.

’Our reseller customers are really excited to have a product that combines performance and power and is still conscientious of price,’ said Brent Barry, senior manager, component channel marketing for North America at AMD. ’AMD maintains a good, strong Radeon GPU lineup with a lot of good breadth.’

Among the reseller partners AMD mentioned was iBUYPOWER, which is launching the AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series GPUs for mainstream gamers leveraging DirectX 11 graphics, and online distributor Newegg.

’We’re excited to now offer the AMD Radeon HD 6450, 6570 and 6670 graphics cards to our customers looking for the ultimate mix of performance, power and price,’ said Bernard Luthi, VP of Marketing, Web Management and Customer Service, Newegg.com, in an e-mailed AMD statement. ’Whether consumers are looking for an immersive 3D stereo gaming solution or an energy-efficient graphics card at a great price, they’re sure to realize a better computing experience with the new mainstream AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series graphics cards.’

AMD’s Radeon HD 6450 graphics card can power up to three displays with Eyefinity and includes a 512MB-1 GB frame buffer and either GDDR5 at 27 watts of typical board power or DDR3 memory at 20 watt. It offers support for HDMI1.4, DP 1.2, DVI, and VGA display outputs.

AMD’s Radeon HD 6570 GPU also includes DirectX 11 support and powers up to three displays simultaneously. It offers 44W of load power and 10W of idle power, a 512MB-1 GB frame buffer, the choice between GDDR5 and DDR3 memory, and support for HDMI1.4, DP 1.2, DVI, and VGA display outputs.

Next: AMD’S 6670 graphics card

Finally, AMD has launched its Radeon HD 6670 graphics card -- a mid-market GPU located on the high end of the three cards AMD has chosen to launch together. The Radeon 6670 card offers the same capabilities as the other two as well as Eyefinity technology for up to four displays at once, a 512MB-1 GB frame buffer, 66W of load power and 12W of idle power. It also comes with built-in GDDR5, although no DDR3 option is listed, and support for HDMI1.4, DP 1.2, DVI, VGA display outputs.

Arturo Wong Chujoy, product manager for Desktop Graphics at AMD, on Monday told CRN that each low-end AMD Radeon card offers several options to channel partners in response to feedback from channel partners worldwide who asked for more flexibility in the graphics products they receive from OEMs. Each card, as a result, has overclocking room from about 5 to10 percent, allowing AMD partners to offer over-clocked versions of the card. Two of the cards include a choice between DDR3 and GDDR5 memory, and engine clocks running at speeds ranging between 625 and 750 MHz.

’These cards offer a lot of flexibility for the channel,’ Chujoy said. ’We can meet and address various price points with these products and meet various channel demands.’

Chujoy said AMD usually launches with its high-end series and then trickles those technologies into more affordable price-points, as is the case with these low-end Radeon cards, which follow-up on the high-end Radeon 6800 that AMD launched on Oct. 21. Those later lower-end releases, he said, offered channel partners their greatest opportunity among Radeon products to explore new markets and grow their ASPs.

’The Sub-$100 GPUs account for the largest volume in the channel overall,’ Chujoy said. ’These products represent a great opportunity to fulfill that market. We build products according to what the market wants and certainly try to deliver that.’

The three market areas for which, Chujoy said, AMD partners can leverage Radeon 6000 GPUs are gaming, business, and entertainment. Chujoy said that AMD’s target market for the Radeon 6400, 6500, and 6600 GPUs includes end users who are currently running DX9 and DX10 graphics as well as customers with Sandy Bridge systems.

AMD offered benchmark comparisons between its low-end 6450 discrete graphics card and Intel’s low-end HD 2000 integrated graphics, which are featured in its low-end Core i3 Intel Sandy Bridge integrated CPU-GPU platform. However, while Chujoy said AMD’s Radeon cards offer a good ’PC experience,’ they remain discrete graphics cards, whereas Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors are positioned in the market against AMD’s Fusion integrated graphics platform.

Next: Performance Compared To Intel Graphics

Chujoy touted the graphics performance on the low-end Radeon 6000 cards, which he said reach over 30 frames per second in some games. ’The 6400, 6500 and 6600 series cards definitely provide a great PC experience,’ Chujoy said. ’We’re also bringing a quality graphics message that we’d really like to let the channel know about.’

Chujoy said all three cards, even the Radeon 6450, are able to run benchmarks over 30 frames per second. ’The Radeon 6000 cards offer performance that allows users to play the game as it was originally intended,’ Chujoy said. ’That’s something that a lot of people haven’t thought about with discrete graphics.’

In addition, Chujoy said AMD’s Eyefinity multi-display technology offers channel partners a unique opportunity to power up to six displays on a high-end Radeon GPU with just a single card. ’None of our competitors provide a similar product,’ he said. ’At this point, Nvidia’s GeForce 520 cannot support gaming on up to three displays at once.’

The entire 6000 series, according to Chujoy, offers Eyefinity technology, Blu-ray 3D support, as well as games in 3D.

Chujoy also said AMD’s Radeon 6000 series now allows users to keep their own monitor rather than switch to a monitor that supports Eyefinity, as was the case in the past. AMD Radeon customers get an Eyefinity set-up on any DVI connection currently on the market, he said. In addition, Chujoy said AMD’s Radeon products are in tune with developers who are shifting toward Direct X 11, and the opportunity that represents for its partners in the channel.

’We want to make sure what you have today can be future-proofed for upcoming technology,’ Chujoy said. ’With our products, we’re there at the right time to fulfill that market demand in the channel.