AMD Introduces the ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series Graphics Cards

September 10, 2008

AMD today announced the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series, mainstream graphics offerings that deliver exceptional gaming and HD multimedia performance while consuming less power than a standard light bulb.

Comprising the ATI Radeon HD 4670 and the ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series leverages the leading technology found in the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4800 series, including support for the latest DirectX 10.1 games, superior HD multimedia capabilities and industry leading performance-per-watt, all delivered at affordable prices for the mainstream graphics segment.

The combined features and technologies and incredible prices makes the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series a superb all-around performer, ideal for playing the latest games or driving a high quality home theatre entertainment experience.

The ATI Radeon HD 4670 and ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics cards feature AMD’s TeraScale graphics engine, with 320 stream processing cores, and are based on AMD’s advanced second generation 55nm process. The result is that even in today’s most demanding games like Crysis, the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series delivers up to double the performance of competing products at the same price. Both the ATI Radeon HD 4670 and ATI Radeon HD 4650 deliver substantial gaming horsepower with minimal power draw – the ATI Radeon HD 4670 operating at under 60 watts and the ATI Radeon HD 4650 operating under 50 watts under full load – eliminating the need for additional power connectors and making installation a cinch. The ATI Radeon HD 4670 is immediately available with a frame buffer of 512MB GDDR3 memory with an MSRP from USD $79, while a 1GB DDR3-based variant is scheduled to ship later this month. The ATI Radeon HD 4650 features a frame buffer of 512MB GDDR2 memory and is expected to be available later in the month at an MSRP from USD $69.

“Today, AMD is providing mainstream users – one of the largest segments of the market – with superior graphics products and performance at previously unheard of prices,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “The success of the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series validates that AMD’s shift away from the traditional means of producing large, hot, monolithic graphics chip continues to be a successful strategy AMD continues to execute against its timelines and deliver leading graphics performance at every price point.

Only AMD graphics offer top-to-bottom DirectX 10.1 support and the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series continues that legacy. Leading game developers are working with AMD to create a new generation of game titles utilizing DirectX 10.1 to deliver improved features and performance for a better game experience. Developers including Electronic Arts’ Phenomic Studio and its forthcoming fantasy online real-time strategy game BattleForge, and SEGA and its futuristic military real-time strategy game Stormrise, both exploit DirectX 10.1 for advanced gaming performance and visual realism.

The ATI Radeon HD 4600 series brings high-definition, home theatre quality video features to the mainstream segment. AMD has incorporated its second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) for advanced hardware HD video processing ensuring a smooth HD viewing experience on HD-capable monitors. In addition, it features support for HDMI 7.1 surround sound audio for an immersive big-screen entertainment feel.

Home theater enthusiasts will be captivated by ATI Avivo HD technology that delivers sharp images and vibrant color fidelity for Blu-ray and HD content. In addition, ATI Avivo HD technology delivers dynamic contrast adjustment for a crisp, vibrant picture with incredible quality, the ability for users to upscale DVD content to nearly twice the display resolution of HD content5, as well as take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with picture-in-picture capabilities for bonus features such as director commentary.

Built with efficiency, scalability and performance in mind, the ATI Radeon HD 4600 series sets a new performance-per-watt standard for mainstream graphics products, thanks to the enhanced bandwidth of DDR3, new power management capabilities that provide greater performance and efficiency, and 55nm technology. The series features AMD’s second generation ATI PowerPlay technology which allows for automatic power adjustments based on the activity of the graphics processing unit (GPU), resulting in significant power savings when the GPU is idle. Moreover, ATI PowerPlay enables advanced clock gating, as well as increased voltage and memory scaling, delivering performance on demand with exceptional efficiency.

Source: AMD