As expected, the ATI Radeon 2000 series have been launched, starting at less than $99 for the 2400 series, $99 to $199 for the 2600 series and $399 for the ATI Radeon 2900 XT. The new cards come with 65-nm GPU, 512-bit memory bus, second generation Unified Shader Architecture, new Unified Video Decoder for HD multimedia playback and obligatory DirectX 10 support.
Also as expected, none of the models come with the belly dancers that were at the AMD press event in Tunis. Too bad, because maybe that would have distracted us from the fact that the latest Radeon cards seem to get spanked by their NVIDIA counterparts, which apparently offer higher performance and lower consumption while compared to sample cards provided by ATI. In any case, you will find the belly dancer after the jump, along with complete official specs for the 2900 XT.
You can’t have a new laptop without a bump in the graphics department. Today NVIDIA bought its GeForce 8xxx series GPUs to the mobile world, introducing them as the 8600M and 8400M (GeForce 8M Series). These GPUs are the first ones to bring DirectX 10 compatibility to your notebook, In addition, they also promise better HD video processing without taxing your CPU. – Louis Ramirez
If the thought of bringing DirectX 10 functionality to your non-Vista machine sounds enticing, you’ll wanna check out the Alky Project. No, it has nothing to do with liquor, but instead it’s a project developed by 19-year-old Cody Brocious to bring the DirectX 10 platform (gaming in particular) to Windows XP, Mac and Linux users.
There’s an alpha available that works (in most occasions) and a $50 donation gives you dibs on development builds and perks. We wish Cody the best of luck, but side with Ars on this one in saying that its ambitious goals require more resources than one person. – Louis Ramirez
Project Aims to Bring DX10 Gaming to XP, Linux, OS X [Ars Technica via FayerWayer]
The GeForce 8600 and 8500 got Nvidia's official blessing today. The two new video cards are mid-range alternatives to the mighty GeForce 8800, bringing DirectX 10 and HD support to your PC at a lower price. At the top sits the GeForce 8600 GTS ($199-$229) with a 675MHz core, 32 shader processors, and 2GHz memory speeds while the 8500 GT ($89-$129) packs a pokier 450MHz core with 800MHz memory speeds.
There will also be a slightly less expensive 8600 GT ($149-$159) with 540MHz clock and 1.4GHz memory. The folks at PNY should be one of the first to offer the cards (considering yesterday's leak). Now all we gotta do is sit back and wait for ATI's response. – Louis Ramirez
Press Release [via Electronista]
