AMD Introduces ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series for Desktop, Mobile Platforms

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) introduced the ATI Radeon HD 2000 series, a top-to-bottom line of 10 discrete graphics processors (GPUs) for desktop and mobile platforms. This family of GPUs offers high-definition (HD) gaming and HD multimedia playback.

The ATI Radeon HD 2000 series of products introduces immersive DirectX 10 gaming with the following:

• A second-generation unified shader architecture (USA).
• A 512 Mb memory bus designed for full-performance high dynamic range (HDR) rendering.
• Unified video decoder (UVD) technology for high-fidelity HD multimedia playback.

The midrange and entry-level GPUs use 65 nanometer (nm) process technology to achieve silent, passive cooling, high performance and lower power consumption, according to AMD.

"This new family of GPUs from AMD delivers an immersive gaming experience for the next generation of games and applications for Windows Vista and DirectX 10," said Kevin Unangst, global director of games for Windows, Microsoft Corp.

The ATI Radeon HD 2000 series offers frame rates at all resolutions, advanced visual effects and realism for what AMD calls immersive HD gaming.

According to AMD, the cards provide geometry acceleration, complex pixel processing and expanded nongraphical compute capabilities for more advanced characters and animation, more detailed environments and more realistic real-world physics simulations.

For more horsepower, the ATI Radeon HD 2000 series also features native ATI CrossFire technology for a variety of multi-GPU configurations and eliminates the need for any master cards.

In addition to gaming, the ATI Radeon HD 2000 series provides HD multimedia on the PC with visual fidelity from ATI Avivo HD technology. Consumers can watch HD DVD and Blu-ray discs with fine image quality and smooth playback, while consuming less power, according to AMD.

Because only a single cable is needed for video and audio, users can switch between watching content on a HDTV and working at a monitor.