AMD changes game with ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards

MUMBAI, INDIA: AMD today launched the most powerful processor ever created, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, and the world’s first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX 112, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, to the Indian Market.

Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products.

AMD has initially released two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate their gaming competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX 11, making it a “must-have” consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

The world today is moving in a direction where visual display is gaining importance in every field. From animation to design, arts to science, diamond cutting to commodity exchanges, modern computing demands state-of-the-art graphics rendering in order to produce results with finesse.

This launch complements the phenomenon of "graphics everywhere". As PCs become increasingly accepted and applications become more visual, many ordinary tasks can benefit from the graphic cards. With more and more common applications requiring a GPU for better performance, the graphic card is truly becoming ubiquitous.

“Games aren’t the only applications for graphics anymore. Many applications are already designed to take advantage of the massive parallel processing capabilities of the GPU. To help this phenomenon, ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, is changing the game, both for the 'gamer' and the 'worker' in us,” said Anirban Chakravartti, Director, Global Business Development, Professional Graphics, AMD.

“Open standards, such as OpenCL™, and implementation of GPGPU capabilities via ATI Stream technology, help developers avoid proprietary standards, giving them the flexibility to choose the standards they prefer.

AMD is the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, and with the unique experience of ATI Eyefinity technology. AMD has once again taken the crown,” said Richard Huddy, Worldwide Developer Relations Manager, GPU Division, AMD.