Mediante il comunicato stampa di seguito allegato, AMD ha annunciato le nuove schede grafiche ATI Radeon HD 4550 e ATI Radeon HD 4350, le ultime in ordine di tempo della forunata gamma ATI Radeon HD 4000.

Si tratta di due soluzioni entry-level compliant con le DirectX 10.1 di Microsoft, il cui arrivo sul mercato è pianificato nel mese di Ottobre, anche se AMD non ha indicato con precisione la data del lancio commerciale. Il chip maker ga reso noto che aziende del calibro di ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology e VisionTek sono al suo fianco in questo progetto e realizzeranno, di conseguenza, le nuove card.

L'MSRP della Radeon HD 4550 è pari a $59 mentre quello della Radeon HD 4350 è inferiore a $39. Per la prima, la cui gpu è prodotta in tecnologia a 55nm e integra 800 unità di stream, la configurazione reference prevede l'equipaggiamento con 512MB di RAM G-DDR3 mentre per la ATI Radeon HD 4550 la memoria on board ha una dimensione pari a 256MB.

Entramble le card solo raffreddate mediante un cooler passivo che, unitamente al supporto delle tecnologie proprietarie Unified Video Decoder (UVD) 2.0 e Avivo HD, le rende particolarmente idonee per l'impiego negli HTPC.

ATI Radeon HD 4550

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ATI Radeon HD 4350

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SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- September 30, 2008 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 4550 and ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics cards, the latest additions to the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics line up. These feature-rich graphics cards deliver exceptional gaming and HD multimedia performance at value prices. Both cards are based on the same technology found in the celebrated ATI Radeon HD 4800 series, including support for the latest DirectX 10.1 games and superior HD multimedia capabilities.

Delivering mainstream-class performance at a value price, the ATI Radeon HD 4550 graphics card plays demanding game titles previously unplayable by cards in this price segment, and for less than USD $59 for a 512MB memory configuration. An even more incredible value, the ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card is the ideal introduction to the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series, priced for less than USD $39 for a 256 MB memory configuration, giving gamers and multimedia enthusiasts more features than products available from the competition today.

"The ATI Radeon HD 4550 and ATI Radeon 4350 graphics cards are the final pieces of the puzzle in rounding out the highly successful ATI Radeon HD 4000 series family," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "AMD set out to lead performance at every price point and today we offer a complete family of graphics cards that delivers on our commitment of winning performance in each market segment."

Step up your game: The ATI Radeon HD 4550 graphics card
The ATI Radeon HD 4550 graphics card gives mainstream-class PC game performance at a value price. Derived from the same cutting edge technology found throughout the ATI Radeon HD 4800 family of products and featuring 80 stream processing cores, the card is based on the AMD advanced second generation 55nm process. With 96 GFLOPS of compute power (eight times the raw compute power of the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue), the ATI Radeon HD 4550 allows users to unlock new gaming experiences never before playable in this segment, with full support for DirectX 10.1 games. With incredible power efficiency, operating at less than 20 watts under full load, the ATI Radeon HD 4550 is available as a passively cooled solution so users can access incredible gaming capabilities with a minimum of noise, heat and power consumption. The ATI Radeon HD 4550 with a frame buffer of 512MB DDR3 memory is expected to be available in October.

"It's great to see AMD deliver gaming performance for the mainstream segment," said Alexander Muller, CEO, SK Gaming International. "People will be excited to know they can get their hands on leading graphics performance at an incredible value price."

Go beyond HD: The ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card
With certain card configurations offering more than seven times the gaming performance compared to competing integrated motherboard graphics offerings, the ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card marks an incredible, low-cost introduction to the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series family. Consuming just 20 watts under full load and featuring a frame buffer of 256MB memory and 7.1 channel audio via HDMI, the ATI Radeon HD 4350 is also expected to be available in October.

Spectacular HD multimedia experience
Home theatre enthusiasts should especially appreciate the ATI Radeon HD 4550 or the ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics offerings. In addition to superior game performance, these ultra-quiet cards represent a tremendous value for do-it-yourself home theatre PC builders by enabling a feature-rich, high definition and high quality home theatre experience when used in conjunction with HD displays. Like all ATI Radeon HD 4000 series products, the home theater experience is enriched with features such as AMD's second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) ensuring smooth HD media playback, and ATI Avivo HD technology that delivers sharp, crisp images and vibrant colors for immersive, cinema-quality home entertainment.

Ecosystem support
The ATI Radeon HD 4550 and ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics cards are supported by a dozen add-in-board companies offering custom designs of the products. Partners include ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology and VisionTek.

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