More Mainstream DX10: AMD's 2400 and 2600 Series
by Derek Wilson on June 28, 2007 8:35 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Cards
Just a day before publication, we were called up and told of revised pricing for different RV6xx based solutions. Our request to have the information emailed to us was declined, as AMD only wanted this information discussed over the phone. While there is nothing wrong with that, we did find it a little odd and at least worth mentioning.
We were told that price would be broken down as follows:
AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT: $120 - $150
AMD Radeon HD 2600 Pro: $90 - $100
AMD Radeon HD 2400 XT: $75 - $85
AMD Radeon HD 2400 Pro: $50 - $55
This means we can expect high priced 2600 XT cards to be priced just below 8600 GTS parts (which are currently available at around $170 online), and will also compete with some overclocked 8600 GT hardware. The 2600 Pro will compete with the cheaper 8600 GT cards. The 2400 XT and Pro will compete with different flavors of the 8500 GT. While we didn't include 8500 GT tests in this article, we will be including the low end NVIDIA part in future reviews.
As for the cards themselves, here are some images of what we are testing today:
AMD Radeon 2600 XT
AMD Radeon HD 2600 Pro
AMD Radeon HD 2400 XT
AMD Radeon HD 2400 Pro
The higher end cards will come with an HDMI converter that includes sound, but AMD has given board partners the ability to chose whether or not to include this with lower end parts (even though all the boards will support the feature).
Just a day before publication, we were called up and told of revised pricing for different RV6xx based solutions. Our request to have the information emailed to us was declined, as AMD only wanted this information discussed over the phone. While there is nothing wrong with that, we did find it a little odd and at least worth mentioning.
We were told that price would be broken down as follows:
AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT: $120 - $150
AMD Radeon HD 2600 Pro: $90 - $100
AMD Radeon HD 2400 XT: $75 - $85
AMD Radeon HD 2400 Pro: $50 - $55
This means we can expect high priced 2600 XT cards to be priced just below 8600 GTS parts (which are currently available at around $170 online), and will also compete with some overclocked 8600 GT hardware. The 2600 Pro will compete with the cheaper 8600 GT cards. The 2400 XT and Pro will compete with different flavors of the 8500 GT. While we didn't include 8500 GT tests in this article, we will be including the low end NVIDIA part in future reviews.
As for the cards themselves, here are some images of what we are testing today:
AMD Radeon 2600 XT
AMD Radeon HD 2600 Pro
AMD Radeon HD 2400 XT
AMD Radeon HD 2400 Pro
| AMD R6xx Hardware | ||||||||
| SPs | PPC | Core Clock | TMUs | DDR Rate | Bus Width | Memory Size | Price | |
| HD 2900 XT | 320 | 16 | 740MHz | 16 | 825MHz | 512bit | 512MB | $399 |
| HD 2600 | 120 | 4 | 600 - 800MHz | 8 | 400 - 1100MHz | 128bit | 256MB | $90 - $150 |
| HD 2400 | 40 | 4 | 525 - 700MHz | 4 | 400 - 800MHz | 64bit | 128MB / 256MB | $50-$85 |
The higher end cards will come with an HDMI converter that includes sound, but AMD has given board partners the ability to chose whether or not to include this with lower end parts (even though all the boards will support the feature).
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Makaveli - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
All of you guys posting wait for the DX 10 benchmarks do u seriously think the FPS is gonna double from DX9. These cards are a joke, and ment for OEM systems. They are not gonna release a good midrange card to creep up on the 2900XT and take sales away from it. And they will make far more money selling these cards to OEM's than the average joe blow. The people who are gonna suffer from this is the fools who buy pc's at Best buy and futureshop, that believe they are getting good gaming cards.All I gotta say is you get what you pay for.
Hugs my X1950Pro 512MB AGP!
guste - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Although Anandtech hasn't posted it yet, it looks as if the lower end 2000-series parts are quite good at HD decode, to the point where CPU utilization goes from 100% to 5%. At least this according to a cumbersome Chinese review I read a week ago.Granted my needs don't apply to practically anyone but the HTPC crowd, but I play games at the native resouloution of my 50" panel, which is 1366x768 and I don't use AA, so the 2600 XT would be nice to pick up, in addition to finally being able to send the output to my receiver. For us in the HTPC community, this card will be a godsend, being quiet and low-power.
I look forward to seeing what Anandtech says about the UVD aspects of thse cards, as that's what I'm interested in.
florrv - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Maybe I completely missed it in the reviews, but can these cards be used in Crossfire mode? That could be one way (albeit very clumsy) way to get you closer to midrange performance for the $200-$250 range...strikeback03 - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
Just looking at the pictures, it would appear the 2400XT and 2600XT cave the connectors.DavenJ - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Wow. Just wow. I haven't seen so much bashing in a long time. However, through all the nVidia and ATI bashing I'm not surprised that the author left out a very important point. The 2600 XT consumes a mere 45W and the 2400 Pro a mere 25W. That is incredible. There is no need for external power as one might expect on low end parts except I think nVidia has external power on the high end 8600. The ATI cards are made using a 65 nm process which explains the low power consumption.For a less insulting and less bias review, go here
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2600_XT">http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2600_XT
Have a good day!
DerekWilson - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
i added power numbers on the test page ...the power performance of the new radeon HD cards is not that great.
coldpower27 - Saturday, June 30, 2007 - link
They are as expected, considering the HD 2600 XT is clocked at 800MHZ with 390 Million Transistors the fact that it consumes equal power as compared to the 289 Million Transistor G84 at 675MHZ I would say for what it's worth the improvements of the 65nm process are showing themselves.coldpower27 - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
As you can see from the reviews here the HD 2600 XT and HD 2600 Pro don't consume that much less then the cards from the Nvidia camp.http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/radeon_hd_2600...">http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/rad...hd_2600_...
Shintai - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
The 8600GTS could easily do without an external power connector. So could a 7900GT for that matter. It´s about the situation in SLI and making sure its a clean supply.DerekWilson - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Who am I biased against? Both NVIDIA and AMD have made terrible mainstream parts.While the 86 GTS does require external power, the 86 GT and lower do not.