magnify
Home Gaming AMD Launches Its Most Advanced Enthusiast GPU Ever, the AMD Radeon™ 6900 Series of Graphics Cards
formats

AMD Launches Its Most Advanced Enthusiast GPU Ever, the AMD Radeon™ 6900 Series of Graphics Cards

AMD Launches Its Most Advanced Enthusiast GPU Ever, the AMD Radeon™ 6900 Series of Graphics Cards
Enhanced second-generation DirectX 11 architecture, new image quality features, AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology and 2GB of graphics memory for high-resolution gaming
Sydney, Australia – December 15, 2010 – AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series, its most advanced enthusiast GPU representing the intelligent choice for enthusiast gamers. The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series of graphics cards provides gamers with an enhanced second generation Microsoft DirectX® 11-capable architecture for breakthrough performance, advanced image quality features for the best looking games, and innovative AMD PowerTune power management technology that dynamically adjusts power draw on the fly. With the most flexible and cost-effective solutions in AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology and AMD HD3D technology for 3D entertainment, the new AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series of graphics cards offers the ultimate visual experience. The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series is available immediately from retailers worldwide.

“The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series features the industry’s only second-generation DirectX® 11 architecture, new image quality improvements and 2GB of graphics frame buffer, making it the intelligent choice for gamers and enthusiasts,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD. “Delivering DirectX® 11 performance with intelligent tessellation, image quality improvements with new anti-aliasing modes and even intelligent power consumption with AMD PowerTune, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series will top gamers’ wish lists this holiday season.”

Efficient Architecture for Leading DirectX 11 Performance

  • Improved architecture for greater performance: With the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series, AMD has further improved its GPU design efficiency, realizing a 10 percent improvement in performance/mm2.1 The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series provides an extremely smooth and efficient computing experience, allowing gamers to realize unparalleled image quality.
  • New AMD PowerTune technology: Designed with intelligent power tuning features, including the introduction of enhanced power containment, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series automatically adjusts GPU power draw by dynamically controlling clocks speeds, allowing gamers to maximize performance inside of the power envelope they specify.2
  • The time to upgrade is now: Gamers looking to move to a DirectX® 11 GPU will find there has never been a better time to upgrade, with the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series of graphics cards offering up to 2.5 times the performance of 2008’s similarly priced high-end graphics solution.3
  • Intelligent tessellation: The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series of graphics cards features dual 8th generation tessellation units, delivering up to 3x tessellation performance compared to the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870.4
  • Increased memory for higher image quality: With 2GB of video memory serving as the new standard for graphics card frame buffers, gamers see better quality without needing to increase the memory footprint, even at extreme resolutions.
  • The ultimate visual experience: As the world’s most advanced DirectX 11 GPU, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series of graphics cards offer a single high-performance solution for a realistic visual experience. DirectX11 has quickly become the new standard for PC games and the majority of game developers chose to develop their DirectX® 11 games on AMD Radeon™ graphics cards. Beyond DirectX 11 games, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series also delivers an exceptional gameplay experience in DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL titles in single card or multi-card AMD CrossFireX™ configurations.5

The Best Gaming Experience with AMD Eyefinity Technology and Advanced Display Options

  • Improved image quality: Enhanced anti-aliasing features deliver dramatically improved image quality and enhanced visual quality features for the most realistic looking games possible. New features include Enhanced Quality Anti-Aliasing (EQAA), which uses a new sampling technique to improve visual quality, Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA), compatible with any DirectX 9, DirectX 10, or DirectX 11 application, and improved anisotropic filtering.
  • Simple, flexible, affordable multi-display computing with AMD Eyefinity technology: Providing an expanded and more immersive field of view, AMD Eyefinity technology continues to be the most affordable multi-display solution available, offering incredible choice in display compatibility and configurations.6 More than 60 game titles have been AMD Eyefinity-validated or are AMD Eyefinity-ready titles, and hundreds more are AMD Eyefinity-compatible.
  • Continued industry leadership in multi-display computing: The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series of graphics cards offer support for both DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a, offering enthusiasts incredible multi-monitor configuration options, flexibility in display selection, and new DisplayPort audio features.
  • 3D entertainment choices with AMD HD3D technology: AMD continues to deliver the broadest and most affordable selection of 3D solutions with the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series graphics cards, featuring AMD HD3D Technology, and backed by our open 3D initiative for stereo 3D gaming and movies.7

Accelerate Your Life with AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing

  • AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology lets you do more, faster: Enthusiasts will enjoy improved performance and new features in top media, entertainment and productivity applications with AMD APP technology.8
  • Enhanced video quality features: The AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series graphics cards feature Unified Video Decoder 3 (UVD3), a dedicated video playback accelerator that helps users get the most out of HD video, online video and Blu-ray™ 3D, while enjoying a range of video quality improvements such as advanced post-processing and scaling, dynamic contrast enhancement, color correction and more.
  • Extensive support of industry standards: AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 series graphics cards fully support DirectCompute and OpenCL™, ensuring broad application support now and in the future.

1. Placeholder for footnote on improved performance/mm2 efficiency claim
2. AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by adjusting clocks and voltages even when such adjustments are enabled via AMD OverDrive™ software.
3. In Crysis: Warhead the AMD Radeon™ HD 6970 delivers 2.5 times the performance as indicated by framerates over the Nvidia GTX 285. Test systems specifications: Intel Core i7 X980 (3.33GHz) processor, Gigabyte EX58-UD5 (F12 BIOS) motherboard, Corsair Dominator 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1333 (9-9-9-24) memory, AMD Radeon™ HD 6970 graphics card, running Windows® 7 64-bit with the latest critical updates, and AMD Radeon 6900 Series Press Driver (8.796.2) vs. AMD Phenom™ II X6 1090t Black Edition (3.2GHz) processor, NF980-G65 (v1.4 BIOS) motherboard, Corsair Dominator 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3-1600 (9-9-9-24) memory, NVIDIA GTX 285 graphics card, running Windows® 7 64-bit with the latest critical updates and NVIDIA ForceWare 260.99 WHQL.
4. Based on AMD internal synthetic testing that demonstrates the AMD Radeon™ HD 6970 achieves up to 3x the tessellation rate of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870.
5. AMD CrossFireX™ technology requires an AMD CrossFireX Ready motherboard, an AMD CrossFireX™ Bridge Interconnect (for each additional graphics card) and may require a specialized power supply.
6. AMD Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort™ connectors, and/or DisplayPort™ compliant active adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s), are required. AMD Eyefinity technology can support up to 6 displays using a single enabled AMD Radeon™ graphics card with Windows Vista® or Windows® 7 operating systems – the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase.
7. AMD HD3D is a technology designed to enable stereo 3D support in games, movies and/or photos. Game support made possible through partners including iZ3D and DDD.
8. Requires application support for AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology. AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing technology works with applications designed to take advantage of GPU acceleration capabilities.

Supporting Resources

More information on ATI models is available here
Follow all news from the AMD desktop team on Twitter at @ATIGraphics
Read how to build an amazingly powerful and affordable PC featuring VISON Black Technology from AMD and more at http://blogs.amd.com/home
Become a fan of AMD Technology on Facebook

About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit www.amd.com