Tuesday 26th of April 2010 saw the release of two of AMDs new X6 processors.

The X6 1055T running at 2.80GHz and the X6 1090T Black Edition running at 3.2GHz. Both processors are AM3 chips and compatible with AM2+ motherboards as long as you have a suitable BIOS update.

Press release from AMD:

UNNYVALE, Calif. —4/27/2010

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced the immediate availability of the AMD Phenom™ II X6 processor and AMD 890FX chipset ushering in a new era of immersive 3D ..read more

Now that the ATI Radeon HD 5870 has been released to mixed reviews, focus is now turning to it’s little brother, the 5850. Whilst it only has 1,440 stream processors and a GPU running 125Mhz slower than it’s bigger brother, it is built with the same 256bit memory interface to 1Gb GDDR5 memory. Memory speed is slightly slower but the ROPs are the same as the 5870. As a result of this, power usage is lower at only 151watts maximum.

ATI Radeon HD 5870 specifications:

• Stream Processors: 1,600
• GPU frequency: 850MHz
• ROPs: 32
• Memory: 1GB GDDR5
• Memory frequency: 1.2GHz (4.8Ghz effective)
• Memory interface: 256 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 128GB/s
• Outputs: 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
• Dimensions: 9.5inch x 5inch
• Power Input: 2x 6pin PCIexpress
• Maximum power usage: 188watts
• Idle power usage: 27watts

ATI Radeon HD 5850 specifications:

• Stream Processors: 1,440
• GPU frequency: 725MHz
• ROPs: 32
• Memory: 1GB GDDR5
• Memory frequency: 1.0GHz (4Ghz effective)
• Memory interface: 256 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 128GB/s
• Outputs: 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
• Dimensions: 11inch x 5inch
• Power Input: 2x 6pin PCIexpress
• Maximum power usage: 151watts
• Idle power usage: 27watts

The 5850 is expected to be released this October for between £200 and £220. As the specifications are only a little less than the 5870, and coupled with a lower price, could this be the more popular card in the range?

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There has been a lot of excitement in the community regarding the new ATI 5 series video cards. One of the most talked about features has to be Eyefinity, a revolutionary system created by AMD which will be able to drive up to six high definition monitors from a single card, giving a wider field of view. Presently, video cards are generally only able to run two monitors each. ATI’s Eyefinity system creates a single, high-resolution image, which is split over multiple monitors using what ATI call ‘SLS’, or Single Large Surface. Using the SLS tool, users can configure a group of monitors to essentially work as one large single display.

Once the new video cards are launched, initially Eyefinity will only support a single card. However, ATI are working on adding Crossfire support in the near future, potentially allowing 24 screens to be powered from a single machine. We’ll look forward to reporting more on Eyefinity and the new ATI video cards once they are released this week.

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