14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale, California-based AMD is expected to further expand its lineup of Radeon graphics cards, with the introduction of the company's first 40nm RV740-based models. According to the latest details on the Internet, these new cards should make an appearance by sometime in May, this year, a month after the manufacturer launches its 55nm RV790-based Radeon HD 4890 graphics card.
As a recent article published on vr-zone shows, the new cards will be based on a 40nm graphics processing unit, but will be part of the company's current HD4000-series. AMD is expected to launch two new models, based on the same graphics processing unit. The first, which will boast an RV740PRO GPU, will be equipped with 1GB of GDDR3 memory and will come with a core clock of 700MHz. This card will be branded as the Radeon HD 4750, while the one based on the RV740XT GPU will be known as the Radeon HD 4770. This one will also boast a 700MHz GPU, but provide 512MB of GDDR5 memory, clocked at 800MHz.
Both cards will feature a Triple-Phase power solution, a feature delivered for the first time by AMD's upcoming RV740 GPU, enabling a more efficient power design. Price-wise, you are looking at approximately US$99 for the RV740PRO-enabled card, and US$119 for the Radeon HD 4770. This will place AMD's upcoming Radeon graphics cards as direct competitors to NVIDIA's GeForce GTS 240, due to be released next month, and the GeForce 9600GT.
Advanced Micro Devices has been rumored to be planning a 40nm-based comeback for NVIDIA's current GeForce offering even before the new NVIDIA cards were launched in January this year. If the details provided by vr-zone are correct, AMD might be the first graphics card maker to introduce a 40nm-based graphics card.