14 DAY TRIAL // Without making much of a fuss, AMD has just listed on its website the first graphics cards built around the Turks core, the Radeon HD 6670 and the Radeon HD 6570 which are destined to take the place of the previous Redwood-based HD 5670 and HD 5570.
Unlike the Radeon HD 6770 and Radeon HD 6750, that were released in a similar manner, these are built on top of a new graphics core called Turks.
Compared to its predecessor, Turks packs improved specifications, as it features 480 stream processing units, 24 texturing units, 32 Z/Stencil ROP units, 8 color ROP units, as well as a 128-bit memory interface compared to the 400 stream processors and 20 texturing units that were used in the Redwood GPU.
In addition, the new 6000-series GPUs feature the UVD 3 media engine that brings 3D playback support as well as other improvements over its predecessor.
Both the AMD Radeon HD 6670 and the Radeon HD 6570 are based on a full version of the Turks core, the main difference between the two solutions being the type of memory installed and the operating clock speeds.
Starting with the more powerful HD 6670, the GPU comes clocked at 800MHz (25MHz more than the HD 5670) and can be configured with either 512MB or 1GB of GDDR5 memory that runs at 1000MHz (4GHz effective).
In comparison, its smaller brother has to make do with a slower core, that is clocked at 650MHz, while OEMs can opt to configure the card with either DDR3 or GDDR5 memory.
Going for the slower DDR3, which has its operating frequency set at 900MHz (1.8GHz effective), allows them to install between 512MB and 2GB of video buffer while opting for GDDR5 drops the upper limit to 1GB.
The improved clocks speeds, however, will more than make up for this, as GDDR5 memory works at 1000MHz (1GHz effective).
Both cards are marked as “for OEM only,” and no information is provided regarding their availability in the retail channel.
