AMD to Push Forward the Release Date for the R680 Graphics Cards

Rumor has it that the wait for the dual-GPU Radeon HD 3870 X2 is almost over, as Advanced Micro Devices is gearing up for its release during the next week. The non-disclosure agreement on the video card's technical specifications was supposed to be lifted as of January the 28th, but sources claim that it has been pushed forward to the 23rd.

AMD has chosen to include two 55-nanometer graphics cores instead of using a single and massive 80-nanometer processor with a proportional thermal design power. Because of the non-disclosure agreement, the details about the R680 are scarce or even wrong. It is believed that the R680 is using two RV670 GPU cores, and not two RV680 ones, although they share the same technical specifications.

The upcoming R680 graphics card is built with two graphics processors on a single board, linked by a PCI-Express 2.0 bridge. Take two R680s and tie them with a CrossfireX link and you will get four graphics processors. The card comes with a default 1GB of GDDR3 memory and will include native support for the upcoming version of Microsoft DirectX 10.1 to be included in the Vista SP1.

The Radeon HD 3870 X2 is alleged to be clocked at 775 MHz and 2250 MHz for the GPU and memory respectively. Although the Consumer Electronics Show pictures presented a monster-like graphics card that could easily be mistaken with a motherboard, the final form factor will be identical to that of a GeForce 8800GTX.

The graphics card has first been showcased during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and sources say that the two GPUs have a computing power of 1000 Cray-1 supercomputers - about 250 gigaflops. Although the company officials allowed the enthusiasts picture the graphics card, they wouldn't let them flip it around and picture the PCB side.

The video cards are finally ready and there have been reported no less than five different Radeon 3870 X2 cards produced by different companies. The R680 will be the first dual-chip video card released this year, but the Nvidia Geforce 9800 GX2 is also about to kick in. The final version of the Catalyst 8.1 driver pack will also be released during next week.