Dec 9, 2010 11:14 GMT  ·  By

Since NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 500 line already has two members out, one would think AMD would make haste in delivering its own boards, but while the HD 6970 and HD 6950 were delayed to next week, online listings seem to have already appeared.

The AMD Radeon HD 6870 and 6850 have been around for a while now, but they are not exactly the enthusiast-grade models of their line.

The high-end models are the aforementioned AMD Radeon HD 6900 series, though they seem to have been slower in coming to market than their predecessors.

The HD 6970 and HD 6950 were pushed back, possible reasons being related to the drivers or supply or just the need to tweak them further for extra performance.

Regardless, they are set to be formally released next week, though it seems a certain partner of the company somehow got its boards listed already.

In other words, a French retailer is revealed to have listed both the MSI HD 6970 and the HD 6950, though they are only available for pre-order of course.

Those interested in an update on what is known on the specifications of the boards will want to know that there is a fairly big difference in performance between them.

Their exact performance numbers aren't really known in full, but the HD 6970 has 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, while its sibling settles for just 1 GB.

It is interesting to note that the boards have different availability dates on the website that tcmagazine stumbled upon.

The more affordable Radeon DH 6950, carrying a price tag of 398.22 Euro, is said to be on track for launch on December 11.

The other one, priced at 496.20 Euro, has a longer estimated time of arrival, its release being set for December 23.

The prices should go down by a fair bit once AMD's original cards, along with those of its other partners, make their appearance.