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Today the new ATI Radeon HD 5830 is being unveiled, providing gamers with the first sub $250 US graphics card in the Radeon HD 5800 series. This graphics card delivers the latest features, such as DirectX 11 support, to the masses, while it will pack a big enough punch to take on the very latest games...
Initially scheduled for the 5th of February, we had to wait almost 3 weeks before AMD would unleash their latest performance based Radeon HD 5000 series graphics card using the Cypress LE core. The reason for the delay is not quite clear and of course there are a few different theories floating around.
Some say that AMD is simply toying with Nvidia in a bid to intimidate them, and others think that it was a supply issue. It is unlikely this new product is going to intimidate Nvidia any more than the current high-end Radeon HD 5000 series already is. Furthermore, supply issues have never stopped AMD before, in fact the entire current generation lineup is still suffering from supply issues. What we think might have happened here is that AMD was giving the AIB (Add-In-Board) partners time to prepare their products. Whereas AMD typically spits out the first few batches of new products which they distribute to their partners, the new Radeon HD 5830 is to be designed entirely by the partners. Therefore today we should see a number of new uniquely designed Radeon HD 5830 graphics cards hitting the market. This makes this launch a little more exciting than previous launches, as consumers can purchase what are normally considered special edition cards straight away. Rather than having to wait a couple of months for improved versions to appear with upgraded coolers, they will become available immediately. However upgraded coolers and modified PCB designs are not the only things the new Radeon HD 5830 has going for it. The Radeon HD 5830 is set to become the most affordable member of the Radeon HD 5800 series, shaving about $50 US off the price of existing Radeon HD 5850 products. Although the Radeon HD 5830 is a cut down version of the 5850, which is of course a cut down version of the 5870, it is still quite an impressive product. In fact, the new Radeon HD 5830 and the 5850 are actually much more alike than we were expecting, which is encouraging. Prior to the arrival of the Radeon HD 5830 the $135 US price gap between the Radeon HD 5770 and 5850 graphics cards was being filled by the older Radeon HD 4890. That said, old Radeon HD 4890 stock has now all but dried up. Furthermore, the GeForce GTX 275 represented better value than the Radeon HD 4890 in this price range. Therefore users looking to spend between $200 - $250 US were stuck for options. Given AMD has a Radeon HD 5000 series graphics card for almost every occasion, it was only a matter of time before they would address this price range. With a price tag of $250 US, the Radeon HD 5830 should easily lay waste to both the GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards, and should even be competitive with the much more expensive GeForce GTX 285 graphics card. The Radeon HD 5830 is going to be an important graphics card for AMD, so we hope it can deliver... |
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ProX |
Posted on: 03/01/2010 07:23 AM
Nvidia needs to release their next-gen cards so pricing will come down on cards like this. The Radeon HD 5830 is a nice card but its still too expensive! |