Gigabyte Unveils 2 Radeon HD 5600 Cards

Gigabyte announced on Thursday the introduction of two graphics cards that feature the highly coveted 40nm ATI Radeon HD 5600 GPU. The GV-R567OC-1Gl (1 GB GDDR5 memory) and GV-R567D5-512l (512 MB GDDR5 memory) finally brings the highly-anticipated DirectX 11 to your desktop at more Earth-bound prices.

Readers probably already know what the new GPU brings to the table: ATI Stream technology for parallel processing, ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU support for those wanting to add additional ATI cards, UVD 2 and PowerPlay. Gigabyte said that the cards will also come packed with company-exclusive features such as native HDMI support (real one-cable connectivity supporting audio), and Ultra Durable 2 technology.

"The Gigabyte GV-R567OC-1GI and GV-R567D5-512I feature ATI's latest 2nd Generation TeraScale graphics engine, boasting the power of more than 620 GigaFLOPS with 400 stream processors respectively," the company said. "With 1 GB and 512 MB GDDR5 memory, the GV-R567OC-1GI and GV-R567D5-512I provide twice the data per pin of GDDR3 memory at the same clock speeds."

Gigabyte also said that the cards are Windows 7 certified, have picture in picture (PIP) capabilities, and perform dynamic contrast and enhanced DVD up-scaling. The HDMI output provides up to 2 channel 48 kHz stereo or 7.1 AC3, making these cards ideal for HTPCs.

Prices starting at $109 for the 1 GB model. Good for those who want to take on DX11 without breaking the bank. The 512 MB model, when available will be under $100.