ATI Radeon HD 4670, Redefining The Mainstream

We have explained in numerous articles in the past that the bulk of GPU sales are made in the form of ether IGPs (Integrated Graphics Processors) or affordable, mainstream graphics cards.  As powerful and exciting as the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 or GeForce  GTX 280 cards may be, AMD and NVIDIA simply don't sell as many flagship products as they do mainstream cards.

It is because of this fact that both companies consistently refresh their mainstream offerings every few months or so, and continually push new features and performance down their respective product lines.  As many of you may have expected, since AMD recently released the RV770 GPU, which is the foundation of the Radeon HD 4800 series, a new mainstream offering was obviously in the works.  And today, we can finally show that card to you.

AMD is releasing a new salvo of mainstream graphics cards that should fall in the sub-$80 price segment, dubbed the Radeon HD 4670.  The GPU at the heart of the 4670 is based on the RV770 architecture used on the Radeon HD 4800 series, sans a few stream processors, ROPs, and other assorted elements, but with what is essentially the same feature set as its more expensive counterparts.  We've got a couple of these new cards on hand and plan to show you what they're capable of on the pages ahead. After reading, you may be surprised by what 80 bucks can get you these days...