PowerColor launches HD2400/2600

RAYMEN FROM TUL came back to us and shared details about PowerColor's low-end and mainstream line-up. As we expected, the company is coming out with no less than eight boards. Original press release kept mentioning nine models, but we could count only eight.

More importantly, that number of models is the price that came crushing down with AMD pricing update last week, and now there are not many models above the $100 mark. Actually, there are none - a 65 nanometre attack in combination with conservative performance resulted in a great price offerings.

PowerColor's HD2400 line-up consists of four models, from the ultra-cheap HD2400 Pro DDR2, HD2400Pro SCS3 (Passive Edition) to more performance based HD2400XT with and without HDMI.2400Pro cards have GPU chips clocked at 525 MHz, while 256MB of DDR2-800 memory work at, you would never guess, 400 MHz DDR (800). XT parts work with both GPU and GDDR-3 memory clocked at high 700 MHz DDR. Sadly, AMD did a royal screw-up with the GPU's memory interface, so 2400 communicates with video memory using only 64-bit bus, yielding with bandwidth between 6.4-11.2GB/s.

HD2600 is a bit different. Four models feature three different memory standards, so some attention is in order. Entry-level HD2600Pro comes with 256MB of DDR2-800 memory, which works at the same clock as 2400Pro. HD2600Pro 512MB uses same memory type as the 256MB one, and GPU clock is the same at both cards - 600 MHz. Memory bandwidth is 12.8 GB/s in both cases.

In the HD2600XT world, things a re a bit more complicated, with HD2600XT 256MB GDDR-3 and HD2600XT 256MB GDDR-4. GPU clock is the same, but memory is waaay different - GDDR-3 memory is clocked at 700MHz DDR, while GDDR-4 card comes with 1.1 GHz DDR clock, or 2.2 GHz. Bandwidth difference between the two is pretty big - 22.4 GB/s versus 35.2 GB/s. To counter this, PowerColor placed non-reference cooler on GDDR-3 version, in order to offer greater overclocking potential.

Non-reference cooler could result in overclock of RV630 GPU into four-digit territory... or maybe not

Sadly, our review of HD2400/2600 boards will be late because we've had several of these boards stuck in Croatian customs for over a week now. Croatia is great for tourism, but do not expect an easy life if you're a freelance journalist - this will be sorted out with a move from Wild East to Mild West this coming fall. µ