AMD is releasing two new graphics cards with the RV770 today: the Radeon HD 4870 and the Radeon HD 4850; the 4870 will sell for an MSRP of $299 while the 4850 will go for $199. 

First up is the Radeon HD 4870 - the highest end part being released today.  It is a two-slot graphics card with a cooler design that looks pretty familiar to previous designs.  Specifications are as follows:

• Radeon HD 4870
• 800 Stream processors
• 750 MHz core clock
• 1800 MHz GDDR5 memory clock
• 512MB frame buffer
• Max board power 160 watts
  

The HD 4870 features two dual-link DVI outputs and a TV output connection for S-Video or a dongle that can support other connections.  Both of these DVI connectors continue to support the DVI-to-HDMI adapters with integrated audio output. 

The HD 4870 requires two 6-pin power connectors - the 160 watts of power required just barely misses the 150 watt cut off of PCI Express + single 6-pin power connector. 

The HD 4870 512MB card also supports CrossFireX technology - the ability to pair 2, 3 or even 4 AMD GPUs for increased gaming performance.  The CrossFire connectors on the 4800-series cards are identical to those of the 3000-series. 

Ripping that heatsink off reveals the RV770 GPU and eight lonely GDDR5 memory chips; notice that unlike the NVIDIA GT200 cards the AMD HD 4870 does not have a separate display driver chip.

Here is a close up shot of the RV770 die with a nice shiny quarter next to it.

 

Finally, the Sapphire kit that was included with the HD 4870 consists of drivers, DVD playback software and even a 2GB USB thumb drive.