AMD's next-generation RV770 graphics processor was initially expected to debut around late June, but if recent reports are to be believed, the company's graphics division is running ahead of deadlines and set to launch their Radeon HD 4000-series graphics cards in the next few weeks.
German tech site Hardware-Infos has apparently gotten hold of some leaked specs, launch schedules, and prices for three cards in the upcoming Radeon HD 4000-series GPUs, and has published them online for all to see. Starting at the high-end, the Radeon HD 4870 ($349) will reportedly feature 480 stream processors - rather than the 320 found in the 3850 and 3870 - an 850MHz core speed, 1GB of 1935MHz GDDR5 RAM, and a 256-bit memory interface.
The Radeon HD 4850 ($269) will share almost the same specs as its higher-end counterpart, except it comes with 512MB of RAM and has lower core and memory speeds of 650MHz and 1728MHz. Meanwhile, on the lower-end, a GDDR3 version of the 4850 is also claimed to be in the works with a memory clock of 571.5MHz.