Apparently in no rush to shed the ATI brand, AMD has launched a new workstation graphics card. The ATI FirePro V9800 is designed for professionals who "require extreme performance" and sports 1,600 stream processors running at 850MHz and 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM effectively clocked at 4,800Mhz. It's based on the same Cyprus GPU used in the V8800 released earlier this year, except the V9800 can pump out 2.72 terraflops instead of 2.64 whilst consuming less power (199W versus 208W).
The new flagship can feed graphics to half a dozen displays simultaneously via six Mini DisplayPort outputs, up from the V8800's four. It supports DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.0, Shader Model 5, and stereoscopic 3D. To make multi-display setup a little easier, AMD throws in one dual-link and five single-link active Mini DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters – then again, for $3,500 you'd expect such accessories. That's over double the V8800's $1,500 price tag. The V9800 should be available very soon.