Posted 06/13/2012 | by Paul Lilly




Graphics professionals waiting for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to port its Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture over to its FirePro series need not wait any longer (sort of -- more on that in a moment). The Sunnyvale chip designer on Wednesday announced the immediate availability of its FirePro W600 graphics card, the company's first professional videocard to feature its GCN design and a 28nm production technology.

The FirePro W600 is a single-slot card that's able to drive up to six high-resolution displays or projectors via six mini DisplayPort connectors. It has 2GB of GDDR5 graphics memory, support for two HD video streams via AMD's Unified Video Decoder, and projection overlap capability to create a single seamless image (support for projection edge blending and image warping is coming in Q4 2012).

Interestingly, the W600 FirePro chases a different market segment compared to other FirePro cards. AMD is targeting customers in need of graphics hardware for digital signage and multi-screen display wall environments.

"Whether we are checking flight times at the airport or watching the latest ads on massive screens in city squares, digital signage has quickly become an important and ubiquitous part of our lives," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD Graphics. "To enable these displays, the digital signage industry demands technology that can be regularly refreshed with new, feature-rich content. With the launch of the AMD FirePro W600 professional graphics card, AMD is helping advance the digital display wall industry by providing suppliers and developers with impressive display density, performance and exceptional value."

Clockspeeds are a mystery, though AMD did reveal that the W600 has a 128-bit memory interface and 75W maximum TDP.

Image Credit: AMD