Published in Graphics

Powercolor preparing quite a few Computex surprises

by on27 May 2010

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The HD 5770 hybrids

We managed to score some info regarding Powercolor's Computex line-up and we must say that we are quite surprised as Powercolor certainly has something to show. The two new cards that caught our eye are based on HD 5770 GPU which is combined with a network card in one case and Lucid's Hydra chip in other.

The HD 5770 Evolution, as Powercolor decided to brand it, is a Radeon HD 5770 card paired up with Lucid's Hydra chip, which means hassle free GPU combining. We already seen Lucid's Hydra on MSI motherboards but idea that someone might integrate it on a graphics card didn't even cross our mind. According to what we managed to find out so far, this one will be able to work in A-Mode, N-Mode and X-Mode, similar to the combination which you can enjoy with MSI's Hydra equipped motherboard.

If we got this right, you will be able to pair this one with any GPU that you have or that you might buy in future and let them work together. Of course, this raises couple of questions concerning the performance as well as the price of such card, but it does sound like a good idea. As noted, the card is based on the HD 5770 GPU and features 1GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1200MHz while the GPU is clocked at 850MHz.

The second card is branded as the Radeon HD5770 Sniper, and this one exchanges the previous Lucid Hydra chip with a Bigfoot Networks Killer 2100 NPU (Network Processing Unit). It is a basically two in one solution that gives you a graphics card and a quality network card that has its own 128MB of DDR2 memory. The card works at the same clocks as the previous one, so you are looking at the Radeon HD 5770 GPU clocked at 850MHz and paired up with 1GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1200MHz.

The HD5770 Sniper of course has dual DVI and single HDMI output as well as RJ-45 for network. If it ends up to be cheaper than separate products, this one will certainly find its place on the market, especially if the performance turns up to be satisfying.

There are even more surprises and novelties that Powercolor will show during the Computex event and we'll try to get hold of more info as soon as possible.

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Last modified on 27 May 2010
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