Sapphire HD 5870 and HD 5850 video cards to support the advanced graphical features only available in Microsoft DirectX 11 and delivering spectacular video clarity, speed and visual effects, including over multiple monitors.

The Sapphire HD 5870 is based on graphics architecture from the ATI division of AMD, the second generation of GPU to be built in its 40nm process. This is the very first series of graphics solutions to support the forthcoming DirectX 11, soon to be introduced with Windows 7 and supported in Windows Vista. With a new 150GB/s memory interface supporting fifth generation GDDR5 memory and a new architecture with a total of 1600 stream processors and 80 texture units* the HD 5870 has twice the computing power of the previous generation. It will be lightning fast with existing DirectX10.1, DirectX 10 and DirectX 9.0 games and applications – but where it excels will be in new releases of software using DirectX 11 where it will support stunning new levels of detail, transparency and lighting effects. All of this comes with the modest active power consumption of less that 190W – and using Dynamic Power Management the card has a new super low-power idle mode at 27W.

Sapphire HD 5850 will be with the slightly smaller configuration of 1440 stream processors and 72 texture units offering users access to the same new generation technology and full DirectX 11 support at a lower price point.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5800 series is supported by AMD’s DirectX 11 WHQL certified graphics driver which delivers support for all of the key DirectX 11 level features required for new gaming experiences and acceleration of next generation high performance applications.