Unbeknownst to other markets, ATI AIB partners have been working on full-fledged lineups of graphics cards based on the Radeon HD 4860 GPU, a brand that seems to be specific to the Chinese market. Sapphire developed a new premium offering based on the GPU, called Sapphire HD 4860 Platinum, that intends to be a cut above the rest with its cooling and better power stability. The card in many respects looks similar to "Vapor-X" branded offerings based on other GPUs, by Sapphire.

The card sports a dual-slot design with a custom PCB by Sapphire. The PCB includes a 5+2 phase VRM which draws power from two 6-pin PCI-E connectors. The RV790-based Radeon HD 4860 GPU has 640 stream processors, and has core/memory clock-speeds of 700/750 MHz. With its 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, it connects to 512 MB of memory. The GPU is cooled by a robust heatpipe-fin array based GPU cooler. On the connectivity front, the card provides DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort. It is available for RMB 799 (US $117) in China. More pictures can be found at the source.

ATI surprised us last month, when sections of the Chinese media leaked information about Radeon HD 4860, a new SKU that intends to succeed Radeon HD 4850 in the $120~$130 segment. Fresh information suggests that the SKU indeed will see the light of the day, even outside China. Slated to ship from around August 18, the HD 4860 will substitute the HD 4850, which is handling the lower price segment of $90~$110. This only gives you an idea of how intense competition has become in the sub $150 graphics market.

Another bit of information surfacing is about the Radeon HD 4750. Even as the Radeon HD 4770 is suffering stock shortages around the world, ATI seems to be going ahead with the HD 4750, a graphics card based on the 40 nm RV740 GPU. The HD 4750 has similar specifications to the HD 4770. It even sports GDDR5 memory. The RV740 core runs at 730 MHz, and its memory at 800 MHz (3200 MHz effective). While the memory clock speed is identical to that of the HD 4770, the core is clocked slightly lower. Overall, the card won't have as much overclocking headroom as the HD 4770, because it will not draw power from a 6-pin power connector. The design ensures existing low-performing raw materials are utilized more effectively. The HD 4750 is expected to be priced at $88 initially. The first batch of these cards will be very small, quantity-wise.

AMD released the industry's first 40 nm desktop GPU. The RV740 went on to make only one SKU, the Radeon HD 4770. The company filled its Radeon HD 4700 series almost overnight with two more SKUs positioned on either sides of the HD 4770, based on the 55 nm RV770/RV790 GPUs instead, due to stock shortages. These also impacted on the inventories of the HD 4770, which forced AMD to reposition the Radeon HD 4850 in the sub-$110 segment, creating a bit of a void between it and the roughly $150 HD 4870. If anyone of you is up for yet another ATI Radeon SKU, here's one coming your way: Radeon HD 4860.

The Radeon HD 4860 seems to have been already taped out, sampled, and pictured by sections of the Chinese media. At the heart of it is the RV790 GPU in a different configuration codenamed RV790GT. It has 640 stream processors instead of 800 on the HD 4850, except that it uses a 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface, and effectively higher clock speeds. The core is clocked at 700 MHz, and the memory at 750 MHz (3000 MHz effective). The PCB pictured shows the card to powered by a single 6-pin power connector. It is expected to be positioned in at the $130 price point, and in theory, competitive with NVIDIA's GeForce GTS 250.