After the Radeon HD 6800 series, the rest of AMD's Northern Islands family of GPUs seem to be taking their own sweet time making it to the market. With the HD 6900 series almost certain to be off its November 22 launch date, lower-end GPUs slated for early 2011 are still far away. Meanwhile Sapphire reportedly took the opportunity to rebrand the existing "Redwood" based Radeon HD 5550 to "Radeon HD 6390", in a bid to make some monies in Russia.

The Radeon HD 6300, at least the HD 6350, HD 6370 are reserved for an upcoming GPU codenamed "Caicos", its AMD reference board even made it through a casual photo-session. The HD 5550 and HD 6390 were found to have the same device IDs. An older version of GPU Caps Viewer detects it as HD 5550, while the latest version sees it as HD 6390. The HD 5550 is based on the 40 nm "Redwood" GPU, it has 320 out of 400 stream processors enabled, and a 128-bit wide memory interface to typically connect to GDDR3 memory. Some premium models also feature GDDR5 memory.

If you absolutely need 2 GB of video memory to talk about in your rig, Club3D developed an easy means to get there. Its latest ATI Radeon HD 5550 variant boasts of 2 GB of DDR3 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface, and some out of the box overclocked speeds. The single-slot full-height card uses an active GPU cooler, and draws all its power from the PCI-E slot. The DirectX 11 compliant Radeon HD 5550 GPU has 320 stream processors, and a 128-bit wide memory interface, with clock speeds of 650 MHz core, 1200 MHz (2400 MHz effective) memory. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. Club3D did not give out a price.

HIS today unveiled low-profile graphics cards based on the Radeon HD 5550 and Radeon HD 5570 that make use of GDDR5 memory that doubles the memory bandwidth available to the GPU. The cards come in both 512 MB and 1 GB variants. Both have memory operating at 1000 MHz (4 GHz effective). Based on the 40 nm Redwood core, the HD 5550 card has 320 stream processors, is DirectX 11 compliant, and has a 128-bit wide memory interface that normally holds GDDR3 or DDR2 memory for the HD 5500 series SKUs. HIS went beyond the specs, using GDDR5 (which the GPU supports in its HD 5600 series SKUs). The HD 5570 has 400 stream processors, with the GPU operating at 650 MHz, while on the HD 5550, it runs at 550 MHz. The low-profile cards are also silent, with a passive cooler that occupies a single expansion slot doing the job of cooling the memory and GPU. The HD 5550 512 MB GDDR5 card goes for 89 EUR, while the 1 GB variant at 99 EUR. Pricing of the HD 5570 cards are yet to be known.

SAPPHIRE Technology has just added a new silent cooled model to its extensive range of ATI-based graphics cards. The award winning ULTIMATE Series is SAPPHIRE Technology's Silent Cooled product line. The SAPPHIRE HD 5550 ULTIMATE is a new graphics card aimed at the mainstream market, whist sharing many of the exciting features of the latest high end series.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5500 series is based on the latest graphics architecture from the ATI division of AMD, built in its 40nm process. It supports the advanced graphical features of Microsoft DirectX 11, and delivers superb video clarity and visual effects, whilst consuming very low power levels.

Today HIS is proud to announce the new HIS 5550 Silence 1GB DDR2 low-profile Graphics card, the world's first Silence 5500 series low-profile graphics card. Supporting the innovative DirectX 11, Full 1080p and ATI Stream Technology, HD 5550 offers you a multi-purpose solution for maximum versatility.

HIS Radeon HD 5550 1GB DDR2 Silence is the World's first 5500 Silence low-profile graphics card. This brand-new designed double-slot heatsink effectively takes away the heat from GPU at front and back, and does not produce any noise. With this easy-to-install graphics card, you can accelerate with ATI stream Technology to enjoy realistic visuals playing popular 3D DirectX 11 Game titles, speed up your video and photo editing, and experience full1080p, true HD audio videos in rich details - without any sound disturbance and without compromising of cooling effect.

Club 3D rolled out a new silent graphics card based on the ATI Radeon HD 5550, what it calls the "Noiseless Edition". The Club 3D HD 5550 Noiseless Edition is based on the 40 nm "Redwood" GPU, packs 320 stream processors, is DirectX 11 compliant, and carries 512 MB of GDDR3 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface. The card is full-height, and its silent GPU heatsink spans across two expansion slots. The cooler is made of an aluminum fin block to which heat is conveyed by heat pipes. The GPU is clocked at 550 MHz, and memory at 1600 MHz DDR. Connectivity includes DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI with on-chip 7.1 HD audio with DTS, and Dolby Digital. Like every other card based on Redwood, it draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot. The Club 3D HD 5550 Noiseless Edition is expected to be priced around the $70 mark.

Club 3D announces the Radeon HD 5570 and Radeon HD 5550 graphics cards. Club 3D's newest offer out of the Radeon HD 5000 graphics card series delivers big performance into the mainstream market. Watch HD video content, play games, and accelerate demanding applications with Club 3D Radeon HD 5500 graphics card series. Get a multi-purpose graphics solution for maximum versatility with the most features and functionality in its class. The Club 3D Radeon HD 5500 graphics cards series consumes less power than previous generations graphics cards, eliminates the need for an external power connection and makes installation a snap.

Club 3D Radeon HD 5570 is available first in two different versions, 512MB and 1024MB model offering DDR3 memory technology. While the Radeon HD 5550 model will be available as 512MB and 1024MB model with DDR2 memory technology.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today introduces the graphics for HD gaming and advanced home entertainment: PowerColor HD5500 series. Compatible with all the latest features, HD5500 series takes advantage of DirectX 11 technology and makes incredible visual realism possible for all popular HD games and Blu-Ray. HD 5500 series will enhance your home entertainment experience and you can be environmentally friendly at the same time with a card that consumes less than 45 watts under full load.

Also, PowerColor includes a special version in the latest HD5500 series lineup, HD5570 low profile edition. With a single-slot low profile design, HD5570 low profile edition enables smooth frame rates at HD setting, delivers vivid HD experience while watching Blu-Ray videos and other HD contents. It is the best choice for small form factor and home theater PCs.

AMD's entry-level graphics processor in its DirectX 11 compliant generation, the Radeon HD 5000 series is codenamed "Cedar". This GPU is expected to be half as powerful as the "Redwood" GPU, with an expected 200 stream processors, 64-bit GDDR5/GDDR3 memory interface, and DirectX 11 compliance. It will make for two initial product SKUs: the Radeon HD 5400 series (probably Cedar with GDDR3 memory), and Radeon HD 5500 series (probably Cedar with GDDR5 memory). There are three models slated for release later this month: Radeon HD 5450, Radeon HD 5550, and Radeon HD 5570.

A low-profile reference design engineering sample's picture made it to our friends at Arab Hardware. The picture reveals a low-profile design which is slightly longer than the PCI-Express interface itself, keeps the black PCB color theme for the HD 5000 series going, and uses a tiny GPU cooler. DVI-D and DisplayPort connectors are located on the card, while a full-height bracket can expand the connectivity with a D-Sub connector. Products based on the Cedar GPU are expected to be positioned well within the $100 mark, and aimed at media-centric home users and full-time HTPCs.