PowerColor joined the Radeon HD 7800 series launch party, with a trio of new graphics cards, two of which stick to AMD's reference designs, while the third is a new non-reference PCS+ model based on the Radeon HD 7870. The first card (below), is a reference design Radeon HD 7850 graphics card by PowerColor, which also sticks to reference clock speeds of 860 MHz core and 1200 MHz (4.80 GHz effective) memory. The second card is a reference-design Radeon HD 7870, which also carries with it AMD reference clock speeds of 1000 MHz core, and 1200 MHz (4.80 GHz effective) memory.

The third and most fascinating of the three is the HD 7870 PCS+, which uses a reference-design PCB, but augmented with a single-fan PCS+ cooler. This cooler uses a dense aluminum fin array, to which heat is conveyed by five heat pipes. It is ventilated by a single 80 mm fan. As a PCS+ variant, the card features 5-10% factory-overclocked speeds. One will also notice that PowerColor made use of the second DVI connector on the PCB. Expect a small premium for this card over AMD's target pricing of US $349.99 for the HD 7870.

MSI announced two Radeon HD 7800 series graphics cards, both based on its TwinFrozr III cooling solution, albeit different variants. The R7870 TwinFrozr III from MSI uses a long PCB, and a meatier version of the TwinFrozr III cooler, which has been featured on high-end GeForce GTX 500 and Radeon HD 6900 series, in the past. It uses five 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes to convey heat drawn directly from the GPU, to a large aluminum fin array, ventilated by two 80 mm fans. This card is labeled to have factory-overclocked clock speeds.

The R7850 TwinFrozr III uses a shorter PCB, and a new, leaner version of the cooler, which has never been used by MSI before. It uses three 8 mm-thick n nickel-plated copper heat pipes to convey heat drawn directly from the GPU, to the heatsink. The two fans are nested within the aluminum fin stacks to maximize air-flow flow for heat dissipation. MSI boasts about how the noise output of this cooler is "only 27 dB" on load. Like the R7870 TF3, this card is factory-overclocked, too.

GIGABYTE is out with its custom-design Radeon HD 7800 series graphics cards on day one, the company prepared a Radeon HD 7870 model, and an HD 7850 one, augmented with its WindForce cooling solutions. The HD 7870 card, the GV-R787OC-2GD, makes use of a long Ultra Durable VGA+ PCB by GIGABYTE, outfitted with the company's best air-cooling solution, the WindForce 3X, which has been used on a variety of high-end graphics cards by GIGABYTE. The card is also said to feature a 5-10% factory OC.

The HD 7850 card, the GV-R785OC-2GD, features a shorter PCB, and features a more compact twin-fan WindForce Anti-Turbulence cooler. This model features a 5% OC, too. The WindForce 3X uses a combination of monolithic heatsinks and aluminum fin stacks suspended over copper heat pipes, ventilated by three fans that are slightly inclined, to reduce turbulence, and push hot air towards the vent on the rear panel. The compact WindForce cooler uses an aluminum fin array to which heat is conveyed by two copper heat pipes.

Club3D announced its lineup of Radeon HD 7800 series graphics cards, the Radeon HD 7850 (model: CGAX-7856), and Radeon HD 7870 (CGAX-7876). Both models follow AMD reference design to the letter, there's little AIB vendor branding on these cards. The cards stick to AMD reference clock speeds, that's 1000/1200(4800) MHz (core/memory(effective)) for the HD 7870, and 860/1200(4800) MHz for the HD 7850. Based on the 28 nm "Pitcairn" silicon, the Club3D HD 7870 packs 1280 stream processors, and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, over a 256-bit wide memory interface. The HD 7850 has 1024 stream processors. In all likelihood, Club3D's cards also stick to AMD's target pricing of US $349 for the HD 7870, and $249 for the HD 7850.

ASUS kicked off its Radeon HD 7800 series with two non-reference design implementations, DirectCu II TOP, at that. Both the ASUS Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7850 DirectCu II TOP use a 2-slot variant of ASUS' coveted dual-fan cooler, and based on what appear to look like a non-reference design PCBs. The DirectCu II cooler consists of a combination of a heatsink and an aluminum fin array, to which heat is conveyed by copper heat-pipes that make direct contact with the GPU die. The cooler makes use of two large fans to ventilate the heatsink. As TOP models, the two should feature 5-10% factory OC, out of the box. There's no word on the pricing.

AMD just launched the Radeon HD 7800 series graphics cards, consisting of two models, the Radeon HD 7870, and the Radeon HD 7850, targeting crucial price-points that appeal PC gamers. The two models are based on new 28 nm silicon by AMD, codenamed "Pitcairn," which packs 2.8 billion transistors. The new chip takes advantage of AMD's Graphics CoreNext architecture.

The Radeon HD 7870 packs 1280 GCN stream processors, 80 texture memory units (TMUs), 32 raster operations units, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. This card is AMD's second "GHz Edition" model (after the Radeon HD 7770), sporting a core clock speed of 1 GHz. The memory is clocked at 1200 MHz (4.80 GHz GDDR5 effective).

Japanese media has got a hold of the specifications table of AMD's Radeon HD 7800 series products, the HD 7870 and HD 7850. Hermitage Akihabara has not cited a source as such, so we assume it vouches for the accuracy of this table. The table reveals Radeon HD 7870 as having 1280 stream processors, a 256-bit wide memory bus width (derived from the memory bandwidth and clock speeds figures provided in the table), 80 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and clock speeds of 1.00 GHz core, with 1200 MHz (4.80 GHz effective) memory. This SKU has a typical board power of 175W.

The slide details the HD 7850 as having 1024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, the same 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface, with the same memory clock speed as the HD 7870, but with a lower core clock speed of 860 MHz. the board power for the HD 7850 is mentioned to be under 130W. Interestingly, 2 GB is standard memory amount for both cards. The Japanese site mentions the official launch date of HD 7800 series as being March 8, but also goes on to add that market availability (we're assuming they mean the Japanese market), is only expected on/after March 19.

The launch of AMD's Radeon 7800 series is on course for March, as AMD wants to complete the launches of the entire Radeon 7000 series before NVIDIA even has its first GPU out. Radeon HD 7800 will be designed to occupy key price points in the sub-$300 market segment, where it strikes price-performance sweetspots for gamers. Central to this series is a new 28 nm GPU, codenamed "Pitcairn", from which will be derived three SKUs: the Radeon HD 7870, Radeon HD 7850 2 GB, and Radeon HD 7850 1 GB. The specifications look like this:

Radeon HD 7850

• 20 Graphics CoreNext Compute Units, 1280 stream processors
• 80 TMUs, 24 ROPs (de-linked from the memory bus, of course)
• 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, 2 GB and 1 GB variants
• Clock speeds of 900 MHz core, 1250 MHz (5.00 GHz effective) memory

Radeon HD 7870 specifications follow.

AMD's Radeon HD 7800 series performance GPUs that target cost-benefit sweet-spots will be launched in the first half of March. The launch will include Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7850. The two SKUs are based on a new 28 nm ASIC codenamed "Pitcairn". Little is known about its specifications at this point, from reliable sources at least.

In April, AMD's rival NVIDIA will get its GeForce Kepler family of GPUs, all guns blazing. In April alone, NVIDIA is expected to launch a high-end part, the GeForce GTX 690, a performance part, the GeForce GTX 660, and mainstream part GeForce GTX 640. The three will be based on three new ASICs built on the 28 nm process, the GK110, GK104, and GK106, respectively.

April will be the most interesting month for PC enthusiasts as Intel will launch its third-generation Core processor family, codename "Ivy Bridge". Little is known about AMD's high-end Radeon HD 7990 "New Zealand".

AMD is on course to releasing its latest "Southern Islands" GPU family, and a fleet of desktop graphics card SKUs based on it, which will be led by a new high-performance GPU, codenamed "Tahiti", which will make up Radeon HD 7900 series; followed by performance GPU "Pitcairn", on which HD 7800 series will be based; "Thames" and "Lombok" making up the rest of the lineup. According to a report by DonanimHaber, HD 7970 (working name) is expected to be competitive with (or outperform) GeForce GTX 580, and priced at US $499. The HD 7950 will be competitive with (again, or outperform) GeForce GTX 570, being priced at US $399.

Things get interesting with Pitcairn, which is the successor of "Barts". This performance GPU is designed for sweet-spot SKUs, such as HD 7870 and HD 7850, which will be competitive with GeForce GTX 560 Ti / GTX 560, and priced at US $299 and $199, respectively. The Radeon HD 7670 will be particularly expensive, priced at US $179, followed by HD 7650 at $119. Further, it was reported that HD 7970 and HD 7950 will have a standard memory size of 3 GB.