Following ourstory about the ATI Radeon HD 2900 PRO boards tipping up, we have found more and more graphics cards based on cheaper iterations of R600 chip appearing in e-tail and retail stores. A search on the web reveals that Sapphire is offering two Radeon HD 2900 PRO boards. One features 512MB of memory, like the GeCube one, but the second one sports full 1GB of frame buffer memory. In both cases, Sapphire uses GDDR3 type memory chips. The chips used on the 1GB board should prove quite friendly overclock monsters. Beside the Radeon HD 2900 PRO, one of our sharp eyed readers also spotted a Radeon HD 2900 GT from Sapphire. - The Inquirer

Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 PRO and GT Series Appear

We're unsure of the specifications of the Radeon HD 2900 GT, but now it is for sure that it will come with only 256MB of local memory, most probably with a 256-bit interface. Judging by the pricing of the Radeon HD 2900 PRO, we would not be surprised if the Radeon HD 2900 GT retails at around $175, making this card quite a deal. Regardless of what you might think about the R600 marchitecture, even with the 256-bit interface these cards are a bargain for an asking price of just a little above $200 or way below, as far as the Radeon HD 2900 GT is concerned, which will provide even more value in return.

Seeing the current prices of the Radeon HD 2600 XT and GeForce 8600 GTS cards, these will be a great buy once highly demanding DirectX 9.0x and DirectX 10 titles appear. If ATI has kept 320 scalar shaders for the 256MB model as well, with decent overclocking capabilities, the Radeon HD 2900 GT could prove quite a premium for those that are seeking most performance for least possible sum of money. Lastly, as far as we know, both the Radeon HD 2900 PPRO and GT sport a PCB identical to the one found in the Radeon HD 2900 XT, so both 8-pin and 6-pin connectors are present.

But with these cut down boards consuming 150W and less, we wonder if the second 8-pin rail with its 75-125W rail is needed or it is just a neat feature for overclockers? At least in our eyes it might for most become useless, although for the overclockers amongst us, we guess that extra power connection would come in very handly. Once again, only time will tell.