AMD revealed upcoming Radeon R9 200 and R7 200 graphics card series. As suspected, some of the models are rebranded HD 7000 series graphics cards. However, there are also some new models, including the ultra high end R9 290X graphics processor featuring Hawaii GPU.
Going from the bottom, lineup starts at below $89 price point with Radeon R7 250 and Radeon R7 260X at $139. The two are based on 28 nm Curacao graphics processing unit, which replaces last generation Pitcairn GPU found in HD 7800 series (HD 7850 and HD 7870) cards.
At around $199 price segment AMD places the Radeon R9 270X with Tahiti LE GPU, previously found on special edition HD 7870 XT/LE graphics cards. For extra 100 bucks, at $299, AMD offers Radeon R9 280X, which is, once again, a rebranded HD 7970 GHz Edition, but with possible increases in GPU and memory clocks. It should come with 3GB of graphics memory.
Finally, we have the ultra high end R9 290X based on Hawaii XT GPU. Featuring 2816 stream processors and 4GB of VRAM connected to GPU via 384-bit bus, R9 290X is expected to be priced at $599, although that's not confirmed. AMD, specially for Battlefield fans, is also planning to release Radeon R9 290X Battlefield 4 Edition, which should come with the game and perhaps some extras, such as dog tags, stickers or other accessories. AMD might also release Radeon R9 290, which would come with a cut-down version of Hawaii GPU, possibly called Hawaii Pro. It might feature either 2304 or 2560 stream processors.
Along with new graphics, AMD also introduced some new technologies, one of which is low-level API, called Mantle, that could replace or at least compete with current DirectX and OpenGL APIs.
