AMD to Use Qimonda's GDDR5 Memory With Upcoming GPU

Advanced Micro Devices' next-generation graphics processors will ship with GDDR5 (Graphics Double Data Rate 5) memory from Qimonda, the companies said Tuesday.

AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon R700 graphics chips are scheduled for release in the coming months and will offer a significant improvement over the company's current graphics chips, according to AMD executives. The R700 is the first AMD graphics chip to support GDDR5 memory.

GDDR5 chips offer much higher data rates than GDDR3 and GDDR4, which are supported by AMD's Radeon HD 3800 series graphics processors, currently AMD's most powerful graphics chips. GDDR5 chips also consume less power than other memory types.

Memory maker Qimonda will supply the GDDR5 chips used with the first R700 chips that hit the market, but AMD is working with other suppliers, including Samsung Electronics and Hynix.

Qimonda said its GDDR5 chips are being produced in volume and have started shipping to AMD, suggesting that the launch of the R700 is not far off. AMD did not say when the next-generation graphics chip will be introduced.