AMD reveals Radeon HD 8000 series

Graphics card manufacturer AMD has at last revealed the Radeon HD 8000 series of GPUs… but it’s likely not what many consumers were expecting.

Gamers had been hoping for a new line of desktop cards to rival the upcoming GTX 700 series from Nvidia. Instead, the HD 8000 series is actually just a rebranded version of its 7000 series cards designed for OEM manufacturers.

Confirmed SKUs include the Oland based HD 8570 and HD 8670, the Pitcairn based HD 8760, the Tahito Pro pair of the HD 8950 and HD 8970 and the mobile-focused 8970M amongst many others.

This means that AMD’s next line of PC graphics cards will be the 9000 series. These are being referred to as ‘Volcanic Island’ and are not expected to launch until 2013.