AMD wants to prove that you don't need to dip into your kids' college fund to play DirectX games by making official the launch of its trio of sub-$100 graphics cards. These include the Radeon HD 6670, HD 6570, and HD 6450, each one priced less than a C-note and consuming less than 75 watts of power.

We took an in-depth look at two of these three mainstream cards, which you can re-read (or view for the first time) right here. We concluded that they're "quite power friendly and quiet, and would make excellent cards for HTPC applications," though you'll obviously need to temper your expectations (and dial down the visual quality settings) if you intend to do much gaming with these cards.

Also of note is that all three cards sport a low-profile design, so if you are putting together an inexpensive media box for your living room, these are worth looking into as alternatives to onboard graphics.

AMD Raises The Bar on Sub-$100 Graphics Performance and Image Quality 

New AMD Radeon™ HD 6670, HD 6570 and HD 6450 discrete graphics cards provide exceptional DirectX 11 game experience, application acceleration and AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology in low-power, low-profile, low-cost graphics boards

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —4/27/2011 

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the addition of the AMD Radeon™ HD 6670, HD 6570 and HD 6450 graphics cards to the channel, completing the roll-out of the AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 family of graphics cards. Priced at less than USD $100 MSRP and consuming less than 75 watts of power, these cards offer budget-conscious gamers and digital lifestyle enthusiasts powerful yet very affordable solutions that are ideal for HD gameplay, video playback and productivity applications.

“The proliferation of HD and 3D content places even greater emphasis on the quality of the visual experience, and AMD Radeon graphics cards enable industry leading image quality,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Division. “With the newest additions to the AMD Radeon HD 6000 graphics family, we’re providing customers with a number of compelling products priced below $100 that enable exceptional image quality and game performance while remaining incredibly energy efficient and easy to install.”

• Multi-screen gaming and productivity – Experience immersive gaming and greater productivity with AMD Eyefinity technology, turning three or more monitors into a single large surface.¹
• Stereo 3D Support - Watch the latest in Blu-ray™ 3D movies and enhance gameplay with AMD HD3D technology.²
• Application acceleration – AMD App Acceleration speeds up rendering time for faster browser page loads, improves special effects and stutter-free video playback. In fact, more than 50 applications now take advantage of AMD App Acceleration, including DivX, Internet Explorer 9 as well as the newest versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.³

The AMD Radeon HD 6450, HD 6570 and HD 6670 graphics cards will be available for purchase through system builders and at major online retailers, including Amazon, CyberPower, iBuyPower, Newegg, NCIX, and TigerDirect.

“We’re excited to now offer the AMD Radeon HD 6450, HD 6570 and HD 6670 graphics cards to our customers looking for the ultimate mix of performance, power and price,” said Bernard Luthi, vice president of Marketing, Web Management and Customer Service, Newegg.com. “Whether consumers are looking for an immersive stereo 3D gaming solution or an energy-efficient graphics card at a great price, they’ll enjoy an amazing visual experience with the new mainstream AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series graphics cards.”

Supporting Resources

• Pictures: See photos of the AMD Radeon™ HD graphics cards on Flickr
• Product page: AMD Radeon™ graphics product information
• Twitter: Follow AMD graphics news on Twitter at @AMDRadeon
• Facebook: Become a fan of AMD technology on Facebook

About AMD

AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its groundbreaking AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD’s server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD’s superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.