Sunnyvale (CA) – AMD is completing the rollout of its first-generation 4000-series of GPUs with two new entry-level offerings that aim at the growing group of computer users who are upgrading their integrated graphics chip systems to discrete graphics cards. AMD’s new 4500/4300 series goes head-to head with Nvidia’s entry-level 9400-series, but promises to undercut its rival’s price point while offering more performance.

Following the 4800-series in the performance segment and the 4600-series in the mainstream, AMD is now ready to release the third - and potentially most important wave - of its 2008 GPU introductions. The new HD 4350 and HD 4550 aim squarely at the sub-$800 desktop PC market, which is predicted to hold up best in the desktop computer segment in an economic downturn. Nvidia cited the lack of competitive products in this segment as one of the reasons for losing market share during the second quarter of this year and swiftly came up with a $60 solution (GeForce 9400 GT) to be a more attractive partner for desktop system builders.

AMD seems to have more conservative views of this segment, but considers it an important high-unit segment with stable unit shipments. So far, there was a gap in the firm’s product offering – between the entry-level $30 solution HD 3400 (positioned against Nvidia’s 8400 and 8500) and the mainstream $100 4600 series. The HD 4350 and HD 4550 fill this gap with graphics card prices expected to come in the $40 - $55 range, which will compete with Nvidia’s 9400 GT, which currently sells for street prices between $55 and $70.

Both new ATI cards are derived from AMD’s 55 nm 4800 series architecture, but have substantially less capability, less features - and a much lower power consumption. The HD 4550 has 80 stream processors (compared to 800 in the 4800), which deliver about 96 (single precision) GFlops. The graphics chip runs at 600 MHz, the memory at 800 MHz. 4550 cards will be available in 256 MB and 512 MB GDDR3 configurations and offer a memory bandwidth of 12.8 GB/s. Included are a DVI to HDMI adapter as well as support for DirectX 10.1 and  DVD upscaling. Prices will range from $45 to $55, according to AMD.

AMD claims that 4550 cards will outrun Nvidia’s 9400 GT by at least 20% in common games and deliver at least 30 fps in popular game titles such as Call of Duty 4 (1280x1024) and Devil May Cry 4 (1024x768).

The HD 4350 also comes with 80 stream processors, 256 GB of DDR2 memory and provides a memory bandwidth of 8.0 GB/s. The graphics chip is clocked at 600 MHz and the memory at 500 MHz.   

Both the 4550 and 4350 are claimed to not consume more than 20 watts of power, which is not only 1/8 of the power of a 4800-series card, but also less than half of Nvidia’s 50-watt 9400 GT graphics card.

Both the 4350 and 4550 will be available from “a dozen add-in-board companies offering custom designs of the products” in October.

The battle in this sub-$60 segment is heating up and Nvidia needs to respond to AMD’s latest cards soon. What we do not know about these products are the margins the two companies can squeeze out of these products. On paper, AMD may have an advantage due to the fact that the company had a chance to refine its 55 nm design (9400 GTs are also available in 55 nm) and we hear that AMD is actually able to produce the 4300/4500 on the cheap.

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