AMD Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 GPUs

AMD FINALLY PULLED BACK the curtain on the remainder of its DirectX 10 GPU lineup recently, and we, erm, kinda stumbled on getting the review out at that time. I offered various excuses, including word of a small fire in Damage Labs and limited time with the cards themselves, all of which were true--and dramatic, which really helps sell an excuse. But I was also held back from producing a review by the same borderline obsessive-compulsive impulse that drives us to produce detailed reviews with extensive test results and commentary. We had to get things tested to our satisfaction.<br><br>

At last, I'm pleased to report, our review is complete. The result isn't perfect by any means (as we are keenly aware), but we do have a number of intriguing things to offer, including a look at the new Radeon HD cards' Avivo HD video acceleration capabilities, with tests of CPU utilization, image quality, and power use during playback. We also have a 3D graphics performance comparison, complete with some thoughts about why ATI's new GPUs tend to fall short of expectations in that department. Keep reading for our take on the new low-end and mid-range Radeons.