ATI's ageing AMD-oriented RD580 discrete chipset will soon be upgraded to support three graphics cards and two CPUs, it has been claimed. The part will join the upcoming RS690 to lead ATI's sales drive during H1 2007.

According to a roadmap presentation made public by Spanish-language website ChileHardware, RD580 will continue to target the enthusiast market, a modified RD580 will form the basis of AMD's '4x4' platform during Q1 2007, connecting to an anticipated Socket F dual-core Athlon 64 FX.

ATI will be pitching its DirectX 10-supporting R600 GPU at the platform, the slides suggest. The graphics chip will continue on into the RD790 chipset era during the second half of 2007.

While RD580 in its dual- and triple-graphics card slot forms - the latter to accomodate a physics-dedicated GPU - is targeted at ethusiasts, ATI's single-slot RX690 will be aimed at more mainstream systems, the presentation slides reveal.

The RX690 is said to be pin-compatible with the RS690 DirectX 9 integrated chipset, which will support HDMI and ATI's Avivo video processing system. A lesser part, the RS690C, will target the value PC segment, it's claimed.

Low-end CrossFire configurations will be based on the RD480 chip - aka the CrossFire Xpress 1600 - but ATI looks set to introduce a mid-range part, the CrossFire Xpress 3100, codenamed 'RD550'. It's based on the RD580. ®