With a nary a peep from rival Nvidia, AMD today rolled out two additional 28nm graphics cards, both of which are built around the Pitcairn GPU that nestles into the mainstream spot just below Tahiti. The new cards are the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition ($349) and Radeon HD 7850 ($249), and they both feature AMD's 28nm Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture specifically designed for general computing.

AMD is giddy as all get-out today over the arrival of its Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition and HD 7750 graphics cards, the first of which is the world's first graphics card equipped with a 1GHz GPU, the Sunnyvale chip maker claims. The 7750's special talent is that it doesn't require its own separate power connector and pushing gaming grade pixels while staying under 75W.

One of the big draws to buying an XFX brand videocard is the modder friendly warranty that lets users swap heatsinks and overclock their GPUs without voiding the so-called 'Double Lifetime Warranty,' which is marketing speak for a lifetime guarantee that's transferable to a second owner (provided you registere your card within 30 days of purchase). Now we're hearing that this awesome backing won't apply to AMD's new Radeon HD 7000 series.

If you've been postponing your graphics card upgrade until AMD ships its Radeon HD 7950 GPU, go grab a pen or permanent marker and circle January 31, 2012 on your calendar. That's the day it will reportedly go on sale, following the launch of AMD's Radeon HD 7970 videocard, which is available to purchase right now for around $600.