The latest AMD Phenom IIs, while closing the performance gap on Intel’s new dual-core chips, are no benchmark-busting CPUs.

Fortunately, the perennial challenger and alternative CPU maker is doing much better on the graphics front, with its speedy ATI Radeon 4870×2 chips still being king of the hill. And, for once, AMD is not sitting on its pants as the competitor (this time, Nvidia) closes in.

Just a week after Nvidia’s latest GeForce 280 series drivers were released, AMD posted its brand new Catalyst 9.1 drivers. This was out in the United States on Jan 29.

How do they perform? Some hardware sites are reporting that there’re some improvements in the popular Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead first-person shooters. Others are a bit disappointed with the lack of even more speed to be squeezed out of the hardware.

Either way, you can download Catalyst 9.1 here and try it out yourself.

The anticipated price wars have begun! Reports everywhere are suggesting that Nvidia are finally lowering ther crazy S$999 prices for their GTX 280s. If you go to Newegg.com, you’ see that you can now get a MSI GTX 280 for US$459.99, which works out to be about S$620.10.

Now that’s a mch improved deal, if you consider that the cheapest GTX 280 you can get now in Singapore costs about S$899 at Potterhouse. Sure, the new $600 price is still higher than two ATI HD4850s (S$500+), but hey, there’s no worry about Crossfire scaling since the GTX 280 is a one-card solution.

Now, there’s only the wait for the price drops to come to SG, which will be swift, I assume. If you have been looking for the next best thing in a while, the GTX 280 suddenly looks great again… unless of course you want later versions with smaller die and things like DX10.1.

Now, this BFG-Dangerden GTX 280 monster would be a great replacement for my water-cooled 8800GTX now. (It costs more than stock GTX 280 of coz, but you can always buy the Danger Den waterblock separately).

According to local distributors, it will be in end of this month (July), when these power-packed graphics cards will make their way to shops here.

What we have now are these single-chip 512MB versions, which are selling for S$435 (e.g. MSI version) in Sim Lim Square shops.

What’s the big deal with these cards, you ask? If you are a hardcore PC geek, you’d already know that they herald ATI’s long-awaited comeback to bring some competition to the market.

PC gamers have seen Nvidia update/refresh their existing chips to the max, but never seen real next-gen improvements until recently – but that’s with the overpriced 280 GTX and 260GTX in recent weeks.

Now, the ATI’s HD4870s and HD4850s are giving them a run for the money. Two HD4850s (at 2 x S$279=S$558) in Crossfire can shoot along with a S$900+ 280GTX. Two HD4870s – preferably on the same card in x2 format – will do really well if they scale properly in Crossfire.

So if you are in the mood to upgrade your PC graphics for games like Age of Conan and Crysis, there’s never been a better time to plonk it for two cheap monsters from ATI.

(spy pix of the 4870×2 here)