AMD took a new step in the race against its rival Nvidia on Moday, when it launched the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card, just a few months after the Radeon HD 3870 was introduced. The difference: the new graphics card includes two graphics chips on a single board, unlike its single-chip predecessor, thus doubling its performance.

The high-end graphics card is part of the next generation Fusion processors, offering more speed, better performance and more power efficiency than previous graphics processors. The AMD graphics X2 graphics card will support the CrossFire X technology, which enables the use of multiple cards on the same board in order to enhance performance.

AMD’s latest development has a suggested retail price of $449, compared to Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 Ultra, whose retail price starts at $630. Double the speed, great performance, almost half the price? That should boost AMD’s sales and place the developer ahead of its rival, Nvidia. AMD apparently got sick of being second best and wants to take the lead by introducing the clear speed leader on the current market.

However, no one knows what to expect or for how long will AMD manage to stay ahead of Nvidia, as its rival is also expected to introduce its very own dual-chip card. On the same note, Nvidia representatives don’t appear to be very impressed by AMD’s latest creation, saying that it may be a high-end product, but it is not a game-changing product.

AMD and Nvidia are not only competing for the latest and fastest products, but they are also working on turning the low-end computer gaming experience into a better one. The low-end cards the two companies are developing will work with the built-in graphics in the computer, instead of disabling it. That will allow low-end computers to play games that normally don’t work on them, and will most certainly appeal to a large number of consumers.