So there we have it, a new graphics card series from AMD, since most of us know that AMD dropped the ATI title for its graphics cards branding and now they call it AMD Radeon, anyways lets get back to the 6800 series of graphics cards, technically these cards are not advanced from previous generation counter parts Radeon 5800s, but rather they are slower and much cheaper. 6850 is priced around $199 where as 6870 is priced at $249. For better understanding we also need to know the price points of previous generation directx 11 cards, the 5800 series.

There we have it:

Radeon 6850: $199

Radeon 6870: $249

Radeon 5850 : $270

Radeon 5870: $360-400

Basically the 6800s are "to fill" some market gaps or lets say to target audience with almost any budget. AMD also plans to release high end Radeon 6970 and low end Radeon 6500s and Radeon 6300s . Placing products at right price points will put AMD in a better shape than nVIDIA as nVIDIA does not have that many choices at that many price points.