Graphics progression boosts capabilities of mainstream PCs, high-end cell phones
By Brian Dipert -- EDN, October 14, 2004
Whereas ATI Technologies' earlier mainstream PC-graphics chip, the Radeon X600, was little more than a PCI Express-inclusive spin-off of the older Radeon 9600 architecture, the X700 is a more contemporary derivation of the X800 graphics-processing unit (see “Dueling graphics juggernauts trade announcement, improvement jabs,” EDN, July 8, 2004, pg 22). The company plans at least three proliferations of the device: a base X700 ($149 for a 128-Mbyte board) with a 400-MHz core clock and a 350-MHz memory clock, the X700 Pro ($199 for a 256-Mbyte board) with a 420-MHz core clock and a 432-MHz memory clock, and the X700 XT ($199 for a 128-MByte board and $249 for a 256-Mbyte board) with 475-MHz core and 525-MHz memory speeds (Picture).
Because all X700 variants interface to DDR (double-data-rate) memory, the peak data transfer rate is two times the memory clock rate. All boards, according to ATI, are now in production, and all chip proliferations embed eight pixel pipelines (versus 12 or 16 in the high-end X800 series), six vertex pipelines, and a 128-bit interface to the frame buffer (versus 256 bits in the X800, which will be available this fall in a $499, 256-Mbyte All-In-Wonder XT-board variant). ATI manufactures the Radeon X700 on a 0.11-micron process. The company also plans AGP-based X700-board variants, employing a separate PCI Express-to-AGP “reverse”-bridge chip.
Prospects for 3-D gaming on cell phones and PDAs are bright, say the analysts. And, commensurate with those forecasts, Nvidia is rolling out its first GoForce chip that hardware-accelerates 3-D-graphics functions: the aptly named GoForce 3D 4500. The chip, containing 1.3 Mbytes of embedded memory and targeting phones costing $199 to $249, carries forward the 2-D-graphics features and the still-image and video-encoding and -decoding functions of earlier GoForce devices (see “Graphics advancements span PCs to cell phones,” EDN, June 24, 2004, pg 14). It adds a geometry processor; a programmable pixel shader; a 40-bit color pipeline; an early Z-buffer processor; support for six simultaneous textures and texture compression; and other features that promise to deliver high-quality, high-frame-rate entertainment to your next handheld design.
Nvidia targets three primary APIs for support: the Khronos Group’s OpenGL-ES, Microsoft’s Direct3D-Mobile, and the Java-based M3G, with general and custom extensions as appropriate. The company also plans to offer hardware-evaluation and software-development kits.
ATI Technologies, 1-905-882-2600, www.ati.com.
Nvidia, 1-408-486-2000, www.nvidia.com.
