|
Even if you're a casual computer user, you've undoubtably heard of . They've been around forever, and chances are, at some time in your computer history, you've probably had ATi silicon powering your graphics. Despite nVidia dominating the headlines ever since the TNT2 Ultra, and garnering a lot of press due to their popularity in the consumer market, ATi managed to do quite well thanks to its OEM market penetration. They have lost some ground to nVidia, but still hold a substantial part of the business market.
ATi has always made decent performance hardware, but they always seemed a step behind nVidia. The Radeon 8500 was supposed to compete directly against the GeForce 3, but lost that edge when their rivals released a new Detonator driver set. This seemed to be ATi's weakness, as their driver development wasn't nearly as timely as nVidia's. The Radeon 8500 lost some more luster as the GeForce 4 was released shortly after it. Although the R200 was an excellent piece of hardware, enthusiasts still chose GeForce technology to drive their framerate crunching machines.
Enter the no-excuses, no-holds-barred Radeon 9x00 series. The Radeon 9000 takes aim at nVidia's budget line, and the top-of-the-line goes toe-to-toe with the GeForce 4 Ti4600. Announced last week, the Radeon 9500 Pro (and non-Pro) target the lower end Titaniums themselves. For most of our readers it seems, framerates do matter, even at the expense of image quality. ATi promises the patented ATi image quality (excellent), with the framerates to back it up. Is this a bluff, or are they spot on with those bold claims? We'll see...
Specifications
Fastest* 3D gaming performance with next-generation VPU architecture
Complete DirectX® 9.0 support for unprecedented realism and sophisticated visual effects
SMOOTHVISION" 2.0 technology provides new levels of image quality with advanced full-scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) and anisotropic filtering
Revolutionary new video features including VIDEOSHADER" and FULLSTREAM" technologies
Featuring CATALYST" - ATI's industry-leading software suite with frequently scheduled free updates providing additional features and performance over the product's lifetime
Fastest* 3D Gaming Performance
128MB DDR memory accelerates the latest 3D games
256-bit memory interface removes hardware performance bottleneck and provides end users with faster 3D graphics
Industry's first 8-pixel pipeline architecture, providing twice the rendering power of any currently competing product.
Supports the new AGP 8X standard, providing a high-speed link between the graphics board and the rest of the PC (2.0 GB/sec)
Highest Level of Realism
First to fully support DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality
New SMARTSHADER" 2.0 technology allows users to experience complex, movie-quality effects in next-generation 3D games and applications
SMOOTHVISION" 2.0 technology enhances image quality by removing jagged edges and bringing out fine texture detail, without compromising performance
128-bit floating-point color precision allows for a greater range of colors and brightness
Revolutionary New Video Features
Unique VIDEOSHADER" engine uses programmable pixel shaders to accelerate video processing and provide better-looking visuals
ATI's new FULLSTREAM" technology removes blocky artifacts from Streaming and Internet video and provides sharper image quality
Impressive specs indeed, but a lot of hardware looks good on paper. There is an 8 pixel and 4 vertex pipeline, effectively double what the Ti4600 has, though ATi is limited to one texture, whereas the Ti4600 can do 2 per pipeline. The 9700 has two 10-bit, 400MHz RAMDACs, which should allow for some impressive image quality on a dual monitor setup.
Let's take a closer look at the R300 chip itself from which the Radeon 9700 is based...
Next Page - The R300
|
