XFX has released two VGA cards based on Nvidia’s GeForce 7800 GTX 512 MB. The PV-T70F-YDL is a standard product, clocked at 550 MHz (core) and 1.7 GHz (memory), while the XXX Edition (PV-T70F-YDF) overclocks to 580 MHz and 1.73 GHz. Like the 7800 GTX 256 MB, the new chip has 24 pixel pipelines, eight vertex shaders engines and 256-bit GDDR3 interface. Both cards from XFX feature dual DVI and TV-Out connectors.
Diamond Multimedia has announced on its website that it will soon launch a Radeon X1800 card with AGP 8x interface. Such a product would certainly appeal to the owners of fairly powerful machines running on AGP motherboards. The card is said to use a Rialto PCI Express-to-AGP bridge. Specs are currently scarce, but the board should have 256 MB of GDDR3 and also be available with PCI Express interface, though only the AGP version is expected to sport a VIVO connector.
XGI Technology has officially launched the Volari 8300, a PCI Express GPU aimed at the value segment. Fabbed at 0.13 micron, the chip features a technology called eXtreme Cache, similar to Nvidia’s TurboCache and ATI’s HyperMemory, all of which dynamically allocate system memory to support graphics processing (up to 256 MB). The Volari 8300 has four pixel pipelines (2x2), two vertex shaders engines and 32 or 64-bit DDR memory interface. XGI’s new GPU, clocked at 300 MHz and available in desktop and notebooks versions, is DirectX 9-compatible, but supports only Shader Model 2.0. Other technologies include inverse 3:2 Pull-down, De-Interlacing and CoolPower II.
XFX has launched two overclocked GeForce 6800 GS cards. The XXX Edition (PV-T42G-UAD7) runs at 485 MHz, with 256 MB of GDDR3 at 1.1 GHz, while the Extreme Edition (PV-T42G-UAF7) reaches 450 MHz with memory at 1.05 GHz. The 6800 GS, based on the NV42 chip and fabbed at 110-nm, has 12 pixel pipelines, five vertex shaders engines and 256-bit interface.
With ATI’s high-end Radeon X1800 XT finally coming to market, HIS has already announced a card based on the chip, featuring 512 MB of GDDR3. The X1800XT 2x Dual Link DVI VIVO 512MB is clocked at standard 625 MHz (core) and 1.5 GHz (memory) and includes dual DVI and VIVO connectors. The 90-nanometer Radeon X1800 XT has 16 pixel pipelines, eight vertex shaders engines and 256-bit interface.
S3 Graphics has officially announced this week its Chrome S20 series, which initially comprises two PCI Express chips, both DirectX 9.0-compatible. The S27 is said to run at the highest frequency in the industry: 700 MHz. It has eight parallel pixel pipelines and four vertex engines, supports DDR or GDDR3 memory and features an open multi-GPU technology called MultiChrome. The lower end S25 is also equipped with eight pixel pipelines, but supports only GDDR2. Both 90-nm chips are limited to Pixel Shader 2.0+. The products should be available by the end of the year.
ASUS has announced a Radeon X1600 XT card equipped with a new cooling solution. The EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M uses copper heatpipes to transfer the heat from the GPU to a huge heatsink grill on the back of the board, where better airflow helps to dissipate it. The 16-pixel pipeline card is clocked at 590 MHz and has 256 MB of GDDR3 memory at 1.38 GHz.
Viewsonic will introduce in the beginning of November a 19-inch LCD display with 2 ms response time. The 1280x1024 VX922 is expected to be the first in the world to reach such speed. The company will also release, in December, the VX2022, a 3 ms widescreen model (1680x1050) with 16:10 aspect ratio. Both displays are based on Viewsonic’s ClearMotiv technology.
Futuremark announced a new benchmark tool called 3DMarkMobile06 aimed at companies developing 3D handheld devices supporting OpenGL ES 1.0 and 1.1. It claims that the software is the first to provide accurate performance measurements of embedded graphics solutions. The first version, to be available in November, is exclusive for use on 3D hardware development. Tests include image quality and pixel, vertex, post and CPU processing.
