GeCube has launched a new low-end Radeon X1300 Pro card with some extra features. The Extreme model (GC-HM13PGU3-C3) is clocked at 600 MHz (up to 650 MHz through overclocking) and sports 128 MB of GDDR3 1.4 ns memory instead of the usual DDR2. It includes VGA, DVI and HDTV-Out connectors. The Radeon X1300 Pro GPU has four pixel pipelines, four pixel shader engines and 128-bit interface.
Biostar has launched two VGA cards based on Nvidia’s new GeForce 7300 GT GPU, which features eight pixel pipelines and 128-bit memory interface, compared to four and 64-bit in both the GS and LE versions. The Sigma Gate V7302GT21 is clocked at 400 MHz (higher than the standard 350 MHz), with 256 MB of DDR2 at 700 MHz, while the V7303GT21 runs at 500 MHz, with 256 MB of GDDR3 at 1 GHz. Both cards have VGA, DVI and HDTV-Out connectors.
ASUS has also start selling a PCI accelerator card based on Ageia’s PhysX processor. The P1 features 128 MB of GDDR3 memory, connected through a 128-bit interface, and supports 22 billion instructions as well as 533,000 complex collisions per second. The PhysX chip promises additional dynamic motion and interaction, which translates into more realism in effects such as explosions, water splashes and wind-driven movements.
XFX is the latest company to resort to Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel to better market its products to enthusiast users. The graphics card maker will listen to the top gamer in order to design co-branded models. The “collaborative efforts” are set to begin in mid-2006, but XFX did not specify when the first cards will be available. ABIT, Creative and Zalman are among the companies that already sell “Fatal1ty” branded products.
PowerColor has launched a video card based on the recently released Radeon X1900 GT. The CrossFire-compatible model runs at standard 575 MHz and packs 256 MB of GDDR3 memory at 1.2 GHz. It includes VIVO, dual DVI and HDTV connectors. The Radeon X1900 GT has 12 pixel pipelines, 36 pixel shaders engines and 256-bit interface.
BFG this week started to ship its Ageia physics accelerator cards. The PhysX promises to enable a “new class of PC gaming with dynamic motion and extreme physical interaction”. The PCI card features 128 MB of GDDR3 on board memory, connected through a 128-bit interface, and is capable of approximately 533,000 max collisions and 22 billion instructions per second.
ATI today added a GT model to its Radeon X1900 high-end graphics card series. The new CrossFire-compatible product is clocked at 575 MHz with 256 MB of GDDR3 at 1.2 GHz. It has 12 pixel pipelines and 36 pixel shaders engines instead of the 16 and 48 present in the XT and XTX versions. Suggested retail price is USD 300.
EVGA has launched its Signature Series of graphics cards with a GeForce 7900 GT model. The product is overclocked to 600 MHz (core) and 1.6 GHz (memory). The special series, “approved” by company directors, offers priority phone and email support, eligibility for EVGA’s Step-Up upgrade program, a free game and lifetime warranty. The e-GeForce 7900 GT Signature packs 256 MB of GDDR3, copper fan and dual DVI-I and HDTV-7 connectors.
S3 Graphics officially introduced this week its MultiChrome multi-GPU technology enabling two cards to work together through the PCI Express interface. The feature is currently supported only by the eight-pixel pipeline S27 GPU, which is compliant with DirectX 9.0, but lacks Shader Model 3.0. The cards are clocked at 700 MHz with 128 MB or 256 MB of GDDR3 memory also at 700 MHz.
Members of the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) have approved the DisplayPort interface standard. It promises higher resolutions and refresh rates as well as interactive communications between computers and other devices. Like HDMI, another format competing to succeed DVI, DisplayPort allows high-definition digital audio to be available to the display device over the same cable as the digital video signal. Dell, HP and Lenovo are among the companies backing the VESA format.
Nvidia has released a free version of its Gelato 3D rendering software, currently in release 2.0, aimed at game development, CAD, industrial design and architecture. The solution can be downloaded from the company’s site. The USD 1,500 Pro version, however, adds a variety of exclusive features, such as 64-bit native support, Sorbetto interactive relighting, network parallel rendering, multithreading, DSO shadeops and dedicated support. Gelato 2.0 runs on Windows XP and Linux systems and GeForce 5200 or higher GPUs. The Pro edition requires Quadro FX cards.
ATI has added four graphics cards aimed at DCC, CAD and visualization customers to its FireGL workstation lineup. All new products sport Avivo technology, High Dynamic Range (HDR) 16-bit and dual link output. The high-end FireGL V7200 packs 8 parallel geometry engines, 12 pixel shader processors, 256 MB of GDDR3 and 512-bit ring bus memory controller. The other models are the mid-range V5200 and the entry level V3300 and V3400.
Taiwanese Compro Technology started shipping this week the VideoMate S350, a digital satellite TV tuner card with analog video/audio capture, based on a 9-bit analog-to-digital converter chip from Philips. The device can boot up Windows from stand-by, hibernation and soft-off modes to record programs and then automatically shutdown. Compliant with the DiSEqC 1.2 specification, which allows switching between up to 16 sources, the S350 supports S-Video and composite video signals. The card is packed with a 37-key remote as well as ComproDTV 2, ComproDVD 2 and PhotoExplorer 8.5 SE software.
Nvidia has announced six new products in its Quadro FX workstation series. The top of the line 5500 model sports 1 GB of GDDR2 buffer memory and 256-bit interface. Total bandwidth is 33.6 GB/s. Other novelties are the high-end FX 3500, the mid-range FX 1500 and the entry-level FX 560, 550 and 350. ATI introduced the industry’s first 1 GB graphics card, the FireGL V7350, in March.
ATI today released a new Catalyst driver package (6.4) bringing Radeon X1300, X1600, X1800 and X1900 support for Linux and a series of video improvements for Windows. These include changes to Avivo video processing engine during standard definition video playback. The display-only download has 12 MB and the Control Center version has 34 MB.
