GeCube has announced new versions of its Radeon X1300 and X1600 graphics cards with an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) connector. The standard allows outputting high-def video and multi-channel audio simultaneously. HDMI can also use a cable to connect to traditional DVI ports. The company did not unveil detailed specifications of its news cards.
Nvidia has launched the DualTV tuner, which includes two independent tuners, allowing users to record different TV shows simultaneously or watch one channel while recording the other. Features include MediaSqueeze compression, PureVideo technology, 3D comb filter, 3D noise reduction hardware, in-line TV amplifier and multi-stream hardware encoder. The package contains S-Video cable, composite video adapter, composite video and stereo audio RCA cable, minijack to dual RCA cable, coaxial cable, coaxial cable splitter and FM antenna cable. Suggested retail prices are USD 169 and USD 219 (with remote control and receiver kit).
The Inquirer reports that ATI will release later this year a new series of mainstream 80-nanometer GPUs called Radeon X1700. According to the site, the Pro model will be based on RV560, featuring eight pixel pipelines, 24 pixel shaders processors and four vertex shaders units. Both the XL and XT will derive from RV570, sporting 12 pixel pipelines, 36 pixel shaders and six vertex shaders, differing only in clock settings.
Nvidia today announced the acquisition of Hybrid Graphics, a firm specialized in embedded 2D and 3D graphics software for handheld devices, with customers including Ericsson, Nokia, Philips and Samsung. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The companies said that Finland-based Hybrid will keep its brand and continue existing as an independent subsidiary.
ATI has launched a new workstation graphics card featuring 1 GB of memory. The FireGL V7350 offers support for Shader Model 3.0 and technologies formerly introduced in the Radeon X1000 desktop series such as Avivo and 512-bit ring bus. The 90-nm chip featured on the board, as well as on the 512 MB V7300 model, has 16 pixel shader processors and eight vertex engines. Suggested prices are USD 1,999 and USD 1,599 respectively.
On a surprising move, Foxconn showcased their GeForce 7900 GTX video card during CeBit 2006. Foxconn entered the motherboard retail market using their own brand a while ago, and now it seems that is time for entering the VGA market. One question is what Tul (PowerColor) and Leadtek will think about this, since Foxconn manufactures video cards for these two companies. Officially both companies don’t know about Foxconn’s plans to launch VGAs.
nVidia has just launched three new products: GeForce 7900 GTX, GeForce 7900 GT and GeForce 7600 GT.
GeForce 7900 GTX, formerly known as G71, has 24 pixel shader engines, runs at 650 MHz and accesses its memory at 1.6 GHz at 256-bit rate. GeForce 7900 GT runs at 470 MHz, accesses its memory at 1.32 GHz at 256-bit rate and also has 24 pixel shader engines.
The new mid-range graphics chip from nVidia, GeForce 7600 GT, formely known as G73, has 12 pixel shader engines, runs at 580 MHz and accesses its memory at 1.4 GHz at 128-bit rate.
ATI launched today its new member to Radeon X1800 family: Radeon X1800 GTO. Running at 500 MHz and accessing its memory at 1 GHz, it has the same clock specs as Radeon X1800 XL, but with few pixel shader engines: 12 against 16 on XL.
With a MRSP of USD 249, Radeon X1800 GTO launch partners include ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, HIS, GeCube, Palit, Sapphire and PowerColor.
Diamond Multimedia, once a giant on VGA business, came back to life as an ATI partner. Their latest release is Viper Radeon X1900 XTX, based on the ATI chip with the same name. Running at 650 MHz, carrying 512 MB GDDR3 memory running at 1.55 GHz with 256-bit interface and VIVO (a.k.a. video capture) function, this beast has a MSRP of USD 599.99 in the US.
PowerColor has just released a new low profile Radeon X1300 model running at 450 MHz with 128 MB GDDR2 video memory (accessed at 64-bit rate and running at 400 MHz). Using HyperMemory technology, this video card can simulate 256 MB or 512 MB of video memory, depending of how much RAM your PC has, 512 MB or 1 GB, respectively.
Futuremark, the developers of the famous 3DMark 3D benchmarking software series, announced that they have established an open development program for a vector graphics benchmark software, dubbed VGMark07. This program will measure OpenVG performance on handheld devices. OpenVG is an open standard API for vector graphics targeted to handheld devices.
DailyTech reports that ATI will launch a Radeon X1800 GTO graphics chip in early March. The GPU, supposedly based on the seldom mentioned R590, is said to be a version of the Radeon X1900 core with lower clock speeds and some features turned off. Cards should retail with 256 MB of GDDR3 memory. The same sources told the news site that the 80-nm R600 will be available in October.
Nvidia today announced the GoForce 5500, a mobile GPU aimed at cellular phones, promising support for “fluid digital TV” and “console-class 3D gaming”. The chip, compatible with DVB-H, ISDB-T and DMB networks, is able to playback H.264, WMV9 and MPEG4 in real time at native DVD resolutions. It also provides high fidelity surround sound. Cell phones and other mobile devices using the GoForce 5500 should be commercially in the second half.
Nvidia this week released a new version (81.98) of its ForceWare 80 driver. Besides addressing the usual batch of application compatibility issues, it supports cards from mixed vendors and TV-Out/HD-out in SLI mode, as well as the recently launched GeForce 7800 GS AGP. The driver is also supposed to offer performance enhancements for dual-core CPUs. The English-version dowload file has 20.8 MB.
EVGA has launched two overclocked GeForce 7800 GS (with AGP interface) under its e-GeForce CO Superclock series. Both run at 460 MHz with 256 MB of GDDR3 at 1.35 GHz and are equipped with copper heatsink. The model sold under the code number 256-A8-N509-AX uses a special fan while the 256-A8-N508-AX relies on Nvidia’s reference design. EVGA has also released a third CO product clocked at 430 and 1.3 GHz and a standard card running at 375 MHz and 1.2 GHz. The GeForce 7800 GS AGP has 16 pixel pipelines and six vertex shader units.
