According to Xbit Labs, ATI rolled-out a campaign to boost multi-GPU CrossFire technology. As part of the promotion, the company will offer a USD 100 rebate for customers who purchase a Radeon X800/X850 series product, register it and get an e-coupon, then buy a Radeon CrossFire Edition graphics card by September 29 and mail in the completed e-coupon and the UPC code from the latter. ATI promises to send the USD 100 check within eight weeks of receiving the codes.
Sharp has developed an LCD panel that can simultaneously display different images depending on the viewing angle. The effect is achieved through a number of proprietary technologies such as a parallax barrier superimposed on an ordinary TFT LCD. The company believes that such displays will be useful on ATMs and laptop computers to prevent other people from reading what is on the screen. Volume production will begin this month, but there is no information yet on prices or availability.
Matrox has announced a peculiar graphic card featuring PCI Express x1 interface. The product, according to the company, is the first of its kind. The Millennium G550, aimed at financial and corporate users, is equipped with only 32 MB of DDR memory and two pixel pipelines, but offer support for two digital or analogue displays. It will be available in August for USD 139.
Gigabyte finally launched its new dual GPU card featuring two GeForce 6800 GT chips. The GV-3D1-68GT is said to reach a score of almost 10,000 in 3DMark05. It includes a total of 32 pixel pipelines and 512 MB of GDDR3 memory. Despite its huge heatsink, the card is guaranteed to fit in any normal ATX case. The GV-3D1-68GT is equipped with dual DVI-I, TV-Out and D-Sub output and comes bundled with PowerDVD 6.0, Joint Operations and Xpand Rally.
ATI expanded its multimedia card lineup with the addition of the All-in-Wonder X800 XL. It offers full support for Windows Media Center Edition and includes new “domino-style” dongles for input and output connectivity. The North American edition provides instant viewing of up to 125 channels of cable or antenna broadcasts as well as reception for FM radio. The European model enable analog, DVB-T and FM tuning capabilities while supporting SCART connectivity to televisions. The card is based on the X800 XL chip clocked at 400 MHz and sporting 16 pixel pipelines and 256 MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 980 MHz. It will be available later this summer priced at USD 399.
Some VGA card makers are overclocking its GeForce 7800 GTX products to differentiate from its rivals. Leadtek’s WinFast PX7800 GTX TDH MyVIVO, for instance, is clocked at 450 MHz with 256 MB of GDDR3 at 1.25 GHz – reference settings are 430 MHz and 1.2 GHz. The GeForce 7800 GTX chip has 24 pixel shader pipelines and eight vertex shaders pipelines and uses 256-bit memory interface. The WinFast PX7800 includes two DVI and one VIVO (with HDTV-Out) connectors. The full-version bundles Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.
MSI launched a TV tuner that offers both analog and digital TV (DVB-T) without any hardware switch. The TV@nywhere DUO also includes a stereo FM receiver. Users can capture still image snapshots and program scheduled recording - video is recorded to MPEG-1/2/4 (analog) or MPEG-2 (digital). The PCI 2.3 tuner includes S-Video and composite inputs as well as a remote control.
A story on Tech Report indicates that Nvidia plans to add multithread support to its ForceWare drivers. Nvidia's vice president of GPU software, Ben de Waal, is cited as confirming the introduction of such support starting with ForceWare release 80. There will be a release 75 before that. De Waal says that graphics performance could see a 5% to 30% increase with dual-core processors running the new driver.
GeCube has started shipping VGA cards based on the new Radeon X550. The chip uses the same RV370 core from the X300, but is clocked at 400 MHz instead of 325 MHz. Other specs include four pixel pipelines, two vertex engines and DDR memory clocked at 500 MHz. The GC-HM550-C3/D3 has a 128-bit bus and 128 MB or 256 MB of memory. The “Low Profile” GC-HM550L-C3 uses a 64-bit bus. Both sport D-Sub, TV-Out and DVI connectors.
Leadtek launched the WinFast Duo PX6600 GT Extreme card featuring two GeForce 6600 GT GPUs. Each chip is clocked at 550 MHz and has 128 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 1.12 GHz. The card uses Leadtek’s Ultra Cooling System and includes two DVI and one HDTV-Out connectors. The full-version bundles the games Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell.
ATI has launched its Mobility Radeon X800 XT bringing 16 pixel pipelines and six vertex engines to the mobile market. The card, aimed at desktop replacement notebooks, supports 256-bit interface and GDDR3 memory. It includes a variety of features, such as Powerplay power management tool and LCD-EE high resolution display support tech. The Mobility Radeon X800 XT will be available in systems offered by Alienware, Eurocom, HyperSonic, Rock, Velocity Micro and VoodooPC, among other makers.
XGI Technology announced at Computex its entry-level PCI Express GPU. The Volari 8300 is a 0.13-micron part supporting DirectX 9.0, Shader Model 2 and TV encoding. It uses a technology called eXtreme Cache, which dynamically allocates system memory to the GPU, like Nvidia’s TurboCache and ATI’s HyperMemory. The Volari 8300 is also compatible with MXM type 1 mobile architecture. Mass production is set to begin in the second half.
HIS lost no time and already announced two VGA cards featuring ATI’s multi-GPU technology. The Radeon X800 and X850 CrossFire Edition will be available starting in mid-July. CrossFire cards require compatible Radeon Xpress 200-based motherboards, but work with older models from the same family. It means that if the user buys a single X850 CrossFire it can be paired with any existing X850 PRO, X850 XT or X850 XT PE card.
FIC has started selling VGA cards featuring XGI graphics chips. The initial lineup consists of three DirectX 9.0c compatible cards with AGP 8x interface. The entry-level XGV364X, clocked at 200 MHz, has 64 MB of DDR memory at 400 MHz and 64-bit bus. The product, based on the Volari V3 chip, includes VGA, DVI and TV-Out connectors. The XGV8128X and XGV8256X (below) differs only in the ammount of memory (128 MB and 256 MB). Both are based on the Volari V8 chip, sporting eight pixel pipelines, and run at 280 MHz with memory at 500 MHz. The cards use 128-bit interface and support HDTV.
Sapphire broke new ground with the announcement of a Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition sporting a cooling system based on liquid metal developed by NanoCoolers. It works like a water cooling system, but instead uses magnetic pumps to circulate liquid gallium alloy. Sapphire states that the temperature achieved is 10 degrees Celsius below that offered by an Arctic Cooling solution. The Radeon X850 XT PE Blizzard is a 16 pixel pipelines card clocked at 540 MHz with 256 MB of GDDR3 memory at 1.18 GHz.
