ATI released its fifth update to its Catalyst driver this year. Version 5.5 includes new drivers for Windows XP, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows 2000 and Linux as well as improved Controle Center and Multimedia Center package. The bugfixes cover 3DMark05, a few games and a variety of settings and options. The download files have 25 MB (Control Panels) and 33 MB (Control Center).
Albatron has announced a bridge card called ATOP that will allow users to install existing AGP 8x cards in PCI Express mainboards. The company wants to profit from the fact that many users have high-end AGP 8x VGA cards and are, thus, unwilling to migrate to PCI-E boards. Installation is simple: the AGP card is connected to the ATOP adaptor and this is plugged into the mainboard’s PCI-E slot. Pricing and availability were not revealed.
While most makers are going with the Radeon X800 XL for 512 MB VGA cards, GeCube launched a X700 model sporting the same amount of memory (GDDR2). It also includes SilenCool heatpipe cooling technology to reduce noise. The PCI Express Radeon X700 is an eight pixel pipelines part clocked at 400 MHz with 128-bit memory bus. GeCube’s card, dubbed Professional, has VGA, DVI and HDTV-Out connectors.
ABIT today announced the release of its Fatal1ty X800XL video card sporting 512 MB of GDDR3 memory. The PCI Express ATI chip is clocked at 400 MHz and has 16 pixel pipelines. The card adds ABIT technologies such as an exclusive cooler with a 60 mm ball bearing low noise fan and vGuru overclocking tools. Additionally, the company introduced two new Fatal1ty motherboards based on Nvidia’s nForce 4 SLI chipsets for AMD and Intel chips, which allow simultaneous use of multiple video cards.
Chaintech has launched a GeForce 6200 card with AGP 8x interface and an exclusive heat transfer technology based on a large fan and a radiator. This gives the SA62AC OC a unique look and plenty of room for overclocking. The card is rated with core clock of 358 MHz and memory clock of 500 MHz. It is available with 128 MB or 256 MB of DDR memory and includes VGA, DVI-I and HDTV-Out connectors.
Sapphire is one of the first to the market with a Radeon X800 XL card bringing 512 MB of memory. This PCI Express chip from ATI features 16 pixel pipelines, is clocked at 400 MHz and has a 256-bit memory interface. The card sports GDDR3 memory at 1 GHz, VGA, Dual DVI and TV-Out connectors and Trixx overclocking tools.
Users looking for graphic cards sporting 512 MB of memory will have options from a variety of vendors starting this month. ATI has announced the availability of its Radeon X800 XL 512 MB from partners such as ABIT, Connect3D, Gigabyte, HIS, Info-Tek, MSI, Sapphire, Tul and VisionTek. The X800 XL is a 16 pixel pipelines GPU clocked at 400 MHz and sporting 512 MB of GDDR3 memory at 1 GHz. ATI expects cards to cost around USD 449.
VIA’s graphics joint-venture company, S3, is trying to get back in the North American market. The company has begun selling the PCI Express GammaChromeS18 Pro card supporting DirectX 9 and HDTV to american users through its online GStore. Manufacture of the card is done internally and by third partners. More products are expected to be added to the virtual store over the year.
Tul has launched a new Radeon X700 card featuring two distinctive characteristics when compared to products based on the same chip: 128-bit dual-channel GDDR2 memory clocked at 532 MHz and the Silent Cooling System (SCS) heat-pipe solution. The PowerColor Bravo X700 is clocked at 400 MHz and sports eight pixel pipelines, 256 MB of memory and VGA, Dual-DVI and TV-Out connectors. Suggested retail price is USD 160.
XGI technology demonstrated its first PCI Express card, based on the XG47 GPU, this week during IDF Taiwan. It will be sold by partners and XGI itself under the Volari brand. The 130 nm XG47 chip is an entry-level product sporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader 2.0 compatibility. It includes a technology called eXtreme Cache that, just like Nvidia’s TurboCache and ATI’s HyperMemory, offers the capability of sharing the capacity and bandwidth of dedicated video memory and dynamically available system memory. Video features include integrated TV encoder, DVI output up to 2048 x 1536, 3:2 pull-down for movies and LCD overdrive.
Video cards from Sapphire will no longer come with a "fixed" set of games. Sapphire is lauching Sapphire Select, a DVD bundled with their video cards where the user can try and choose the games they want. Each game is playable for up one hour. Then, the user chooses the games he/she wants and an activation code is sent to the user. Sapphire Select also gives the user the opportunity to buy the games that were not not chosen from the bundle for a discounted price.
Sapphire has just released a Radeon X800 XL model with a different kind of fan that produces very low noise. Part of the Ultimate series, this VGA is based on the new PCI Express bus, has 256 MB GDDR3 memory, runs at 400 MHz (core) and 980 MHz (memory) and comes with RedLine overclocking utility from Sapphire. The board also comes with PowerDVD 5.0 and two full games: Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Price of Persia.
Crucial, division of Micron memory, has recently entered the video card market and has just released its Radeon X850 XT VGA, based on the PCI Express bus. With 256 MB of GDDR3 video memory and a list price of US$ 599.99, its specs include 256-bit memory access, core clock of 520 MHz, memory clock of 1.12 GHz, 37.76 GB/s memory bandwidth and 16 pixel processing pipelines.
Tul has just released its PowerColor Radeon X300 SE video card using the HyperMemory technology, that uses part of the system RAM memory as video memory. The X300 SE is the simplest (and cheapest) PCI Express chip from ATI, accessing memory using only 64 bits. The HyperMemory model has only 32 MB of video memory, but it "steals" the rest (96 MB) from the PC main RAM the same way happens with on-board video motherboards. This chip runs at 325 MHz and its target to entry level PCs.
