By EDISON D. ONG
SINGAPORE — "Sight is the primary sense served by computers," said John Taylor, Product and Strategic Communications Director, AMD Graphics Products Group, as he began his technology update and trends on computing and digital graphics products.
He continued, "Entertainment and digital realism is the ultimate visual experience."
While for his part, David Nalasco, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Graphics Products Group, added, "For years CPU (central processing unit) speed drove consumer choice in personal computers (PC), now graphics power and platform design determine the experience. AMD is at the forefront of this shift as the only company that can deliver the perfect balance of processing power."
As they shared their views, the two executives reiterated the availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics processor which expands the visual boundaries of PC entertainment well beyond the 1080P High Definition (HD) threshold.
The industry’s first graphics processor to break the Teraflop (one trillion floating point operations per second) barrier, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 nearly doubles the performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 3870 introduced in November 2007.
Through an elegant yet aggressive design, the 55 nanometer process-based ATI Radeon 3870 X2 combines two ATI Radeon HD 3870s on a single graphics board, connected through integrated CrossFire technology, Nalasco explained.
"ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is also the first performance-leadership graphics product in the world to support Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 10.1 technology," he reported at the AMD South Asia Media Briefing 2008 Technology Update held in Singapore.
The launch made early this year followed on the success of the ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series graphics products, completing a comprehensive portfolio of next-generation 55nm GPUs that deliver unparalleled price, performance and energy efficiency from entry-level to performance-leadership class products.
"PC gaming enthusiasts demand the ultimate in performance and scalability for their HD gaming experience and the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 sets the standard by which all should be compared in this segment," said Bryan Low, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for South Asia, AMD in a press release.
He said through the new product AMD reaffirms its commitment to enthusiast performance leadership and sends a clear message that the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is "the new gold standard of the PC gaming world."
ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE
With the upcoming introduction of Microsoft’s DirectX 10.1 specification, gamers can expect more realistic gaming environments while developers have access to an increased amount of tools and resources to enhance overall image quality.
Through delivering top-to-bottom DirectX 10.1 support, ATI Radeon HD 3000 series users can enjoy a more complete gaming experience now and in the future.
"We’re pleased to see our newest DirectX 10 technology brought to market so soon with the introduction of AMD’s latest enthusiast hardware," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows, Microsoft, also in a press release. "One of the greatest advantages of PC gaming is the rapid pace at which the experiences evolve and improve. ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 delivers on the promise of DirectX 10 gaming with significantly improved visuals and enhanced performance."
Nalasco explained that the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 will also provide support for ATI CrossFireX, the innovative nextgeneration AMD multi-GPU technology designed to support up to four GPUs.
With the launch of ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, AMD continues to support the industry-leading Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and ATI Avivo HD for exceptional platform efficiency and image quality for H.264 and VC-1 high definition content. Enhanced HDMI functionality is also offered via integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video.
The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is the first enthusiast graphics processors to use TSMC’s 55nm process technology. The smooth transition to 55nm has allowed for a 2X increase in performance-per-watt over the previous generation.
Through an elegant board design, the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers exceptional acoustics that are roughly equivalent to a single ATI Radeon HD 3870. When combined with ATI PowerPlay technology, the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers exceptional idle power efficiency with the ability to dynamically raise or lower GPU power depending on the usage scenario.
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