ATI Radeon Xpress 200: Performance, PCI Express & DX9 for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on November 8, 2004 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Radeon Xpress Family
The RX480/RS480 is the first ATI chipset for AMD. It is also the first ATI chipset available as a discrete chipset. Previous ATI chipsets have concentrated on integrated graphics for the Intel platform.
While the previous ATI chipsets brought interesting integrated graphics to the Intel platform, the performance never really threatened Intel's domination of the Pentium 4 chipset market. Without truly competitive performance as a chipset, there was no real reason for a discrete ATI chipset solution for Intel, although each generation of the ATI chipset for Intel brought more competitive performance. ATI firmly believes that RX480 for Athlon 64 has broken through the performance barrier, bringing competitive or better performance to Athlon 64.
To understand the current ATI lineup better, you need to take a closer look at how they will be branded and sold.
Radeon Xpress is ATI's name for the new PCI Express chipsets. The 480 series is aimed at AMD Athlon 64 and the future 400 series will bring ATI PCI Express to Intel. The current introduction is the A64 chipsets, with the chipsets for Intel targeted for the beginning of 2005. ATI believes clearly that there is a better market for AMD A64 solutions right now, which is why they have concentrated on the chipsets for AMD.
RX480 and RS480 are identical except for integrated graphics. RX480, called Radeon Xpress 200P, is the discrete Athlon 64 solution for PCI Express graphics cards. RS480, marketed as Radeon Xpress 200G, adds integrated DX 9 graphics to the 480 core. Both RX480 and RS480 are currently combined with the SB400 Southbridge.
The RX480/RS480 Northbridge supports dual or single channel DDR memory, PCI Express x16 for graphics, and up to 4 PCIe x1 slots. It is interesting that communication between North and South bridges (RX480/SB400) is handled by 2 additional lanes of PCI Express. This bring the total PCI Express lanes to 22. Communication with the CPU is available over a 1GHz (1000MHz) Hyper Transport. RS480 adds integrated DX9 graphics with both VGA and DVI outputs.
The current SB400 south bridge supports 8 USB 2.0 ports, 4 SATA 150 drives, 4 ATA-133 drives, PCI 8-channel AC '97 audio, and up to 5 PCI slots. SATA drives can be combined in RAID 0 and 1 configurations, but RAID 0+1 is not currently supported. The 2-chip design allows ATI to upgrade features just by using a new Southbridge. For instance, an SB450 Southbridge supporting High Definition audio appears on the ATI roadmaps. The SB450 should be available in early 2005.
Optional Integrated Graphics - Radeon Express 200G adds ATI's first DirectX 9 integrated graphics, which can be supported by both DVI (digital) and VGA (analog) outputs. The graphics core is a modified version of the discrete Radeon X300 core with only two rendering pipelines instead of four. Since the logic core is identical on RX480 and RS480, PCIe x16 support is also available. Graphics outputs from both internal and external graphics can be combined in ATI SurroundView.
LAN - The Radeon Express 200 series does not provide integrated LAN in the chipset. ATI claims that integrated Gigabit LAN offers no performance or cost advantage compared to Gigabit LAN supported by the PCI Express bus. PCI Express Gigabit LAN can deliver bi-directional 500MB/s total bandwidth per device. Gigabit or 10/100 Ethernet can be supported by the Northbridge PCI Express bus or the Southbridge PCI bus. This should allow manufacturers the option to implement LAN for top performance or for lowest cost.
SLI - ATI claims that this PCI Express 20-lane design is capable of supporting dual PCIe x8 slots for combining 2 graphics cards in an SLI configuration. Plans are already in place at ATI for an SLI version of RX480 to be introduced in early 2005.
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ImJacksAmygdala - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Good job Wesley and Anandtech staff, very nice article! Thanks for answering all the questions Wesley...Things are really heating up for AMD64 chipsets... I might just have to wait for Q1 2005, but then dual core CPUs will be the rage of rumor and HL2 is right around the corner ARGH!!!!!!
I might just bite the bullet and pull the trigger on an AMD64 3500+ with a Nforce4 or ATI chipset this holiday season because I really can't run HL2.... I cannot continue to wait for the next best thing. I have been waiting to upgrade since dual DDR was just a rumor... LOL!
xsilver - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Are these going to be shipping mainly for s754 or s939? I think determining factor will be price, cheaper than nforce 4 ultra? isnt that going to be $150+? I think they need to get closer to $100 for any serious challenges..Penty - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
I don't know, I still want Tyan's new dual Opteron with dual SLI board.http://my.so-net.net.tw/brandon640410/NF41/004.JPG
Zebo - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Nice article. But I'm afraid, like the out-standing SiS ref board, these may never see light of day but in budget off brand products like ECS, FOXCONN, MATSONIC etc nVidia just seems to dominate the enthusiast sector.:(Wesley Fink - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
#29 - A new Sounthbridge, called SB450, is due to debut the first of the year. It will feature High-Definition audio and other updates.RAID - Here is the reply from ATI regarding RAID on the Rx480/SB400:
"Your Raid answers are as follows:
Our Raid implementation will support up to 8 SATA devices. This is limited by ODM implementing appropriate amount of SATA channels on pcb.
1) Currently SB400 supports RAID on SATA, not on IDE (PATA).
2) IDE cannot be combined with SATA in RAID. Limited to SATA only.
3) We only support RAID 0 and RAID 1.
4) We do support hot swap for RAID 1. We can replace the failed hard disk and rebuild a new driver in RAID 1"
The review will be updated.
keitaro - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Here's a hardware question for you folks. Given that SLI is becoming more and more of an option, I'd like to know if the scenerio I thought up can be possible. Also, a general question is "What can a HyperTransport link be used? Is it specifically a link from CPU to north/south-bridge or is it a general link for general access?"The above question will basically determine if the scenerio I thought of is possible. Basically have a HT link big enough for an additional chip where it supports additional PCI Express lanes for 1x, 2x, or 4x slots. I see current chipsets designed with 20 lanes, or in ATi's case 22 lanes, and it got me to wondering if such a scenerio is truly possible that a full dual 16x instead of dual 8x can be a reality. If you can explain or answer this, that'll be great.
mctmcpoop - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
The main problem of the ATI chipset will be the compatibility of south bridge ... Their south bridge sucks and that's why some of the RS350 motherboard use ULI south bridge instead of their solution ...http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/radeon-xpress...
You can check with the USB performance ... That can be called the most worst that I have ever seen ... And we still do not know if there is any compatibility issue of the USB interface unless there is a lot of ATI chipset based retail board hit the market …
And a preview board of chipset vendor is nothing important ... Where is the highly phrased SiS 755/755FX chipset based and good quality motherboard we can buy ? Sometimes there is something inside the chipset that we can reveal from the demo board if all the motherboard maker does not have the solution …
Anyway , time will tell …
FinalFantasy - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
#27 I doubt ATI is doing that. If the mobo's that ship are noticealbe different (performance wise) from the one's ATI are sending out for review, I know that there will be a huge backlash from the hobbyist community and ATI knows this.blckgrffn - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Is no one else suspicious that ATI shipped out hand picked, thouroughly tested MOBO's that may not be representative of shipping boards? I will wait until I see a review of boards using this chipset in the future before I make up my mind.FinalFantasy - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Wow...ATI really stepped it up with their new chipset and integrated graphics solutions. This chipset should really give nVidia's NF4 a run for it's money. Also I agree w/#22...let's see some HDD performance benchies and what about an integrated software firewall or on-board RAID controller (article says similar to NF4's "Any-Drive")...how do these components compare to NF4's or does ATi's chipset even have them.I know I was skeptical about ATI coming out with an A64 chipset, but they've really gone above and beyond what I've expected with their "first" board. I am VERY impressed with their OC'ing performance.
I don't want to say that this new chipset is the best thing since sliced bread (I'm sure nVidia has a response to ATI's chipset in the works), but when it comes time to buy my 90nm A64 rev E0, ATI looks like they might have my business/money/whatever the hell you want to call it ;D.