New ATI Products Confirmed: The X Series Line-up
by Derek Wilson on June 1, 2004 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Modular Mobile Technology
ATI is also following suit with NVIDIA and launching a modular PCI Express reference design for notebook OEMs and ODMs. The ATI solution is called "AXIOM", and unlike NVIDIA's MXM module specification, AXIOM does not use a modified SODIMM or other perpendicular connector. Instead, the connector is on the bottom of the module, so there will be a little bit of space between the motherboard and the module (which ATI says will be useable motherboard space).Unlike MXM, ATI isn't pushing for an across-the-board standard, but rather a reference design that manufacturers can pick up and run with in order to shorten time to market. Really, this is the ultimate goal of NVIDIA's MXM as well, but NVIDIA's take on the issue is that the more standard things become, the easier things will be down the road.
Both the AXIOM module and the MXM module can be used with either NVIDIA or ATI GPUs, but ATI is also pushing the idea that AXIOM can be used for different types of PCI Express devices in notebooks. For this to be feasible, there would have to be multiple sized connectors for x1 and x4 PCI Express interfaces (the full x16 interface would just waste space for devices other than graphics), but we haven't seen any of the specs for these connectors yet.
In the end, we feel that modular parts for notebooks will really help the mobile market keep pace with the lastest technology, while allowing for the future possibility of user upgradeable modules as well. If a real standard is to come into play in the future for notebooks, it will need to be a standard agreed upon by all the key players in the industry. Essentially, a Standards body, like the PCI SIG, will have to put some work into the issue. From what we have heard, both ATI and NVIDIA are not opposed to working with a Standards body on modular PCI Express graphics, but both also have their reasons for not having done so yet.
Hopefully, both of these technologies can work together to help motherboard makers get mobile graphics parts out as fast as possible.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
10 Comments
View All Comments
Pumpkinierre - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
Maybe 110nm is just on that limit where present technology allows the usual shrink/power reduction effect to be maintained without all the 90nm problems that really require a rethink to sort out. If that's the case it might be a good overclocker but could suffer from overvoltage or early death.quanta - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
I wonder if anyone even cares about the 130nm X600 part, when they can just overclock 110nm X300 cards. But then again, die shrinks from 130nm to 90nm has given Intel a lot of trouble in the form of voltage leak and heat, I suspect X300 may not be able to run as fast as X600 without generate a lot more heat.Gholam - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
Hmm, do I get it right that there won't be an 8-pipeline PCI-E Radeon? Straight from 4-pipeline X600 to 12-pipeline X800 PRO? Sounds somewhat strange... X800SE anyone?sxr7171 - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
nserra - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
#jcromanoNice explanation, have you used on processors too, like it would be amd 90nm athlon 64 die size?
This is much like digital camera 3mp to 5mp, it's almost the double but if you look at it, you would say it's only 30%/40% bigger. Or ati 160m transitors vs nvidia 222m. Ati is almost "big" but it has less 62m or a radeon 9600 less, funny isn't it?
Cycophant - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
Small spelling mistake on the article intro:"Today, ATI fills out their new X series with three new PCI Express parts based on current __technolgoy__ that we are seeing. "
spikemike - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
I don't believe blacks will look any blacker, you have to remember that the backlight is constant throughout the entire lcd. You can't control the brightness at a single pixel, so if you wanted to make blacks blacker then the whole screen would get darker, making the whites darker too, and in a very low darkness scene, you don't want to lose the black level resolution.vedin - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
Darn..and I was really hoping that the X600 would be a little faster in the core and memory than the 9600XT. Say..550mhz? Honestly, I was hoping for a scaled down X800..so much for wishful thinking.jcromano - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
I believe your claim that "a straight die shrink only accounts for about a 30% increase in space efficiency," found in paragraph 3 of the page titled "X300 Debuts at 110nm," may be in error.I'm not really sure what "space efficiency" is, but you make this claim in contrast to ATI's claim of a 40% increase in transistors per given area.
Assuming that the number of transistors per unit area scales inversely with the square of the (linear) process size, we have:
transistor density = k/d^2
For the old 130nm process, then,
transistor density (old value) = k/130^2.
For the new 110nm process,
transistor density (new value) = k/110^2.
The generally accepted way of presenting a percent increase or decrease is to use the old value as the denominator of the fraction. A formula such as this one would be appropriate:
(new value/old value) - 1
where the result is re-expressed as a percent, and a positive result is interpreted as an increase.
If we plug in, using k/110^2 for the new value (numerator) and k/130^2 for the old value (denominator), and cancel the k's, we get
130^2/110^2 - 1 = .39669 = 39.669%, which is admittedly lower than the 40% claimed by ATI, but close enough for me.
ducsauce - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - link
I wonder if ATI will put out an All-in-wonder version of the x800 some time this year. The AIW 9800 pro is not going to keep up for long.