ATI Technologies |
ATI Technologies Inc. (where ATI is an acronym for Array Technologies Incorporated) is a Canada manufacturer of graphics cards, graphics chips and graphics processing units for personal computers. Founded in 1985, their main headquarters is located in Markham, Ontario, Canada.
= History =
Founded by three Hong Kong-born immigrants, K.Y. Ho, Benny Lau and Lee Lau, it began as an original equipment manufacturer, producing integrated graphics chips for large PC manufacturers like IBM. However, by 1987 it had evolved into an independent graphics card retailer, marketing the EGA Wonder and VGA Wonder graphics cards under its own ATI moniker.
In 1997 ATI acquired Tseng Labs s graphics assets, which included 40 new engineers. In 2000, ATI acquired ArtX, the company that engineered the Flipper graphics chip used in the Nintendo GameCube games console. They have also entered an agreement with Nintendo to create the chip for the successor of the GameCube, codenamed Project Revolution. ATI was contracted by Microsoft to create the graphics chip for Xbox 360. Later in 2005, ATI acquired Terayon s Cable Modem Silicon Intellectual Property cementing their lead in the consumer digital television market ([http://apps.ati.com/ir/PressReleaseText.aspcompid=105421&releaseID=671557 press release]).
Its current President and CEO is David E. Orton (formerly of ArtX). K.Y. Ho remains as Chairman.
= Products =
In addition to developing high-end GPU s ( graphics processing unit , something ATI themselves call VPU for visual processing unit ) for PCs, ATI also designs lite embedded versions for laptops (called Mobility Radeon ), Personal Digital Assistants and mobile phones ( Imageon ), integrated motherboards ( Radeon IGP ), set-top boxes ( Xilleon ) and other technology-based market segments. Thanks to this diverse portfolio, ATI has been traditionally the dominant player in the OEM and multimedia markets.
Currently it is the main competitor of NVIDIA. As of 2004, ATI s flagship product line is the Radeon series of graphics cards which directly compete with those boards using NVIDIA s GeForce graphics chips. As of the 3rd quarter of 2004, ATI represented 59% of the discrete graphic card market, while its primary competitor NVIDIA represented only 37%, but the two commonly trade market share majority, for example 2nd quarter had NVIDIA at 50% and ATI at 46%.
= Graphics chipsets =
This list is incomplete. Major product families are shown below: *EGA / VGA Wonder - IBM EGA/VGA-compatible display adapters (1987) *Mach8 - ATI s first Windows Accelerator (8514 clone) (1991) *Mach32 - VGA-compatible enhanced feature-set accelerator (32bit true-color acceleration) (1992) *Mach64 - one of the first chips with motion-video acceleration (hardware bitmap zoom, YUV->RGB color-conversion)(1994) *All-In-Wonder Series - Recognizable in its modern form from 1996 and unique to ATI, a multimedia video card offering TV tuning, MPEG/DVD acceleration, and 3D gaming on a single card. Several models also include features such as HDTV encoding and digital TV tuning. *Rage3D - ATI s first 3D-accelerator VGA (1996) (later products use a shortened name Rage ) *Rage/Pro - While inferior in 3D-capabilities to the Rendition Verite1000, the Rage/Pro s low cost, robust Windows-GUI acceleration, and hardware DVD-acceleration made the Rage/Pro and its derivatives bestsellers to the OEM market. Rage/Pro was also the first ATI chip to include a triangle setup engine, making it possible to support OpenGL in hardware. *Rage/128 - ATI s first performance+feature competitive 3D-accelerator, best-in-class DVD-playback (1998) *Rage Fury MAXX - Launched 2000, this was ATI s first and only foray into dual-chip videocards. Despite possessing twin Rage 128 Pro processors, it was plagued with driver issues and unexceptional performance. *Radeon Series - Launched in 2000, this is the mainstream ATI 3D gaming consumer card. ATI often produces Pro versions with higher clock speeds, and sometimes an extreme XT version, and even more recently XT P.E. versions.
Upcoming graphics cards (core names) include: R520 Fudo. Boards based on R520 called Raptor (name pending).
Microsoft s Xbox 360 video game console will contain a custom graphics chip produced by ATI. Gauging the performance and feature set of the ATI Xbox 360 graphics core is difficult as there is no direct parallel between the PC part roadmap and the console chip design.
As the ATI Xbox 360 GPU is custom built from the ground up to be used in a console, the chip features may or may not be used in future PC parts. Some of these features include Intelligent Memory a section of on-die memory that has logic built in (192 parallel pixel processors) to do features like anti-aliasing, thereby giving developers effectively anti-aliasing at no performance cost. Another feature of the ATI Xbox 360 GPU is the True Unified Shader Architecture which dynamically load balances pixel and vertex processing (freeing developers from having to fiddle with geometry vs fill balance issues).
= Personal computer platforms / chipsets =
Early north bridge parts produced by ATI included Radeon 320, 340, 7000. Typically these were partnered with a south bridge chip from ALI. They sold in respectable volumes, but never gained enthusiast support.
In 2003 ATI released the [http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/chipsets/display/ati-igp9100.html 9100 IGP], with IXP250 southbridge. It was notable for being ATI s first complete motherboard chipset, including an ATI southbridge, admittedly light on features, but stable and functional. It included an updated Direct-X 8.1 class version of the 8500 core for the integrated graphics, based upon the 9100. Internally, ATI considered it one of their most important product launches.
The RADEON XPRESS 200/200P is ATI s PCI Express-based Athlon 64 and Pentium 4 motherboard. The chipset supports SATA as well as integrated graphics with DirectX 9.0 support, the first integrated graphics chipset to do so. Technically, the XPRESS 200 IGP is based on the X300 core. Integrated into the north bridge, two pixel pipelines operate at a core speed of up to 350MHz, and each one has a single texturing unit.
=Market trends=
ATI was founded in 1985, and in order to survive, initially ended up shipping a lot of basic 2D graphics chips to companies such as Commodore International. The EGA Wonder and VGA Wonder families were released to the PC-market in 1987. Each offered enhanced feature-sets surpassing IBM s own (EGA and VGA) display adapters. May of 1991 saw the release of the Mach8 product, ATI s first Windows accelerator product. Windows accelerators offloaded display-processing tasks which are normally done by the CPU. (In fact, the Mach8 was feature-enhanced IBM 8514/A compatible board.) 1992 saw the release of the Mach32 chipset, an evolutionary improvement over its predecessor.
But it was probably the Mach64 in 1994, powering the Graphics Xpression and Graphics Pro Turbo, that was ATI s first recognizably modern media chipset. Notably, the Mach64 chipset offered hardware support for YUV to RGB color space conversion, in addition to hardware zoom. This effectively meant basic AVI and MPEG-1 playback became possible on PCs without the need for expensive specialist decode hardware. Later the Mach64-VT also allowed for scaling to be offloaded from the CPU. ImpacTV in 1996 went further with 800x600 VGA to TV encoding. ATI priced the product at a point where the user effectively got a 3D accelerator for free.
ATIs first integrated TV tuner products shipped in 1996, recognizable as the modern All-in-Wonder specification. Featuring 3D acceleration powered by ATI s second generation 3D Rage II, 64-bit 2D performance, TV-quality video acceleration, video capture, TV tuner functionality, flicker-free TV-out, and stereo TV audio.
However, while ATI had established a reputation for quality multimedia capable cards popular with OEMs, by the late 1990s consumers began to also expect strong 3D performance, and 3dfx and nVidia were delivering. The first warning was seen with in January 1999 with the All-in-Wonder 128, featuring the Rage 128 GL graphics chip. While the basic 16MB version sold reasonably well, the improved but delayed 32MB version did not, because it lacked 3D acceleration appropriate for its price point. It became clear, if ATI was to survive, the company would have to develop integrated 3D acceleration competitive with the products nVidia was designing.
ATIs first real 3D chip had been the 3D Rage II. The chip supported bilinear and trilinear filtering, z-buffer, and several Direct3D texture blend modes. But the pixel fillrate looked good only next to S3 Graphicss awful VIRGE range, and the feature list looked good only next to the workstation type Matrox Mystique. The 3D Rage Pro released in 1997 improved, offering a fill rate equal to the original 3dfx Voodoo Graphics, and a proper 1.2 M triangle/s hardware setup engine. Single-pass trilinear filtering, combined with a complete texture blending implementation. The Rage Pro sold in volume to OEMS, due to DVD performance and low cost, but was held back by poor drivers. It was only in 1999, almost 2 years after the original launch, the drivers finally came good, delivering a 20-40% gain over the originals. Subsequently ATI learned to better prioritise driver development.
Work on the next generation 128 GL was helped by the acquisition of the Tseng development team in 1997. Designed to compete with the RIVA TNT and Voodoo2, it was notable for an advanced memory architecture, allowed the Rage128 to run in 32-bit color with a minimal performance loss. Unfortunately, at the time most games ran in 16-bit color, where nVidias parts excelled. The RIVA TNT2 came out with improved clock speeds, and the GL quickly became relegated ATI s usual position, of a strong OEM alternative to the market leaders, with outstanding DVD performance, attractive when priced low enough.
The part was updated in April 1999, with the Rage 128 Pro, featuring anisotropic filtering, a better triangle setup engine, and a higher clock rate. The Rage 128 Pro s MPEG-2 acceleration was far ahead of its time, allowing realtime (1920x1080) playback on a Pentium3/600MHz. ATI also ran an experimental project called Project Aurora, marketed as the MAXX technology, consisting of dual Rage 128 Pro chips running in parallel, with each chip rendering alternate frames. Because the MAXX required double the memory, suffered from buggy drivers, and failed to deliver knockout performance, it was not a successful launch. As a result, ATI discontinued multiple chip development for mainstream products.
By this point the pattern seemed fairly clear. ATI were good at producing low end OEM friendly parts, with good 2D features, DVD acceleration, and rounded 3D feature sets. What they had failed to do, was challenge effectively at the high end of the market. So at the Game Developer s Conference in March 2000, developers were curious but generally somewhat skeptical, about a new claimed sixth-generation graphics chip. This was a period when companies often announced products, they then failed to deliver on time, or on spec. However, ATI subsequently demonstrated beta silicon behind closed doors at GDC, and named the product the Radeon 256.
Finally released in 2000, the Radeon core became known in later versions as the 7000 and 7500, reflecting its Direct-X 7 compliant features set. The core established a number of notable firsts, such as a complete DX7 bump mapping implementation (emboss, dot product 3 and EMBM), hardware 3D shadows, hardware per-pixel video-deinterlacing, and a reasonable implementation of many advanced DX8 pixel shader effects. It is fair to say nVidia products of the period delivered greater raw power in terms of fill rates, but ATI started to open up a clear quality and shader performance advantage. Still, it was only the 3 series of Detonator drivers that unlocked an unexpected 20% performance gain, that enabled nVidia to hold onto the performance crown.
ATI proved the Radeon card had not been a one off, by following up with the Radeon 2 (R200) core in 2001, marketed as the 8500. While again it lacked a little in raw power compared to nVidia s offerings, it offered impressive visual quality, strong DirectX 8.1 shader performance, and a rich feature set. As usual with ATI products it proved popular with OEMs, partly because it offered wider motherboard compatibility than nVidia s offerings of the period. Driver support continued to be an area of weakness for ATI, although over time this was considerably improved. The 8500 finally established ATI as a serious performance and feature integrated chipset competitor to nVidia, in a period when other graphics card companies such as 3dfx were going out of business.
The 7000 and 8500 cards were warning shots for nVidia, demonstrating they could not take for granted their dominant market position. But 2002 proved to be the decisive year for ATI, with once again an unexpected introduction of a new Radeon architecture. Designed from the ground up for DirectX 9 operation, the 9700 turned out to be one of the most innovative graphics cards ever released. Furthermore, ATI beat nVidias equivalent part to market by several clear months.
At the same time ATI introduced their branded Catalyst driver suite, which addressed many of the quality, compatibility, and performance concerns raised about previous driver releases. And a decision was taken for core chip technology to be licensed out to third-party Powered by ATI board manufacturers, adopting nVidias business model. All of which together, suddenly put nVidia on the back foot, for the first time since the ill fated NV1 project, to the amazement of the entire industry.
From then onwards, the challenge for ATI became to hold onto their high end advantage, while filtering their technology down to the mid and low end of the market, where the greatest volume sales are made. So ATI refreshed the 9700 to the 9800 Pro in 2003, featuring a small and relatively quiet cooling solution. The 9800 went on to become one of the most popular and best selling enthusiast cards of all time. And in the mid range, the 9600 was introduced with half the number of pixel pipes of the 9800 Pro. At the low end the old Radeon 8500 core was clocked 50 MHz lower to improve manufacturing yields, and called the 9200. Partly because it could be cooled passively, ATI delivered a manufacturing cost advantage over the previous bottom end favorite the GeForce 4 MX. In sum, 2003 was the year ATI started to transition their high end 9700 advantage to the mainstream, and wrest control of the discrete graphics card market away from nVidia.
In 2004, ATI released the RADEON XPRESS 200 motherboard chipset, intended as a direct competitor to the more established nForce motherboard brand of chipsets from arch rival nVidia. The 9700 core finally trickled down into the low end market in the form of the 9550, a cheaper to manufacture 110 nm version of the 9600, clocked down to 250 MHz. The 9550 quickly replaced nVidia s 5200 as the favorite bottom end discrete OEM card, and largely because of this, almost unnoticed ATI completed one of the most surprising turn arounds in recent chip history. According to data from Mercury Research, ATI Technologies market share rose 4% to 27% in the Q3 2004, while nVidia s share dropped 8% to 15% from 23%. Intel s market share rose 1% to 39% in the Q3 2004, holding on to the market number 1 position, although Intel only ships low performance integrated solutions.
In 2005, ATI began shipping the x800 XL PCI-E card, an 110 nm shrink of the x800 core, originally sampled on a 130 nm low-K process. Priced at $100 less than the competing 6800 GT product from nVidia, ATI believe they have once again found a winning balance of performance, features, process technology, and yields. The card runs at 400 MHz, due to the fact a low-K processes not yet perfected for 110 nm etching. The smaller die size, is what enables the competitive pricing. ATI remain confident going forward they have the right blend of features, performance, and manufacturing cost, in their product range.
Due to the release of the Geforce 7 series, Nvidia has become the market leader once again. ATI has recently released a card to compete against the 7 series card with the Radeon X1000 series, that has been critized as having the same power as Nvidia s card, only it came out 4 months later.
=External links=
*[http://www.ati.com/ ATI s official site] *[http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/milestones/CorporateMilestones.pdf ATI: CorporateMilestones.pdf] *[http://www.omegadrivers.net Omega drivers, alternative drivers based on the Catalyst driver suite] *[http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html Tweakguides.com ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide ] *[http://firingsquad.com/features/atihistory/ FiringSquad s History of ATI] *[http://www.rage3d.com/ Rage3D] Major news and discussion forum on all things ATI *[http://www.gmpf.de/index.php/Main_Page wikified HOWTO for ati on linux] *[irc://irc.easynews.com/ati/ ATI s unofficial EFNET support channel] *[http://maps.google.com/mapsll=43.838938,-79.379547&spn=0.003227,0.007216&t=k ATI headquarters at Google Maps]|
|