This journal paper is in purpose to give an overview on the graphic card that being used in most of our laptop or computer, that is ATI RADEON graphic card. This paper will describe on ATI RADEON technology, its functionality and the availability of the card in our changing technology environmenty. Most computer users sometimes did'nt noticed that what device that upgrade or improve the image appearance on their computer monitor or screen display. Thus, by observing this paper, we will know what is graphic card is and its important function/task being done in our computer.
Graphic card is an expansion card whose function is to generate output images to a display. It is a piece of hardware being installed in a computer (motherboard) and responsible for rendering the image on computer's monitor or display screen. Many graphic card offer added function, such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphic, video capture, TV-Tuner adapter, MPEG-2/MPEG4 decoding, FireWire, TV output or the ability to connect multiple monitor. Other modern high performance cards are used for more graphically demanding purpose such as PC gaming.
When deals with graphic card, it is important to consider on these two main issues. First is to be sure it is capable to display the best resolution that the monitor can support. For LCD monitors this means supporting the native resolution. CRT do not have a native resolution, even if the CRT monitor will be frequently used at lower resolutions. Second thing is about on-board memory. A graphic card must work very hard in order to render images to the screen. Unlike text
files, graphic images are much larger files consisting of great amounts of data must be processed by the graphic card. A faster graphic card has its own memory chips to perform this function is to assure it does not interrupt upon the system's random access memory (RAM). Less robust graphics cards will have less memory and thus have to sharing system RAM to process the images.
Actually, it depends on the primary purpose of the computer and on the amount of system RAM present. Thus, it is doesn't means that a graphic card with shared memory will be unsatisfactory. this is because, more system RAM is better if it will be shared, but for gaming, movies editor, and multimedia purpose, it is necessary to add on a graphic card with resident memory.
Graphic processing unit (GPU) is a chip which is similar to the CPU. GPU on the graphic cards process data in parallel line , known as 'pipelines'. The more pipelines in graphic card indicates that it can perform faster rate in data processing. some cards also will have dual GPUs for any additional performance Since graphic card work hard, they then generate heat. For this reasons, most high-performance graphic card will utilize built-in-fan. however, there are also available for high-performance which do not have fan, where this card use heat syncs to pull heat away from GPU
Installing a graphic card is very easy. External ports on the card can allow an additional monitor to be plugged in for gaming of for advanced graphic displays that can be spread across two monitors. In addition, graphic card also might have 'S-Video Out' port which be used to send the signal to a television or any High Definition Multimedia Interface port.
2.0 ATI RADEON HISTORY
AMD Radeon or also formerly known as a ATI Radeon is one of a popular brand of graphics processing units (GPU) .This brand is exists in a market since 2000 which is has been manufactured by ATI Technologies company . In their Rage line AMD and is the successor of their family. There are divide by four different groups that will be differentiated by the DirectX generation that they were support. Instead, it also can be following by more specific distinctions such as the he number of pixel pipelines, hyperZ version, and lastly is the memory and processor clock speeds. Previously the brands were known as "ATI Radeon" but it is only until August 2010. Here, it was renamed in order to create a unified brand image. The AMD Graphics Product Group is a fables semiconductor company which is conducting in-house research, development, outsourcing the manufacturing and assembly of its products. This company directly competes with NVIDIA's GeForce by the flagship product and the Radeon series of graphics cards. The markets are dominance with these two companies' and they forced other manufacturers into niche roles. The first combination of 2D and 3D accelerator under the name 3D Rage were introduced by ATI. Based on the Mach 64 this chip was built, but it featured with elemental of 3D acceleration. The ATI Rage line is powered in the entire range of ATI graphics products. The Rage Pro is the first viable '2D-plus-3D' alternatives to '3Dfx's-3D' Voodoo chipset. In the year of 1999, from the basic functionality 3D acceleration in the Rage line advanced within the initial 3D Rage to a more advanced DirectX 6.0. In the year in 1996, by introducing 3D-graphics acceleration to laptops, ATI made an entrance into the mobile computing sector. The Mobility of product line have to meet are customer requirements different from desktop PC like minimized power usage while using the pc, helps reduced heat output, for laptop screens TMDS output capabilities and maximized integration. The Radeon graphics processing unit was design with DirectX 7.0 3D acceleration, video acceleration, and 2D acceleration. Technology were developed similarly for a specific Radeon generation , in order to provide products suited for the entire market range, from high-end to budget to mobile versions it is also can be built in varying levels of features and performance
2.1 HISTORY OF RADEON PROCESSOR GENERATION
History of Radeon processor generation starts with the first were introduced in 2000 is an ATI's first graphics processor which is to be fully DirectX 7 compliant. Through the new HyperZ technology, R100 brought large gains in bandwidth and fill-rate efficiency. These models also included Radeon SDR, DDR, LE (DDR) and 7000/VE. Next, introduced in 2001 is an ATI's graphics processor which is to be DirectX 8 compliant. RV200 consists with initial programmable vertex shader support and features on chip DDR memory controller. The only release was the Radeon 7500. The radeon second generation ATI's is designed and included the first programmable pixel shader architecture and introduced the more advanced pixel shader 1.4 of ATI's. It was Radeon 8500-9200, and 9250 included in this package. Released in 2002 is ATI's DirectX 9.0 technology which is incorporated pixel shader. The Radeon X300-X600, 9500-9800, and X1050 were included in this generation. Upon this processor are heavily based upon the previous generation. Furthermore, these lines are included by an extension to the Shader Model 2 feature-set. The specification of an ATI and Microsoft defined with this generation Shader Model 2b. Shader program flexibility it also offered and it is used in Radeon X700-X850. Launched in October 2005 with complete Shader Model 3.0 support is an ATI's DirectX 9.0c series of graphics cards. The number of enhancements including the floating point render target technology necessary for HDR rendering with anti-aliasing this series is brought. include X1300-X1950 the Cards is released .it is the last graphics cards released with the prefix 'X' which is the new cards use the prefixes 'HD', known as 'R'. Supporting to the Direct3D 10.0 specification and the company's second graphics solution to employ unified shader technology known as ATI's first series of ATI Radeon GPUs . This were Releases include of the HD 2400, HD 2600 and HD 2900. Known as the HD 3000 series, with a die shrink there is an also product supporting DirectX 10.1. This graphics are mostly Based on the R600 architecture. Support for the high-end RV770 and RV740 (HD4770) chips is a bolstered card with many more stream processors and also with improvements to power consumption and GDDR5 s. at June 2008 this graphics card are launchings to the market. Both, respectively the HD 4850 and HD 4870 have 800 stream processors and GDDR3 and GDDR5 memory.
3.0 ATI RADEON GRAPHICS CARDS
The ATI Radeon with all the latest features of HD 4000 series graphics cards always delivers the performance that we need to give our high-definition in getting a best experience to the next step level at our home. ATI Radeon graphics card are consist of many types such as:
Desktop Graphics
ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series graphic
AMD Radeon HD 6000 series
ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series graphics
ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series graphics
ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series
ATI Radeon for Mac®
Notebook Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 Series Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5165 Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2000 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5800 Series Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5700/HD 5600 Series Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145 Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon X1000 Series
Professional Graphics
ATI FireGL 3D Professional Graphics
ATI FirePro 3D Professional Graphics
ATI FirePro Multi-View
Embedded Graphics
ATI Radeon E2400 MXM-II Module
ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics Board
ATI Radeon E2400 Discrete GPU
ATI Radeon E4690 Discrete GPU
ATI Radeon E4690 MXM V3.0 Module
ATI Radeon E4690 PCI-Express Board
ATI Radeon E2400 PCI Express® Board
Graphics Technologies
AMD EyeSpeed Technology
AMD Eyefinity
ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 Graphics Card is one of the product of the ATI Radeon and also the latest addition to the award winning line up ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 Graphics Card.
It can deliver a state-of-the-art HD multimedia1 and game experience at a value price.
It is cutting-edge technology for today's software. The ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 graphics card offers great performance, allowing users to get the true Windows® 7 experience5 with full DirectX® 11 support, for less than USD $605 for a 512MB memory configuration.
It also expanded productivity with multi-display technology. The featuring support for ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor technology, the ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 graphics card helps users be more productive in today's visually rich applications by expanding their on-screen real estate, putting more information at their fingertips.
One of the features for ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 Graphics Card is Silent running. It offering leading-edge performance per watt, the ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 redefines entry level performance and ultra-low power consumption, making it possible for AIB partners to deliver passive cooling models to market in addition to whisper-quiet, single slot fan-cooled versions.
The other features are rich HD multimedia experience. Home theater buffs will particularly appreciate the ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 graphics product. This passively-cooled, ultra-quiet card is a home theater PC builder's dream, enabling high quality, high-definition home theater experiences6. The home theater experience is enriched with features such as HDMI 1.3a with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for the ultimate media PC.
Figure 1: ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450
There are some specifications for ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 Graphics Card. It has 292 million 40nm transistors, TeraScale 2 Unified Processing Architecture with 80 Stream Processing Units, 8 Texture Units, 16 Z/Stencil ROP Units and 4 Color ROP Units.
Below is the speed and feeds for the ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 Graphics Card:
Engine clock speed: 650 MHz
Processing power (single precision): 104 GigaFLOPS
Polygon throughput: 650M polygons/sec
Data fetch rate (32-bit): 20.8 billion fetches/sec
Texel fill rate (bilinear filtered): 5.2 Gigatexels/sec
Pixel fill rate: 2.6 Gigapixels/sec
Anti-aliased pixel fill rate: 10.4 Gigasamples/sec
Memory clock speed: 400 MHz DDR2 and up to 800 MHz DDR3
Memory data rate: 0.8 Gbps DDR2 and up to 1.6 Gbps DDR3
Memory bandwidth: 6.4 GB/sec (DDR2) and up to 12.8 GB/sec (DDR3)
Typical power: 19.1Watts
ATI Eyefinity Technology can support up to 3 displays using a single enabled ATI Radeonâ„¢ graphics card - the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase. ATI Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPortâ„¢ connectors, and/or certified DisplayPortâ„¢ adapters to convert your monitor's native input to your cards DisplayPortâ„¢ or Mini-DisplayPortâ„¢ connector(s), are required. Digital management rights restrictions may apply.
There is also another type of ATI Radeon graphic card. The ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5970 delivers an unrivaled HD gaming experience that can play the latest, most demanding HD titles like never before.2
Figure 2: ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5970
ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5670 graphics processors offer best-in-class performance and features with complete DirectX® 11 support and the world's most advanced graphics, display and memory technologies.
Figure 3: ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5670
ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5570 graphics card offers the most features and functionality in its class. This graphics cards provides a multi-purpose graphics solution for maximum versatility.
Figure 4: ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5570
4.0 MAIN COMPETITORS
Due to the high performance of video card market, ATI Technology has the main competitor which is Nvidia. For ATI produce the Radeon and for Nvidia has GeForcelines. These two companies dominance of the market forced other manufacturers into niche roles. Both of the company sharing 90% of the independent graphics card market. Because of the low performance, Intel which is the leading manufacturer in total volume of video solutions, but it chipsets are not presently incorporated on discrete video cards.
4.1 ATI vs Nvidia
Nvidia is the company which have the specializes in the development of graphics processing units and chipset technologies for workstations, personal computer, and mobile devices and has become a major supplier of integrated circuit (ICs), designing processing units (GPUs) and chipsets used in graphics cards, in personal-computer motherboards, and in video game consoles. The community of computer users arguably has come to know Nvidia best for its "GeForce" product line, which consists of both a complete line of discrete graphics chips found in AIB (add-in board) video cards and core graphics technology used in nForce motherboards, tha Microsoft Xbox game console, and Sony's Playstation 3 game console. Both TI and Nvidia create reference designs (circuit board schematics) and provide manufacturing samples to their board partners, as part of their operations. However, unlike ATI, Nvidia does not sell graphics boards into the retail market, instead of focusing on the development of GPU cards chips.
The early history of graphics on the PC saw 3D cards like Nvidia's RIVA 128 and TNT2 take on ATI's Rage and Rage 128. But it was Nvidia who presaged the modern GPU (graphics processing unit) with the mighty GeForce 256 in 1999. It was the first graphics chip with hardware transform and lightning capabilities and it was fast. ATI responded in 2000 with the Radeon graphics card. But in 2002 ATI turned the tables with the awesome Radeon 9700 Pro. The first GPU with fully programmable shaders, the 9700 Pro was massively more powerful than any graphics chip before. It took until early 2003 for Nvidia to respond with the ill-fated GeForce 5800 Ultra, a GPU that never lived up to expectations. It was back on form a year late with the GeForce 6800 series. There are recents types of Nvidia graphics card:
N470GTX Twin Frozr II
‧Powered by NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 470
‧448 CUDA cores
‧1280MB GDDR5 Memory
‧Military Class Components
‧Twin Frozr II Thermal Design
‧Over voltage function of GPU by Afterburner
‧3DVision Surround technology
‧3-way NVIDIA SLI® Technology
‧NVIDIA PhysX & NVIDIA CUDA™ Technology
‧MSI Live Update online
2) N460GTX Hawk
‧Powered by NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460
‧336 CUDA cores
‧1024MB GDDR5 Memory
‧World's 1st Triple Overvoltage
‧7+1 Phase PWM Design
‧Military Class Components
‧Twin Frozr II Thermal Design
‧3DVision Surround technology
‧3-way NVIDIA SLI® Technology
‧NVIDIA PhysX & NVIDIA CUDA™ Technology
‧MSI Live Update online
3) N460GTX Cyclone 1GD5/OC
‧Powered by NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460
‧336 CUDA cores
‧1024MB GDDR5 Memory
‧Military Class Components
‧Cyclone Thermal Design
‧Over voltage function of GPU by Afterburner
‧3DVision Surround technology
‧3-way NVIDIA SLI® Technology
‧NVIDIA PhysX & NVIDIA CUDA™ Technology
‧MSI Live Update online
4.2 ATI and Nvidia Graphics Card Comparison Tables
