| Q1: |
What is a Radeon graphics card and
what chipset does it use? |
| A1: |
Radeon™ graphics cards (Radeon™ 64MB DDR with video-input
and video-output, Radeon™ 64MB Radeon 32MB DDR and Radeon™ 32MB SDR) are
ATI's high performance graphics solution for performance oriented consumer
and commercial platforms. Radeon™ graphics cards are powered by ATI's Radeon™
Graphics Processing Unit or GPU. The Radeon™ GPU performs TCL (Transformation,
Clipping and Lighting) calculations faster than any CPU or 3D graphics chip
on the market. The graphics cards also offer more 3D features that translate
into better visual quality and greater performance leadership. For more
information on ATI's Radeon™ please check out Technical Specifications section
in the Radeon™ web showcase.
|
| Q2: |
What are the available
configurations for Radeon™ graphics boards? |
| A2: |
| Configurations |
Available in |
| Radeon™ with
64MB of DDR memory-Video In and Video Out, AGP 4X/2X |
Retail and Multi-Pack |
| Radeon™ with
64MB of DDR memory-AGP 4X/2X |
Multi-Pack |
| Radeon™ with
32MB of DDR memory-AGP 4X/2X |
Retail and Multi-Pack |
| Radeon™ with
32MB of SDR memory-PCI (retail) or AGP 4X/2X |
Retail and Multi-Pack |
|
| Q3: |
What are the new 3D features released
in Radeon™ graphics boards? |
| A3: |
New features released in Radeon™ graphics cards include:
- Charisma Engine™
- On- board Transformation, Clipping and Lighting
- 4 Matrix Vertex Skinning
- Keyframe Interpolation
- Pixel Tapestry™ ARCHITECTURE
- Environment Mapped Bump Mapping (EMBM)
- Dot Product 3 bump mapping
- 3D Textures
- Cubic Environment Mapping
- Dual Paraboloid Environment Mapping
- Shadow Mapping
- The Charisma Engine™ is accelerated to provide better
performance across all CPU's and is highly optimized supporting a
high number of lights and polygons in complex scenes. Pixel Tapestry™
architecture provides advanced multitexturing support and blending
operations for more realistic effects.
|
| Q4: |
What is the benefit
of 64MB of memory over 32MB of memory? |
| A4: |
Although 32MB of local graphics memory is enough for most
games and applications, the 64MB of memory found in Radeon 64MB DDR allows
you to run the most extensive games and applications at high resolutions
true color mode and still have enough local memory for abundant texture
storage.
|
| Q5: |
Do the Radeon™ graphics
boards support AGP4X? |
| A5: |
Yes. Radeon™ offers full AGP 4X implementation for 1GB/sec
data transfer rate, sideband addressing, pipelining and AGP texturing support.
AGP 2X operation is also supported for systems / motherboards which do not
offer 4X compatibility.
|
| Q6: |
What is the DAC speed?
|
| A6: |
The DAC frequency is 350MHz.
|
| Q7: |
Is there a PCI version of Radeon™?
|
| A7: |
Yes, there is a PCI version of the 32MB SDR board.
|
| Q8: |
Can the on-board-memory
be upgraded? |
| A8: |
No. Radeon™ graphics cards are not memory upgradeable.
|
| Q9: |
What are the differences
between DDR SDRAM and SDR SDRAM memory used in Radeon™
graphics board? |
| A9: |
DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM provides an effective double
memory bandwidth over SDR (Single Data Rate) SDRAM.
|
| Q10: |
What operating systems
do Radeon™ graphics cards support? |
| A10: |
Radeon™ graphics cards currently support Windows® 98 SE,
Windows® Me, Windows® 2000 and Windows® NT 4.0.
|
| Q11: |
Does ATI develop
drivers for alternate operating systems such as LINUX?
|
| A11: |
Although ATI does not develop drivers for alternate operating
systems in-house, drivers are available from 3rd party developers for the
majority of ATI products. ATI actively supports these developers.
For more information on ATI's support of alternate operating systems, please
see the 'Alternate OS Development Resources' section at http://www.ati.com/developer/index.html.
|
| Q12: |
Are these products
PC 99 and PC 01 compliant? |
| A12: |
Yes. All Radeon™ graphics boards are compliant with PC
99 and PC 01 specifications.
|
| Q13: |
What is the recommended
system? |
| A13: |
For optimal performance, we recommend an AGP 4X system
(AGP 2.0 compliant) with a Pentium® III, Celeron® II or Athlon® processor.
Radeon™ boards will also function in AGP 2X system (AGP 1.0 compliant),
and with Pentium® II, Celeron® I and AMD K6-2® processors. Performance and
compatibility may vary based on processor and motherboard.
|
| Q14: |
Will my new motherboard
work with Radeon™? |
| A14: |
Radeon™ AGP complies with AGP 2.0 and PCI 2.2 specifications
and should therefore work with most motherboards that also comply to these
specs. Many modern motherboards require AGP drivers to be installed in order
for AGP to be supported. These drivers are generally shipped with the motherboard.
Contact your motherboard supplier for updates.
|
| Q15: |
Which monitors do
Radeon™ graphics boards support? |
| A15: |
Radeon™ graphics boards provide support for DDC1/DDC2B+
compliant Plug and Play monitors.
|
| Q16: |
Does Radeon™ support
monitors with a 16:9 aspect ratio? |
| A16: |
Yes, including 1920 x 1080 and 848 x 480 on Windows® 98,
Windows® Me, and Windows® 2000. The complete list of resolutions depends
on the driver version and operating system. Please note that resolutions
are limited by the performance of the attached monitor.
|
| Q17: |
Do Radeon™ boards
support audio capture? |
| A17: |
The Radeon™ 64MB DDR VIVO (video-in/video-out) video capture
software is capable of capturing audio when used in combination with the
system sound card. . While All-in-Wonder® Radeon™ products allow you to
pass through audio from an external source (e.g. camcorder or VCR) for convenience,
all sound capture is performed by the sound card in your machine. For more
information on this product, please see the All-in-Wonder® family FAQs.
|
| Q18: |
Does the Radeon™
64MB with video-in and video-output support PAL I, B/G,
DK, M, N, and SECAM L, D, K? |
| A18: |
A PAL edition of the Radeon™ 64MB VIVO supports the following:
For Video Output - PAL I, B/G, DK, M, N
For Video Input - PAL I, B/G, DK, M, N and SECAM L, D, K
|
| Q19: |
What capture formats
are supported on Radeon 64 VIVO™ graphics card? |
| A19: |
| Operating
System |
Capture Format supported |
| Windows®'98 SE |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 |
| Windows® Millennium
Edition |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 |
| Windows® 2000 |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 |
|
| Q20: |
Can I use my ATI-TV
WONDER™ with a Radeon™ graphics card? |
| A20: |
Yes, the ATI-TV WONDER™ card makes an excellent companion
product to Radeon™ graphics cards. These products together provide top of
class 2D/3D and video graphics with multimedia features which include TV-Viewing,
still and full motion capture and intelligent TV features including closed
captioning.
|
| Q21: |
I have an older ATI-TV
card, which attaches to my graphics board with a ribbon
cable. Can I use this tuner with a Radeon™ product?
|
| A21: |
A Radeon™ graphics card does not have the AMC or VIP feature
connector required to attach such a product.
|
| Q22: |
What does ATI mean
when they say that the Radeon™ is "HDTV ready"? What can
a user do with the Radeon™ HDTV decode capability?
|
| A22: |
Radeon™ is capable of decoding all of the HDTV formats
with reduced CPU utilization and of directly driving both analog and digital
high definition displays. Radeon™ achieves its decode capability through
motion compensation and iDCT and without the need for any external hardware.
When Radeon™ is used with the appropriate DTV tuner and DTV demodulator
software, the user will be able to view HDTV on their monitor or TV.
|
| Q23: |
What other hardware
is required to deliver a complete DTV solution? |
| A23: |
To deliver a complete DTV solution, Radeon™ must be used
together with a DTV tuner and DTV demodulator software. At this time, ATI
is not aware of any manufacturers who supply a suitable tuner and/or software
for this purpose. No announcements have been made regarding the sale of
such products by ATI.
|
| Q24: |
Can Radeon™ output
directly to a high definition television? How? |
| A24: |
Component output (also known as YprPb) is the connection
used by Digital TVs. While the Radeon™ chip supports component output, this
feature has not been implemented in our boards at this time.
|
