Rage Fury MAXX Rage Fury MAXX The Answer

Rage Fury MAXX™

Rage Fury MAXX™ The Answer to today’s 3 D dilemma High performance AND High quality AND Universal application acceleration

3 D Tradeoff • The classic hardware trade-off – Speed (Frame Rates) – vs. Quality (Resolution, Color Depth, Texture Size) – vs. Scene Complexity (Triangle Count) • Software community lag Creates user confusion and frustration

Why High Resolution Gaming? • Increased realism – Flight sims, FPS’s, sports – High resolution eliminates jaggies and need for antialiasing • Improved playability – Strategy games • View larger fields in greater detail – Flight sims, FPS, sports • Able to see finer detail and respond earlier • Increased Satisfaction – Enjoy better “eye candy”

Traditional Solutions • • 3 D pipe parallelism Faster engine clocks Higher memory bandwidth More of the 3 D Pipe - e. g. T&L Each of these options have advantages and limitations

3 D Pipe Parallelism • Setup engine – More triangles per second • Rendering engine – Multiple pipes, single pass multi-texturing – More rendered pixels per second • Both result in larger dies • Implications – Decreased yield due to larger die – Increased complexity lowers clock speeds – Process technology limits cost effective die size

Faster Engine Clocks • Design for 150+ MHz increases engine throughput (triangles and pixels) – Decreased yield at speed – Limits ASIC complexity – Process technology limits cost effective engine speeds • Simpler architectures are easier to push

Higher Memory Bandwidth • Design for higher speed memories increases rendering bandwidth – 166 MHz or faster SDRAM or DDR SDRAM • Enables high frame rates at high resolutions • Implications – More costly memory – More exotic memories not in mass production – Lower ASIC yield (as for higher engine clocks)

More Pipeline - T&L • Offload CPU with Transform and Lighting acceleration on ASIC • Increases scene complexity through higher supportable triangle count • Implications – Larger die - lower yield – Higher complexity - lower speed in a given technology (. 18 micron is where it becomes viable) – Must wait 8 -12 months for software to take advantage of this

The ideal gaming solution would • Support higher resolutions and color depths for games over the next 12 months with • A balanced approach to – – Clock speeds (memory and engine) ASIC size Parallelism Transparent software support • . 25 micron technology for high quality, high volume production

The solution. . . ATI MAXX™ (Multiple ASIC) Technology

Mass Market Multiple Chip Processing Techniques • 3 Dfx’s Scan Line Interleave (SLI) • Metabyte/Wicked 3 D Parallel Graphics Configuration (PGC) • ATI’s MAXX™ (Multiple ASIC) Technology

Scan Line Interleave (SLI) Issues • Required specific chip design • No AGP support • Sychronization delays • ASIC’s cannot work ahead (inefficient design) • No DAC calibration

Parallel Graphics Configuration (PGC) - Split Frame Rendering Issues • Bus imbalance (PCI vs. AGP) • Imbalanced load – Scene complexity in top half typically lower than bottom • ASIC’s cannot work ahead • Image tearing • No DAC calibration

Software Community Lag • Software community lags hardware – – API support and game engine develop lags Optimizations unique to each chip Reduces ISV development and support cost User unable to realize full acceleration capabilities (eg. geometry) • User and channel confusion with 3 D software support

AURORA Project Goals • Develop a patentable technology that demonstrates ATI’s technology and performance leadership • Using multiple (2) current ATI ASICS • on a single AGP board • With transparent support for Open. GL and D 3 D applications • Architecture that supports future ATI ASICS

“Difficult” Problems • • • “Bridgeless” Design Driver transparency Frame/texture/rendering management Page flip synchronization DAC calibration Efficient use of each ASIC Desire for a simple, quality design that could be leveraged with future ASIC’s

Block Diagram 32 MB SDRAM RAGE 128 PRO GL DB-15 RGB out RAGE 128 PRO GL

ATI Multiple ASIC Technology Patent Pending Each engine renders alternate frames Engine rendering load is cut in half Engine rendering capacity is doubled

MAXX™ Performance • Alternates frame rendering between ASICs for a very efficient use of resources - each frame does half the work • Render ahead if required -- engines do not have to wait for each other as is the case with SLI and split frame techniques • Can be fully decoupled for single ASIC software and OS compatibility

Performance Con’t • High fill rate, 500 Mpixels/sec • Superior memory bandwidth: 4 GB/sec • Run full speed in 32 bpp hi-res modes with large 64 MB (dual 32 MB configuration) • Performance achieved with standard, readily available production parts

3 D Community Lag RAGE FURY MAXX™ accelerates all D 3 D and OGL applications – No changes needed to games – Accelerates past, current and future generations of applications – ATI drivers split rendering and display activity without software invention

Target Market • High-end gamer who is passionate about: – – – – Frame rate (speed, power) Game optimization Frame buffer size Benchmarks Resolution Maximum visual stimulation Latest games

Rage 128 Pro Advantages • Rage Fury MAXX™ operates like a Rage Fury Pro in 2 D mode – – Stable, high volume quality Superior 2 D performance Leadership Video features and quality Integrated HW DVD

Key Selling Features • FASTEST Game Frame Rates Today – Multiple ASIC technology and true colour rendering performance for ultimate speed • High Resolution, True Color Display • 64 MB memory – for photo realistic game play with massive textures · ATI MAXX™ Technology

Rage Fury MAXX™ Strengths • 32 bit true color for highest quality – Multitexturing requires 32 bpp in order to avoid color banding or flat washed out colors – Highly realistic blending and lighting effects – Quality without a compromise in frame rates • High fill rates (> 500 megapixels/sec. ) required for rendering at true color, 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 resolution • Ideal for high resolutions and high color depth

Limitations • Performance benefits reduced below 1024 x 768 resolution compared to single ASIC solutions • 64 MB is configured as two 32 MB frame buffers • 2 nd ASIC does not assist 2 D performance

ATI Rage Fury MAXX™ vs. Ge. FORCE 256 The MAXX™ advantage: • Faster performance especially in 32 bit mode • More memory for the same price as opposed to less memory with T&L. Games require higher fill rates in high resolution and not much from geometry.

The Future • More driver performance enhancements • Possible higher clock speeds • Future ASICs on MAXX™ platform ATI MAXX™ Technology will continually provide the leading edge gamer with the best game experience