View Full Version : Bitboys get another BIG deal..
hkultala
17-Sep-2007, 22:35
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=42392
Freescale licenses bitboys's mobile graphics cores from AMD.
and the official pr:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~120703,00.html
hmmh...
Was it just me or Did someone said "Bitboys"?
;)
okay then... my regular one post per year has been done. see you next year!
;)
okay then... my regular one post per year has been done. see you next year!
My god, I had no idea Beyond3D existed in the year 569 :shock:
My god, I had no idea Beyond3D existed in the year 569 :shock:
It's a actually even a bit older, because my post count is missing around 1000 posts... (from the old board and something happened when archive side started.)
and besides... I am quantum leaping right now from the future to missguide you about having more posts per year. ;)
It's not the quantity or size of posts but the quality.
Tell that to Digi eh? :P
Is AMD's (derived from Bitboys design, presumably) dedicated vector processor still a separate IP block or integrated into the new 3D core? Is it licensable both ways?
Is AMD's (derived from Bitboys design, presumably) dedicated vector processor still a separate IP block or integrated into the new 3D core? Is it licensable both ways?
No idea really... G40 had G12 (or older G10) included afaik and I would suppose that you can still license just the OpenVG / SVG accelerator IP block as well (even if there would be integrated 3D core version) just because, the idea of G12 was to be small, cheap SVG accelerator and so to have applications as broad range as possible.
but that's just my IMHO... I nowadays only see the guys once or twice a year and I am not using much time to follow happenings anymore.
Tagrineth
18-Sep-2007, 04:46
lol, bitboys
roninja
18-Sep-2007, 16:52
Can't Imagine PowerVR standing still with this. IP is a valuable game and they are still in the commanding position.
Dave Baumann
19-Sep-2007, 00:42
Bitboys get another BIG deal..
You'll note that the PR state VG and unified graphics architecture... :p
lol, bitboys
Ditto :)
Glaze3D lives! :shock:
Ditto :)
Glaze3D lives! :shock:
it sure does, you poor bastards just don't have one :p
Well you neither, you only have a Pyramid3D AFAIK :)
Well you neither, you only have a Pyramid3D AFAIK :)
Thanks to letting me know what I have. :D I haven't yet become THAT senile.
And no, (unfortunately) I don't have Pyramid3D.
No one has Glaze3D. It never materialized as it was described, but still everything what it had materialized as Axe. (even though some parts of it were updgraded heavily and lots of stuff was added)
And yes, if I ever get a Pyramid3D, this is the first site to show some tests.
Oh, I thought you mentioned it somewhere that you had one? But what was it then that you have?
hkultala
20-Sep-2007, 08:27
Oh, I thought you mentioned it somewhere that you had one? But what was it then that you have?
He has an Axe, but only the chip, no board.
By the way, the "post icons" below seem to have icons for many companies, and ATI and AMD are still separate.. so we also demand an icon for BB! ;)
He has an Axe, but only the chip, no board.
That makes two of us then. ;)
And before others ask, yeah, there has been a secret society that had certain advantages. most active time was between 2000 and 2002. 2003 and 2004 were okayish but things started to slow down and nowadays what is left is IRC Channel, bunch of good friends and good memories. ;) some of us ended up in the business, some were there already and most of the ppl just moved on their lives with new targets.
two years ago, there was a moment, that I had 9 AXE chips... Now I have my two chips (rev A and rev B) left and based on what is written above in this post, you don't need to be rocket scientist to understand where the rest of the chips ended up...
And due some oldest members not being reachable, I had one extra chip looong time, but after a loong thought, I gave it to one of our foreign members and so it ended up to very happy new owner in Denmark. ;)
What was Axe actually? Not very familiar with that name...
What was Axe actually? Not very familiar with that name...
Their DX8(.1) chip
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=42392
Freescale licenses bitboys's mobile graphics cores from AMD.
and the official pr:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~120703,00.html
They didn't reveal if the cores were actually ex-Bitboys or original ex-ATI. I could imagine the vector core would be about G12 if not a later upgrade, but it's hard to believe they'd go for G40 at this point in time. The ex-ATI guys had some kick a.. ES2.0 cores, and actually that unified shader architecture comment gives it away.
So obviously just one ex-Bitboys core, the other one being ex-ATI.
They didn't reveal if the cores were actually ex-Bitboys or original ex-ATI. I could imagine the vector core would be about G12 if not a later upgrade, but it's hard to believe they'd go for G40 at this point in time. The ex-ATI guys had some kick a.. ES2.0 cores, and actually that unified shader architecture comment gives it away.
So obviously just one ex-Bitboys core, the other one being ex-ATI.
was that just IMO, or plain fact? if it was first one, then this is not so obious. Besides G40 IS full OpenGL ES 2.0 accelerator including vertex and pixel shaders, 16 bits per channel rendering, etc. (G34, G30 and G20 weren't. G34 and G30 were OpenGL ES 1.0)
When the Bitboys was aquired by ATI in May 2006, some sources from ATI side talked about G40 being much more finalized than what their mobile had. Nevertheless, their own core was targetted beyond what G40 was, so back then it was planned that G40 would have been the mainstream offering for ES 2.0, while their own would have been high end.
Still, this press release does not talk about anything what level they are talking about, so it being G40 or yet-to-be-named chip, is fifty-fifty chances both. (The fact that G40 actually incorporated the G12 means nothing, because the press release describes the licensing deal so that, you could get an idea about both being licensed as separately, instead of one chip that includes both.)
So, I'd say that we will never know for sure.
This seems to be more important to old ATI fans to prove themselves that ATI own HW sells better than the one coming from BB, eventhough it would indicate that ATI just throw away 44 million dollars while aquiring this bunch of engineers living near middle of the nowhere.
Eventually, no one gives a rat's bottom which direction it came, as long as it works.
linthat22
23-Sep-2007, 01:38
I still get excited seeing BitBoys name appear. Even though whatever they release won't have just 12MB of embedded RAM anymore :lol:
Dave Baumann
23-Sep-2007, 02:39
So, I'd say that we will never know for sure.
I've already indicated as much above. The Unified architecture the the mobile design that was derived from Xenos.
roninja
23-Sep-2007, 13:20
How will this compare to SGX?
RussSchultz
26-Sep-2007, 10:08
How will this compare to SGX?
Anybody have any clues?
vBulletin® v3.8.6, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.