Today I'm feeling a bit nostalgic and, since the current GPU landscape doesn't look very exciting (RTX, VII meh...), I'm looking back at the early glorious days of 3D.
The ALi Aladdin 7 was the last Super Socket 7 chipset by Acer Laboratories and it also had the distinction of possibly being the first "true" integrated GPU for PC, sporting also hardware T&L. It was announced at the end of 1999 and the graphic processing part was done by ArtX of Nintendo and ATi fame. I've seen pictures of a couple of boards; nevertheless the advent of cheap Athlon and Durons in the first half of year 2000 hastened the demise of the Socket 7 platform, even if AMD even introduced some K6s, manufactured with the latest 0.18u process, with speeds up to 600MHz .
Some old posts of the day (God bless the Wayback machine!) describe the GPU inside the Aladdin 7 as similar to the one that would be used inside Nintendo's Project Dolphin (the Gamecube) but 'scalded down'. It is interesting to note that the Aladdin 7 also supported SDRAM up to 133 MHz, while the Socket 7 platform officially never went above 100MHz (112 possibile via overclock on some boards...).
Ok, this is all what I know about it. Does any oldtimer here remember this chipset? Any other info would be welcome (architecture, internal organization, general information about the chip) and I'm also curious about the performance
By the wasy, here is the original press release:
SAN JOSE, CA, USA - NOVEMBER 8, 1999 - Acer Laboratories Inc., (ALi) and ArtX Inc. (ArtX) today announced the new Aladdin 7 core logic chipset for the emerging PC market segment of “Performance Consumer PCs.” The Aladdin 7 Northbridge and Southbridge chipset integrates ArtX’s advanced 3D geometry and graphics accelerator into a full-featured NB/SB chipset, delivering benchmarked performance 2 to 3 times greater than other Socket 7-based systems when running popular 3D game titles. The Aladdin 7 128-bit architecture delivers extraordinary 3D game playing, enhanced CPU performance, and a rich Internet experience to consumers at an unprecedented price point. The product, a joint effort between ALi and ArtX, will be sold by ALi along with ALi’s portfolio of core logic and peripheral ICs.
The problem with the low-cost consumer PC and the “Free PC” today, is that end users must sacrifice graphics performance to get the low system price,” commented ALi President Dr. Chin Wu. “Since most of these PCs are going into homes, where PC-oriented entertainment is prevalent, this low performance is disappointing to users. With the new capabilities delivered by our Aladdin 7, consumers can have game-enthusiast performance at consumer-oriented price points.”
Typically, game-oriented performance PC systems sell for several hundred dollars more than low-end consumer PCs due to the extra cost of adding high-performance 3D graphics accelerators and memory, higher performance core logic, cache, and higher-end CPUs. By providing a high-performance 3D geometry graphics engine in the chipset, ALi and ArtX set a new standard of performance in the value market segment.
The ALi Aladdin 7 was the last Super Socket 7 chipset by Acer Laboratories and it also had the distinction of possibly being the first "true" integrated GPU for PC, sporting also hardware T&L. It was announced at the end of 1999 and the graphic processing part was done by ArtX of Nintendo and ATi fame. I've seen pictures of a couple of boards; nevertheless the advent of cheap Athlon and Durons in the first half of year 2000 hastened the demise of the Socket 7 platform, even if AMD even introduced some K6s, manufactured with the latest 0.18u process, with speeds up to 600MHz .
Some old posts of the day (God bless the Wayback machine!) describe the GPU inside the Aladdin 7 as similar to the one that would be used inside Nintendo's Project Dolphin (the Gamecube) but 'scalded down'. It is interesting to note that the Aladdin 7 also supported SDRAM up to 133 MHz, while the Socket 7 platform officially never went above 100MHz (112 possibile via overclock on some boards...).
Ok, this is all what I know about it. Does any oldtimer here remember this chipset? Any other info would be welcome (architecture, internal organization, general information about the chip) and I'm also curious about the performance
By the wasy, here is the original press release:
SAN JOSE, CA, USA - NOVEMBER 8, 1999 - Acer Laboratories Inc., (ALi) and ArtX Inc. (ArtX) today announced the new Aladdin 7 core logic chipset for the emerging PC market segment of “Performance Consumer PCs.” The Aladdin 7 Northbridge and Southbridge chipset integrates ArtX’s advanced 3D geometry and graphics accelerator into a full-featured NB/SB chipset, delivering benchmarked performance 2 to 3 times greater than other Socket 7-based systems when running popular 3D game titles. The Aladdin 7 128-bit architecture delivers extraordinary 3D game playing, enhanced CPU performance, and a rich Internet experience to consumers at an unprecedented price point. The product, a joint effort between ALi and ArtX, will be sold by ALi along with ALi’s portfolio of core logic and peripheral ICs.
The problem with the low-cost consumer PC and the “Free PC” today, is that end users must sacrifice graphics performance to get the low system price,” commented ALi President Dr. Chin Wu. “Since most of these PCs are going into homes, where PC-oriented entertainment is prevalent, this low performance is disappointing to users. With the new capabilities delivered by our Aladdin 7, consumers can have game-enthusiast performance at consumer-oriented price points.”
Typically, game-oriented performance PC systems sell for several hundred dollars more than low-end consumer PCs due to the extra cost of adding high-performance 3D graphics accelerators and memory, higher performance core logic, cache, and higher-end CPUs. By providing a high-performance 3D geometry graphics engine in the chipset, ALi and ArtX set a new standard of performance in the value market segment.
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