Inside ATI Silicon Valley @ DH

[T2k]

(...)
I also got a little peak at one of the m10 Mobility Radeon 9600 chips, which was in a desktop AGP package that let them test the chip in a normal desktop computer as if it were a normal r3xx chip. As you can see in the picture (above), it only needs a small passive heatsink to stay cool, which is important for mobility chips for reasons of power consumption and weight (who would want a big heavy heatsink with a battery-draining fan on it in their laptop?).

Read over here: http://www.driverheaven.net/insideati2/

Edit: fixed link

 

[Myrmecophagavir]

Peter Pan says: "Don't steal bandwidth!"

 

[T2k]

Right ckick, open in new window...

 

[szabinar]

I've already seen this picture, here: http://www.hwsw.hu/perl/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=17&t=003180&p=8

 

[Simon F]

From the article...

This process ensures that no release of the CATALYST drivers will be slower than it?s previous version, as all changes in the drivers that could reduce performance can be caught by this lab and then removed from the drivers.

... but what if that change is a (dare I say it) bug fix? Does the poor engineer also then have to locate and optimise something else?

 

[Pete]

No, he has to dress up in that green outfit.

 

[cthellis42]

Huzzah!

 

[Dio]

... but what if that change is a (dare I say it) bug fix? Does the poor engineer also then have to locate and optimise something else?

They chain you to your desk until you get that 0.4fps back on Quake 2.

 

[Simon F]

... but what if that change is a (dare I say it) bug fix? Does the poor engineer also then have to locate and optimise something else?

They chain you to your desk until you get that 0.4fps back on Quake 2.

Hmm might be easier to write a patch for Q2 itself.

Anyway, anyone want to speculate on the chip image on page 3 .
Flipper?

 

[CeiserSöze]

Anyway, anyone want to speculate on the chip image on page 3 .
Flipper?

I'm not an expert on these things but it probably is Flipper. Here's another picture of the Flipper-die:

Edit: That one should clear it up
http://www.geocities.com/gamecube_mapped/flipper-chip1.jpg

 

[RussSchultz]

Its much more recognizable here:

http://www.2002.arspentia.org/sexgods/flipper

 

[Simon F]

Ahh, that confirms it (and, no doubt, why he was allowed to take the picture in the first place ). It certainly has a stonking amount of RAM.

 

[OpenGL guy]

Ahh, that confirms it (and, no doubt, why he was allowed to take the picture in the first place ). It certainly has a stonking amount of RAM.

1T RAM = good stuff

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

Ahh, that confirms it (and, no doubt, why he was allowed to take the picture in the first place ). It certainly has a stonking amount of RAM.

1T RAM = good stuff

Flash RAM?
Talk about SloooooooooooooooW!

 

[Simon F]

Flash RAM?
Talk about SloooooooooooooooW!

Err... Pardon me for asking (but I never can tell); are you just making a pun on "clever" = "flash" or are you confusing 1T-SRAM with Flash? If it's the former then I humbly apologise.

 

[RussSchultz]

Ahh, that confirms it (and, no doubt, why he was allowed to take the picture in the first place ). It certainly has a stonking amount of RAM.

1T RAM = good stuff

Its certainly good for ASIC design, though I kinda question why they built an external chip out of it and used it.

DDR-SDRAM would be cheaper, denser, and faster.

 

[mboeller]

completely OT but Demirug found the Flipper-patent from ArtX / Nintendo :

http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=CA2355353&CY=gb&LG=en&DB=EPD


I don't think this was mentioned here already.

 

[Simon F]

Its certainly good for ASIC design, though I kinda question why they built an external chip out of it and used it.

DDR-SDRAM would be cheaper, denser, and faster.

One possibility is the elimination of page breaks.

 

[CeiserSöze]

Its certainly good for ASIC design, though I kinda question why they built an external chip out of it and used it.

Extremely low latency?

 

[RussSchultz]

Aren't latencies and page breaks easily "hideable" within the long pipelines of 3d graphics?