Interesting R3x0 information from ati-news.de

[MrB]

Here's a better writeup for you guys.

The original R300 design was based on the 0.15 micron LV process from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). This process was already relatively mature at the time, and offered the best combination of high performance and reasonable power consumption. However, further testing showed that clock speeds could be improved by increasing or “over-drivingâ€￾ the core voltage, while maintaining acceptable yields. The RADEON 9700 PRO shipped using this modified process, called 0.15 micron LVOD, at 38 MHz above the design target clock speed.

Soon after, work began on the follow-up to this flagship product. After evaluating the available process technologies, including the new 0.13 micron processes, it was determined that a tweaked version of the 0.15 micron LVOD could provide the required performance improvement with minimal risk. ATI worked closely with TSMC to come up with a custom variation dubbed the “HSâ€￾ process, which involved modifying transistor dimensions and other characteristics to further improve rise times. The designers also focused on isolating and eliminating hold time issues that were limiting the maximum clock speeds. The net result of these efforts was a further 55 MHz core clock improvement for the RADEON 9800 PRO.

Over the next 6 months, the 0.15 micron HS process continued to mature and yields continued to improve. This opened up the opportunity to push clock speeds even higher. However, it was first necessary to overcome two new issues that the higher speeds introduced. The first was a clock skew issue that was arising between the chip’s I/O pads and core logic. These two portions of the chip operate on separate clocks and use different types of transistors with slightly different response times, which sometimes resulted in timing problems at higher clock speeds. The problem was solved by implementing a set of structures called Delay Lock Loops between the two parts of the chip. By tuning these to introduce just the right amount of delay, most of the clock skew could be eliminated.

The combination of greater process maturity and the added delay lock loops resulted in another 32 MHz clock speed increase for the RADEON 9800 XT.

 

[Arun]

In Belgium nearly everyone can begin learning english around 12 years old Unless they choose dutch or german instead of english.

Maybe in Liege, but not in Brussels, or at least not at my school. Here, we're forced to learn Dutch, so we don't need to learn another secondary language (which is forced to be english) before we're 14.

Anyway I fully agree about our poor english learning. I'm sure I can speak a better english than my teacher when I was 16-18 years old I don't think this is specific to Belgium. I think it's also the case in France.

I can write (I'm not going to say speak because my pronunciation is rather awful I must admit; still, I'm probably more fluent anyway) better english than both english teachers I had...
Before my current english teacher will admit that, though... One of the worst teachers ever, maybe. And I'm not the only one to think that.

Regarding our global education, I'm sure it's far better than Burkinafaso's one. It's not so bad

Yeah, Burkinafaso was an exagerated example, obviously But it's far from glorious. Not that I'm particularly pleased with worldwide education methods, either. But that's a completely different topic
Wait... You're telling me this is about... ATI? R300? What's that? Someone cares to explain me?

MrB: Thanks for the better translation


Uttar

 

[hjs]

Well i think the sollution for better english in Belgium is for Karin, Kathleen and Kristel to start singing in English

 

[Quitch]

If it's any consolation, most people I meet who learned English as a second language have a better grasp of it than most British people

P.S. I had to spell check "consolation"

 

[Mariner]

If it's any consolation, most people I meet who learned English as a second language have a better grasp of it than most British people

Well, that's because they don't teach the "3 R's" in schools anymore (disregard the fact that only one of these actually begins with the letter "R"! 8) )

To be honest, the written English of many of my friends who have a University education isn't too clever either, something I blame on the fact that most of them don't read books for pleasure.

 

[Hanners]

To be honest, the written English of many of my friends who have a University education isn't too clever either, something I blame on the fact that most of them don't read books for pleasure.

This is true - It scared me a few months back when I realised that a new employee who was working with me thought that 'Ghost' was actually spelt 'Goast'. I was wondering why he was having so much trouble creating hard disk images...

 

[Unknown Soldier]

lol ..

Here in South Africa you had either English as first language or Afrikaans as first in school. Not sure how it stands now though as i've been outta school for a while and things have changed(country and syllabus wise).

US

 

[John Reynolds]

This is true - It scared me a few months back when I realised that a new employee who was working with me thought that 'Ghost' was actually spelt 'Goast'. I was wondering why he was having so much trouble creating hard disk images...

Cripes, Hanners, you could've cut the poor guy some slack and renamed the .exe to Goast.exe.

 

[OpenGL guy]

This is true - It scared me a few months back when I realised that a new employee who was working with me thought that 'Ghost' was actually spelt 'Goast'. I was wondering why he was having so much trouble creating hard disk images...

Cripes, Hanners, you could've cut the poor guy some slack and renamed the .exe to Goast.exe.

Should just use a symbolic link (well for Unix/Linux anyways) or an alias