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- Date:
- Wednesday, July 17, 2002
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Sean Quinn
- Google +1
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
You have heard the rumors and the speculation. Now see what the Radeon 9000, based on the RV250 Visual Processing Unit, is really all about. You might be surprised with what ATi has done.
Introduction
We've all heard the rumors lately about ATI’s new RV250 core. Some of the first pointed to it being a Radeon 8500 “Ultra” of sorts, while the more recent ones have shown it to be somewhat less of a performer than the Radeon 8500. We're going to squash those rumors today and give you the facts about this new core.
The RV250 is officially known as the Radeon 9000 graphics card. There will be two versions: Radeon 9000 and Radeon 9000 Pro. The Pro version is a higher core and memory clocked version of the Radeon 9000. For reference, the Radeon 8500’s core is known as the R200. The Radeon 9000 will run at a core speed of 250MHz with a memory speed of 400MHz using 128bit DDR RAM. The Pro version will have a 275MHz core and 550MHz 128bit DDR memory; same as the Radeon 8500. Also, like the Radeon 8500, the Radeon 9000 is a full DirectX 8.1 capable graphics core with support for Vertex Shader 1.1 and Pixel Shader 1.4. Lastly, the Radeon 9000 has four pipelines that can do two textures per pipe and six textures per pass just like the 8500.
Here's a chart to compare the specs between a Radeon 8500 and the new Radeon 9000.
Feature | Radeon 9000 Pro | Radeon 8500 | GeForce4 MX460 |
Manufacturing Process | .15u | .15u | .15u |
Core Speed | 275MHz | 275MHz | 300MHz |
Memory Speed | 550MHz DDR | 550MHz DDR | 550MHz DDR |
Memory Bandwidth | 8.8GB/sec | 8.8GB/sec | 8.8GB/sec |
Peak Memory Bandwidth | 11GB/sec | 11GB/sec | 11GB/sec |
Memory Type | 128bit DDR | 128bit DDR | 128bit DDR |
Peak Pixel Fill Rate | 1100 Mpixels/sec | 1100 Mpixels/sec | 600 Mpixels/sec |
Rendering Pipelines | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Maximum Textures Applied per Pass | 6 | 6 | 4 |
Texture Units per Pipeline | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Vertex Shader | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 (limited) |
Pixel Shader | 1.4 | 1.4 | N/A |
Integrated TMDS | 165MHz | 165MHz | 165MHz |
DAC's | 2 x 400MHz | 2 x 400MHz | 2 x 350MHz |
Most of the Radeon 9000 Pro's specs are exactly the same as the Radeon 8500 except for the TMU (Texture Mapping Unit) and Truform. There has been a reduction to only 1 TMU versus the Radeon 8500's 2 TMUs. Seeing this spec alone will alert us right off the bat about how it will compare to the Radeon 8500's performance. With this reduction to only 1 TMU this card no longer supports Truform in hardware, it now has to be done in software. The Radeon 9000 does beat its target competition with a higher pixel fill rate and hardware shader support though. Let's take a look at the rest of the specs. Here are a few pages from the Radeon 9000 Pro brochure.
Let's take a look at the card itself first before we dive into the performance.
The box is very slim and depicts a sharp new catchy graphic. Key features are listed on the back of the box so you know what you're getting. Inside you will find a DVI to VGA adapter, an S-video cable, a composite cable, and an S-video to RCA adapter.
The PCB on the Radeon 9000 Pro is actually slightly smaller than a Radeon 8500 LE and the AIW 8500. The Radeon 9000 Pro’s PCB is 17 centimeters in length, while a Radeon 8500 LE’s PCB is 17.5 centimeters in length. This is in comparison to the GF4 Ti 4600’s 21.5 centimeters length. The width is also smaller by .5 centimeters compared to the Radeon 8500 LE. The PCB is very green, and actually has less components on it than the Radeon 8500. You won't find the Rage Theater chip on this card, and it's actually slightly lighter.
There's 64MB total Hynix RAM operating at 3.3ns using the TSOP packaging. VGA port as well as DVI and TV-Out are included on this card which fully supports Hydravision for dual monitor support.