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AMD brings DirectX 10.1 to the notebooks

by: John -
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The mobile offerings from ATI haven't been on par the NVIDIA's but they did one up the green company by bringing out DirectX10.1 capable mobile graphics with the ATI Mobile Radeon HD 3000 series. There will be the Mobility Radeon HD 3400 and the Mobility Radeon HD 3600 initially. Both will support PCI Express 2.0 and will help playback on Blu-Ray and HD DVD movies. I have a meeting with AMD tomorrow and I'm positive one of them is the mobile division so I'll be taking a closer look at these here at CES.
AMD Introduces ATI Mobility Radeon(tm) HD 3000 Series - First Microsoft DirectX® 10.1 Graphics Processors for Notebook PCs

Feature-rich graphics solutions to power next-generation AMD notebook platform built for a high-definition, mobile world

LAS VEGAS (2008 International CES) - Jan. 7, 2008 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the ATI Mobility Radeon(tm) HD 3000 series, a new family of discrete graphics for high-definition gaming and video in notebook PCs. The initial offerings consist of ATI Mobility Radeon(tm) HD 3400 series and ATI Mobility Radeon(tm) HD 3600 series. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series allows notebook users to experience the full power of HD through graphics processing designed to satisfy the most demanding mobile users at work and play. Featuring the latest industry-standard technologies, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series is optimized for the forthcoming AMD notebook platform, code-named "Puma", to deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience(tm).

"ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series from AMD showcases our technology leadership by delivering customers the most feature-rich family of notebook graphics solutions we've ever produced," said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series delivers the absolute latest industry-standard technology breakthroughs for notebooks with Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 and PCI Express® 2.0 support. AMD is also the first company to offer integrated DisplayPort(tm) connectivity. These new mobile graphics give leading notebook manufacturers like Asus the ability to create solutions with outstanding new features including next-generation quality, yet battery-efficient, visual experiences in notebooks."

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series advances to the next generation of HD gaming and life-like realism thanks to unmatched Microsoft DirectX 10.1 capabilities. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series offers support for DirectX 10.1 by enabling a higher level of visual quality through new lighting and rendering techniques designed to enhance the realism and quality of 3D games. New PCI Express 2.0 support enables faster throughput and greater overall system performance as compared to PCI Express 1.1 -- ideal for high-performance gamers. Notebook users can play the latest Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies in full-HD 1080p resolution (HD display required) using ATI Avivo(tm) HD Technology which frees the CPU for other tasks. With a choice of digital outputs, notebook users can connect to a variety of displays featuring DVI, HDMI(tm) and the first ever next-generation DisplayPort support on a notebook platform. These new notebook graphics chips provide breakthrough battery efficiency and superb performance-per-watt, delivering exceptional battery life for enthusiast users.

"The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3600 series turns graphic power up a notch in the ASUS M50 and the F8 notebook series," said Alvin Chou, Senior Notebook Product Manager of ASUS. "With the innovative graphics solutions from AMD, ASUS can deliver notebooks to the market that offer visual performance for high-definition movie playback plus HD gaming as well as great battery usage."

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, AMD showcased the upcoming notebook platform, codenamed "Puma." In "Puma," the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series graphics will join AMD Turion(tm) Ultra notebook processors and the forthcoming AMD RS780 chipset to deliver powerfully
entertaining power-efficient mobility. AMD plans to introduce "Puma" in the second quarter of 2008.

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 features a variety of new technologies designed to improve overall notebook performance:
- Support for Microsoft DirectX 10.1 is provided by the enhanced unified shader architecture in the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 -- the first GPU family to support DirectX 10.1 by delivering increased precision, better lighting and more advanced programmability than Direct X 10.0. With DirectX 10.1, the new mobile graphics solution offers notebook users feature-rich graphics for astonishing image quality, new lighting and rendering techniques designed to enhance realism, and amazing 3D application performance for The Ultimate Visual Experience
- ATI PowerPlay(tm) Technology dynamically delivers the optimal balance between performance and power to suit performance requirements for extended battery life and superior performance-per-watt operation
- Long Battery Life through power improvements and low average energy use. Power is maximized with the advanced power management technology helping extend battery life and conserve energy
- Breakthrough Performance/Watt through exceptional performance and power saving features for low power consumption
- PCI Express®2.0 offers more than enough horsepower for the most demanding professional graphics applications by boosting 3D graphics performance while providing fast throughput resulting in an excellent overall system performance
- ATI Avivo(tm) HD Technology is the backbone for advanced video and display technologies, delivering smooth video playback and photos in high-definition format with brilliant colors and sharp images, ideal for professionals demanding the next level of display technology excellence
- ATI Avivo HD features an enhanced version of AMD's Unified Video Decoder (UVD) offering full hardware acceleration of video decode for
smooth playback of full 1080p content from HD DVD and Blu-ray movies and optimum power efficiency for long battery life. Enhanced navigation, picture-in-picture and advanced interactive menus combined with full-HD content make for engaging viewing entertainment
- Integrated Digital Outputs enable viewing standard and high-definition content on a variety of devices including HDMI with integrated Audio, DVI, and brand-new DisplayPort output capability delivering twice the bandwidth of DVI, providing flexibility along with seamless connectivity for brilliant display quality

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3600 series are currently shipping in notebooks from Asus. Additional products in the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series are scheduled for availability from notebook manufacturers in the first half of 2008.