Tans Computer

Written by Administrator, on 13-10-2007 17:00

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We understand why AMD doesn't allow to sell cards like HD 2900 XT 1GB. Even after our first article of this series it was clear that the problem was not in memory capacity - 512 MB of memory was quite sufficient even for top graphics cards. There is nothing wrong with memory bus width either. The problem is in the core.

Our tests proved that the first driver bundled with the first card sample significantly raised performance at the expense of other card features. By "other" we mean antialiasing. Alas, there is evidently a bug in the GPU, since it does not allow the core to process AA as it would normally do. But the idea was brilliant! Expand the memory bus to 512 bit, so that AA is processed almost for free! Pity, but we can already state the fact that the card does not need 512 bits of bandwidth, because it's not utilized at 100%. The company got around this bug rather smartly - drivers are used to force ALUs process AA. That is, AA is actually emulated, which takes up much shader resources and affects overall speed - all our tests prove it.

ATI RADEON HD 2900 XT 1024MB PCI-E Specification :

• GPU: RADEON HD 2900 XT (R600)
• Interface: PCI-Express x16
• GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 742/742 MHz (nominal - 750/750 MHz)
• Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal - 1000 (2000) MHz)
• Memory bus width: 512bit
• Vertex processors: -
• Pixel processors: -
• Unified processors: 320
• Texture processors: 16
• ROPs: 16
• Dimensions: 220x100x32 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card).
• PCB color: red
• RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU
• Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out.
• VIVO: RAGE Theater 200
• TV-out: integrated into GPU.
• Multi-GPU operation: CrossFire (Hardware).

See the reviews here

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Keywords : HD 2900 XT, ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, 2900 XT Video Cards

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