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Catalyst 8.3: Better Hardware through Drivers
Hybrid Graphics
Beating NVIDIA to the punch, 780G motherboards are already on the e-shelves, and there are stacks of entry-level HD 3000 video cards everywhere. But it's not wholly developed, and will be improved on in future drivers. At the point of release, there will be two different modes of operation. One mode switches between the onboard GPU and the discrete GPU. When not using the discrete GPU, the onboard video takes over to save power, kicking on the real video card for programs that need the horsepower. The other mode runs the onboard GPU in CrossFire with the discrete GPU, for performance well above what either GPU is capable of solo. AMD's numbers vary, but they're getting between 40-80% scaling over integrated video by adding an HD 3450--a $50 part.    Unfortunately, these modes are exclusive to each other right now, and AMD is tight-lipped about when they'll be able to run both Hybrid Graphics modes simultaneously. It's in the works, but that's all that I could confirm. HydraVision Probably more interesting to me than quad-GPU support is this wizard of a brainchild, HydraVision. Let's face it, adding a lot of video cards has been in the works for years, but this is a feature I've been hoping to see made real since OS X started talking about 3D desktop support. Virtual desktops are old hat, and seeing them rotated on the sides of a cube isn't cool, it's Microsoft Bob and AOL-cheesy. HydraVision is something useful (and apparently, only worth a single slide).  From the Catalyst Control Center, you set up a grid over your desktop, and in each rectangular segment inside, you can send your applications to. That's it, so simple and elegant. But from a productivity perspective, or just one of control, imagine never resizing your apps, fixing them to a space you set and bouncing them around via hotkey. Multiple virtual desktops each with their own HydraVision grid... And the best part? It's hardware-irrelevant. If you display is ATI-powered, you can add HydraVision support--it won't be included with the driver, it will be a separate download.
Page 1: Introduction & CrossFireX
Page 2: Hybrid Graphics & HydraVision Page 3: Tessellation & Folding@Home Page 4: More Stuff Still... And the Conclusion 
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Add Comment
3 User Comments 1 - Posted by
Jayb
on March 5, 2008 - 10:38 am Except that Nvidia's 9000-series is just the 8000-series with a little fine tuning. There are already cards out there that can be clocked to the speeds (purportedly) being offered on the 9800. The performance of these cards is not a mystery and they will certainly beat AMD's line-up, at least in a card for card match-up. AMD needs to get the 4000's out the door, and soon.
2 - Posted by
aireiq
on March 7, 2008 - 9:56 am > Every once in a while it even means new features, or rather, features delivered on promises made when the hardware was released, just now working right or even at all. "just now working right"? editor, editor, make me an edit. 3 - Posted by
Kurtis
on March 7, 2008 - 11:30 am /SLAP Snap out of it, man! Add Comment To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields. |
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