Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
From: Delaware, USA
Quote:
Andreas_Wolf wrote:
The R100 was released in spring 2000 [1], i.e. between late March and late June. ArtX was purchased by ATI in February 2000 [2]. Very brief time frame.
Furthermore:
"ArtX paved the way for the development of ATI's R300 graphics processor (Radeon 9700) released in 2002 which formed the basis of ATI's consumer and professional products for three years afterward." [2]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_R100#R100
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArtX
So it seems R100 and R200 were developed without ArtX technology's influence.
I've read those Wikipedia listings as well. And we all know that Wiki listing are not 100% accurate.
Considering the similarities between R200 and R300 architectures, I find the one statement questionable.
One thing is really clear, when ATI shifted from Rage to Radeon their designs changed radically. I was impressed by how much faster the R100 was then the fastest Rage128, but some features were missing and few other functions did not produce effects of the same quality.
If ArtX's only contribution was to the R300, then they still influenced ATI's most successful product design. DX9 and that particular family are still relevant today as the baseline for Vista and Win7 (for Aero functionality) only calls for a DX9 compatible card and this family can still produce relatively good frame rates.
Strangely enough, I still think I got better picture quality with the Rage 128. And their must be some ArtX people still at work at AMD since Ati's now getting the video console contracts ArtX used to get.
"Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
