AMD Advances with Graphics Chipsets

Advanced Micro Devices Wednesday came out with its latest chipsets with graphics technology as an upshot of its $5.4 billion acquisition of graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies.

The new chipset AMD 690 series connects AMD’s central processor unit with the visual technology of the ATI Radeon X1250 graphics processor unit. These will help boost graphics features of Windows Vista such as the Aero and Flip 3D interfaces for seeing through menus and selecting windows.

For the handling of three-dimensional graphics, the need of an add-in graphics card may be done away with.

The AMD 690 chip supports for high-definition graphics standards such as HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) and HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) to shield from illicit copying of content. There is also an output to DVI (digital visual interface) for a straight connection to your digital TV sets.

“What stands out is the inclusion of built-in DVI and HDMI,” said Shane Rau, a PC chip analyst with the research firm IDC. “This is a strong bow to the consumer market and the prospect of attaching digital video devices directly to the PC without requiring any intermediate silicon or boxes that would translate signals between the PC and a television.”

According to Sunnyvale-based AMD, the new chipset to be offered in March, should help reduce the cost of graphics-capable computers. More than 30 motherboard makers plan to work with the new chipset, AMD said.

“It makes it cheaper for the consumer because the graphics card is built in,” said Phil Eisler, a vice president and general manager of AMD's chipset business. “It's not good enough for the high-end gamer. . . . A real gamer will still want a graphics card.”

Getting its hands on graphics technology specialist ATI Technologies, last July, allows AMD to talk big in terms of the graphics space and to get a leg up on rival Intel, which along with other computer makers who use its chips is still dependent on outside companies like Nvidia for that extra graphics-processing vigor on its PCs.