Posts tagged ‘AMD’
Imitation To Innovation: AMD’s Best CPUs – Part 1
AMD Clones Intel
The year is 1981, and Intel (see history of Intel processors) has just been chosen by IBM to supply the processor for the first personal computer. IBM wanted at least two CPU suppliers for its PC, and forced Intel to license its technology. And so it was that AMD became one of the first companies to sell an 8086 clone. AMD’s first processor went on sale in 1982. Because it was a licensed processor, the AMD 8086 (and 8088) was identical to Intel’s model.
| Code name | ? |
| Date released | 1982 |
| Architecture | 16-bits |
| Data bus | 16-bits |
| Address bus | 20-bits |
| Maximum memory | 1 MB |
| L1 cache | no |
| L2 cache | no |
| Clock frequency | 5-10 MHz |
| FSB | same as clock frequency |
| FPU | 8087 |
| SIMD | no |
| Fabrication process | 3,000 nm |
| Number of transistors | 29,000 |
| Power consumption | ? |
| Voltage | 5 V |
| Die surface area | 16 mm² |
| Connector | 40 pins |
Note the “© Intel” on the processor, made by AMD.
Am286: Manufactured Under License, But Faster
AMD’s Am286, a clone of the Intel 80286 manufactured under license, was identical to the chip from Intel, but it had a big advantage: its higher clock speed. Whereas Intel’s 286s topped out at 12.5 MHz, AMD sold 20 MHz versions. Because the 286 was more economical than the 386, whose innovations weren’t fully exploited for several years, AMD was already the value choice more than 20 years ago.
| Code name | ? |
| Date released | 1983 |
| Architecture | 16-bits |
| Data bus | 16-bits |
| Address bus | 24-bits |
| Maximum memory | 16 MB |
| L1 cache | no |
| L2 cache | no |
| Clock frequency | 8-20 MHz |
| FSB | same as clock frequency |
| FPU | 80287 |
| SIMD | no |
| Fabrication process | 1,500 nm |
| Number of transistors | 134,000 |
| Power consumption | ? |
| Voltage | 5 V |
| Die surface area | 49 mm² |
| Connector | 68 pins |
Am386: A 40-MHz 386
In 1991, AMD released its 386 processor. Like its predecessors, this model was identical to the Intel versions. AMD was licensed to produce clones of Intel products, right down to the microcode (the CPU’s firmware). This processor had two notable features. First, it was faster than the Intel model—40 MHz compared to a top speed of 33 MHz at Intel—and it was the first to sport the Windows Compatible logo on the package.
| Code name | ? |
| Date released | 1991 |
| Architecture | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 32-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | no |
| L2 cache | no |
| Clock frequency | 12-40 MHz |
| FSB | same as clock frequency |
| FPU | 80387 |
| SIMD | no |
| Fabrication process | 1,500 – 1,000 nm |
| Number of transistors | 275,000 |
| Power consumption | 2 W (33 MHz) |
| Voltage | 5 V |
| Die surface area | 42 mm² |
| Connector | 132 pins |
Am486: The Last Clone
The 486 was the last clone of an Intel processor. AMD produced 486s in two different versions—one with microcode by Intel and another with microcode by AMD, because the company was having legal hassles with Intel by that point. In addition to processors sold under the 486 designation, AMD also marketed an AMD 5×86, which was a 486 with a 4x clock multiplier. Running at 133 MHz, this model was compatible with 486 motherboards, but had the performance of a Pentium 75. It was with the 5×86 that AMD began using the famous “Pentium Rating” (5×86 PR 75), which it would stay with up to and including the Athlon 64 X2.
| Code name | ? | X5 |
| Date released | 1993 | 1995 |
| Architecture | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | 8 KB | 16 KB |
| L2 cache | motherboard (FSB frequency) | motherboard (FSB frequency) |
| Clock frequency | 16-120 MHz | 133 MHz |
| FSB | 16-50 MHz | 33 MHz |
| FPU | built-in | built-in |
| SIMD | no | no |
| Fabrication process | 1,000 – 800 nm | 350 nm |
| Number of transistors | 1,185,000 | ? |
| Power consumption | ? | ? |
| Voltage | 5 V–3.3 V | 3.45 V |
| Die surface area | 81 – 67 mm² | ? |
| Connector | 168 pins | 168 pins |
The K5: AMD’s Very Own Processor
In 1996, AMD released its fifth-generation processor, the K5. Compared to Intel’s Pentium, the K5 was technically more advanced, though it did have some faults. It’s especially interesting because of its RISC-based internal architecture that decoded x86 instructions into micro-instructions before executing them. The K5 had difficulty reaching high clock speeds and its FPU was a little weak. Still, in normal use, the K5 was a better performer than the Pentium and its PR was not just hype—a K5 clocked at 100 MHz was sold as a PR133 chip, meaning that AMD considered it as being equivalent in performance to a 133 MHz Pentium.
| Code name | SSA/5, 5k86 |
| Date released | 1996 |
| Architecture | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 64-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | 16 KB + 8 KB |
| L2 cache | motherboard (FSB frequency) |
| Clock frequency | 75-133 MHz (PR75 – PR200) |
| FSB | 50-66 MHz |
| FPU | built-in |
| SIMD | no |
| Fabrication process | 500 – 350 nm |
| Number of transistors | 4.3 million |
| Power consumption | 11-16 W |
| Voltage | 3.52 V |
| Die surface area | 251 – 181 mm² |
| Connector | Socket 5 or 7 |
The use of the PR resulted in such oddities as a K5 PR90 and PR120 running at the same frequency (90 MHz) and a PR100 and PR133 both clocked at 100 MHz. Notice also that the CPU package informed buyers that a heat sink and fan were required—at that time, the use of such cooling devices was not yet common practice.
The K6: AMD Extends Its Range
In 1997, AMD released a new processor: the K6. Unlike the K5, which was created by AMD, the K6 was the result of the work done by NexGen on the Nx686. This processor was compatible with Socket 7 (Pentium) motherboards and offered very good performance compared to Intel’s Pentium II processors, at a much lower price. The K6’s FPU was still a little weak compared to Intel’s. A 250 nm version of the K6, called Little Foot, came out in 1998.
Also in 1998, AMD announced the K6-2, a processor that used a faster bus (100 MHz) and had improved SIMD performance. It also had one more MMX unit than the K6 and a new instruction set, 3DNow!, for floating-point calculations (MMX handled only integers). The K6-2 (400 and up) was a big success because it was a good upgrade solution for owners of Pentium MMX platforms—by using the 2X multiplier on a motherboard with a 66 MHz bus, the processor was in fact operating at 6X (400 MHz), which permitted a significant gain in speed at a lower upgrade cost.
Finally, in 1999, AMD released the third version of the K6, the K6-III. The main difference from the K6-2 version was an on-chip 256 KB cache. The K6-III was very fast, but also very costly to produce, and was quickly replaced by the Athlon (K7).
| Code name | K6, Little Foot (250 nm) | K6-3D, Chomper | Sharptooth |
| Date released | 1997/1998 | 1998 | 1999 |
| Architecture | 32-bits | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 64-bits | 64-bits | 64-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | 32 KB + 32 KB | 32 + 32 KB | 32 + 32 KB |
| L2 cache | motherboard (FSB frequency) | motherboard (FSB frequency) | 256 KB (CPU frequency) |
| L3 cache | no | no | motherboard (FSB frequency) |
| Clock frequency | 166-300 MHz | 300-550 MHz | 400-450 MHz |
| FSB | 50-66 MHz | 66-100 MHz | 100 MHz |
| FPU | built-in | built-in | built-in |
| SIMD | MMX | MMX, 3DNow! | MMX, 3DNow! |
| Fabrication process | 350 – 250 nm | 250 nm | 250 nm |
| Number of transistors | 8.8 million | 9.3 million | 21.3 million |
| Power consumption | 12-28 W | 13-25 W | 10-17 W |
| Voltage | 2.2–2.9 V–3.2 V | 2.2–2.4 V | 2.2–2.4 V |
| Die surface area | 157-68 mm² | 81 mm² | 118 mm² |
| Connector | Socket 7 | Socket 7 / Super Socket 7 | Super Socket 7 |
AMD also marketed K6-2+ and K6-3+ processors, mainly for portable PCs. These used a 180 nm fab process and had an on-chip 128 KB (K6-2+) or 256 KB (K6-3+) L2 cache.
K7/Athlon: A Killer
In 1999, AMD released its seventh-generation processor, the K7, later renamed Athlon. This chip did away with the drawbacks of earlier models and finally had an FPU worthy of the name—in fact, it was even better than Intel’s. The Athlon was the fastest x86 processor and had many strong points, including a fast FSB—the EV6, used in the first Alpha processors—and high performance numbers. The only real problem came not from the processor but from the chipsets: neither the AMD nor Via models could compete with Intel’s chipsets (like the famous 440BX). The K7 used Slot A (competing with Intel’s Slot 1) and had a Level 2 cache with a variable divider (1/2, 2/5 or 1/3).
| Code name | Argon (K7) | Pluto, Orion (K75) |
| Date released | 1999 | 1999 |
| Architecture | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 64-bits | 64-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | 64 KB + 64 KB | 64 KB + 64 KB |
| L2 cache | Slot A (1/2 CPU) | Slot A (1/2, 2/5 or 1/3 CPU) |
| Clock frequency | 500-700 MHz | 550-1000 MHz |
| FSB | 100 MHz (DDR) | 100 MHz (DDR) |
| FPU | built-in | built-in |
| SIMD | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow! | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow! |
| Fabrication process | 250 nm | 180 nm |
| Number of transistors | 22 million | 22 million |
| Power consumption | 42-50 W | 31-65 W |
| Voltage | 1.6 V | 1.6–1.8 V |
| Die surface area | 184 mm² | 102 mm² |
| Connector | Slot A | Slot A |
Just as a side note, it was AMD who was the first to announce (and market) a 1 GHz processor with the Athlon (two days before Intel’s 1 GHz Pentium III).
AMD Improves the Athlon: Thunderbird, XP, and more.
AMD knew it had a winner with the K7 architecture and improved it little by little, increasing the frequency and using finer fab processes. The Thunderbird core employed a 180 nm process and had 256 KB of on-chip cache. The Palomino design introduced support for SSE. The Athlon XP changed the package and reinstated PR numbers. The Thoroughbred was an Athlon XP using a 130 nm fab process (with a 256 KB cache). Barton had a 512 KB cache and also used a 130 nm process. Athlon XP and subsequent models used the PR number instead of a clock frequency designation.
| Code name | Thunderbird | Palomino/XP | Thoroughbred | Barton |
| Date released | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Architecture | 32-bits | 32-bits | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Data bus | 64-bits | 64-bits | 64-bits | 64-bits |
| Address bus | 32-bits | 32-bits | 32-bits | 32-bits |
| Maximum memory | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB | 4,096 MB |
| L1 cache | 64 KB + 64 KB | 64 KB + 64 KB | 64 KB + 64 KB | 64 KB + 64 KB |
| L2 cache | 256 KB (CPU frequency) | 256 KB (CPU frequency) | 256 KB (CPU frequency) | 512 KB (CPU frequency) |
| Clock frequency | 650-1,400 MHz | 1,000-1,733 MHz | 1,200-2,250 MHz | 1,400-2,200 MHz |
| FSB | 100/133 MHz (DDR) | 133 MHz (DDR) | 133/166 MHz (DDR) | 166/200 MHz (DDR) |
| FPU | built-in | built-in | built-in | built-in |
| SIMD | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow! | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow!, SSE | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow!, SSE | MMX, Enhanced 3DNow!, SSE |
| Fabrication process | 180 nm | 180 nm | 130 nm | 130 nm |
| Number of transistors | 37 million | 37.5 million | 37.2 million | 54.3 million |
| Power consumption | 38-72 W | 46-72 W | 49-68 W | 60-76 W |
| Voltage | 1.7-1.75 V | 1.75 V | 1.5-1.65 V | 1.65 V |
| Die surface area | 120 mm² | 129.26 mm² | 84.66 mm² | 100.99 mm² |
| Connector | Socket A | Socket A | Socket A | Socket A |
We should mention that AMD also produced versions for servers (Athlon MP) and for laptops (Athlon 4, Athlon XP Mobile), as well as the Geode NX (130 nm and a 256 KB cache). AMD marketed the Thorton (130 nm, 512 KB of cache, 256 KB of which was disabled) and planned on Trinidad, an Athlon using a 90 nm process. There were more PR oddities: the Athlon XP 2600+ was clocked at 1,900, 1,917, 2,000, 2,083, or 2,133 MHz depending on the version, for instance
AMD ATI Comparison Table
With more and more graphics chips being released every day it became very complicated for the user who does not follow the video card market to know the differences among all ATI graphic chips in the market today. To facilitate knowing and understanding the difference among major ATI chips, we have compiled the following table.
It is important to notice that starting 2007 both ATI and nVidia started referring to the memory clock of their video cards with the real clock rate used. In the past manufacturers referred the memory clocks with double their real clock rate, because DDR and subsequent technologies (DDR2, GDDR3, etc) allow the memory chip to transfer two data per clock cycle. So a video card with a memory chip running at 500 MHz would be referred as having a 1 GHz memory. In order to keep the compatibility of our table, we are still referring the memory clocks with the DDR naming convention – i.e. double the real clock rate – on cards with memories based on DDR or subsequent technologies.
|
Chip |
Core Clock |
Memory Clock |
Memory Interface |
Memory Transfer Rate |
Pixels per clock |
DirectX |
|
Radeon 9200 |
250 MHz |
400 MHz |
128-bit |
6.4 GB/s |
4 |
8.1 |
|
Radeon 9200 Pro |
275 MHz |
550 MHz |
128-bit |
8.8 GB/s |
4 |
8.1 |
|
Radeon 9200 SE |
200 MHz |
333 MHz |
64-bit |
2.6 GB/s |
4 |
8.1 |
|
Radeon 9250 |
240 MHz |
400 MHz |
128-bit |
6.4 GB/s |
4 |
8.1 |
|
Radeon 9250 SE |
240 MHz |
400 MHz |
64-bit |
3.2 GB/s |
4 |
8.1 |
|
Radeon 9500 |
275 MHz |
540 MHz |
128-bit |
8.6 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9550 |
250 MHz |
400 MHz |
128-bit |
6.4 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9550 SE |
250 MHz |
400 MHz |
64-bit |
3.2 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9500 Pro |
275 MHz |
540 MHz |
128-bit |
8.6 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9600 |
325 MHz |
400 MHz |
128-bit |
6.4 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9600 Pro |
400 MHz |
600 MHz |
128-bit |
9.6 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9600 SE |
325 MHz |
400 MHz |
64-bit |
3.2 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9600 XT |
500 MHz |
600 MHz |
128-bit |
9.6 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9700 |
275 MHz |
540 MHz |
256-bit |
17.2 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9700 Pro |
325 MHz |
620 MHz |
256-bit |
19.8 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9800 |
325 MHz |
580 MHz |
256-bit |
18.56 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9800 Pro |
380 MHz |
680 MHz |
256-bit |
21.7 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9800 SE |
325 MHz |
500 MHz |
128-bit or 256-bit |
8 GB/s or 16 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon 9800 XT |
412 MHz |
730 MHz |
256-bit |
23.3 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X300 SE |
325 MHz |
400 MHz |
64-bit |
3.2 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X300 |
325 MHz |
400 MHz |
128-bit |
6.4 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X550 |
400 MHz |
500 MHz |
128-bit or 64-bit |
8 GB/s or 4 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X600 Pro |
400 MHz |
600 MHz |
128-bit |
9.6 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X600 XT |
500 MHz |
730 MHz |
128-bit |
11.68 GB/s |
4 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X700 |
400 MHz |
600 MHz |
128-bit |
9.6 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X700 Pro |
420 MHz |
864 MHz |
128-bit |
13.8 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X700 XT |
475 MHz |
1.05 GHz |
128-bit |
16.8 GB/s |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 SE |
* |
* |
* |
* |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 |
400 MHz |
700 MHz |
256-bit |
22.4 GB/s |
12 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 XL |
400 MHz |
1 GHz |
256-bit |
32 GB/s |
16 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 GT |
475 MHz |
** |
128-bit or 256-bit |
** |
8 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 GTO |
400 MHz |
1 GHz *** |
256-bit |
32 GB/s |
12 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 Pro |
475 MHz |
950 MHz |
256-bit |
30.4 GB/s |
12 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 XT |
500 MHz |
1 GHz |
256-bit |
32 GB/s |
16 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X800 XT PE |
520 MHz |
1.12 GHz |
256-bit |
35.8 GB/s |
16 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X850 Pro |
520 MHz |
1.08 GHz |
256-bit |
34.56 GB/s |
12 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X850 XT |
520 MHz |
1.08 GHz |
256-bit |
34.56 GB/s |
16 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X850 PE |
540 MHz |
1.18 GHz |
256-bit |
37.76 GB/s |
16 |
9.0 |
|
Radeon X1050 |
**** |
**** |
**** |
**** |
4 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1300 HM |
450 MHz |
1 GHz |
128-bit or 64-bit or 32-bit |
16 GB/s or 8 GB/s or 4 GB/s |
4 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1300 |
450 MHz |
500 MHz |
128-bit or 64-bit or 32-bit |
8 GB/s or 4 GB/s or 2 GB/s |
4 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1300 Pro |
600 MHz |
800 MHz |
128-bit or 64-bit or 32-bit |
12.8 GB/s or 6.4 GB/s or 3.2 GB/s |
4 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1300 XT |
500 MHz |
800 MHz (DDR2) or 1 GHz (GDDR3) |
128-bit |
12.8 GB/s or 16 GB/s |
12 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1550 |
450 MHz or 550 MHz or 600 MHz |
800 MHz |
64-bit or 128-bit |
6.4 GB/s or 12.8 GB/s |
4 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1600 Pro |
500 MHz or 575 MHz |
780 MHz |
128-bit |
12.48 GB/s |
12 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1600 XT |
590 MHz |
1.38 GHz |
128-bit |
22.08 GB/s |
12 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1650 Pro |
600 MHz |
1.40 GHz |
128-bit |
22.40 GB/s |
12 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1650 XT |
575 MHz |
1.35 GHz |
128-bit |
21.60 GB/s |
24 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1800 GTO |
500 MHz |
1 GHz |
256-bit |
32 GB/s |
12 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1800 XL |
500 MHz |
1 GHz |
256-bit |
32 GB/s |
16 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1800 XT |
625 MHz |
1.5 GHz |
256-bit |
48 GB/s |
16 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1900 GT |
575 MHz |
1.2 GHz |
256-bit |
38.4 GB/s |
36 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1900 XT |
625 MHz |
1.45 GHz |
256-bit |
46.4 GB/s |
48 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1900 XTX |
650 MHz |
1.55 GHz |
256-bit |
49.6 GB/s |
48 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1950 GT |
500 MHz |
1.2 GHz |
256-bit |
38.4 GB/s |
36 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1950 Pro |
575 MHz |
1.38 GHz |
256-bit |
44.16 GB/s |
36 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1950 XT |
625 MHz |
1.8 GHz |
256-bit |
57.6 GB/s |
48 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon X1950 XTX |
650 MHz |
2 GHz |
256-bit |
64 GB/s |
48 |
9.0c |
|
Radeon HD 2400 Pro |
525 MHz |
800 MHz |
64-bit |
6.4 GB/s |
40 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 2400 XT |
700 MHz |
1.6 GHz |
64-bit |
12.8 GB/s |
40 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 2600 Pro |
600 MHz |
800 MHz |
128-bit |
12.8 GB/s |
120 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 2600 XT |
800 MHz |
1.6 GHz (GDDR3) or 2.2 GHz (GDDR4) |
128-bit |
25.6 GB/s (GDDR3) or 35.2 GB/s (GDDR4) |
120 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 2900 GT |
600 MHz |
1.6 GHz |
256-bit |
51.2 GB/s |
240 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 2900 Pro |
600 MHz |
1.85 GHz |
512-bit |
118.4 GB/s |
320 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 2900 XT |
740 MHz |
1.65 GHz (GDDR3) or 2 GHz (GDDR4) |
512-bit |
105.6 GB/s (GDDR3) or 128 GB/s (GDDR4) |
320 ***** |
10 |
|
Radeon HD 3450 ^ |
600 MHz |
1 GHz |
64-bit |
8 GB/s |
40 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 3470 ^ |
800 MHz |
1.90 GHz |
64-bit |
15.2 GB/s |
40 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 3650 ^ |
725 MHz |
1 GHZ (DDR2) or 1.6 GHz (GDDR3) |
128-bit |
16 GB/s (DDR2) or 25.6 GB/s (GDDR3) |
120 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 3690 ^ |
668 MHz |
1,656 MHz |
128-bit |
26.5 GB/s |
120 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 3850 ^ |
670 MHz |
1.66 GHz |
256-bit |
53.12 GB/s |
320 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 3870 ^ |
775 MHz |
2.25 GHz |
256-bit |
72 GB/s |
320 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 3870 X2 ^ + |
825 MHz |
1.8 GHz |
256-bit |
57.6 GB/s |
320 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4350 ^ |
600 MHz |
1 GHz |
64-bit |
8 GB/s |
80 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4550 ^ |
800 MHz |
1.6 GHz |
64-bit |
12.8 GB/s |
80 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4650 ^ |
600 MHz |
1 GHz or 1.4 GHz |
128-bit |
16 GB/s or 22.4 GB/s |
320 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4670 ^ |
750 MHz |
2 GHz (512 MB) or 1,746 MHz (1 GB) |
128-bit |
32 GB/s or 27.94 GB/s |
320 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4830 ^ |
575 MHz |
1.8 GHz |
256-bit |
57.6 GB/s |
640 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4850 ^ |
625 MHz |
2 GHz |
256-bit |
64 GB/s |
800 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4850 X2 ^ + |
625 MHz |
2 GHz |
256-bit |
64 GB/s |
800 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4870 ^ |
750 MHz |
3.6 GHz |
256-bit |
115.2 GB/s |
800 ***** |
10.1 |
|
Radeon HD 4870 X2 ^ + |
750 MHz |
2.6 GHz |
256-bit |
115.2 GB/s |
800 ***** |
10.1 |
* ATI doesn’t set a default clock for Radeon X800 SE chip. The specs depend on the video card manufacturer. So you have to take care when comparing video cards using this chip.
** Depends on the model. There are boards based on Radeon X800 GT using DDR, DDR2 and GDDR3 memories running at different speeds. We’ve seen GDDR3 models running at 980 MHz and DDR models running at 700 MHz. You can calculate the memory transfer rate using the formula memory clock x number of bits / 8. A model with GDDR3 memory running at 980 MHz and 256-bit interface has a transfer rate of 31.36 GB/s.
*** There are models using DDR memories and running at lower clock rates.
**** There are three video card versions using this chip with very different specs, depending on the memory chips used. If they are 128 MB DDR, then the graphics chip runs at 400 MHz, the memory runs at 500 MHz, a 128-bit memory interface is used and the memory has a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 8 GB/s. If the card has 128 MB DDR2, then the graphics chip runs at 325 MHz, the memory runs at 666 MHz, a 64-bit memory interface is used and the memory has a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 5.3 GB/s. And finally if the card has 256 MB DDR2 then the graphics chip runs at 400 MHz, the memory runs at 666 MHz, a 128-bit memory interface us used and the memory has a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 10.6 GB/s.
***** The shader unit is unified, meaning that this chip doesn’t have separated pixel shader and vertex shader units. On video cards from Radeon HD 2400 and HD 2600 series the video card manufacturer can use a different clock for the memory (usually lower, thus achieveing a lower performance compared to the reference model); the clock rates published here are the official one.
^ Based on PCI Express 2.0, which doubles the available I/O bandwidth from 2.5 GB/s to 5 GB/s if a PCI Express 2.0 motherboard is used.
+ Radeon HD 3870 X2, Radeon HD 4850 X2 and HD 4870 X2 use two Radeon chips working in parallel (CrossFire). The specs published are for only one of the chips.
When you compare chips, you have to be very careful. Judging from the table, a Radeon 9800 may seem slower than a Radeon 9600 Pro, since its clock is inferior, and a Radeon X700 Pro seems faster than a Radeon X800 since it uses a higher clock rate.
However, Radeon 9800 accesses its memory using a 256-bit interface and processes eight pixels per clock pulse, while the Radeon 9600 Pro accesses its memory using a 128-bit interface and processes four pixels per clock pulse. This means that memory access and processing performance of the Radeon 9800 would the double of that of the Radeon 9600 Pro if they were working at the same clock. In other words, a Radeon 9600 Pro would have work at 650 MHz and access the memory at 1.360 MHz to have the same performance of the Radeon 9800.
The same idea goes for the Radeon X700 Pro example, it accesses memory using a 128-bit interface and processes data at 8 pixels per clock tick, while Radeon X800 accesses memory using a 256-bit interface and processes data at 12 pixels per clock tick.
Therefore, it is not correct to compare graphic chips only through their clocks. For the processing performance you will have to compare the clocks and the number of pixels per clock. As of the memory, the right way to compare its performance among different chips is through their memory transfer rate, which is calculated using the formula (clock x bits per clock)/ 8.
As you can see in the table, “SE” chips are the simplest and access the memory at only 64 bits per time. Another detail is that ATI uses the letters “XT” to indicate the fastest chip in a series, while its competitor, nVidia, uses the same letters to indicate the simplest chip in a series.
“PE” stands for “Platinum Edition” and are models even faster than the “XT” models, aimed to gamers with money.
As for the DirectX version, check the table below:
|
DirectX |
Shader Model |
|
7.0 |
No |
|
8.1 |
1.4 |
|
9.0 |
2.0 |
|
9.0c |
3.0 |
|
10 |
4.0 |
|
10.1 |
4.1 |
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