New ATI and SiS Chipsets, NEC Dual-Layer DVD, More ATI news from CEBIT 2005

Good morning everyone.  We're starting off the weekend with some news out of ATI and SiS.  ATI is unveiling the Radeon XPRESS 200 with DX9 and DDR2 support.  SiS follows that up with the release of their latest AMD64 PCI Express chipset, the SiS761GX.  We close things out with a NEC DVD 16X Dual-Layer Drive and more news from CEBIT regarding ATI.  And we thought it was going to be a quiet Friday morning!

ATI Launches Industry's Most Powerful DirectX 9 Integrated Chipset for Intel Platforms

RADEON XPRESS 200 for Intel delivers unparalleled onboard
DirectX 9 graphics performance and support for next-generation DDR2
667 memory

ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX:ATY) (NASDAQ:ATYT), today announced the introduction and general availability of a new high performance integrated chipset for desktop Intel platforms - RADEON XPRESS 200. This new PCI Express chipset is designed to support Intel's Socket 775 class of processors, both single and multi-core, along with next-generation DDR2 memory up to 667 Mhz. Highly versatile, RADEON XPRESS 200 for Intel provides system builders and OEMs with platform technology that is ideally suited for mainstream consumer PCs and low cost media center solutions. RADEON XPRESS 200 is the only integrated chipset currently listed by Microsoft that supports Windows Media Center Edition 2005. Technology partners for the launch of RADEON XPRESS 200 for Intel include, Acer, Samsung, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Tul, Sapphire, ECS, FIC, Shuttle and Jetway.

Acer, one of the largest PC brands in the world, has selected RADEON XPRESS 200 for Intel for a forthcoming high performance PC.

"Consumers today increasingly demand their home PCs provide the perfect blend of graphics performance, reliability and connectivity, while remaining at an attractive price point," said Jackson Lin, VP of Digital Display & DT Prod. BU, Acer Incorporated. "By selecting RADEON XPRESS 200, we provide our customers with best-of-breed platform technology that easily meets their computing needs today, and ensures they have the headroom to handle the next-generation."

Please visit ATI.COM to view the complete release.

SiS releases the SiS761GX – the first integrated chipset to support AMD64 PCI Express platforms

Taipei, March 11, 2005 –Silicon Integrated Systems today announced that the release of the SiS761GX integrated chipset, the first product of its kind to support AMD64 platforms with a PCI Express x16 high-speed graphics interface. The SiS761GX is equipped with a 3D graphics core, and fully supports new generation AMD64 central processors, including the AMD Sempron, Athlon64, Athlon64 FX and Opteron.

Supporting the newest high speed PCIe x 16, the SiS761GX allows games to add an external PCI Express graphics card for the ultimate graphics performance. In addition to its highly efficient Mirage1 graphics core and software support for DirectX 9.0, the SiS761GX is capable of dual screen output when paired with the SiS307 video bridge chip. Aimed at gamers in the mainstream market, the SiS761GX's internal graphics core provides ample graphics functionality, thereby eliminating the need to purchase an additional graphics card. Gamers once again enjoy high system efficiency thanks to the flexibility of SiS products.

"SiS has always been devoted to incorporating advanced technologies into our products," said Daniel Chen, CEO and President of SiS. "With the advent of this new era in PCI Express high-speed transmission, SiS has proven its hard work and dedication to product R&D by combining the SiS761 GX and SiS966. We are confident that this is the perfect combination for gamers using the AMD64 platform."

Please visit SIS.COM to view the complete release.

NEC ND-3520A 16x Dual Layer DVD Re-writer @HardwareZoom:

"The NEC ND-3520A also excel in 16x DVD R and 48x CD-R writing, and it is able to overspeed most 8x & 4x media to 12x & 8x respectively. Even with such high speed writing and reading, this drive is extremely quiet and I was wondering if the disc really spins during DVD-Video playback. It is definitely one of the most quiet burner I have ever seen."

The Register is reporting out of CEBIT 2005 that ATI has two more R5XX cards:

"The mainstream card is expected toward Q3 2005 and it's meant to replace X700PRO generation of cards. We are sure that it will come under the $200 price tag and will come in both PCIe and AGP interface. It's going to be built on 90 nanometre marchitecture and it will feature support for Shader model 3.0. We don't have many other specs about it at the time being. It's still too early I guess but this card is definitely a derived core from R520 marchitecture."