ted, re:< I believe its this company that bought Vantis: >
You are right. I don't know why I thought it was Cirrus logic.
Here is an interesting product "Alladdin7" from Ali & ArtX that will be put out to give new life to Socket 7 - A northbridge chipset with integrated graphics core to provide advanced graphics features and 3D. It seems, this chip is similar to i810 but for socket7 with advanced graphics. More goodies for Socket7 to welcome k2+. Thanks to AMD without which Socket 7 would have gone long time ago as Intel planned with the Slot stuff ;o)
Acer pulls graphics ace out with ArtX
ebnews.com _____________
SAN JOSE, Calif. ? Acer Laboratories Inc. has teamed up with a new graphics partner, ArtX Inc., to deliver a core logic chip set that integrates a graphics controller, aimed at the Socket 7 PC marketplace. The merger of graphics onto a north-bridge device has been seen as a dumping ground for lower-cost, aging graphics designs, but this partnership will use cutting-edge technology. The solution seems likely to stand out among other recent entries, including a new joint venture between Via Technologies and S3 Inc.
"If you look at the integrated graphics and core logic products available today, most feature trailing-edge graphics because they use older chips. This allows the companies to amortize the costs over time, and extends the life cycle of the design," said Rick Calle, director of marketing at ArtX (Palo Alto, Calif.). "We are going to turn this marketing approach on its end."
ArtX will bring to the partnership a graphics core featuring transform and lighting capabilities, currently seen as one of the most advanced functions available in the graphics accelerator market. Only a handful of companies offer this technology, none of them in an integrated north-bridge chip.
ArtX burst onto the scene in May, when it was announced the startup would supply the graphics chip for the next-generation Nintendo game set, code-named Dolphin. Calle said the Dolphin product and the Acer device will use different cores.
The chip set, known as the Aladdin 7, will be an Acer product, with a 128-bit graphics bus, a geometry engine and the power to plot 12.5 million triangles per second. It is sampling now and will ramp into volume production next quarter, at $32 in quantities of 10,000.
"Most of the integrated chip sets for the Socket 7 market have older graphics technology, which allows the PC OEMs to offer systems in the $499 range. But when users get them home and try to play some games, they find out the 3-D graphics on those machines are pretty pathetic," said Nancy Hartsoch, chief operating officer for Acer. "This one features a very powerful graphics engine."
Acer is already working with Nvidia Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.) on the Aladdin TNT2, an integrated graphics and core logic chip set that will aim at the Intel-compatible Slot 1/Socket 370 market. The device is now sampling and is due for volume production next month. It is priced at $33.
Although Nvidia's latest product, the GeForce256, offers transform and lighting technology, the Aladdin chip is based on Nvidia's older Riva TNT2 technology, and does not have a geometry engine.
... More ...
ebnews.com _____________
There was no mention of memory bus speed, or type of memory interface that Alladdin7 is going to have. I guess, I'll have to check Acers's Web site to find more details on this chip.
Goutama |
