Is this Neo's new chip in the article??
ebnews.com
NeoMagic's 3D chip faces uphill
climb in notebook market
By Mark Hachman
Electronic Buyers' News
(11/09/99, 01:58:44 PM EDT)
NeoMagic Corp. took another hesitant step into the
3D-graphics market this week by introducing its first
notebook accelerator with hardware-3D acceleration.
After battling it out with rivals such as ATI Technologies Inc.
and S3 Inc. in the notebook-PC space, NeoMagic's latest
effort appears somewhat tentative, according to analysts.
The 256-bit MagicMedia256XL+ chip, unlike a number of
emerging products, lacks a hardware-setup engine,
observers said, placing it in the class of relatively ancient
competitors such as S3's now-discontinued Virge.
The MagicMedia256XL+ also arrives almost 18 months after
the introduction of NeoMagic's MagicMediaAV, which
emulated 3D-graphics functions in software. For better or
worse, the company's view has always been that 3D is a
feature whose mere presence is typically satisfactory.
“From our perspective, we're a little late in getting 3D out,”
said Jason Chiang, product marketing manager for the
MagicMedia256XL+ at NeoMagic, Santa Clara, Calif. “But, at
a minimum, it's a checklist item. We're more in the
'thin-and-light' corporate business, where users aren't
running hard-core games.”
Customers have apparently agreed, until recently. According
to Mercury Research Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz., NeoMagic's
share of the notebook-graphics-accelerator market dropped
from 46% in the second quarter to 36% in the third, although
the company remained the industry leader.
ATI, meanwhile, which is a heavy promoter of 3D
technology, saw its notebook-graphics-chip share climb from
18% to 30% in the same period. Because of the manner in
which NeoMagic reports its financial data, Mercury
Research could only provide estimates for third-quarter
shipments.
In May, NeoMagic acknowledged that samples of the new
256XL+ chip had been sent to OEMs, but that production
was delayed until its foundries processed existing orders.
The capacity shortage also forced NeoMagic to add Infineon
Technologies AG as a foundry partner. A company
spokeswoman said all manufacturing issues have been
resolved.
Analyst Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Associates, Tiburon,
Calif., estimates that NeoMagic missed two design cycles
since the release of the MagicMediaAV. “NeoMagic's
playing catch-up,” Peddie said. “Their claim to fame was
embedded DRAM, an approach that everyone else has since
emulated in some way or another,” usually through the use
of multichip modules. “Now, they're just one of the herd.”
Some observers also believe that thin-and-light systems,
which eliminate the internal hard drive to preserve a
manageable system weight, are a niche market where the
addition of 3D graphics is of little significance.
While its support of 3D is still growing, Chiang challenged
the characterization of the thin-and-light market as a relative
backwater, noting that NeoMagic's customers have voiced a
preference for small packages like the 256XL+'s 329-pin
BGA. Additionally, the chip is married to 6 Mbytes of
embedded DRAM manufactured on a 0.25-micron process.
Dataquest Inc. supports Chiang's claim, predicting that
sales of ultraportable systems will grow from 1.5 million
units in 1998 to more than 4.2 million units in 2003. The
corresponding compound annual growth rate of 22.8% is
significantly higher than the 16.4% CAGR predicted for the
overall notebook-PC segment during the same period,
according to Dataquest, San Jose.
The device consumes less than 1 W typically-or about the
same power envelope as the older MagicMediaAV chip, the
company said. Peak power is about 1.4 W.
Given its pin compatibility with the AV, Mercury analyst
Dean McCarron predicted the chip will find favor with OEMs
as a drop-in replacement.
What's more, the accelerator's 256-bit architecture will allow
3.2 Gbytes/s of internal data bandwidth running at a core
frequency of 100 MHz. And the chip at least emulates some
conventional 3D features, such as alpha blending, bilinear
filtering, specular highlighting, and vertex fog.
NeoMagic refused to disclose pricing, claiming that the
MagicMedia256XL+ will be “competitively” priced against
rival parts, or upwards of $30 in OEM volumes. The chip is in
volume production. |
