Hong Kong..........................................
HONG KONG
New standards encourage combo card development <Picture>
Most combo card makers in Hong Kong are hoping that the new AGP standard will be accepted to bring them success in 1998. Intel's new Pentium II processor has increased transfer rates over previous processors.
Makers are also encouraged by the prospect of graphics standards being upgraded in 1998. With hardware support from AGP and the Pentium II, as well as the launch of Windows 98, the utilization of graphics, particularly 3D, is expected to increase. This will be further enhanced by the gradual phasing in of DVD standards.
Serving mainly OEM buyers and the clone market, Hong Kong makers predict a substantial drop in chipset costs and card prices for high-end models that provide 3D and AGP functions. Lower prices have been caused by plunging DRAM costs. However, low-end items, which dropped in price by an average of 30 percent last year, are assumed to have reached their lowest level and will remain stable from now on.
Companies contacted
Asiatech Digital System Ltd
Web: asiansources.com
Fax#: 852-27957197 Cyberasia Technology Co.
Web: na
Fax#: 852-27960096 Hightech Information System Ltd
Web:http://www.hightech.com.hk
Fax#: 852-27966855 Kentech Computer (HK) Ltd
Web: na
Fax#: 852-24282770 Manli Technology Co. Ltd
Web: asiansources.com
Fax#: 852-23434332 Triple D International Ltd
Web: asiansources.com
Fax#: 852-24140990 Winfield Legend Ltd
Web: asiansources.com
Fax#: 852-25152846
AGP demand set to increase
One of the most significant developments in 1997 was the development of the AGP bus to replace the PCI bus. 1998 is the year to implement this change. But: "Progress is in Intel's hands with its new Pentium II processor," said James Chong, managing director of Hightech.
Another maker, Asiatech, expected that all new cards launched this year would support AGP. "The market share for AGP will exceed 50 percent," said Asiatech's director Frank Cheung.
The company's newest graphics card, the EPO 6326 complies with the AGP standard using an SiS 6326 chipset.
The card operates on a 133MHz AGP bus, and supports MPEG 2, a DVD decoder and TV output. "SiS jumped to the AGP level without passing the PCI stage. But the brand has better price performance than other conventional brands," said Cheung.
ASIATECH
Established: 1991
Work force: 2,000
1997 sales: $40 million (projected)
Asiatech also provides a graphics card with an S3 Virge chipset and 2M of memory expandable to 4M.
This 3D-enabled multimedia accelerator provides 64-bit graphics. Its video accelerators integrate 3D rendering and a 2D GUI. The video accelerator comes with a 135MHz RAMDAC with multimedia capabilities.
The card is able to connect with popular NTSC and PAL decoders. The model supports all major 3D APIs, including OpenOL, Microsoft's Direct3D, RealityLab, Argonaut Brender and Criterion Renderware.
Asiatech has released its combo card products under the brand name of Epoch. Targets for shipping include Europe and the United States. Cheung said further opportunities are to be found in the Middle East and South America. Production is subcontracted to factories in China which have passed ISO 9002 certification. "Quality is our main focus. In addition, we keep sufficient stock to allow immediate delivery," added Cheung.
Another add-on card and system board maker, Triple D, plans to release AGP combo cards early in 1998. One of its new products incorporates TV output.
Some makers still have reservations about the Pentium II. This will have an impact on AGP because AGP slots are only found on Pentium II system boards.
general manager of Cyberasia, Harry Ng, said the Pentium II system board will remain a luxury product while the Pentium maintains its position in the mainstream.
"But AGP compatibility tends to be a must-have requirement," he said. AGP Bus is expected to be four times faster than the current PCI Bus, according to Cyberasia. Their new models will adopt the Trident chipset 9750.
MANLI
Established: 1996
Work force: 300
1997 sales: $10 million (projected)
Patrick Man, marketing manager of Manli, expected the AGP standard to ultimately substitute PCI graphics cards by the middle of 1998. "But the recent recession may slow down the changeover," Man added.
"Over 50 percent of users are expected to shift to AGP by the end of the year," Dennie Chiu, products purchasing manager of Winfield, estimated.
Others believe that the price gap between AGP and PCI graphics cards is the main cause of resistance to a complete utilization of the AGP standard. Another shortcoming of AGP is that there is insufficient software to support it.
Nonetheless some makers think that AGP cards could coexist with PCI compatible cards. "By focusing on AGP cards, makers can avoid keen competition in low-end graphics card lines," commented Clarence Wong, marketing manager of Kentech.
The latest model from Kentech is the KT-CL5465V1-2/4M , which uses a Cirrus Logic Laguna GD5465 chipset on a PCI bus. The VGA card features a full hardware 3D graphics engine that gives significantly better 3D performance over other brands. The new implementation of a hardware texture management engine facilitates a smooth and real 3D scene for most 3D games.
The KT-CL5465V1-2/4M supports Indeo, Cinepak and software MPEG 1 playback. With an ultra high memory transfer bandwidth of up to 600MBps, the card supports Microsoft DirectDraw, Direct 3D and VM1 1.4.
Kentech does not regard combo cards as merely niche products. "We treat them as commodity products by offering full after-sales service support to our distributors," said Wong.
The company's factory is based in Shenzhen and can produce 200,000 units a month. Its main target for shipping is Europe. Most orders are OEM.
3D processing sees widespread implementation
In addition to increasing display speeds, makers have concentrated on providing better display performance. In this respect, 3D features are forecast to hit the mainstream in 1998. Makers say 2D is too mature to allow for any breakthroughs.
"3D used to be dominated by S3 but other chipset makers began to enter this field and intensify competition," Kentech's Wong said. Currently, combo cards supporting 3D are available with S3, Cirrus Logic and Trident chipsets. Cards with 3D capability mainly serve the high-end supply market. However, continuous falling prices have increased volumes in the clone supply market. Also, since 3D requires a higher consumption of memory, the plunge of DRAM costs has enhanced the popularity of 3D-functioning combo cards among SOHO users. "Further price drops have enabled 3D products to replace their 2D counterparts at the clone level. Actual supply market penetration depends on how fast the price gap can be narrowed," Wong added.
KENTECH
Established: 1982
Work force: 200
1997 sales: $60 million (projected)
Wong perceived a visible trend at Comdex for combo cards supporting Direct 3D games requiring a minimum of 4M of RAM. In addition, more 3D games can be expected to be bundled with combo cards since Direct 3D applications are now well defined and are supported by other software. According to marketing manager of Triple D, William Choi, the main area for progress will be speed. For instance, Triple D's latest combo card, which uses a 3DFX chipset, is three times faster than the company's original model.
TRIPLE D
Established: 1988
Work force: 700
1997 sales: $36 million (projected)
Triple D claims its best selling products use the S3 chipset. One of its latest combo cards, the S3 Virge 3D, is a PCI 64-bit VGA product incorporating MPEG. The card uses the S3 Virge 3D chipset. It supports DirectDraw and Direct 3D. The company's TD-Trio64/V model uses an S3 Trio64/V+ chipset, provides 64-bit VGA performance and incorporates MPEG. The card supports DirectDraw.
The company's TD-Trio64/V+/V2 SVGA model is an upgraded version that uses the S3 Trio64/V+ chipset. Triple D also produces low-end products for Eastern Europe and Russia. "We supply mainly low-end graphics cards with basic display functions. This category takes up over 90 percent of our total exports," said Choi. The majority of orders are OEM. Delivery time takes five days after advance payment.
Combo cards made for DVD compatibility
Combo cards with DVD capabilities seem to be indispensable, especially as the production of DVD-ROM drives is expected to get into gear this year. "DVD is almost a must-have feature for emerging 3D game cards, just as software MPEG is essential for 2D cards" said Wong of Kentech.
Together with DVD and the launch of Windows 98, makers are happy to see a clearer picture outlined for multimedia capability in the clone supply market. "Until now many 3D applications have not been fully utilized in the Windows 95 environment," Wong said. Wong expected this standardization to provide more opportunities for clone makers because coming clone products that incorporate the complete solution of 3D graphics, DVD and positional sound will perform just as well as brand name systems.
Wong warned that competition among DVD card vendors will be very tough. "DVD features are still new to makers and any weaknesses have not yet been exposed. Makers have to be cautious about committing too much in this area," he said.
Despite this, Wong agreed that there is a need for DVD compatibility in future combo cards. Chong of Hightech said installation of DVD features will not be completed in the near future. "Time scales will be affected by whether chipset makers will incorporate a software MPEG 2 decoder for DVD," he said.
HIGHTECH
Established: 1981
Work force: 700
1997 sales: $60 million (projected)
Hightech is one of the biggest combo card makers in Asia. "We are the strategic partner of prestigious chipset vendors, namely: Trident, Cirrus Logic and S3. This ensures that we can supply our video and graphics products reliably and at competitive prices," said Chong. The latest model from Hightech is a 3D graphics card, the 3Dfx . Its standard 3D features include perspective-correct texture mapping and bi-linear and advanced texture filtering. The 3Dfx is a PCI bus 2.1 compliant product and supports full-screen PC games. It is compatible with a range of popular operating systems and uses 3D APIs including Microsoft Direct3D, Reality Lab 2.0, Intel 3DR, Criterion Renderware and Argonaut bRender.
The card gives comprehensive support for popular games development tools including Gemini OpenGVS, Multigen GanieGen, SCI OPenGLIM, and Autodesk SD Studio under DOS, Win32 and lRIX. It operates transparently with popular VGA and Windows accelerators via analog pass through on Intel-based platforms. Also included is a GliderM register level library for full screen games and DOS games.
Another model from Hightech is the 3DImage9750 , a true 3D graphics accelerator card, using a Trident 3DImage 9750 chipset. It can perform 3D graphics acceleration with a setup and rendering engine. The card is fully PCI 2.1 compliant and is compatible with VESA DDC and DPMS. It also supports DirectDraw.
The card has a TV output capability with superior built-in anti-flicker and scaling. Both NTSC/PAL are optionally supported. The card has a VMI compliant hardware interface for MPEG and video processing.
The card also works as a decoder for live TV video, camera, VCR and LDR input. It can provide dual video windows. The card comes in both SGRAM and EDO versions. Its graphics acceleration 64-bit engine also provides itBLTs, Image and text transfer line draw, short stroke vector draw, rectangle fills, clipping and trapezoid fills.
Another combo card from Hightech is the CL5465 , a PCI 3D graphics and video accelerator for a PCI local bus slot. With the Cirrus Logic CL-GD5465, the card features a 64-bit graphics engine with integrated 3D game acceleration optimized for Microsoft Direct 3D API. It is also compatible with other 3D game APIs.
Its rambus memory architecture provides 600MBps of bandwidth. The use of a single memory type is designed for a color-buffer and texture storage.
The card is integrated with a 230MHz palette DAC clock synthesizer. The card is also green PC power supported and compliant with DPMS.
Video playback acceleration allows single-pass X, Y interpolation scaling, hardware occlusion for three video windows, YUV-to-RGB conversion, color and chroma key and single overlay window.
Hightech's S3 Virge/DX uses an S3 Virge/DX chipset and is PCI Bus compatible. The card supports DPMS which is ideal for the Energy Star program. The card accelerates and enhances software MPEG 1/Indeo/Cinepak video playback by providing arbitrary, scaling with high-quality linear interpolation and color space conversion (RCB to YUV). It also features color and chroma keying for overlay of graphics onto video and video onto graphics. The card's 64-bit GUI engine power provides BitBLTs with ROPs, two-point line draw, trapezoid and polygon fills, clipping and cursor support.
Hightech's production plant in China occupies a floor area of 45,000 square feet and employs over 700 workers. The production line is equipped with SMT machines and pick and place machines. "To cope with the packing of new chipsets, we have introduced BGA lines," Chong added.
Products are shipped to Europe, the United States and Asia. Products undergo stringent quality control with the average rejection rate being under 0.5 percent. Delivery time is about one week after order confirmation.
TV output added as differentiating feature
To meet demand for a single display device, more makers are incorporating TV output to enhance their products.
For instance, Cyberasia distinguishes its models from those produced by competitors with its multimedia functions such as TV output, software MPEG, a capture function and videoconferencing.
CYBERASIA
Established: 1995
Work force: 100
1997 sales: $18 million (projected)
One of the company's models has AGP features, a Trident 9750 chipset but no capture function, videoconferencing or TV output.
Production is done in Shenzhen. "Competitive pricing is our weapon," said Cyberasia's Ng. Delivery takes two to three days after order confirmation. Products are shipped to Spain, the United States and Europe. Asian countries like Thailand and the Philippines are also targeted by the company. Some examples of Cyberasia's products are the Trident 9685 and the Trident 9750 .
Hightech's new cards will incorporate the S3 chipset together with TV output.
Chipset choice expands
Makers have not experienced any problems with chipset supply. Major sources for chipsets are local distributors and agents in the United States. "Chipset costs depend on the strategy of the chipset suppliers. For instance, leading vendor S3 entered the clone supply market two years ago and caused a substantial reduction in chipset prices," said Chiu from Winfield.
The majority of makers do not see any significant difference between S3 and other chipset brands in terms of performance. But brand loyalty has pushed S3 to the top of the chipset supplier list. Popular chipset models include Virge the DX, the Trio V+ and the Trio V2. As a pioneer in the 3D market, S3 maintains a better position than its competitors. "Unlike other chipset vendors, S3 released new chipsets after negotiating with game vendors to ensure complete compatibility," said Wong of Kentech. In fact, many other makers agreed that S3's products have a higher compatibility with hardware and software, and hence make driver installation easier.
Despite greater popularity, some makers consider there is an oversupply of VGA cards with an S3 chipset and it is thus too difficult to compete with the makers of these products. Some makers have chosen to develop more specialized brands. For instance, Cyberasia adopted Trident chipsets which provide multiple functions such as TV output, videoconferencing and a capture function.
Some makers hope the emergence of the new AGP standard will help to balance the competition. "There are now even more alternatives for 3D chipsets. For instance, NEC's latest Power VR will be our choice for a new games card," said Man from Manli. However, Manli still provides mainly S3 chipset graphics cards at the moment. Its model, the M-375DX , uses the highest grade chipset model S3 Virge DX 375 which is capable of processing 3D images. Optional chipsets supplied on the company's cards are S3 Trio V+ and Trio V2. Low-end models adopt the Real Magic chipset and VGA standard.
"Our products are sold to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Western Europe," said Man. The company has a factory in Dongguan in South Guangdong province, which outputs 100,000 pieces a month. Other graphics cards from Manli include the M-64V+, the M64V2, and the M6425.
There are makers who use an even wider range of suppliers for their chipsets. For example, Winfield provides a choice of S3, Cirrus Logic, Trident, SiS and Voodoo chipsets on their cards.
WINFIELD
Established: 1992
Work force: 2,000
1997 sales: $23 million (projected)
Winfield's latest models, the S3 Trio 64 V2 and the Trident 9850 , use the Trident 9750 and Trident 9850 chipsets which support an AGP bus with transfer rates of 66MHz and 133MHz respectively. Another of the company's new graphics cards, the 3DFX , incorporates the Voodoo 3DFX chipset. All models support 3D games.
Winfield has also released an S3 Trio 64 V2 PCI VGA card with a 64-bit GUI. The card supports a scenic highway interface (LPB) for an MPEG 1 module. It allows video playback and supports high-performance 1-cycle EDO RAM.
The company ships over 70 percent of its total output to Europe. Low-end models are sold mainly to Southeast Asia and India.
Products Manager, Dennis Chiu, said coming AGP models must also support direct 3D for game purposes. "This will allow 3D capability to be fully utilized under the new Windows 98 operating system," he said.
The company produces graphics cards in Dongguan where 80,000 pieces can be output a month. Delivery takes four to five days after order confirmation.
3D and AGP cards see further price cuts
The rate of depreciation of combo cards is tied to chipset costs and DRAM costs, according to most makers.
With the phasing in of new chipsets, older models deteriorate in price and their old price level is then occupied by that of a new chipset. A drop of 10 percent to 20 percent annually is estimated by Wong of Kentech.
"In order to reduce the risk of depreciation for components, we adopt just-in-time stocking to meet customer orders. This means we avoid keeping any stock. However, we can also provide delivery within seven days after order confirmation," he added.
Another important determinant is DRAM cost. Memory cost fluctuates a lot. The extent can exceed 25 percent in one year.
3D graphics cards are more vulnerable to depreciation because of higher profit margins in the past. Kentech said the price of their 3D card dropped by more than 30 percent. "Chipset vendors are also willing to cut the cost of 3D chips for the sake of promoting their products," said Chong of Hightech.
Both Cyberasia and Manli have recorded a 25 percent to 30 percent drop in the selling price of their products within six months. "But the present price level is already too low for any further decrease," Man from Manli said.
Choy of Triple D considered the price for graphics cards to be relatively stable compared with other computer products, particularly for low-end models.
"We plan to explore the potential of low-end products. This will make us less subject to the effect of rapid upgrades found in high-end models that speed up depreciation of both chipsets and products," he added.
Some makers hoped that the AGP graphics card would jack up the overall price of graphics cards this year. "The selling price for AGP graphics cards is now almost 50 percent more expensive than that of PCI cards," said Chiu of Winfield who expected a significant drop in AGP card prices. |
