Interview With Chris Hook - ATi Mobile PR Manager - Europe
DR: We have noticed the recent Mercury figures and they show that you seem to have picked up on Mobile shipments, can you confirm the numbers?According to last week's Mercury numbers, we now have 73% of the discrete mobile graphics market. That's up 2% from last quarter.
DR: So, we have had a few of the 'M' series from ATI, what are the key features of Mobility Radeon 9700 ?
Industry leading performance and power consumption are the most important issues with notebook graphics. ATI, TSMC and Applied Materials have together pioneered the use of low-K dielectrics in the silicon manufacturing process. Low-K has a two-fold benefit -- on the one hand, it reduces the power envelope requirement for the graphic core, and secondly, significantly higher clock speeds can be achieved.
DR: So, that all sounds nice, but how does that translate in the real world ?
Using a 2.4GHz test-bed system, we have already achieved 3DMark03 scores well in excess of 3,000. When we run the latest DX9 games like Tomb Raider AOD, the scores are out of this world. Scores like that would not look out of place in a desktop system - so in a lightweight notebook they're just fantastic.
DR: Recently more and more emphasis has been put in to image quality, with people realising that the speed is almost there, and the next thing they are after, how good do these images look ?
All of ATI's top technologies are present, including SmoothVision, SmartShader and Hyper-Z III+. The Mobility Radeon 9700 offers 6x Full Screen Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering - the competitive solutions only offer 4x and 8x respectively. It is no use having high frame rates if you don't have the image quality to match. Our engineers have designed this chip to be a true mobile gaming platform. But we've added some exciting new features too, like SmartShader Effects, which introduce special effects into the mobile gaming experience.
DR: So what? I don't play games, what else can this help with?
Streaming video seems more popular than ever - especially if you are working on the move. This chip includes de-blocking technology that will make all video streams play more smoothly. You can also play DVDs at high resolution as well as capturing video and engaging in time-shift recording using our MPEG-2 encoding technology. It can of course support HDTV and wide-screen flat panel monitors.
DR: Now we have the P4 Chip, or the A64, and your mobile solution, doesn't this mean lots of battery power?
No, there are a number of ways to improve bettery life and the Mobility Radeon 9700 uses all of them. The main techniques include:-
Clock gating, which is a design technique that allows the VPU to shut down circuits that are not being used. Less circuits running means lower power consumption. We also have frequency throttling enabled which means that the VPU can 'spin down' when running low intensity applications like Word - but instantly push right up for game play.
Voltage throttling is a technique that reduces overall power flow to increase battery life.
We also have a full range of power event detection in place, as well as thermal diodes on the VPU itself to ensure that no matter how fast the system flies - the VPU is kept in a completely safe environment.
The user has control over their environment and can control the amount of power-saving that they wish to enable.
DR: Normally we see notebooks taking a while to come to market, however how quickly should we see M11 in the shops?
Notebook systems with the latest Mobility Radeon 9700 technology will be available on the day we launch, which is 3rd February here in Europe. We understand from our partners that there will be solutions available for around 1000 pounds at launch (€1,399).
DR: Finally, if the numbers you have highlighted are correct, this is one fast solution, won't the chassis need to be bigger to cater for thermal problems?
Not at all ! That is the beauty of the new .13 micron low-K dielectric process that we are using. Although it is more powerful than any other chip on the market, it also has a very low power consumption level. We expect to see sub-notebook designs in the shops in the very near future.
Thank you Chris for your time to do this interview.
