PORI, FINLAND – October 26, 2005 – An independent team of Finnish over-clockers has made world history by over-clocking a graphics processor to engine clock levels above 1 GHz. The record was set on the recently-announced Radeon® X1800 XT graphics processor from ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT).
Noted Finnish over-clockers Sampsa Kurri and Ville Suvanto achieved graphics engine clocks of 1.003 GHz and a memory speed of 1.881 GHz (940.50 MHz DDR (dual data-rate) memory clocks) with maximum system stability and no visual artifacts.
The team, optimistic that higher speeds could ultimately be achieved with the Radeon X1800 XT, attained the record speeds using a custom-built liquid nitrogen cooling system that cooled the graphics processor to minus-80 degrees Celsius. “We’re just warming up,” joked Kurri. “But we believe that the Radeon X1800 XT has even more over-clocking headroom, and in the coming weeks we expect to achieve higher clock speeds and even greater performance levels.”
“It’s impressive to see the Radeon X1800 XT architecture achieve 1 GHz core speed and approach 2 GHz memory speed, which far exceeds the specifications of the memory devices,” said Stan Ossias, Sr. Product Manager, Desktop Products, ATI Technologies Inc. “Once faster GDDR-4 memory arrives next year, users can expect to see the hidden potential of ATI’s innovative new memory controller design complement our powerful shader engines with massive additional memory clock scalability.”
A screen shot can be found at: http://www.muropaketti.com/r520_ghz.png.
Radeon X1800 XT’s extreme clock-scaling capabilities are made possible by a series of key innovations that include use of the state-of-the-art 90-nanometer semiconductor process technology, an efficient new Ultra-threaded Shader Model 3.0 architecture, and a revolutionary new 512-bit ring-bus memory controller.
For more information on these or other ATI products please visit www.ati.com.
About ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon solutions. An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world’s foremost graphics processor unit (GPU) provider and is dedicated to deliver leading-edge performance solutions for the full range of PC and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation, set-top and digital television, game console and handheld device markets. With 2004 revenues of US $2 billion, ATI has more than 3,200 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY).