Multimedia stuff, etc.
Avivo HD
Carrying on the HD theme is an update to AMD's AVIVO video-processing technology. Thinking about the challenges imposed by having to decode the computationally expensive VC-1 and H.264/AVC codecs, used alongside MPEG2 for HD DVD and Blu-ray pre-recorded material, AMD's realised that the low-to-mid-range GPUs need a helping hand.Our GeForce 8600 GTS examination pointed out that NVIDIA's Bitstream Processor helps the GPU accelerate all the decoding steps present during H.264/AVC playback. The same, AMD reckons, cannot be said about NVIDIA's VC-1 entropy decode (the first stage).
In contrast, the dedicated Unified Video Decoder (UVD), present on both HD 2600 and 2400 series, does the whole job, AMD claims , leaving the CPU and shaders to do other wonderful things. You'll see just how effective it is later on.
Following on from NVIDIA's GeForce 8600 line, the Radeon HD 2000 series has HDCP-support built in, with the number of ciphers matched up to the outputs. All HDCP-compliant ports will offer dual-link compatibility, too.
We note that the HD 2600 series will support twin dual-link DVI outputs, whereas the HD 2400 should ship with a single (dual-link) DVI output alongside traditional HD15 and HDTV-Out.
HDMI routing
Most current graphics cards that support HDMI - usually via a Silicon Image transmitter - require audio to be fed from the motherboard into the graphics card through a separate cable from the board's S/PDIF connector, assuming you'd like both audio and video transferred through a single cable.AMD's incorporated an audio 'controller' into the GPU such that your motherboard's audio device - be it onboard or discrete - can be ultimately routed via PCIe, into an HD 2000 series GPU, and pushed out together with video. Microsoft's UAA driver does the routing for Vista and AMD has a downloadable driver for Windows XP that does the same job.
The HD 2000 series will also feature an optional adapter that converts a regular DVI output into full HDMI (sound routing permitting).
It all sounds good in theory but we note that AMD is only adhering to v1.2 HDMI spec, so doesn't support later features such as TrueHD and DTS-HD lossless codecs and audio syncing, for example.
We noticed that AMD's drivers over-ride motherboard-based audio without prompting, such that novice users may wonder why there's no sound from the audio jacks on the I/O section. AMD should make the choice of sound output a user-defined option, really.
CrossFire
Both the Radeon HD 2600 and 2400 will provide multi-GPU CrossFire support, naturally. The compositing engine is built directly into the GPU - a la Radeon X1950 Pro - and inter-card communication will be either via the motherboard chipset's PCIe slots or through a bridge connector.AGP?
AMD's realised that whilst PCIe makes the most implicit sense as the conduit of choice, there's still a huge AGP market that wants to leverage the benefits of a DX10 architecture that's also strong with respect to multimedia. That's why, the firm states, AGP-equipped models will be released by partners a short while after today's announcement. The cost may go up a touch, thanks to the need for a bridging chip, but it's a wise move designed for mass-market appeal.Brief summary
AMD's done just what we expected it to do with its low-to-mid-range DX10 parts. There's been a sensible saving of silicon by the lopping off of stream processors and memory bandwidth when compared to the Radeon HD 2900 XT.The HD 2000 series has been primarily architected for DX10, it seems. The shading power can be considered reasonable from the unified setup. The compromise has been in reducing the pure pixel-pushing power to a level that, frankly, even a Radeon X1650 XT card can easily out beat out. That, on paper, makes the 2000 series a top-heavy setup that will sacrifice performance in older titles for higher potential throughput in DX10, and beyond.
Let's give you some pictorial relief from reading over a thousand words on what makes the HD 2000 series tick, now.
