Final thoughts, HEXUS.awards, HEXUS.right2reply & HEXUS.afterburner
Final thoughts
SAPPHIRE's aim in producing the PI-A9RX480 was to create a performance-orientated motherboard that offered the enthusiast everything they wanted; speed, stability, and overclocking in large portions. What's more, SAPPHIRE turned not to NVIDIA or VIA for the core logic, but rather to ATI, in the form of Grouper chipset.ATI's Xpress 200P seemed like a strange choice, as previous partners' motherboards fell short in almost every department when compared to the established duo. However, with the mix of RX480 northbridge and SB450 southbridge, SAPPHIRE has added its own mix of design flair and an enthusiast-friendly BIOS to create a motherboard which is strong in most areas. PI-A9RX480's subjectively stunning looks are complemented by a decent layout and reasonable feature-set, and general performance is good, whilst overclocking performance is just stellar.
The SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation A9RX480 sounds like the S939 motherboard to own, then? Well, as good as it is in certain areas, it's simply not competitive on others. What's problematic is not SAPPHIRE's implementation but rather the underlying core logic. USB 2.0 performance is still significantly slower than the competitions'. SATA2 support needs to be added via a discrete ASIC, something which is already built into NVIDIA's nForce4 variants, and adding discrete ASICs to make up for a lightweight southbridge just pushes up price.
Speaking of which, what also detracts from the package is the asking price of around £135. That's a lot of money for a motherboard that doesn't feature ATI's CrossFire technology, and one can buy another motherboard, based on a different chipset, with a similar feature-set and similar performance, albeit perhaps with not quite as much voltage adjustment, for substantially less than the asking price for the PI-A9RX480.
We applaud SAPPHIRE for releasing an ATI-based S939 motherboard that performs well. We'd recommend it if the asking price was around £100. However, at £135, and with due note of just what's available for less money right now, the SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation A9RX480 is just too expensive to be a real contender. Mind you, if individuality and monstrous voltage adjustments are just what you're after, save up the pennies and invest in one. Our ultimate advice would be to wait for a CrossFire Edition, however. So not the absolute best S939 motherboard we've come across, but it has to suggest that SAPPHIRE's foray into high-end motherboards won't be an isolated one.
HEXUS Awards
HEXUS Right2Reply #1
ATi Technologies’ Chris Hook, before being promoted to his current position as ATi’s Head of Public Relations for EMEA was previously ATi’s Public Relations Manager, (specifically for) Chipset and Mobile Products; so when we submitted our invitation to Sapphire Technologies to judge HEXUS and our editorial – via our World Leading HEXUS Right2Reply initiative - on a product based upon ATi core logic, Chris submitted one of the two responses we received. Here’s what Chris had to say:Hi Paul and Tarinder,
First of all, I’d like to commend HEXUS for offering vendors the opportunity to put their two cents in – well done.
The most important response for me is to address the suggestion in the conclusion that ATI’s platform technology is problematic, or is a weak link in the Sapphire solution.
USB 2.0 performance - Occasionally I hear criticisms of ATI on our USB 2.0 performance, but strangely, never from anyone who actually owns one, and in most cases not from anyone who’s even tested it. The way some people talk you’d imagine that this was some sort of fire-and-brimstone end-of-the-earth-style gating technology issue. And most of those few that have actually measured it have used only diagnostic software intended to dramatically amplify characteristics for engineering purposes, and that don’t put performance into a meaningful, useful, real-world perspective that’s useful to the end user.
The good news is that it’s easy to distinguish between folklore and fact by doing this: copy an MP3 file or a Powerpoint file (say 5MB) from your computer to a memory stick, first on your existing system, then on one built on an ATI platform. The difference between ATI and the fastest competitive system is not measured in days, hours or minutes, but in HUNDREDTHS of a second.
But that tiny delay happens in a memory stick scenario only if you are using one of the fastest memory sticks on the market – the vast majority of them have a maximum transfer rate far lower than that of our southbridge, which means that in most cases the difference in file transfer time is absolutely nonexistent.
But there is a big difference overall with our USB implementation, and that is that Radeon Xpress users get the broadest proven USB 2.0 compatibility in the industry.
SATA2 - The companies that are going to be most successful in the chipset market are the ones that deliver flexibility and value to the customer, not the ones that force customers to pay the bill for their mistakes. Many of our competitor’s motherboard partners that have chosen SATA2 are disabling the internal SATA2 solution because it doesn’t meet their performance requirements, and are instead using an external SATA2 chip, which means that their customers are paying for SATA2 twice.
By making the decision to put SATA2 on an external ASIC, ATI has made a conscious decision not to burden the development of its core logic with a feature that the vast majority of the market doesn’t’ require yet, and by doing that, it actually makes the product more price competitive, even for partners who choose SATA2 as an external solution, since they only have to pay for it once.
The proof point that our strategy is correct is the Mercury data that was released a few weeks back, that shows that the AMD-platform chipset market leader and their integrated SATA2 lost an alarming 20 points of market share in that market over calendar Q1, and almost all of that market share went to ATI, who DOUBLED its overall chipset market share quarter-over-quarter.
I’m not saying we’ll never deliver an integrated SATA2 solution, nor am I saying that Sapphire’s decision to include it was a mistake for their respective target market – it was an excellent choice. But right now our strategy is working exceptionally well: give the market exactly what it wants, when it wants it.
Chris
Chris Hook
Head of Public Relations
Europe, Middle East and Africa
ATI Technologies GmbH
First of all, I’d like to commend HEXUS for offering vendors the opportunity to put their two cents in – well done.
The most important response for me is to address the suggestion in the conclusion that ATI’s platform technology is problematic, or is a weak link in the Sapphire solution.
USB 2.0 performance - Occasionally I hear criticisms of ATI on our USB 2.0 performance, but strangely, never from anyone who actually owns one, and in most cases not from anyone who’s even tested it. The way some people talk you’d imagine that this was some sort of fire-and-brimstone end-of-the-earth-style gating technology issue. And most of those few that have actually measured it have used only diagnostic software intended to dramatically amplify characteristics for engineering purposes, and that don’t put performance into a meaningful, useful, real-world perspective that’s useful to the end user.
The good news is that it’s easy to distinguish between folklore and fact by doing this: copy an MP3 file or a Powerpoint file (say 5MB) from your computer to a memory stick, first on your existing system, then on one built on an ATI platform. The difference between ATI and the fastest competitive system is not measured in days, hours or minutes, but in HUNDREDTHS of a second.
But that tiny delay happens in a memory stick scenario only if you are using one of the fastest memory sticks on the market – the vast majority of them have a maximum transfer rate far lower than that of our southbridge, which means that in most cases the difference in file transfer time is absolutely nonexistent.
But there is a big difference overall with our USB implementation, and that is that Radeon Xpress users get the broadest proven USB 2.0 compatibility in the industry.
SATA2 - The companies that are going to be most successful in the chipset market are the ones that deliver flexibility and value to the customer, not the ones that force customers to pay the bill for their mistakes. Many of our competitor’s motherboard partners that have chosen SATA2 are disabling the internal SATA2 solution because it doesn’t meet their performance requirements, and are instead using an external SATA2 chip, which means that their customers are paying for SATA2 twice.
By making the decision to put SATA2 on an external ASIC, ATI has made a conscious decision not to burden the development of its core logic with a feature that the vast majority of the market doesn’t’ require yet, and by doing that, it actually makes the product more price competitive, even for partners who choose SATA2 as an external solution, since they only have to pay for it once.
The proof point that our strategy is correct is the Mercury data that was released a few weeks back, that shows that the AMD-platform chipset market leader and their integrated SATA2 lost an alarming 20 points of market share in that market over calendar Q1, and almost all of that market share went to ATI, who DOUBLED its overall chipset market share quarter-over-quarter.
I’m not saying we’ll never deliver an integrated SATA2 solution, nor am I saying that Sapphire’s decision to include it was a mistake for their respective target market – it was an excellent choice. But right now our strategy is working exceptionally well: give the market exactly what it wants, when it wants it.
Chris
Chris Hook
Head of Public Relations
Europe, Middle East and Africa
ATI Technologies GmbH
HEXUS would like to thank Chris for submitting his HEXUS Right2Reply and point out that in the very near future, once we have had time to undertake further investigations into the USB performance of the ATi SB450 Southbridge of the SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation A9RX480 mainboard, we’ll be publishing an update to our editorial.
HEXUS Right2Reply #2
As stated earlier we invited Sapphire Technology to submit its own HEXUS Right2Reply, and whilst this still hasn’t yet been forthcoming, we were provided with a response by Andrzej Bania, ATi Technologies’ PR and Marketing Manager Northern Europe & South Africa.Andrzej said:
PURE is a great product because customers demand choice. There is nothing like strong opposition bearing down on you at every turn to make you understand that you must raise your game or lose. Radeon Xpress 200 is a powerful, flexible chipset – capable of holding its own against the very best in the market. The work of John Bruno and his colleagues has been instrumental in allowing ATI to grab 27% of the AMD chipset business in under a year – and we have a lot more to follow. As always, we will focus on engineering perfection – rather than ‘trick’ technology designed to grab headlines. That focus will allow us to deliver the best product available at a price that customers are genuinely happy to pay. The Xpress 200 platform has opened the door for a whole new world of performance chipset choices – perfect for the hardcore enthusiast!
Kind regards,
Andrzej Bania
PR and Marketing Manager
Northern Europe & South Africa
ATI Technologies (EUROPE) GmbH
Kind regards,
Andrzej Bania
PR and Marketing Manager
Northern Europe & South Africa
ATI Technologies (EUROPE) GmbH
HEXUS.afterburner
The conclusion Tarinder’s reached on the SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation A9RX480 AMD Socket 939 mainboard makes absolute sense, and in telling things the way they are, sometimes it’s our job to piss off manufacturers.Simply put, with the BIOS and PCB versions as tested, other products offered in a similar space to the SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation A9RX480 seem to offer a bit better bang per buck.
But is it all about bang for buck?
In detailed discussions with John Bruno, ASIC Design Manager for ATi Technologies - who is not only responsible for the RX480 ‘Northbridge’ component of the ATi RADEON XPRESS 200 core logic, but is the actual designer of the ATi ‘Grouper’ reference mainboard, upon which Sapphire Technology have based its PURE Innovation A9RX480 - John summed up what he had in mind when conceiving the ATi ‘Grouper’ reference design:
“I designed it (‘Grouper’) to be the ultimate board for enthusiasts and overclockers; even for the guys with VapoChills and refrigeration, you can really max out this board and it’ll stay up and running 24/7”.
In my experience - and certainly relative to a specific few of the duplicitous, scheming bits of mistrusted dross who try to con the foolish elsewhere within the IT industry - PC technology engineers are almost always honest and straightforward people; they’re individuals with little or no concern for the implications of openly answering difficult questions, and stating their beliefs with genuine conviction. Put it this way, I’ve employed more than a few in my time, and I’ve never known one to secretly Bcc others into private correspondence, and then seemingly lie about it when exposed.
Yep, it’s a refreshing opportunity to engage with some one like John Bruno, a genuinely competent guy, perhaps one that’s even at the very top of his game, who simply speaks his mind.
So accuse me of being naive, but when a straightforward guy, who contributed to designing the chipset and conceived and managed the design of mainboard upon which its integrated, proudly makes claims about his ‘baby’ – I’m inclined to trust him.
If I personally owned, or was intending to own an ATi 3D graphics accelerator, and given the choice of any other single socket mainboard for AMD processors on the market today, would I put my money on anything else? Hell no!
Even if I didn’t know every nuance of its impressive flexibility and rock solid engineering, the SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation A9RX480 is arguably one of the most aesthetically desirable, and currently exclusive, items of core PC hardware currently available.
High tech haute couture?
Paul Dutton
