Power for CHEAP. ATI first introduced their RADEON graphics card in February of 2000. At the time, they introduced us to many new technologies in a videocard. HyperZ, 3 textures per pixel per pass at full speed, Hardware Clipping and Lighting, Keyframe Interpolation and other features were first introduced in the consumer graphics card market with the RADEON.
Released with 2 SKUs in July of 2000, the RADEON 64MB VIVO and 32MB DDR and the 32mb SDR RADEON were effective counterparts to the available videocards from NVIDIA and 3dfx at the time, the GeForce2 GTS and Voodoo5 5500. You can read my RADEON 32mb DDR review by clicking here, where I cover the important features of the chipset as well. It would be redundant to repeat the featureset that's shared by both the 7500 and the RADEON 32mb DDR in this review, so I suggest reading the prior review if you're interested in this.
Later versions of the RADEON included the AIW RADEON 32mb, which incorporated the TV tuner features of ATI's All In Wonder and AIW 128 series, the RADEON VE which removed the Hardware Transform and Lighting of the RADEON and added dual monitor support and Mac versions of the RADEON.
In September of 2001, ATI launched several new cards. The 7000, which is a RADEON VE with dual monitors and Hydravision. The 7200, which is a 64mb SDR version for under $100. The 7500, which is their mainstream product at $199 based on a improved .15um process versus the .18um process the original RADEON is based upon, and the 8500, a new card with many new features and capabilities. | | ATI Founded in 1985, ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the supply of graphics, video and multimedia solutions for the personal computer and Mac platforms. The pioneer, innovator and market leader in the graphics industry, ATI provides cutting-edge technologies for the PC, workstation, set-top box, game console and other consumer appliances markets. The Company has more than 1,900 employees supporting customers from its headquarters in Markham, Ontario, Canada, as well as from offices in Barbados, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United States. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY). |