ATI redefines the AIW. ATI first announced the RADEON family of videocards in July of 2000. Boasting many next generation features including pixel shaders (Pixel Tapestry Engine), vertex shaders (Charisma Engine), 4 matrix vertex skinning and 3 texture units per pixel, the RADEON was the most advanced videocard available when released. Several iterations of the RADEON were released, the ALL-IN-WONDER, 32MB DDR, 64MB VIVO, SDR, 7000, 7200, and the RADEON 7500.
In July of 2001, ATI introduced their successor to the RADEON, the RADEON 8500. The RADEON 8500 adds many new features to the available videocards featureset, including improved pixel shaders in DirectX 8.1, Truform, Smoothvision, HyperZ II and more. I'll be spending quite a bit of time on explaining the featureset of the 8500 in this review.
This is a look at the ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV, which is based upon the successor to the Radeon that ATI released last year. I'll be taking a look at the technology, benchmarks, gameplay and TV features of the card. Being the latest and greatest of the ATI ALL-IN-WONDER family of videocards, I will be comparing it directly against the ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON, which was it's immediate predecessor. | | 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). |