Computer Graphics World

4 November 2008 AMD Rolls Out New Brand, Releases Accelerator Pair PRODUCT: GRAPHICS CARDS AMD recently unveiled a new brand for its professional graph- ics accelerators, the ATI FirePro, and then announced two new professional graphics accelerators—the ATI FirePro V5700 and V3700—as the fi rst offerings in that new line. The ATI FirePro V5700 graphics accelerator, priced at $599, delivers application performance that is well suited for CAD and DCC professionals. With the new card, users will experi- ence increased performance for shader-intensive applications, as much as two times more than the previous generation, according to the company. The V5700 also features 512MB of frame-buffer memory and dual-link DVI and display port connections, while its true 30- bit display engine produces more than one billion colors at any given time—empowering designers to see more of their data. Unifi ed Video Decoder 2.0 provides full Blu-ray feature support, including dual-stream and picture-in-picture capa- bilities, and handles the decoding of various formats in the GPU, which helps free up the CPU to handle other tasks. The ATI FirePro V3700, mean- while, establishes a new, low-entry price for professional 3D graphics. For CAD professionals who are migrating from 2D, the V3700 provides 3D performance and application certifi cation at a price of $99. The graphics accelerator features 256MB of frame-buffer memory, two dual-link DVI connectors, and VGA-mode support on all display outlets. The ATI FirePro V5700 and V3700 are available now. Boxx Showcases Viz Solution PRODUCT: COMPUTING Boxx celebrated its 10th anniversary at SIGGRAPH 2008, but instead of blowing out candles, the company demon- strated a number of its recently released products, including the VizBoxx, its fi rst offering to power virtual-reality systems and very large displays, and take advantage of the expand- ing possibilities of GP-GPU massively parallel computing. VizBoxx features a balance of CPU and GPU processing power in a hyper-dense 2-by-4U form factor designed to drive high-end simulation and visualization systems. With fi ve modules fi tting in 4Us of a standard rack, VizBoxx reportedly packs the graphics power of fi ve Nvidia Quadro FX profes- sional-class graphics cards for a total of as many as 20 DVI outputs. Five VizBoxx modules also contain 10 Quad-Core Intel Xeon CPUs, enough processing power to perform the intense real-time computations required by immersive virtu- al-reality implementations. The VizBoxx platform delivers visualization power in a format that inserts itself easily in high-performance comput- ing environments used by scientists and engineers work- ing on complex challenges. VizBoxx clusters can help trig- ger new insights and foster a collaborative approach to problem-solving. Sony Unveils Cell Platform PRODUCT: PROCESSING Sony Electronics showed a new workfl ow solution for faster processing of high-resolution effects and computer graph- ics when it unwrapped Zego. This technology platform is based on the Cell/BE (Cell Broadband Engine) and RSX technologies, and is designed to eliminate bottlenecks that can occur during postproduction, especially during the creation and render- ing of visual effects. The fi rst product to utilize the Zego hybrid multi-core cell platform is the company's BCU-100 computing unit. The Cell-type architecture, known as on-chip parallelism, pack- ages a collection of processors and co-processors in a combination that is specifi cally designed to optimize specifi c types of applications. It incorporates a low-power consump- tion design with the added benefi t of reduced operational costs when many units are run in a clustered confi guration. Sony has been working with software companies that specialize in video production, including Nvidia's Mental Images and Side Effects Software, to create applications that take advantage of the Zego platform. The BCU-100 computing unit is expected to ship later this year. Pricing has not yet been announced.

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