LOSTCIRCUITS

The Buzz Words

As usual, SIS marketing are barring no holds when it comes to the description of the plethora of novelties incorporated in the Xabre600. The result:

[Voice TimeMachine=On] A new visual paradise for the people composed of Pixelizer Engine, Software Shader and Frictionless Memory Control, each with wondrous powers. [/Voice]

Did I say that it does make you wonder ... ?

Duo300 technology

We already mentioned it, the name of the Xabre600 GPU is derived from Duo300 technology meaning that we have a 300 MHz Engine Clock and 300 MHz Memory Clock.

Pro8X8

DirectX 8.1 and AGP 8X which was introduced first by SIS.

Hardware Optimized Vertexilizer Engine

Essentially, it is software vertex shading but with some hardware optimizations described as the XiminatorII optimized compiler.

T&L are carried out in parallel to the vertex operations and multiplexed downstream before clipping occurs.

Since the vertex operations are relegated to the CPU, the performance of the Xabre scales with CPU clock speed/performance. Or so they tell us.

Pixelizer Engine (Pixel Shaders version 1.3)

The Xabre features version 1.3 pixel shaders with a maximum instruction length of 12 instructions (8 arithmetic, 4 texture address). Basically, each pixel can be assigned a "shader" or program block to modify the pixel to add shadows, reflections and so on.

Frictionless Memory Control

With literally billions of calculations pumping through the arteries of your GPU, inefficient data flow is the last thing you need. FMC is a highly specialized method for prioritizing blocks of data and controlling their movement, ensuring high priority information is bumped up to the front of the queue. The result is smoother, faster and more powerful data flow without ribs for extra pleasure.

Jitter Free Anti-Aliasing

Our proprietary full screen anti-aliasing process supports 1X, 2X and 4X blur plus oversampling, smoothing out complex image renderings with the greatest of ease.

Basically what it comes down to is that 1 X blur means no AA at all, 2 X Blur means 1 x 2 vertical supersampling, that is, two pixels in vertical direction are averaged with no anti aliasing at all in horizontal direction. 4 X blur is simply blurring of a 2 x 2 pixel matrix, this does not really qualify as AA but is just a way of unsharpening the image and substituting fuzzyness for edge smoothing and suppression of crawling.

MotionFixing Video processor

If you've ever played back an MPEG file to find a poorly focused resolution, you'll appreciate Xabre's Motion Fixing technology. Our crystal clear de-interlace solution supports 4 fields per-pixel motion detection and works seamlessly on MPEGs, Video Capture and AVI interfaces. MotionFixing lets you see right to the heart of the action.

Xmart Technology

Higher Intelligence Exists... Xmart Technology combines three, hot new features to enhance the performance of the Xabre600, bringing out the best of what your graphic software applications have to offer.

XmartDrive

The Xabre600 allows dynamic clocking, that is frequency scaling depending on workload very similar to e.g. AMD's PowerNow! technology. Basically, in 2D desktop applications, the frequency is reduced whereas upon demand, that is 3D applications and video editing APIs, the GPU runs at full throttle.

XmartVision

Dual mode display, meaning that in destop applications, the display switches to lower contrast "softer" display mode but increases contrast and brightness in 3D applications. According to SIS, the net effect is reduced stress on the eyes in office applictions, while offering the full gamut of "extra clear vision" on demand, that is, in 3D applications.

XmartAGP

The GPU interacts with the NorthBridge to determine the most efficient AGP mode. Not exactly a novelty, we had a similar mechanism already in the days of the Matrox G200.

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