Techo Rama

AMD has rolled out its RS690 chipset that is not just the AMD’s first first-ever chipset solution but the first product too that draws benefit of technologies from both AMD and ATI. The RS690 chipset has been introduced in order to slacken off the Intel’s ascendancy in the mainstream market of desktop computers. The new chipset 690G integrates two self-governing display controllers and ingrates signaling for DVI, HDMI, TV, CRT and LCD monitors. It also features HDCP built-in support. The other one named 690V hasn’t the integrated DVI and HDMI signaling, but features a lower-clocked graphics core. Both chipsets will be acknowledged as ‘ATI Radeon Graphics’ parts, with the 690G having an ATI Radeon X1250 while the 690V boasts an X1200. Both the chipsets fit in AMD’s ATI-inherited SB600 South Bridge chip that offers ten USB 2.0 ports, four SATA ports and legacy parallel ATA and PCI support. Grippingly, the North Bridges both handle audio. Other than that, they also endow with PCI Express connectivity, both for external graphics cards and other devices. The interesting thing is that the RS690 has been put right against Nvidia’s MCP61 and AMD claims that its ATI-based device will excel not only Intel, but also Nvidia in video quality, 3DMark05, Aquamark, Half-Life 2 and FarCry benchmarks.