AMD prepares DX10.1 part for AGP computers

6 Nov 2007 | 16:51 GMT

By Theo Valich

THE REMAINING AGP UPGRADE market will be all AMD's, it seems.

After HIS launched 2400 and 2600 parts for the AGP 4x/8x interface, we were set for a swan-song for the connector which has hosted our graphics cards in one form or another since 1997.

But AMD has decided to address the needs of this dying market with a DirectX 10.1 part as well. Manufacturers only made the switch to PCI Express this year, with PCI E parts taking over from AGP ones.

With Nvidia screwing up the GeForce 8 series (G8x chips cannot work with BR02, Nvidia's own PCIe-2-AGP bridge chip), the market was left open for AMD's X1950 AGP and different models from 2000 series. The 2900XT was just delivered in small volumes to encourage AIB vendors to develop a special PCB with an AGP connector. Also, power consumption was such that you would need two 8-pin connectors in oder to compensate for only 35W delivered by an AGP connector (PCIe 1.0a x16 can deliver 75W). But, 2400&2600 will not go into the history as the last AGP parts.

Since RV670 has advanced power features, the design of AGP board with this chip was not a pipe dream. 35W from the motherboard and a single 6-pin, 75W deliverable connector is all that's needed to power this 90-110W part.

We haven't seen the final AGP design yet, but the list of parts inside the box reveals the truth. Radeon HD 3850 AGP will come to market bundled with following parts:

• ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP graphics card
• 6-pin PEG to Dual 4-pin Molex adapter
• DVI to HDMI Adapter
• DVI to VGA adapter
• HDTV Component out adapter
• Set-up CD
• Manuals

It's official: these logos will accompany the PCIe and AGP parts

Well, it looks like our old AGP setups have some life in them yet. Let's see can this part bring your old computer back from the dead, and get it ready to ride in DX10 style.

This chip will be the most powerful AGP GPU of all time, unless the R700 generation ends up supporting ATI's RIALTo bridge chip (or if Nvidia fixes BR02 with G100 series). Date of introduction is the same as PCIe Gen2 parts, November 19th. µ

© 2007 Incisive Media Investments Ltd. 2007