[News]

Hi all,

We have just published the *bit-tech Hardware Awards for 2008* - if you
could post a link on your site that would be very much appreciated.

*Link:*
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2009/01/02/the-bit-tech-hardware-awards-2008/1


*Picture:*
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2009/01/the-bit-tech-hardware-awards-2008/fp_img.jpg


*Quote:
*/These limitations prevented us from making Intel's Atom processor our
innovation of the year and instead that title fell to the chip behind
the hugely successful Radeon HD 4800 series. RV770 is, quite frankly,
the best thing that has happened to the graphics industry since Nvidia
launched G80 and what made it all the more impressive was the fact it
was developed while AMD was getting its ass handed to it by G80.

RV770 represented an incredibly brave move for AMD because it went
against what the graphics industry stood for. For years, ATI and Nvidia
had cracked heads in a battle for superiority that traditionally focused
on nothing but brute force -- build a bigger GPU than your rival and
you're guaranteed to win. That wasn't the case with RV770 and many got
the impression that AMD was giving up on the high end.

The reason AMD won this round was because it had focused on making the
most efficient GPU possible and decided not to go for broke with a GPU
bigger than Vicky Pollard's belly, as impressive as that is. Luck also
came into the equation as well because AMD had decided to stick with a
256-bit memory interface to keep the size of the GPU reasonable and, in
order to make up for the bandwidth deficiency, it led development of a
new memory technology: GDDR5.

The bit-tech Hardware Awards 2008 Best InnovationHad the memory
manufacturers not been able to deliver GDDR5 DRAMs in volume when they
did, AMD would have been left with just the Radeon HD 4850 at launch --
a card that was only really a credible threat to the GeForce 9800 GTX.
Lady luck was with AMD though and it was able to deliver the Radeon HD
4870 512MB to market on launch day. The two were significantly cheaper
than the competition from Nvidia and led to some huge price cuts that
would go on to hurt Nvidia's bottom line./*

*Cheers guys!

Tim Smalley
www.bit-tech.net