ATI introduces FirePro V9800

ATI has launched its new top-of-the-range professional GPU. Featuring support for up to six monitors at once via the company’s Eyefinity technology, the FirePro V9800 can be seen in action (until tomorrow) at IBC in Amsterdam.

Users selected to comment for the purposes of the press launch span both sides of the DCC/CAD divide, with spokespeople for GPU rendering specialists StudioGPU and industrial design giant Dassault Systèmes offering their support.

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts) – This week at IBC 2010 in Amsterdam, AMD (NYSE: AMD) is introducing the newest member of the ATI FirePro™ family, the ATI FirePro™ V9800 – the most powerful professional graphics card AMD has ever created, featuring support for up to six monitors with ATI Eyefinity technology.  (1) With the launch of the FirePro V9800, the FirePro family – which also includes the ATI FirePro™ V8800, ATI FirePro™ V7800, ATI FirePro™ V5800, ATI FirePro™ V4800 and ATI FirePro™ V3800 – will offer digital content creation (DCC), computer aided design (CAD) and visualization specialists advanced features and high performance at every price point.

“With today’s announcement of the ATI FirePro V9800, we are introducing the ultimate workstation graphics solution for the professional graphics industry. It offers users with demanding DCC and visualization requirements six monitor support on one GPU and a superior price-to-performance ratio,” said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics, AMD. “The ATI FirePro V9800 will be the professional graphics solution of choice for users requiring exceptional performance and flexibility.”

“We’ve tested it and without doubt, the FirePro V9800 is fast, very fast,” said Dr. Johannes Friebe, sales director at Schneider Digital. “Just one card can hold the complete graphic data in only one frame buffer and allows us to drive six monitors without the need for a sync card.”

“The ability to drive six display outputs simultaneously and achieve such a large image on a very high resolution display is a great step forward for engineering collaboration,” said Jerome Maillot, senior manager, Dassault Systèmes. “Sharing a 3D model at full scale and achieving a significant cost reduction at the same time sounds like a dream, yet it is a reality. It is clear that the ATI FirePro™ V9800 professional graphics card has delivered the high level of technology that Dassault Systèmes has come to expect.”

“Onboard GPU memory is critical for advanced visualization and is an area where the V9800 excels,” says Yoni Koenig, chief scientist, StudioGPU. “MachStudio Pro software uses this memory to deliver the real-time cinematic-quality results 3D artists demand. Add together the 4 GB of memory and the native support for up to six monitors with ATI Eyefinity technology, and the combination of the V9800 and MachStudio Pro provides artists with the tools they need to effortlessly produce a visual feast.”

ATI FirePro V9800 truly showcases the advanced performance and high-end features available to users of FirePro™ professional graphics products in this generation. With an estimated retail price of $3,499 USD, the ATI FirePro V9800 offers unparalleled performance for the price.

KEY FEATURES

• ATI Eyefinity Technology: With six Mini DisplayPort outputs, the ATI FirePro™ V9800 allows for seamless, plug-and-play multi-monitor use – the first professional graphics solution to offer six independent monitor outputs from a single graphics card. Ideal for users who want to maximize their work environment for increased productivity, ATI Eyefinity technology can provide an expansive desktop resolution of up to 5760 x 2160 to enable more efficient multitasking and improve visualization applications. (1)

• 4GB GDDR5 Memory: Featuring the largest shipping frame buffer available from AMD in any consumer or professional graphics product, 4GB of GDDR5 memory offers industry leading performance and unmatched visual quality. This feature will be particularly valuable for customers in industries with large volume data sets, such as medical and oil & gas, and in animation and compositing.

• Breakthrough Performance: The ATI FirePro™ V9800 features significant performance increases over the previous generation of FirePro products, including 1.25x increased compute stream processor performance, and an increase of 2.27x in single- and double-precision performance. The ATI FirePro V9800 is optimized for stream calculations with full support for OpenCL™, DirectCompute, and DirectX® 11.

• Real World Performance: Partners have shared with AMD their experiences with the ATI FirePro V9800, and have noted that the V9800 can result in improved performance in 3D rendering software, animation and compositing and the realization of large-scale video walls and high-definition multi-screen operation. Powered by 1,600 stream processors – the industry’s highest number – the ATI FirePro V9800 is ideal for computationally or visually intensive applications.

• 3D Stereo and Synchronization: Like the other products in the ATI FirePro family, the ATI FirePro V9800 offers comprehensive support for stereo 3D capability, supporting active shutter glasses via the on-board 3-pin connector, as well as passive and auto-stereoscopic displays and projectors. Additionally, with support for the ATI FirePro S400 synchronization module, up to four ATI FirePro V9800 graphics cards can be synchronized (genlock, framelock), delivering up to 24 synchronized outputs from a single computer – a breakthrough in display density for demanding powerwall and video wall applications.

(1) ATI Eyefinity technology can support multiple displays using a single enabled ATI FirePro™ professional graphics card; the number of supported displays varies by card model. Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, or Linux® is required in order to support more than 2 displays. Depending on the card model, native DisplayPort™ connectors and/or certified DisplayPort™ active or passive adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your card’s DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s) may be required. See www.amd.com/firepro for details.