Whether that’s with our own technologies – such as AMD Eyefinity allowing users to see more and do more by using up to 6 monitors[1] – or in collaboration with our partners, the rush is the same.

The development of the Microsoft RemoteFX feature for Windows Server®  2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is one such innovation. Today marks another important milestone in its development: Microsoft has announced availability of the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, the next step in a process that began last March when Microsoft revealed that the RemoteFX feature was being developed. A beta version release soon followed in July 2010.

The Microsoft RemoteFX feature truly virtualizes graphics for the first time, enabling multiple remote workers to access nearly any type of application or screen content, including rich media such as full-motion video and 3D applications, on a broad range of connected remote devices including PCs, thin clients and network monitors. RemoteFX harnesses the power of GPU computing to accelerate the rendering of multiple virtual desktops when paired with servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Why are we so excited about RemoteFX? At AMD we are committed to delivering intensely visual experiences to users on the go.  RemoteFX represents an important move towards this vivid, digitally connected future.  We worked hand in hand with Microsoft to create a solution designed to enable stunning visual experiences by taking advantage of GPU acceleration as supported by ATI FirePro™ V5800, ATI FirePro™ V7800, ATI FirePro™ V8800 and ATI FirePro™ 9800 Series professional graphics cards.

Hats off to Microsoft for taking one more step towards enabling a vivid visual future. Have you tried RemoteFX? Visit our website for more information and then share your experience here.

Janet Matsuda is general manager of Professional Graphics for AMD.  Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

[1] AMD Eyefinity technology works with applications that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort connectors, and/or DisplayPort compliant active adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort or Mini-DisplayPort connector(s), are required.  AMD Eyefinity technology can support up to 6 displays using a single enabled ATI FirePro™ graphics card with Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems – the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase.  SLS (“Single Large Surface”) functionality requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays.

This month, AMD released new plug-ins that are designed to provide enhanced performance with Autodesk AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2011, 3ds Max 2010 and 3ds Max 2011.  With these enhancements ATI FirePro graphics cards offer more than double the performance over comparable consumer graphics cards¹. While offering the capability of increased productivity, these plug-ins also provide significant improvements in visual quality when used with ATI FirePro graphics.

To emphasize the point about why performance matters, Autodesk Technical Evangelist and Cadalyst columnist Lynn Allen, Manufacturing Technical Specialist Daryl Corelli, and Media & Entertainment Technical Specialists Marcel de Jong and Mark Noland recently spoke to ATI FirePro users about the productivity benefits for Autodesk users.

Professionals expect their applications to work right out of the box so AMD continues to provide certified application support such as for AutoCAD and 3ds Max. ATI FirePro graphics have received more than 90 application certifications.

Plug-ins for AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2011, 3ds Max 2010 and 3ds Max 2011 are now available for download.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

¹Test conducted in AMD performance Labs with Cadalyst Systems Benchmark 2011 using AutoCAD performance driver 8.743.3.2 on an ATI FirePro™ V5800 which demonstrated a 3D graphics score of 1980 and an ATI FirePro™ V3800 which demonstrated a 3D graphics score of 930.  Using the Autodesk driver with the 8.762 Catalyst driver, the ATI Radeon^TM HD 5850 demonstrated a 3D graphics score of 587 while the ATI Radeon^TM HD 5570 demonstrated a 3D graphics score of 433.  All Cadalyst scores rounded to the nearest whole number.  Testing configuration:  HP Z400, Intel Xeon W3570 @ 3.2 GHz, X58, 4GB RAM, Microsoft® Windows® XP 32-bit SP3.

People are amazed these 40 displays, with more than 92 megapixels of resolution are powered by just 10 ATI FirePro™ V8800 graphics accelerators. The ATI S400 Synchronization module ensures all of the monitors are synchronized. Not only is the solution easier to config with less than half of the number of cards required by the ‘lime green guys’, the price is less than half as well[i].

Thanks to our ATI Eyefinity Technology, each ATI FirePro V8800 graphics card is able to drive four displays. Each Colfax workstation powering the wall features up to three V8800s and can power 12 displays. On the other hand, each Nvidia Quadro 5000 card is only able to drive two displays, which means you need twice as many cards in a comparable workstation, resulting in increased complexity, space, systems and power consumption. Further, the Nvidia synchronization module (G-sync) is limited to two GPUs, limiting the total number of outputs per system to four. With the ATI FirePro S400 sync module supporting four GPUs and each GPU supporting four outputs, ATI can drive up to 16 displays per workstation. This factor-of-four advantage in density translates directly into less complexity, space, systems and power.

Our partner, Colfax International, a leading provider of innovative and expertly engineered workstations, servers, clusters, storage and personal supercomputing solutions, has provided the hardware for this set up. Custom engineered for unique customer environments, the Colfax workstation are designed to increase energy efficiency and optimize performance for demanding, real-world workloads.

The software creating the high resolution image shown here on the video wall is provided by partner VizRT, which provides content production tools for the digital media industry, from 3D graphics and maps through integrated video workflow solutions and online publishing tools. Viz Video Wall ER™ revolutionized video-wall setups and created unique surroundings for viewers. Customers choosing Viz Video Wall ER and ATI FirePro graphics can be confident that they have a have a solution designed to power a video wall featuring complex 3D animations and display video at the highest resolutions in perfect lock step.

The digital media industry, including broadcast networks, no longer relies on basic charts or graphs and video alone. They are increasingly pursuing more sophisticated and interactive visualizations that allow them to present information to audiences in new and stimulating ways. The combination of Colfax, Vizrt and ATI FirePro graphics, and the unprecedented density of displays per workstation offered by ATI Eyefinity Technology, brings to life the new possibilities in digital media and video displays.

As the saying goes, seeing is believing. If you are at the show, stop by the booth and see this impressive video wall for yourself. If you’d like to know more about what we’re doing at this year’s SIGGRAPH, please visit Command Your Creations for more detail.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

In the coming days, we plan to release beta driver version 8.76.2 for download, offering significant performance gains over previous drivers[i] on AMD’s latest generation ATI FirePro graphics hardware. Highlights include:

• More than 50% increase in performance for ATI FirePro V8800 on the 3ds Max subset of the SPECviewperf® 10 benchmark, as well as a 40% gain on the Catia subset, a 20% gain on the Pro E subset and more than 20% gain on the overall composite[ii].
• Across the board performance increases for the entire family of current ATI FirePro graphics on the Lightwave subset of the new SPECviewperf® 11 benchmark, with the entry-level ATI FirePro V3800 achieving up to 62% performance gain and the ultra-high ATI FirePro V8800 achieving up to 81% gain, compared to the previous driver[iii].
• Across the board performance increases for the entire family of current ATI FirePro graphics on the SolidWorks subset of SPECviewperf® 11, with the entry-level ATI FirePro V3800 achieving up to 43% performance gain and the ultra high-end ATI FirePro V8800 achieving a 63% gain compared to the previous driver[iv].

Such considerable performance improvements across industry leading applications offer increased value for both existing and new ATI FirePro users.

With regard to ISV certifications,[v] ATI FirePro graphics have been certified on more than 90 professional applications. We launched our next-generation ATI FirePro professional graphics solutions in April 2010, including ATI FirePro V3800, V4800, V5800, V7800, V8800 and M7820, and in less than four months these new products have already been certified on 47 applications professional users work with. Application certification for ATI FirePro hardware by leading publishers assures professionals that these applications will perform reliably. The 47 certifications achieved include:

• ANSYS Fluent, Ansys 12 and Workbench 12
• Autodesk
  • 3ds Max 2011, Inventor 2011, Maya 2011, Showcase 2011 and Softimage 2011
  • AutoCAD 2011, AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD 2009, and seven other AutoCAD applications
• Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks 2010, SolidWorks 2009 and SolidWorks 2008
• Luxology Modo
• PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 and Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica 5.0
• Side Effects Houdini
• SIEMENS PLM Software Solid Edge ST2, NX 6 and NX7 and Team Center Visualization 2007

For more information on the latest ISV certifications for ATI FirePro graphics, please click here.

A rigorous certification process and regular driver updates helps ensure ATI FirePro professional graphics provide the right combination of application performance, reliability and feature support for today’s professional need. As an ATI FirePro user or professional considering ATI FirePro graphics, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts. Please use the comments section below.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

[ii] Based on SPECViewperf® 10 benchmark scores as tested by AMD performance labs for Dassault Systèmes CATIA, Autodesk® 3ds Max® and PTC® Pro ENGINEER®, using ATI FirePro™ V8800. Testing compared ATI FirePro™ graphics driver version 8.76.2 vs. version 8.702. Testing performed with the following configuration: HP Z400, Intel® Xeon® quad-core 1xW3570 @ 3.2 GHz, 4GB DDR3 memory, Microsoft® Windows® XP 32-bit SP3.

[iii] Based on SPECViewperf® 11 benchmark scores as tested by AMD performance labs for using NewTek LightWave 3D® on ATI FirePro™ V3800, V4800, V5800, V7800 and V8800. Testing compared ATI FirePro™ graphics driver version 8.76.2 vs. version 8.723.6. Testing performed with the following configuration: HP Z400, Intel® Xeon® quad-core 1xW3570 @ 3.2 GHz, 4GB DDR3 memory, Microsoft® Windows® 7 64-bit.

[iv] Based on SPECViewperf® 11 benchmark scores as tested by AMD performance labs for using Dassault Systémes SolidWorks on ATI FirePro™ V3800, V4800, V5800, V7800 and V8800. Testing compared ATI FirePro™ graphics driver version 8.76.2 vs. version 8.723.6. Testing performed with the following configuration: HP Z400, Intel® Xeon® quad-core 1xW3570 @ 3.2 GHz, 4GB DDR3 memory, Microsoft® Windows® 7 64-bit.

[v] Please note ATI FirePro professional graphics hardware requires various drivers to be installed when running ISV certified applications. Please visit the AMD ATI FirePro™ and ATI FireGL™ Certified Applications page to identify and download drivers.

But thanks to availability of the RemoteFX feature as part of the Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta, compromise is not a word that will have to remain in the vocabulary of today’s IT worker.   With RemoteFX, Microsoft has made strides towards delivering a high-performance, vivid digital future. Now remote workers will have the opportunity to access nearly any type of application or screen content, including rich media such as full-motion video and 3D applications, on connected remote devices such as thin clients.

In many ways, the RemoteFX feature leverages several important computing trends.

• Cloud computing. The performance and user experience gains it enables will help further advance client virtualization’s move towards the mainstream and the rapid growth of cloud computing.  
• Visual Computing. The future of computing is intensely visual, a trend that AMD is addressing with industry-leading technology designed to enable immersive computing experiences.

As my colleague Jo Albers mentioned when Remote FX was first announced in March 2010, our development teams have worked closely with Microsoft to help ensure AMD platform technology is compatible with the rich media enhancements in the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, including RemoteFX.

In order to accomplish this, AMD has provided Microsoft with AMD Opteron™ processors, ATI FirePro™ professional graphics cards, and technical support. In fact, throughout the development of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, AMD has worked with Microsoft on a solution that is specifically designed to take advantage of GPU acceleration as supported by AMD’s ATI FirePro™ v5800, v7800 and v8800 Series professional graphics cards.

However, we don’t stop at the GPU. As a leader in next-generation graphics acceleration, such as ATI Stream technology, AMD delivers balanced CPU and GPU platforms capable of running enabled, demanding computing tasks faster than on the CPU or the GPU alone. What exactly does this mean for today’s IT worker? In short, it helps enable an enhanced visual experience, delivered by harnessing the power of GPU computing to accelerate the rendering of hosted desktop PCs when paired with servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Clearly, virtualization no longer means you’ll have to sacrifice visual performance. The virtualized future (literally) just got a whole lot brighter.

Have you tried RemoteFX? What are your thoughts? Join the discussion in the comments section.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics, at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied

Professionals have been asking about better tools to get the job done more efficiently and with less waste. This new line of ATI FirePro 3D graphics cards offer a wide variety of features that are aimed specifically at those needs:

• OpenCL™ support – ATI FirePro supports OpenCL as an industry standard API with multi-platform development for enabling broad adoption of heterogeneous computing.² ATI FirePro is enabled for accelerated compute when OpenCL supported applications come to market in the near future.
• Microsoft® DirectX® 11 and OpenGL 4.0 support – ATI FirePro is designed to meet those solutions using DirectX 11 and OpenGL® 4.0 where great performance, scalability and reliability are required.  AMD continues to work with developers spanning a wide variety of professional needs. Not only is AMD offering direct support to developers, as they bring OpenCL, OpenGL and DirectX 11 applications to market, but AMD also offers an ongoing certification process designed to ensure that ATI FirePro graphics work efficiently with major applications.

It’s encouraging to see continued market acceptance for these products as well. For example, leading workstation provider, Dell, is offering new solutions for design engineers and digital content creation professionals. ATI FirePro™ V7800, ATI FirePro™  V5700 and ATI FirePro™ V8700 power Dell Precision R5400, T7500, T5500, T3500 and T1500 Workstations available around the world.  Don Maynard, senior product manager of the Dell Precision Tower Workstations, has recognized the value that ATI FirePro brings to the market.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPidi7-JyHk

But you don’t have to take my word about these cards. AMD has been recognized by a variety of news outlets for the new line of ATI FirePro products.  Awards have been received from 3D Professor, Hot Hardware and PC Perspective as testament to the outstanding performance of these new graphics solutions.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that you can’t be productive without having the proper tools. Both AMD and Dell have teamed up to offer professionals the essential tools they need to help them to be both productive and efficient for virtually whatever project they have planned for the future.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD.
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

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. ATI Eyefinity technology is supported by the ATI FirePro™ V8800, ATI FirePro™ V7800, ATI FirePro™ V5800 and the ATI FirePro™ V4800 professional graphics cards. See www.amd.com/firepro for details.
2. OpenCL™ compliant driver and SDK release scheduled in 2010.

The ATI FirePro™ V8800 features the industry’s highest memory bandwidth and stream processors, giving professionals 2.6 teraflops of compute power − more than double the compute capability of our prior generation solution.[2] For professionals who prefer working on multiple monitors and would like increase their display real estate without the cost and complexity often associated with competing solutions, the ATI FirePro V8800 with ATI Eyefinity technology allows professionals to drive up to four independent 30” displays at the highest resolutions.[3] With this affordable, single card solution, professionals can render and manipulate complex designs in real-time.

We held a small event at AMD Sunnyvale on April 1 and OEMs, ISVs, technology partners and end users showed up in force to help us demonstrate what’s possible with next generation ATI FirePro professional graphics, including HP, Dell, GE Healthcare, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks, Ostendo Technologies, Scalable Display Technologies, TurboSquid and Kirkham Motorsports. This was the first opportunity we’ve had in quite some time to bring together the professional graphics ecosystem members to see and hear about how they can benefit from ATI FirePro professional graphics and ATI Eyefinity technology.

We had 12 demos running training simulation, CAD and DCC applications in several multi-display configurations, including three, four, five and six display configurations. We’ll be releasing video footage of these demos in the coming weeks but we’d like to give you a little taste today. Having a seamless visual workflow is critical for professionals, especially for texture artists. Take a look at this short video and see how ATI Eyefinity can streamline workflows and increase productivity:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vdOgpbbM84

AMD is on track to deliver the right mix of innovation and performance to the professional workstation market, and I’d like to take a moment to personally thank all of the industry partners, customers and end users who joined us at our launch event. According to Jon Peddie Research, AMD is gaining acceptance in the high and ultra high end space of the market, and we’re confident the ATI FirePro V8800, and the rest of the next generation family, positions AMD Professional Graphics for growth in 2010.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

[1] Based on comparison of 1600 stream processors and 147.2GB/s memory bandwidth for ATI FirePro™ V8800 vs. 240 CUDA processors and 102GB/s for NVIDIA QuadroFX 5800, as reported on http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_11761.html as of 3/16/10. As of 3/1/2010, ATI FirePro™ V8800 has the highest number of stream processors of any graphics card.

[2] Based on 1600 stream processors for ATI FirePro™ V8800 vs. 800 stream processors for V8750.

[3] 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, Window 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 MiniDisplayPort™ connector(s) may be required. See www.amd.com/firepro for details.

In today’s HD world, everyone seems to be demanding richer, more immersive visual content. But that demand becomes a necessity when it comes to video editors, graphics professionals and interactive designers. AMD and Adobe are collaborating to help ensure that our hardware and software solutions deliver optimizations that give design professionals the computing speed and vivid digital quality they require, allowing them to create content that provides an exceptional user experience.

AMD balanced platforms, comprised of CPUs, GPUs and chipsets, provide a great environment for Adobe Creative Suite 5 (CS5). Creative professionals can harness the power of GPU acceleration with AMD’s graphics products enabled with ATI Stream technology when running many of CS5’s popular applications, including Photoshop, After Effects, Flash Professional and Premiere Pro.  For example, GPU-accelerated features such as image cropping, color picking and brush treatments available in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended enable faster response times and greater overall productivity.

But not all the enhancements available in Adobe CS5 are powered by GPU acceleration. For example, with complex video editing projects, Premiere Pro can take advantage of the tremendous performance of today’s multi-core, 64-bit CPUs. In fact, Premiere Pro scales quite well with additional CPU cores, making systems powered by AMD’s multi-core processors ideally suited to take advantage of the 64-bit performance optimizations in Adobe CS5, helping to bring creative visual effects to life faster.

Also, with the unique ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, digital imaging professionals can take advantage of an unbelievable display solution for increased productivity and a simply incredible visual experience. ATI Eyefinity technology is available with a number of ATI Radeon™ graphics products, as well as ATI FirePro™ V8800 professional graphics.

AMD is the only supplier delivering both world-class CPUs and GPUs in a balanced platform, enabling software developers to choose which compute resources to use to support their workload most efficiently. And at AMD, we offer a unified runtime environment that supports OpenCL across both CPUs and GPUs.

Finally, a critical element for the development of applications like those in Adobe CS5 is the support for open standards. Both AMD and Adobe are strong supporters of the OpenGL and OpenCL standards. AMD also is a member of Adobe’s Open Screen Project, which is intended to enable the delivery of rich multi-screen experiences for open web browsing and standalone applications. We at AMD believe that  this is the only way we will advance the industry to develop dynamic software applications that work across a range of hardware and form factors – not proprietary solutions that lock in vendors and hinder industry growth.

But, of course, none of these issues matter without YOU, the user. Have you used Adobe CS5 yet – any initial thoughts or feedback?

Jo Albers (@GalJody) is a Manager of Public Relations at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

To help ensure professionals have more good days than bad, we work closely with leading application providers to optimize ATI FirePro™ professional graphics so that our hardware and their software work in harmony to help provide the best experience possible. Last week we released driver version 8.702 of the ATI FirePro graphics driver and it incorporates tremendous application tuning efforts that deliver significant performance improvements on ATI FirePro professional graphics. In fact, we’re seeing more than 20% performance gains for the 3ds Max and Pro/ENGINEER subtests, and more than 25% for the CATIA subtest, of SPECviewperf® 10¹. These improvements are enabled across AMD’s current line of professional graphics products, including ATI FirePro V3750, ATI FireProV5700, ATI FirePro V7750 and ATI FirePro V8700.

While AMD is committed to delivering consistent performance improvements, we’re also committed to supporting new capabilities and features on our cards. Driver version 8.702 also includes a special feature that enables Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 to render images with 10-bit per component color (30-bit monitor required), adding to the existing GPU-accelerated capabilities in Photoshop that deliver smooth operations using ATI FirePro professional graphics for several commonly used tasks such as image rotation, zooming, Pixel Grid, image display, brush resizing and panning. Further, as the first company to offer a commercial 3D workstation graphics card with DisplayPort connectivity, AMD is committed to supporting DisplayPort and the latest capabilities. With today’s driver release we’re enabling DisplayPort audio on ATI FirePro V3750, ATI FirePro V5700 and ATI FirePro V7750, supporting 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 DTS surround sound as well as 8-channel and 2-channel uncompressed audio².

For all of the ATI FirePro users out there, we encourage you to download the latest driver, put it to the test and let us know what you think. And for all of the mobile users out there be sure to check back for regular driver updates. In the coming months we plan to issue reliability, application performance and feature enhancements in bi-monthly driver updates for notebooks that feature ATI FirePro professional graphics.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

¹ Based on SPECViewperf® 10 benchmark scores as tested by AMD performance labs using ATI FirePro™ V3750, V5700, V7750, and V8700 as of February 26, 2010. Subtests: CATIA (catia-02), 3ds max (3dsmax-04), and Pro/ENGINEER (proe-04). Testing compared ATI FirePro™ graphics driver version 8.603 vs. version 8.702. Testing performed with the following configurations: HP Z400, Intel® Xeon® W3570 @ 3.2 GHz, X58, 3GB RAM, Microsoft® Windows® XP 32-bit SP3.

²Audio formats achieved will depend on what audio formats the DisplayPort display supports, as well as which audio driver is used.

AMD professional graphics accelerators are certified on more than 90 applications, most recently by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. for SolidWorks 2010 and by Autodesk for AutoCAD 2010 to run on Windows® 7*. SolidWorks applications alone are used by more than one million engineers, designers and other creative professionals worldwide and the fact that its software is optimized to work in tandem with ATI FirePro graphics accelerators and the latest Microsoft operating system is invaluable.

In a professional designer or animator’s world, hardware and software issues can dramatically reduce productivity and increase stress levels. Time is money and professionals can’t afford to waste valuable time configuring applications manually or figuring out “work arounds” when the software isn’t running the way it should. Many times I’m asked why someone should buy ATI FirePro graphics versus one of the ATI Radeon™ consumer graphics cards, and the answer is simple. Application certification and performance. We do all the back end tweaking and optimizations so the professional doesn’t have to.

The road to certification is not easy and ATI FirePro professional graphics go through rigorous simulations and real-world scenarios to help ensure compatibility with the software applications. We now live in a world that is fast-paced and competitive. Supplying our design professionals with tools that help increase productivity, speed products to market and free up the professional to focus on the task at hand, and not the technology behind it, is top priority for AMD. It is our job to deliver products that work flawlessly and we’ve made a concerted effort to work with software vendors to give professionals the performance and stability they need when running applications on ATI FirePro graphics accelerators.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

*Windows® 7 capable PC required for full Windows® 7 functionality. See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/system-requirements.aspx.

Courtesy of StudioGPU

For professionals working in 3D CAD, Digital Content Creation and Engineering, waiting for designs and images to render is standard operating procedure. While technology has vastly improved over the last several years, many professionals are still waiting several minutes or even hours for large and complex models to render — thankfully rendering overnight is becoming a thing of the past.

In addition, every time a change is made to the model you have to wait for it to render again. While render times are getting shorter, those minutes of waiting can really add up throughout the work week, impacting creativity and productivity.

Considering the human brain works faster than the fastest computer, working at 100 million MIPS (millions of instructions per second), having a computer that could work at the speed of thought would free up professionals to focus on their creation by enabling real-time workflows and rendering.  Artists want their creativity to flow with no impediments.  The computer should be a tool that responds with interactivity, and the user should not need to wait for the computer to catch up or interrupt their creative flow. While the concept may seem futuristic, there are companies out there making it a reality today.

StudioGPU, an AMD customer, is reinventing 3D visualization workflow by putting the power of real-time graphics processing and rendering on the desktop. Its MachStudio Pro software complements existing design, modeling and animation software by significantly reducing the time and cost to produce CG images. With MachStudio, users can render complex models, scenes and images incredibly quickly – in just a few seconds in many cases.

The benefits of real-time workflows and rendering are significant. Not only can professionals focus on creating, they can get more work done in a shorter period of time. Real-time rendering can also allow professional firms to show customers how proposed changes to a model will look/interact in real-time. And it can enable more accurate designs before moving onto full-scale production, which can help save time and money.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

The Recovery Act of 2009 includes a number of measures to increase energy efficiency in the U.S., which many feel is the fastest and cheapest way to address the nation’s energy challenges – from homes to factories and offices. And while the government spends billions to build a better, bigger and smarter electric grid, there are a number of ways that companies and organizations can increase their energy efficiency in the short-term. Let’s consider the commercial airline industry for a moment.

 When killing time at the airport before your flight, have you ever pondered the number of arrival and departure screens you’ve passed between the check-in counter, security and your flight gate? McCarron International Airport in Las Vegas, ranked 14th in the world for passenger traffic in 2007, with nearly 48 million passengers, boasts more than 750 flight information monitors.

Typically, flight information displays are powered by a computer equipped with a video card or a graphics card, which enables the system to power multiple monitors at once.  Both the card and the computer consume energy and emit heat, as wells the display, and contribute to the airports carbon footprint.  And in the heat of the summer in Las Vegas, all of these systems and the millions of passengers require the airport to crank up the AC.

So, theoretically at least, how can these airports save money and increase energy efficiency? Because older computers and graphics cards draw more power and emit more heat, buying smaller more energy efficient PCs and more powerful and energy efficient graphics cards will help reduce energy and cooling costs and reduce carbon emissions.  The new ATI FirePro™ 2450 multi-view graphics card from AMD can power up to four monitors at one time, fits in newer and smaller form factor computers and only sips a cool 18 watts of power – the same amount of electricity as a CFC light bulb.

According to Wikipedia, as of June 2008, there were 49,024 airports in the world with the U.S. having more than any other country – more than 14,000. While not all of these airports are of the caliber of Las Vegas, Denver or Dallas/Fort Worth, each state has at least one large commercial airport. If McCarron alone has 750 displays, the number of displays in this country’s airports alone is mind-boggling.  You have to wonder just how much energy is wasted each day.

The commercial airline industry is just one example of how multiple display technology touches your life. What about:

·         911 emergency data centers

·         Trading floors of the stock and commodity exchanges – most analysts and traders have 2 to 4 displays on their desk

·         Manufacturing assembly lines

·         Power plants

·         The electrical grid

·         Television stations

The next time you are waiting for your flight, I encourage you to consider how much energy could be conserved if a fraction of airports, factories and businesses in the U.S. and the world at large implemented more energy efficient technologies. A little effort would definitely go a long way. 

 Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

Janet Matsuda is Senior Director, Professional Graphics at AMD.