Dongle-less CrossFire ...

[ACESHIGH]

ATI prepping Dongle-less CrossFire & full HDCP support ...

Posting here as it will be relevant to graphics cards.....

Dongle-less CrossFire, full HDCP support on both desktop and mobile platforms, and more

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=980


We've come across some ATI documents that reveal ATI's next generation CrossFire enabled chipset which will be positioned as a mainstream part. RD550 has not yet received an official name at this time but details include support for 1x16 + 1x8 PCIe slots. RD550 will also enable dongle-less CrossFire support which will be a welcomed feature by enthusiasts.

RD550 is an AMD based chipset and will have support for AMD's upcoming AM2 platform. Support for AM2 will also be included with RD580. Boards using RD550 are expected to be announced sometime in March of this year. Interestingly, during the same time frame, no new chipsets for Intel processors will be introduced but Intel users can expect to see RD600 products to emerge in June. RD600 is slated to support 2x8 PCIe slots and DDR3 memory.

Also coming in June will be ATI's RS600 and RS690 parts which are both positioned as mainstream parts. A key feature of RS600 and RS690 is that ATI will implement full HDCP support on chip. According to the documents ATI indicates that the chipset will hold the necessary HDCP keys as well as support an integrated HDCP-DVI TMDS transmitter. HD audio will also be another key feature for RS600 series. Interestingly, details are noted that a mobile version of the same chipset will also have HDCP keys integrated on chip. Both chipsets will include the ability to output full HD content and come equiped with HDMI connections.

 

[Richdog]

HDCP is something I am very sketchy about... does this mean that is the mobo has it on the board then you won't need a monitor that processes it as the mobo will do it instead?

 

[Jokester]

Reads to me that the MB does it, so you can plug any old monitor in as long as the res upto the job.

Jokester

 

[ACESHIGH]

Also ..

ATI roadmaps mention RS600 (Intel) and RS690 (AMD) on the horizon as well with Radeon X700 integrated graphics. For whatever reason, there is also a mysterious dotted line drawn from R520 to the RS600/RS690 core logic. In addition, the roadmap hints at a second generation MVP (Mutli-VPU Platform) for mass production sometime in December 2005.


All of ATI's roadmaps also talk a lot about HDCP (HD Copy Protection) and CGMS-A (Content Generation Management System for Analog). We have talked about HDCP in the past, and particularly its role on the PC platform. Since these IGP chipsets from ATI are fusing audio with video output anyway, and are particularly geared toward the HTPC market, don't be surprised if HDMI onboard really does become a reality soon.

As above "Reads to me that the MB does it".

 

[D.P.]

Thats the X-fire I'm interested in as the current one is just a hack add-on. Even with the R580 the news of SLI came to late in the development cyle to make a hardware change.

With R600, X-fire should be able to be incorporated at a lower level making it a lot more tasty.
OF course it wont be competing with SLI but SLI2. SLI2 has beeen brandied about for some time now (best part of a year). Possibilities of sharing memory, improved Super AA, API level procedures to help load balance, such as geometry balancing and performance hints.