ATI TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES 3D RAGE - VALUE-PRICED CHIP TO ENABLE ARCADE-EQUIVALENT GAMING ON MULTIMEDIA HOME PCs --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOVEMBER 13, 1995 - Las Vegas, Nev. - ATI Technologies Inc. (TSE:ATY) today announced 3D RAGE, the first 3D chip that meets the price/performance milestones set by manufacturers of the next generation of Multimedia Home PCs and provides a comprehensive 3D arcade-caliber tool kit for games developers to create visually stunning games on the PC. Value-priced, and featuring dizzying arcade-caliber gaming on the PC, 3D RAGE is the most integrated high performance multimedia accelerator in its class. 3D RAGE marries rich 3D features with all of the capabilities of its award winning mach64 2D accelerators, adds full-screen, full-motion 30 frames per second (fps) MPEG video playback and enhanced support for all major consumer video applications to produce the most intense gaming experience available on a PC. The new chip also utilizes the latest SGRAM memory providing four times the performance of current DRAM products at DRAM comparable pricing. Next generation synchronous memories keep bandwidth-hungry video and 3D engines found in advanced multimedia accelerators running smoothly. "With 3D RAGE, ATI completes the PC gaming puzzle," said Henry Quan, ATI's vice president of marketing. "Capitalizing on proven technologies and stable, open platforms, we have brought together the best of 3D, 2D and video, all in one product, which will not only produce the most powerful experience for the hard core gamer but will provide the ultimate, maximized tool for games developers." "After years of anticipation, everything will finally be in place over the next 12 months to foster a leap forward for the PC viewing experience," said Mike Feibus, Analyst with Mercury Research. "This is due primarily to the confluence of three factors. First and foremost is Windows 95, with open and available APIs. Second is the emergence of accelerators like ATI's 3D RAGE that provide support for 3D and video as well as two-dimensional graphics. And third, the developing hardware-software platform is spurring games developers to make use of the technology. It will be an exciting year." "Companies like Microsoft and ATI are leading the industry to transform the PC into the ultimate gaming platform," said Kate Seekings, Microsoft's 3D Evangelist. "With the introduction of 3D RAGE, ATI has once again shown that they understand the needs of games developers and systems manufacturers and have built in all the features and performance these two parties need to capitalize on this huge business opportunity." Built for Current and Future Needs Priced at $48 (in quantities of l0,000), with samples available now and full production to begin in first quarter 1996, 3D RAGE is the first chip of its kind which will enable systems manufacturers to provide completely integrated, high performance 2D/3D/video for arcade-caliber gaming in an easily upgradeable multimedia system which could sell for less than $2,000. The second in its accelerator family to incorporate ATI's recently announced Enhanced Visual Architecture (EVA), 3D RAGE allows OEMs to design a single low-cost multimedia motherboard which incorporates the critical features the new multimedia consumer is demanding such as TV-tuner, hardware MPEG and video conferencing. The PC - An Inherently Superior Gaming Machine With industry experts predicting sales volumes of "next generation" multimedia PCs at over 10 million units in l996, the revenue potential for PC games is far greater than that of "next generation" games consoles. As well as providing the virtual reality experience of 3D, the PC as a gaming platform supports TV-quality video, interactivity for tele-gaming and LAN-based multi-player gaming, making it an inherently superior gaming environment, virtually unmatchable in the console market. Games developers need a predictable, stable, high performance platform to ensure that PC games can be created that will be a significant improvement over the console experience. ATI's 3D RAGE has been built to meet these criteria and with an installed base of over l0 million accelerators, ATI is a proven volume supplier of multimedia hardware and can deliver the customers for games publishers to support the development of 3D games on the PC. Rather than catering to a proprietary, closed environment like some other multimedia accelerator vendors, ATI's 3D RAGE leverages off the strong industry standards being developed by companies like Microsoft. It supports all major Application Programming Interfaces (API) including Microsoft's Windows 95 Direct3D and Reality Lab, Apple's TinselTown and QuickDraw 3D, Argonaut's BRender and Criterion's RenderWare. Coupled with the latest gaming add-ons such as joysticks, 3D input devices, Virtual Reality headsets and Digital Simultaneous Voice Data (DSVD) modems used for tele-gaming, 3D RAGE will enable totally new gaming categories. The Ideal Development Tool "While other graphics and video vendors continue to launch 'trade-off technology', ATI's 3D RAGE supports all major APIs, accelerates all six Direct 3D texturing modes and incorporates all the features a games developer needs to optimize the gaming experience," said Craig Fryar from the OEM division of game publisher Interplay Productions. "Put this amazing product together with ATI's reputation for shipping quality multimedia hardware in volume and games developers have a winner." With performance rates of over 20 million perspectively correct texture mapped pixels per second and 575K+ Gouraud shaded triangles per second, 3D RAGE has the best single chip performance currently available in this category. To achieve comparable functionality and performance, other vendors require the use of multiple chips like triangle set-up engines and DACs, which adds to total system costs. Also, many chip manufacturers provide limited features forcing the game developer to compromise image quality in favor of speed, or vice versa. ATI allows the games developers' creativity to reign supreme by allowing them to decide how they want to use 3D RAGE features to create the ultimate experience depending on the class of game they are developing. By utilizing PCI bus mastering, 3D RAGE further increases system performance. For example, texture maps can be swapped at high speeds between system and graphics memory which offloads the CPU to perform tasks such as calculating triangle vertices, resulting in significantly higher frame rates, which provides a dramatically enhanced gaming experience. 3D Rage supports perspectively-corrected bi- and tri-linear filtered texture mapping for the highest level of virtual reality immersion. In addition, support for all six Direct 3D modes in conjunction with sub-pixel accuracy creates an amazing gaming experience. It also supports 3D Gouraud shaded polygons to accelerate the rendering of solid color surfaces. Hidden surface removal using Z-buffering is also available so the developer can decide whether to use graphics memory to offload the CPU from having to perform the taxing Z-sort algorithm when building 3D images. Ardent gamers are truly addicted to eye-popping 3D which games developers achieve using special effects, such as alpha blending, fog and texture lighting, which have all been incorporated into 3D RAGE. With the video texturing feature of 3D RAGE, developers can render live video images direct from an MPEG source onto 3D surfaces for state-of-the-art visual effects. The Ultimate Video Accelerator 3D RAGE provides the highest possible video functionality including support for all major consumer video applications. MPEG playback functionality provides broadcast-quality, full screen, full motion, true color video. To transform your PC into an intelligent TV that harnesses all of the entertainment capabilities of a TV with the processing power of a PC, a TV-tuner capability can be added on so users can channel surf, do instant replays, capture their own TV transcripts and more. An optional hardware MPEG upgrade will provide the highest quality video images at full screen, 30 fps speeds guaranteed, completely removing the task of processing video from the CPU. Enabling all of this multimedia expansion is ATI's EVA architecture with its built-in ATI Media Connector (AMC) which allows for the efficient transport of video and audio between multimedia devices and cards. ATI is the first to include both front-end and back-end video hardware scaling to handle two or more video streams simultaneously, a key requirement for the burgeoning modem-based video conferencing market. PCI bus mastering offloads the CPU from bi-directional transfer of video between the system memory and the accelerator. 3D RAGE - The Ideal OEM Product ATI clearly has an advantage over the several new entrants who have appeared in the 3D acceleration market. OEMs are building Home PCs for users who are not only demanding great 3D, 2D and video acceleration, but who also want proven feature rich drivers and utilities. In addition, OEM system manufacturers are selling into a multiple niche market where TV-tuners, hardware MPEG and videoconferencing are in high demand. 3D RAGE provides all of this functionality plus ensures pin compatibility with current and future mach64 multimedia accelerators and options provides local language support to lessen the cost for the OEM to sell the product in international markets. Other Features - PCI 2.1 Plug and Play with bus mastering - Bi-endian support for broad processor compatibility including PCI PowerMacs - Integrated 135mhz DAC support 1280x1024 resolution - Supports 1, 2, 4MB FP/EDO DRAM, SDRAM and SGRAM - Unique color calibration support in hardware - DDC1 and DDC2 Plug and Play monitor support - Power-on diagnostics and active and passive power management Corporate Profile ATI Technologies designs and manufactures products for the Intel-compatible personal computer and Apple PCI Power Macintosh markets. These products include graphics accelerators and components, communications products and video hardware and software. Founded in l985, the firm's revenues for fiscal 1995 were over $359 million. ATI employs 650 people worldwide and has a product line that is sold through an international network of computer manufacturers and leading computer distributors. ATI is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE:ATY). # # # Copyright ATI Technologies Inc., 1995. 3D RAGE, EVA, AMC and mach64 are trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All other company and/or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice.