Specifications

The list

3D Graphics Features

Four parallel rendering pipelines process up to 1 billion pixels per second (9000)/1.1 billion pixels per second (9000 Pro)

Full support for DirectX 8.1 programmable pixel and vertex shaders in hardware

1.4 pixel shaders support up to 6 textures rendering per pass

1.1 vertex shaders support vertex programs up to 128 instructions

High performance dual-channel 128-bit DDR memory interface supports 32/64/128MB configurations

SMOOTHVISION

CHARISMA ENGINE II

High performance 2nd generation transform and lighting engine

HYPERZ II

Video Features

VIDEO IMMERSION II delivers industry-leading video playback

FULLSTREAM Hardware accelerated de-blocking of Internet video streams

Display features

Dual integrated display controllers

Dual integrated 10-bit per channel palette DACs operating at up to 400MHz

Integrated DVI-compliant 165MHz TMDS transmitter supports resolutions up to WUXGA (1920x1200)

Integrated TV-Out support up to 1024x768 resolution

Notes

As expected, the key difference in the 9000 and the 9000 Pro lies in clock speed, the 9000’s core clock frequency operates at 250MHz, while its DDR memory runs at 400MHz. In the case of the 9000 Pro, the core clock runs at 275MHz and is paired with 550MHz DDR memory.

In fact, with RADEON 9000 ATI has removed one of the vertex shaders originally present in RADEON 8500. Instead of going with dual pipes, ATI instead chose to go with one really fast shader. While RADEON 8500 was capable of processing up to 65 million triangles/second via its dual pipelines, RADEON 9000 can output 75 million with its single vertex pipeline. This “less is more” approach is also applied to the texture units. With RADEON 9000, ATI has implemented a single texture unit per pixel pipe (versus two in RADEON 8500). As a result of these changes, RADEON 9000 performs faster than RADEON 8500 in scenes with simple polygons (which really stresses RADEON 9000s triangles/sec advantage), but offers less performance than the RADEON 8500 in scenes with multiple polygons and with ATI’s TRUFORM technology enabled.

One other addition ATI has implemented with the RADEON 9000 is the integration of dual 400MHz DACs and TV encoder is all integrated on the RADEON 9000 die. With RADEON 9000, the separate Rage Theater chip is no longer necessary.