SAN JOSE - Intel Corp. here today announced a new initiative designed to double the graphics performance for next-generation PCs and workstations.
At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Jose, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company offered a glimpse of its new Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) 8x roadmap for next-generation graphics applications in desktops.
The AGP8x is an updated version of its previous graphics initiative, dubbed AGP4x. Like AGP4x, the new AGP8x specification implements a 32-bit wide bus. But the new specification doubles the graphics performance to 533-MHz and supports a data-transfer rate of 2-Gbytes.
Intel believes that the AGP8x specification is tuned for its upcoming Pentium 4 processor. "The forthcoming introduction of the Intel Pentium 4 processor means that the external graphics attach point must advance to take advantage of higher processor and bus speeds and meet the need for better 3-D visualization in games and on the Internet," said Pat Gelsinger, vice president and chief technology officer of the Intel Architecture Group.
"We are focusing on a unified approach that embraces all high-end PC desktop and workstation market segments," Gelsinger said. "The next part of that roadmap is AGP8x, an evolutionary step from AGP4x, to be followed by a future serial graphics bus."
The AGP8x specification also received endorsements from leading graphics vendors, such as ATI Technologies Inc., Matrox Graphics Inc., and Nvidia Corp.
"ATI has been working closely with Intel to develop a robust AGP8x bus specification, and is pleased with the increased bandwidth enabled in this new graphics attach port. ATI will offer future members of the RADEON family that fully exploit AGP8x," said Henry Quan, vice president of corporate development at ATI.
"Collaborating with Intel on the development of the AGP8x spec is particularly exciting since the extra AGP bandwidth will benefit the many innovative technologies being developed for future Matrox products," said Jean-Jacques Ostiguy, chief architect of Matrox.
