Working on Two Fronts: ATi’s Radeon VE Handles Two Monitors – THG.RU

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ATi’s Radeon VE Handles Two Monitors” –>

Who wins – the Stock Trader or the Gamer?

Prestigious products like the Radeon chip are what drives each and every graphics card manufacturer. However, the highest sales turnover does not occur in the high-end or the power gaming segments. In the case of the new Radeon VE graphics chips, ATi is banking less on high performance than it is on a longer list of features. The primary difference between it and its big brother is in the VE variant’s ability to control two screens simultaneously. This makes ATi the third company after Matrox and NVIDIA to offer a multi-screen solution. What Matrox calls Dualhead and NVIDIA has named Twinview is being marketed by ATi as Hydravision. The term is not necessarily clear for the end-user, since Hydravision does not suggest multi-screen support at a first glance. Those who have read history might know it: The “Hydra” was the multi headed monster slain by Hercules in Greek Mythology. Be that as it may, Hydravision is an established brand. This motivated ATi to enter into a technological partnership with the original inventor of the product, Appian Graphics. In this partnership, ATi supplies the hardware and integrates Appian Graphics’ Hydravision software under a licensing agreement.

The Radeon VE Dual Display Edition is predominately aimed at the OEM market. Banks, investment firms and insurance companies are to be among the bulk purchasers of this solution. However, Radeon VE is also attractive for smaller offices or for private users. Up front – game enthusiasts will not be satisfied with Radeon VE, but for the average user, the card is worth considering. This article will show how the new ATi graphics card holds its own in comparison to its competitors GeForce2 MX Twinview and G450 Dualhead.

Prices and Competitors

ATi plays its first ace at the beginning of the game – with the price. The suggested price of $85 makes the Radeon VE Dual Display Edition the uncontested price champion. In comparison, the Asus AGP-V7100 2V1D dual monitor card with the GeForce2-MX chip costs $9 more, while the Matrox Millennium G450 Dualhead is even more expensive at $14.

3D game performance is less important for the targeted user group. The range of functions for 2D performance is much more significant. Granted, occasional gamers should not be left out of the equation. For that reason, we also present the game performance of all three test candidates later in the article. First, however, we’ll examine the list of features:

Even a quick-and-dirty evaluation of this table allows for some preliminary conclusions: Despite the outstanding 3D basic data for the GeForce2 MX – polygon rate and fill rate – its range of functions when operating two monitors is less convincing. Neither multiple desktops nor adjustments of the application windows settings are possible with the GeForce2 MX Twinview. On the other hand, the Millennium G450 Dualhead has all of these functions. Another positive aspect of the Radeon VE is that it can handle all of the features that are important when displaying MPEG2/DVD videos.

The Radeon VE Up Close and Personal

The retail version of the Radeon VE contains a TV-Out (above), a DVI-I jack (middle) and the standard VGA exit port (below).

A second digital flat panel (TFT screen) can be directly connected to the DVI jack. A DVI-to-VGA adapter is included to ensure that a second cathode ray tube monitor or an analog flat panel can be operated as well.

ATi offers several variants of the Radeon VE for the OEM market. Jack combinations such as VGA/VGA or DVI/DVI are generally feasible and depend mainly on the bulk purchaser’s needs.

The following display combinations are possible with the Radeon VE:

• VGA + VGA
• VGA + DVI (digital flat panel)
• VGA + DVI + video out (television)
• VGA + video out (television)

Clicking on the Appearance tab in Windows’ Display Properties permits the connected screens to be managed conveniently.

Dual Monitor Support with Hydravision

This picture shows how dual-monitor operations are typically applied in a home office. On the left VGA cathode ray tube monitor you have 2D applications like Word and Excel, while the flat panel on the right shows a DVD. In the same vein, you can open an Internet browser on the right-hand screen for a search while writing documents using the left-hand screen. Which application is opened where is up to the user.

The Radeon VE driver package includes the Hydravision software from Appian Graphics free of charge. The user’s attention is immediately drawn to the display extension.

Every Windows application contains two additional buttons in the upper right-hand corner. This makes positioning the windows on both screens much easier – a positive aspect of the software’s usability.

Dual Monitor Support with Hydravision, Continued

Another icon appears in the lower right part of the taskbar. You can use this to switch conveniently between Windows desktops. In the example above, the number “1” stands for the settings of the first desktop. The user can manage up to 9 of these virtual desktops.

Hydravision’s desktop management can be individually adapted to the user’s needs. In the test, the activation “application position memory” turned out to be useful. It is used to make the software “remember” the settings for the application window. Rebooting the computer has the effect of returning applications to their original size.

The complete range of Hydravision’s functions has been summarized in the following list:

Castrated 3D Engine?

ATi reached for the scalpel to make the Radeo VE graphics card cheaper. By way of comparison – the Radeon VE’s price tag of $89 makes it only half as expensive as the full-version Radeon.

The cuts become clear in a look at the architecture. ATi does entirely without the Transform & Lighting Engine (T&L) as well as a texture unit. This makes reduced performance unavoidable, as can be seen later in the benchmarks.

In contrast to the slimmed-down 3D engine, ATi donates a second Ramdac for analog VGA screens. In addition to the standard TMDS transmitter for digital flat panel screens, the Radeon VE can also be equipped with a second external TMDS transmitter in order to enable control of two digital DVI displays simultaneously. It remains to be seen whether ATi will make use of this or not – this depends on the OEM customers’ needs. The Radeon VE has two independent display engines to guarantee dual monitor support.

MPEG and DVD Functions

In contrast to its competitors, the Radeon chip series possesses excellent features for displaying DVD and MPEG videos. Motion Compensation and IDCT (inverse discreet cosine transformation) effectively ease the strain on the system’s CPU. Even at low rate frequencies (below a CPU rate of 500 MHz), MPEG or DVD material can be displayed without jerkiness. In the case of the GeForce2 MX or the G450, on the other hand, a faster processor is required to do the job of making up for this shortcoming.

Recording is an entirely different story – in video signal capture, a powerful processor is indispensable. MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 encoding still has to go the usual route – and the result is long computer sessions.

De-Interlacing: Problems with your Stock Ticker?

Any financial information buff has already encountered the problem. If you have a data source in video format, running text often displayed chopped up. The problem – the interlacing of separate parts of the image. ATi uses a system called adaptive de-interlacing to try and get this problem under control. The results are fit to be seen:

As previously mentioned, the choppiness in running text displays is only obvious when using video sources – Java applets are not affected by this. We would still like to mention that jerkiness when displaying running video text cannot be entirely avoided in some application situations, as in the case of stock tickers. One possible cause might also be a sluggish TFT display.

Test Configuration

Quake 3 Arena

The castrated 3D engine keeps the Radeon VE from escaping unscathed. In comparison to the GeForce2 MX, the frame rates in Quake 3 at 16-bit color depth are almost half as high.

If you change to High Quality (True Color) from 16-bit color, the drop in performance is less noticeable for the Radeon VE than for the GeForce2 MX, although GeForce2 MX remains faster. Matrox’s G450 is left in the dust.

MDK2 Demo

In the second Open GL game benchmark test, GeForce2 MX is still the best at 16 bits.

The tables have turned now. The Radeon VE flexes its muscles at 32 bits and overtakes the GeForce2 MX. The G450, in last place once again, still reaches acceptable, that is playable, frame rates.

Mercedes Benz Truck Racing

This benchmark, based on a Direct3D interface, proves that the Radeon VE generates a good picture. It’s even 30 percent faster than the GeForce2 MX.

After changing to True Color, it can no longer be said that any one of the 3D chips tested reaches acceptable frame rates. With results of under 30 fps, it’s obvious that Mercedes Benz Truck Driving is hardly even playable at this resolution. Slight jolting is visible in certain scenes. Nevertheless, the Radeon VE’s 28.8 fps places it ahead of the GeForce2 MX and the G450.

Summary and Conclusion

For dual monitor operations, the Radeon VE offers outstanding value. Its price tag of $85 makes it much cheaper than the competition. Even though NVIDIA and Matrox have had this feature for quite a while, the latecomer ATi has managed to balance hardware and software very well. The strategic partnership with Appian Graphics gives ATi an excellent marketing opportunity for the “Hydravision” dual monitor feature. The test has demonstrated that the software’s usability is a cut above that offered by competitors NVIDIA and Matrox. Operation has been structured to be used intuitively, for example, so that even beginners can learn all of the functions quickly.

As for 3D performance, the jury is still out on who’s ahead of the rest. In some benchmarks it’s the GeForce2 MX Twinview and in others it’s the Radeon VE. At any rate, it’s evident that ATi plied its scalpel successfully when trimming the Radeon VE engine. In addition, ATi supplies the Radeon 3D engine with a few dual monitor operation functions that its big brother does not have.

Matrox, a pioneer in dual monitor graphics cards, has to get ready to rumble. Despite the fact that the Canadian manufacturer was the first to enter the market with this type of solution, its sales pitches are fizzling out one by one – neither the price nor the performance of the Millennium G450 Dualhead is competitive. The usability of the dual monitor functions is the only satisfactory feature.

ATi can use its extensive OEM network to quickly establish its new graphics card. The Radeon VE is attractive even for the home user who occasionally plays games. At the moment, there’s very little reason to recommend the Millennium G450 Dualhead whatsoever. Reacting to the new market situation is easier for the manufacturer of Twinview cards – reduce the price.