AMD /ATI Hook up will make Intel and your PC run even faster.

Dell, Inc. (NYSE:DELL) are having a hard time with shares at many years lows. Relentlessly squeezed by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) and Lenovo and a market hungry for low cost bargains, there may be some good news ...

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) is finalising purchase of graphics chip company ATI Technologies. The No. 2 x86 company , just behind Intel, has plans by 2009, for chips that combine AMD processing power with ATI graphics features ready for Microsoft's new Vista OS.

AMD have announced a line of latest Vista-ready ATI Radeon graphic processors.(See website for more)

The new line of processors aimed at "harnessing the richness of Windows Vista ", includes ATI Radeon X1950 XTX, X1950 PRO, and X1650 XT. According to the company, these processors will deliver the best performance, and the most stable Vista experience.

Here is a key to why AMD had the hots for ATI .... Chris Jones, corporate vice president - Windows Core OS Division, Microsoft, said at an electronics event last week in Mumbai (Bombay) "Microsoft will deliver a series of graphics innovations with Windows Vista that provide a customer experience that is second to none. We could not have achieved this without our partnership with ATI. From day one, ATI has played a key role in helping us design and validate the new driver model at the heart of Windows Vista, and ATI has since developed robust and performant drivers that highlight the capabilities of our new operating system."

This is what AMD/ATI has to say about the technical benefits of the new ATI / Radeon chips...

The ATI Radeon X1950 XTX supports up to 512 MB GDDR 4 memory that resulting in ultra fast frame buffering. The architecture employs Shader Model 3.0 enabling simultaneous high dynamic range lighting effects and full screen anti-aliasing. The company recommends X1950 XTX card for Vista, as it provides full support for Vista's image-sensitive features, as also enhances gaming, digital photo, and multimedia applications.

The mid-range ATI Radeon X1950 Pro is the first graphic card to make use of new native CrossFire technology, simplifying the multi-GPU experience, eliminating the need for a branded CrossFire Edition card.... reducing costs.

The Radeon X1950 Pro is also ATI's first 80nm graphics core, and features 36 pixel shaders, eight vertex shaders, and 12 texture processing units.

T he X1650 XT delivers 3D graphics, excellent performance, and other extensive features of a high end-graphic processor enabling the system to handle the latest games with HDDV (High Defination Digtal Video). The chip is expected to be available in November 2006 at a price of $99 ish.

Meanwhile, ATI will continue to make chipsets for Intel, with motherboard chipsets and desktop graphics remaining available under the ATI brand, and mobility products like Mobility Radeon and Imageon sporting the AMD tag.

In addition, ATI will be working in tandem with several leading companies and academic institutions towards developing a new technology called "Stream Computing" (See Enquirer 6/10/06) (The Tech report same date) that the company says possesses the potential to impact each and every sector of the market. If everything they say about this is true we will have the generational leap in speed of processing that maths co-processors hit us with in the early 80's and IBM's AT.

Intel are working on a remarkable way of getting chips to talk to each other with lasers.

AMD's seems to have made a smart move, will we now see Intel moving in on smaller chip firms like Nvidia (NVDA) (whose share price has doubled to US$32 since June! ) in the way big Pharma have given up on research and just buys in winners.... or losers.

PS ... 10.30 EST
In June / July the Nvidia share price hovered between US18 / US$20. On June 15th 2006 analysts at UBS upgraded Nvidia to "buy," and set a target price of US$30.

On June 21st 2006 June 21 analysts at Deutsche Bank maintained their "sell" rating on Nvidia and reduced their target price from US$20 to US$18.5.
34.87 $ Up 2.10 (6.41%)
Nvidia @ 12.00 EST Wednesday is $34.87 +2.10 (6.41) (up nearly 10% since Monday 9.30 am ET.