ATI release a low power chipset for C2D â€“ All platforms!

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:44 pm

There seems to be some doubt on whether ATIâ€™s just released Radeon Xpress 1250 chipset for Intel CPUs supports both mobile and desktop C2Ds.
It definitely supports the mobile platform; the desktop support is in doubt though. This link suggests that it supports both platforms.

If someone would release a desktop board using this chipset for S479 that allowed you to overclock, it could offer a killer platform.

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:35 pm

I'm sure it supports desktop chips but probably in a different configuration without the power saving features of the mobile chipset. I'm a little worried about the HTPC performance of this chipset. It says the chip only supports Shader Model 2.0 but with full AVIVO support. I thought much of the AVIVO support like H.264 support was only on cards with SM3.0. I hope this is not the case because i was looking forward to this chipset for my HTPC. I want something that can handle 1080p not 480p.

GlassMan · Post by **GlassMan** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:27 am

Maybe you can tell me (sorry if this is considered a hijack) why 1080p is sometimes mentioned as 720p and 1080i are the standards for HDTV?

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:15 am

autoboy wrote:I want something that can handle 1080p not 480p.

The ATI spec sheet shows 720p & 1080i.

GlassMan wrote:Maybe you can tell me (sorry if this is considered a hijack) why 1080p is sometimes mentioned as 720p and 1080i are the standards for HDTV?

720p & 1080i are AFAIK purely the standards that broadcasters use. Film and TV productions will typically shoot in progressive-scan, which give them the option to release their footage as 1080p on HD optical discs; Blu-ray and HD-DVD both support this.
There are also other sources of HD material that a PC can output which support 1080p; WMV HD is but one.
In some cases the need for a 1080p output is a red herring, as itâ€™s possible for a 1080p TV to de-interlace a 1080i signal and recreate the original progressive signal. See here for details.

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:51 pm

Supports the following formats of YPbPr component output: 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, and 1080i.

This is the component (analog) output. I was wondering if it was capable of 1080p digital output with H.264 acceleration. My Westinghouse LCD TV is full 1080p resolution. Thanks for the link on 1080i though. I was unaware that it is basically the same quality as 1080p/24

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:22 pm

autoboy wrote:
Supports the following formats of YPbPr component output: 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, and 1080i.
This is the component (analog) output. I was wondering if it was capable of 1080p digital output with H.264 acceleration. My Westinghouse LCD TV is full 1080p resolution. Thanks for the link on 1080i though. I was unaware that it is basically the same quality as 1080p/24

I think I was assuming here that 1080P would be a given with a DVI or HDMI connection, which is why I gave the component figures; not that they give any others.
Even if this is the case, how well H.264 is accelerated for 1080P is another issue. Given how underpowered AVIVO seems to have been with H.264 decode acceleration on the lower speed discrete GPUs, Iâ€™m left doubting that this IGP will cut it. A C2D at 3 GHz will help though.