The graphics technology of the RADEON® HD 2900XT, one of the latest graphics cards from AMD ATI, is designed with DirectX 9 and 10 and Windows Vista Shader Model 4.0 support to deliver maximum graphical detail at the best possible frame rates. The HD 2900XT establishes a new level of performance with a next-generation unified shader engine with 320 unified stream processors, CrossFire, game physics, and built-in HDMI with multi-channel 5.1 surround audio.

The Radeon HD 2900XT comes with a 512-bit 8-channel GDDR3/4 memory interface 743MHz core clock and 2GHz memory.

AMD introduces 320 stream processors with the HD 2900XT that can handle vector or pixel processing. The card also introduces a new type of anti-aliasing called Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing (CFAA) which offers several modes providing pixel sampling outside multi-sample box filtering in the form of wide and narrow tent filters; some of the new modes also feature an adaptive edge detection filter.

The key features of ATI Radeon HD 2900XT include:

• 743 MHz core clock rate.
• 512-bit 8-channel GDDR3/4 memory interface.
• HDMI with 5.1 surround sound audio; supports all display resolutions up to 1920x1080.
• Unified shader engine with 320 unified stream processors.
• Full support for Microsoft DirectX 10 including Shader Model 4.0.
• Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing (CFAA) up to 24x for improved quality; all anti-aliasing features compatible with HDR rendering.
• Memory clock rate: 825 MHz.
• Built-in HDMI with multi-channel 5.1 surround audio.
• 700 million transistors on 80nm HS fabrication process.
• 2x/4x/8x/16x high quality adaptive anisotropic filtering modes (up to 128 taps per pixel).
• Crossfire multi-GPU technology; scales up rendering performance and image quality with 2 or more GPUs. CrossFire is an open platform that supports multiple components and graphics cards that can be mixed and matched in a single system.
• Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs.
• PCI Express x16 bus interface.
• ATI Avivo™ HD video and display platform for delivering high-definition image quality with stunning color and realism.

The nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX series of graphics products feature a next-generation superscalar architecture and an all new NVIDIA® CineFX® 4.0 engine. The CineFX 4.0 engine includes a redesigned vertex shader unit that shortens the time required to set up complex geometry processing. In addition, a new pixel shader unit delivers up to 2x the floating point shading power of previous generation products. With support for true high dynamic-range (HDR) rendering — including advanced 64-bit filtering and blending—the GeForce 7 Series GPUs deliver the ultimate lighting effects to bring environments to life for a truly immersive, ultra-realistic experience.

Key features include:

• 650 MHz core clock rate.
• 512 GDDR3 memory; 800-900 MHz memory speed.
• PCI Express® x 16 native.
• CineFX 4.0 engine which powers the next generation of cinematic realism.
• Full support for Microsoft DirectX 9, Shader Model 3.0 (includes Vertex Shader 3.0 and Pixel Shader 3.0) enables stunning and complex special effects.
• Dual-link DVI capability to drive the industry’s largest and highest resolution digital flat panel displays up to 2560x16003.
• Full NVIDIA® nView® multi-display technology capability.
• Third-generation GPU architecture built for Microsoft Windows Vista, also supports Windows XP/Windows XP 64, Windows 2000. Delivers best possible experience when running Windows Vista 3D graphical user interface.
• Full 128-bit studio-quality floating point precision through the entire rendering pipeline with native hardware support for 32bpp, 64bpp, and 128bpp rendering modes.
• High-Speed 256-bit GDDR3 memory interface to deliver fluid frame rates for even the most advanced games and applications.
• UltraShadow II technology, which enhances the performance of shadow-intensive games.
• IntelliSample 4.0 Technology, with advanced 16x anisotropic filtering (with up to 128 taps), blistering-fast antialiasing and compression performance; gamma-adjusted rotated-grid antialiasing removes jagged edges for incredible image quality.
• 64-bit floating point texture filtering and blending delivers true high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting support.
• DVC 3.0 (Digital Vibrance Control).
• Dual 400 MHz RAMDACs - Supports dual QXGA displays with refresh rates–up to 2048 x 1536 at 85Hz.
• Support for SLI technology, nVidia's multi-GPU solution; delivers up to 2x the performance of a single GPU configuration for unparalleled gaming experience by enabling two GeForce-based graphics cards to run in parallel to scale both geometry and fill rate performance for multiple GPUs. SLI technology combines and scales graphics performance and visual quality by having multiple NVIDIA GPUs in a single system.