ATI Graphics Chips Support VESA Local Bus Specification

June 23, 1992 -- ATI Technologies Inc. announces that its 68800 family of
Graphics Accelerators chips support the VESA Local Bus Specification.

Recognizing the benefits of local bus, ATI has worked actively with the
VESA local bus committee and vendors like Micronics and Intel to develop
local bus solutions. ATI's 68800 graphics chips support a variety of local
bus implementations, including the VESA local bus (See ATI Announces New
PC Graphics Components, April 6,1992, for further information).

Local bus architectures provide performance improvements by reducing the
I/O (input/output) bottlenecks typically associated with ISA, EISA and
Micro Channel architectures. Performance gains result from the local
buses' wider 32-bit datapath and increases in clock speed. Local bus
designs are ideal for high bandwidth peripherals such as graphics, disk,
LAN and multimedia, providing performance gains with minimal increases in
overall systems cost.

The VESA Local Bus Specification is an industry wide effort that attempts
to standardize local bus issues. It defines the electrical interface,
signal timing, and physical slot connection.

Besides the performance gained with implementing a local bus architecture,
the VESA specification is designed to create a standard for local bus
peripherals and eliminate the confusion in today's market due to
proprietary solutions.

At PC Expo, ATI will be demonstrating a 68800 card solution in a VESA local
bus slot using a Micronics motherboard. ATI will be marketing local bus
cards and chip products to prospective OEM customers and system
integrators.

The 68800 ATI Graphics Accelerator is designed for compatibility with a
variety of local bus specifications as it accommodates both multiplexing
and non-multiplexing implementations with minimal or no glue logic, and
bus frequencies up to 40 MHz at zero wait states. Future versions of the
chipset will support the Intel PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)
local bus specification.

ATI has made extensive changes in its chip architecture in order to provide
the best local bus performance. These improvements involve the use of
direct memory aperture, and interfacing details that minimize the need for
external glue logic. Today's local bus solutions provide limited
performance improvements because of controller restrictions. ATI has found
that putting a graphics accelerator (like the ATI 38800 and the S3 86C911)
on the local bus results in virtually no GUI performance improvement
(contact ATI for test results) because of the limited access to video
memory.

To take full advantage of local bus, ATI has added a third graphics
architecture to its existing designs (current architecture uses an VGA
controller and graphics accelerator), a linear design aperture. The linear
memory aperture allows image data to be transferred at a full bus
bandwidth directly into the 68800's video memory. Minimizing the amount of
glue logic used reduces the propagation delays, providing better
performance, as well as, reducing total overall cost. The software drivers
written for the 68800 determine the fastest mode of operation, the
graphics coprocessor or the direct memory aperture (contact ATI for
further information).

Pricing and Availability 

The 68800 graphics chipset is available in July at $79.00, quantity pricing
of 1,000 pieces. The 68800 board level products will be available
September 1, 1992.

Corporate Overview 

Founded in 1985, ATI Technologies Inc. is a leading manufacturer of
graphics, multimedia and communication products for personal computers.
ATI's products have been consistently selected by the trade press as being
the best in their respective categories. ATI's commitment to innovation is
made through extensive research and development program leading to custom
ASIC design, incorporating the latest in technology advancements.

ATI is ranked as the video board manufacturer holding the largest market
share worldwide by market analysts, IDC (Framingham, MA) and Dataquest
(San Jose, CA). Privately held, the Company employs over 350 people and
has offices worldwide. ATI products are sold through a network of computer
manufacturers and leading computer distributors.

ATI Technologies Inc
3761 Victoria Park Ave, Scarborough, Ontario, CANADA M1W 3S2
416-756-0718

  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  |   From the America Online New Product Information Services    |
  +===============================================================+
  | This information was processed with OmniPage Professional OCR |
  | software (from Caere Corp) & a Canon IX-30 scanner from data  |
  | provided by the above mentioned company. For additional info, |
  | contact the company at the address or phone# indicated above. |
  |    All submissions for this service should be addressed to    |
  |   BAKER ENTERPRISES, 20 Ferro Drive, Sewell, NJ 08080 U.S.A.  |
  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
