<s>
The	O
R300	B-Device
GPU	B-Architecture
,	O
introduced	O
in	O
August	O
2002	O
and	O
developed	O
by	O
ATI	O
Technologies	O
,	O
is	O
its	O
third	O
generation	O
of	O
GPU	B-Architecture
used	O
in	O
Radeon	B-Device
graphics	B-Device
cards	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
GPU	B-Architecture
features	O
3D	B-Architecture
acceleration	I-Architecture
based	O
upon	O
Direct3D	B-Application
9.0	O
and	O
OpenGL	B-Application
2.0	O
,	O
a	O
major	O
improvement	O
in	O
features	O
and	O
performance	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
preceding	O
R200	B-Device
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
R300	B-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
fully	O
Direct3D	B-Application
9-capable	O
consumer	O
graphics	O
chip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
graphics	B-Device
cards	I-Device
using	O
the	O
R300	B-Device
to	O
be	O
released	O
were	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
time	O
that	O
ATI	O
marketed	O
its	O
GPU	B-Architecture
as	O
a	O
Visual	B-Architecture
Processing	I-Architecture
Unit	I-Architecture
(	O
VPU	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
R300	B-Device
and	O
its	O
derivatives	O
would	O
form	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
ATI	O
's	O
consumer	O
and	O
professional	O
product	O
lines	O
for	O
over	O
3	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
integrated	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
based	O
upon	O
R300	B-Device
is	O
the	O
Xpress	B-Device
200	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
ATI	O
had	O
held	O
the	O
lead	O
for	O
a	O
while	O
with	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
8500	I-Device
but	O
Nvidia	O
retook	O
the	O
performance	O
crown	O
with	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
the	O
GeForce	O
4	O
Ti	O
line	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ATI	O
,	O
perhaps	O
mindful	O
of	O
what	O
had	O
happened	O
to	O
3dfx	O
when	O
they	O
took	O
focus	O
off	O
their	O
Rampage	O
processor	O
,	O
abandoned	O
it	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
finishing	O
off	O
their	O
next-generation	O
R300	B-Device
card	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
R300	B-Device
,	O
with	O
its	O
next-generation	O
architecture	O
giving	O
it	O
unprecedented	O
features	O
and	O
performance	O
,	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
superior	O
to	O
any	O
R250	O
refresh	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
R3xx	O
chip	O
was	O
designed	O
by	O
ATI	O
's	O
West	O
Coast	O
team	O
(	O
formerly	O
ArtX	O
Inc	O
.	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
first	O
product	O
to	O
use	O
it	O
was	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
PRO	O
(	O
internal	O
ATI	O
code	O
name	O
:	O
R300	B-Device
;	O
internal	O
ArtX	O
codename	O
:	O
Khan	O
)	O
,	O
launched	O
in	O
August	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
architecture	O
of	O
R300	B-Device
was	O
quite	O
different	O
from	O
its	O
predecessor	O
,	O
Radeon	B-Device
8500	I-Device
(	O
R200	B-Device
)	O
,	O
in	O
nearly	O
every	O
way	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
core	O
of	O
9700	O
PRO	O
was	O
manufactured	O
on	O
a	O
150nm	O
chip	B-Architecture
fabrication	I-Architecture
process	O
,	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
8500	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
refined	O
design	O
and	O
manufacturing	O
techniques	O
enabled	O
a	O
doubling	O
of	O
transistor	B-Application
count	O
and	O
a	O
significant	O
clock	O
speed	O
gain	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
major	O
change	O
with	O
the	O
manufacturing	O
of	O
the	O
core	O
was	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
flip-chip	O
packaging	O
,	O
a	O
technology	O
not	O
used	O
previously	O
on	O
video	B-Device
cards	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
PRO	O
was	O
launched	O
clocked	O
at	O
325MHz	O
,	O
ahead	O
of	O
the	O
originally	O
projected	O
300MHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
a	O
transistor	B-Application
count	O
of	O
110	O
million	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
the	O
largest	O
and	O
most	O
complex	O
GPU	B-Architecture
of	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Despite	O
that	O
,	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
PRO	O
was	O
clocked	O
significantly	O
higher	O
than	O
the	O
Matrox	B-Device
Parhelia	I-Device
512	I-Device
,	O
a	O
card	O
released	O
but	O
months	O
before	O
R300	B-Device
and	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
pinnacle	O
of	O
graphics	O
chip	O
manufacturing	O
(	O
with	O
80	O
million	O
transistors	B-Application
at	O
220MHz	O
)	O
,	O
up	O
until	O
R300	B-Device
's	O
arrival	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
chip	O
adopted	O
an	O
architecture	O
consisting	O
of	O
8	O
pixel	O
pipelines	O
,	O
each	O
with	O
1	O
texture	B-General_Concept
mapping	I-General_Concept
unit	I-General_Concept
(	O
an	O
8x1	O
design	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
this	O
differed	O
from	O
the	O
older	O
chips	O
using	O
2	O
(	O
or	O
3	O
for	O
the	O
original	O
Radeon	B-Device
)	O
texture	O
units	O
per	O
pipeline	O
,	O
this	O
did	O
not	O
mean	O
R300	B-Device
could	O
not	O
perform	O
multi-texturing	O
as	O
efficiently	O
as	O
older	O
chips	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
new	O
DirectX	O
9	O
specification	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
more	O
flexible	O
floating-point-based	O
Shader	B-Language
Model	I-Language
2.0	I-Language
+	O
pixel	O
shaders	O
and	O
vertex	O
shaders	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Equipped	O
with	O
4	O
vertex	O
shader	O
units	O
,	O
R300	B-Device
possessed	O
over	O
twice	O
the	O
geometry	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
capability	O
of	O
the	O
preceding	O
Radeon	B-Device
8500	I-Device
and	O
the	O
GeForce4	O
Ti	O
4600	O
,	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
greater	O
feature-set	O
offered	O
compared	O
to	O
DirectX	O
8	O
shaders	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
demo	O
was	O
a	O
real-time	O
implementation	O
of	O
noted	O
3D	O
graphics	O
researcher	O
Paul	O
Debevec	O
's	O
paper	O
on	O
the	O
topic	O
of	O
high	B-Device
dynamic	I-Device
range	I-Device
rendering	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
noteworthy	O
limitation	O
is	O
that	O
all	O
R300-generation	O
chips	O
were	O
designed	O
for	O
a	O
maximum	O
floating	B-Algorithm
point	I-Algorithm
precision	I-Algorithm
of	O
96-bit	O
,	O
or	O
FP24	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
DirectX	O
9	O
's	O
maximum	O
of	O
128-bit	O
FP32	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
trade-off	O
in	O
precision	O
offered	O
the	O
best	O
combination	O
of	O
transistor	B-Application
usage	O
and	O
image	O
quality	O
for	O
the	O
manufacturing	O
process	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ATI	O
's	O
Radeon	B-Device
chips	O
did	O
not	O
go	O
above	O
FP24	O
until	O
R520	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
R300	B-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
board	O
to	O
truly	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
a	O
256-bit	O
memory	O
bus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Matrox	B-Application
had	O
released	O
their	O
Parhelia	O
512	O
several	O
months	O
earlier	O
,	O
but	O
this	O
board	O
did	O
not	O
show	O
great	O
gains	O
with	O
its	O
256-bit	O
bus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
R300	B-Device
"	O
was	O
also	O
given	O
the	O
latest	O
refinement	O
of	O
ATI	O
's	O
innovative	O
HyperZ	B-Device
memory	O
bandwidth	O
and	O
fillrate	O
saving	O
technology	O
,	O
HyperZ	B-Device
III	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
introduced	O
ATI	O
's	O
multi-sample	O
gamma-corrected	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
scheme	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multi-sampling	O
offered	O
vastly	O
superior	O
performance	O
over	O
the	O
supersampling	B-Algorithm
method	O
on	O
older	O
Radeons	B-Device
,	O
and	O
superior	O
image	O
quality	O
compared	O
to	O
NVIDIA	O
's	O
offerings	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
was	O
,	O
for	O
the	O
first	O
time	O
,	O
a	O
fully	O
usable	O
option	O
even	O
in	O
the	O
newest	O
and	O
most	O
demanding	O
titles	O
of	O
the	O
day	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
R300	B-Device
also	O
offered	O
advanced	O
anisotropic	O
filtering	O
which	O
incurred	O
a	O
much	O
smaller	O
performance	O
hit	O
than	O
the	O
anisotropic	O
solution	O
of	O
the	O
GeForce4	O
and	O
other	O
competitors	O
 '	O
cards	O
,	O
while	O
offering	O
significantly	O
improved	O
quality	O
over	O
Radeon	B-Device
8500	I-Device
's	O
anisotropic	O
filtering	O
implementation	O
which	O
was	O
highly	O
angle	O
dependent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
's	O
architecture	O
was	O
very	O
efficient	O
and	O
much	O
more	O
advanced	O
compared	O
to	O
its	O
peers	O
of	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
when	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
(	O
AA	O
)	O
and/or	O
anisotropic	O
filtering	O
(	O
AF	O
)	O
were	O
enabled	O
it	O
would	O
beat	O
the	O
Ti	O
4600	O
by	O
anywhere	O
from	O
40	O
–	O
100%	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
9700	O
would	O
be	O
the	O
second	O
of	O
ATI	O
's	O
chips	O
(	O
after	O
the	O
8500	O
)	O
to	O
be	O
shipped	O
to	O
third-party	O
manufacturers	O
instead	O
of	O
ATI	O
producing	O
all	O
of	O
its	O
graphics	B-Device
cards	I-Device
,	O
though	O
ATI	O
would	O
still	O
produce	O
cards	O
off	O
of	O
its	O
highest-end	O
chips	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
id	O
Software	O
technical	O
director	O
John	O
Carmack	O
had	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
run	O
the	O
E3	O
Doom	B-Application
3	I-Application
demonstration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
performance	O
and	O
quality	O
increases	O
offered	O
by	O
the	O
R300	B-Device
GPU	B-Architecture
are	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
greatest	O
in	O
the	O
history	O
of	O
3D	O
graphics	O
,	O
alongside	O
the	O
achievements	O
GeForce	B-Device
256	I-Device
and	O
Voodoo	O
Graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
R300	B-Device
would	O
become	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
with	O
the	O
longest	O
useful	O
lifetime	O
in	O
history	O
,	O
allowing	O
playable	O
performance	O
in	O
new	O
games	O
at	O
least	O
3	O
years	O
after	O
its	O
launch	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
few	O
months	O
later	O
,	O
the	O
9500	O
and	O
9500	B-Device
PRO	I-Device
were	O
launched	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
9500	B-Device
PRO	I-Device
had	O
half	O
the	O
memory	O
bus	O
width	O
of	O
the	O
9700	O
PRO	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
9500	O
was	O
also	O
missing	O
(	O
disabled	O
)	O
half	O
the	O
pixel	O
processing	O
units	O
and	O
the	O
hierarchical	O
Z-buffer	O
optimization	O
unit	O
(	O
part	O
of	O
HyperZ	B-Device
III	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
its	O
full	O
8	O
pipelines	O
and	O
efficient	O
architecture	O
,	O
the	O
9500	B-Device
PRO	I-Device
outperformed	O
all	O
of	O
NVIDIA	O
's	O
products	O
(	O
save	O
the	O
Ti	O
4600	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
R300	B-Device
chips	O
were	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
same	O
physical	O
die	O
,	O
ATI	O
's	O
margins	O
on	O
9500	O
products	O
were	O
low	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Radeon	B-Device
9500	I-Device
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
shortest-lived	O
product	O
of	O
ATI	O
,	O
later	O
replaced	O
by	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
9600	I-Device
series	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
logo	O
and	O
box	O
package	O
of	O
the	O
9500	O
was	O
resurrected	O
in	O
2004	O
to	O
market	O
the	O
unrelated	O
and	O
slower	O
Radeon	B-Device
9550	I-Device
(	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
derivative	O
of	O
the	O
9600	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
were	O
R300s	B-Device
with	O
higher	O
clock	O
speeds	O
,	O
and	O
improvements	O
to	O
the	O
shader	O
units	O
and	O
memory	O
controller	O
which	O
enhanced	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RV350	B-Device
)	O
series	O
was	O
rolled	O
out	O
in	O
early	O
2003	O
,	O
and	O
while	O
the	O
9600	O
PRO	O
did	O
n't	O
outperform	O
the	O
9500	B-Device
PRO	I-Device
that	O
it	O
was	O
supposed	O
to	O
replace	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
much	O
more	O
economical	O
for	O
ATI	O
to	O
produce	O
by	O
way	O
of	O
a	O
130nm	B-Algorithm
process	O
(	O
all	O
ATI	O
's	O
cards	O
since	O
the	O
7500/8500	O
had	O
been	O
150nm	O
)	O
and	O
a	O
simplified	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Radeon	B-Device
9600	I-Device
's	O
RV350	B-Device
core	O
was	O
basically	O
a	O
9800	O
Pro	O
cut	O
in	O
half	O
,	O
with	O
exactly	O
half	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
functional	O
units	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
a	O
4×1	O
architecture	O
with	O
2	O
vertex	O
shaders	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
lost	O
part	O
of	O
HyperZ	B-Device
III	O
with	O
the	O
removal	O
of	O
the	O
hierarchical	O
z-buffer	O
optimization	O
unit	O
,	O
the	O
same	O
as	O
Radeon	B-Device
9500	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
a	O
130nm	B-Algorithm
process	O
was	O
also	O
good	O
for	O
pushing	O
up	O
the	O
core	O
clock	O
speed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
9600	O
series	O
was	O
less	O
powerful	O
than	O
the	O
9500	O
and	O
9500	B-Device
Pro	I-Device
it	O
replaced	O
,	O
it	O
did	O
largely	O
manage	O
to	O
maintain	O
the	O
9500	O
's	O
lead	O
over	O
NVIDIA	O
's	O
GeForce	O
FX	O
5600	O
Ultra	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
ATI	O
's	O
cost-effective	O
answer	O
to	O
the	O
long-time	O
mainstream	O
performance	O
board	O
,	O
GeForce4	O
Ti	O
4200	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
summer	O
of	O
2003	O
,	O
the	O
Mobility	B-Device
Radeon	I-Device
9600	O
was	O
launched	O
,	O
based	O
upon	O
the	O
RV350	B-Device
core	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Being	O
the	O
first	O
laptop	O
chip	O
to	O
offer	O
DirectX	O
9.0	O
shaders	O
,	O
it	O
enjoyed	O
the	O
same	O
success	O
of	O
the	O
previous	O
Mobility	B-Device
Radeons	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Mobility	B-Device
Radeon	I-Device
9600	O
was	O
originally	O
planned	O
to	O
use	O
a	O
RAM	O
technology	O
called	O
GDDR2-M	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
fall	O
2004	O
,	O
a	O
slightly	O
faster	O
variant	O
,	O
the	O
Mobility	B-Device
Radeon	I-Device
9700	I-Device
was	O
launched	O
(	O
which	O
was	O
still	O
based	O
upon	O
the	O
RV350	B-Device
,	O
and	O
not	O
the	O
older	O
R300	B-Device
of	O
the	O
desktop	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
despite	O
the	O
naming	O
similarity	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
in	O
2003	O
,	O
three	O
new	O
cards	O
were	O
launched	O
:	O
the	O
9800	O
XT	O
(	O
R360	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
9600	O
XT	O
(	O
RV360	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
9600	O
SE	O
(	O
RV350	B-Device
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RV360	O
chip	O
on	O
9600	O
XT	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
graphics	O
chip	O
by	O
ATI	O
that	O
utilized	O
Low-K	B-Algorithm
chip	B-Architecture
fabrication	I-Architecture
and	O
allowed	O
even	O
higher	O
clocking	O
of	O
the	O
9600	O
core	O
(	O
500MHz	O
default	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
"	O
RV350	B-Device
"	O
board	O
followed	O
in	O
early	O
2004	O
,	O
on	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
9550	I-Device
,	O
which	O
was	O
a	O
Radeon	B-Device
9600	I-Device
with	O
a	O
lower	O
core	O
clock	O
(	O
though	O
an	O
identical	O
memory	O
clock	O
and	O
bus	O
width	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Worthy	O
of	O
note	O
regarding	O
the	O
R300-based	O
generation	O
is	O
that	O
the	O
entire	O
lineup	O
utilized	O
single-slot	O
cooling	O
solutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
not	O
until	O
the	O
R420	O
generation	O
's	O
Radeon	B-Device
X850	O
XT	O
Platinum	O
Edition	O
,	O
in	O
December	O
2004	O
,	O
that	O
ATI	O
would	O
adopt	O
an	O
official	O
dual-slot	O
cooling	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
in	O
2004	O
,	O
ATI	O
released	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
X300	I-Device
and	O
X600	O
boards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
were	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
RV370	O
(	O
110nm	O
process	O
)	O
and	O
RV380	O
(	O
130nm	B-Algorithm
Low-K	B-Algorithm
process	O
)	O
GPU	B-Architecture
respectively	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
were	O
nearly	O
identical	O
to	O
the	O
chips	O
used	O
in	O
Radeon	B-Device
9550	I-Device
and	O
9600	O
,	O
only	O
differing	O
in	O
that	O
they	O
were	O
native	O
PCI	O
Express	O
offerings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
were	O
very	O
popular	O
for	O
Dell	O
and	O
other	O
OEM	O
companies	O
to	O
sell	O
in	O
various	O
configurations	O
;	O
connectors	O
:	O
DVI	B-Protocol
vs.	O
DMS-59	B-Protocol
,	O
card	O
height	O
:	O
full-height	O
vs.	O
half-height	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
the	O
Radeon	B-Device
X550	I-Device
was	O
launched	O
,	O
using	O
the	O
same	O
chip	O
as	O
Radeon	B-Device
X300	I-Device
graphics	B-Device
card	I-Device
(	O
RV370	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
