Gigabyte's MAYA II R9700 Pro - Setting The Standard

Author : Martyn Date : 16th Nov 2002

...Product	Gigabyte's MAYA II R9700 Pro
...Manufacturer	Gigabyte
...Supplier	Gigabyte
...Price	£320 Approx.

 

 

 

Part One: Introduction

Gigabyte have been strangers of late around these parts but they have released a product that will surely grab the headlines! A once faithful nV partner, Gigabyte are now moving forward and building on the success of their R8500 part by releasing the Maya II, a Radeon 9700 Pro. With manufacturers such as Abit and Albatron doing well in the graphics sector this could be an essential product for a company that hasn't always been thought of as having the enthusiast in mind. Indeed, when we think of Gigabyte we think of stability over speed, features over overclocking and suchlike. However recent reviews have shown Gigabyte in a new light and this now just might be the R9700 to own!

Part Two: The Radeon 9700: King Of The Hill

As is usually the case with our nV card reviews, we will be analysing what Gigabyte can bring to this card rather than repeating another technology review. We will have a quick and dirty look at the specs' as quoted from our Connect3D review and then it's on with the more Gigabyte specific remainder of the review.

Overview
ATI revolutionizes the world of graphics technology with the RADEON™ 9700 Visual Processing Unit (VPU). Featuring fast 3D graphics performance, coupled with sophisticated real-time visual effects, unsurpassed image quality and cutting-edge video features, RADEON™ 9700 provides you with an amazing PC entertainment experience.

• First to fully support DirectX® 9.0
  With its new SMARTSHADER™ 2.0 technology, RADEON™ 9700 supports DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality to give developers the freedom to create more complicated and realistic visual effects than ever before.
• First 8-pixel pipeline architecture
  RADEON™ 9700 is the first graphics technology capable of processing 8 pixels simultaneously - twice as many compared to any existing product. This highly optimized design provides top 3D performance for both Direct3D® and OpenGL® games and applications.
• 256-bit DDR memory interface
  The high-bandwidth memory interface of the RADEON™ 9700, utilizing the latest HYPER Z™ III bandwidth-conserving technology, removes a key performance bottleneck and provides end users with faster graphics performance.
• Support for AGP 8X specification
  RADEON™ 9700 supports the new AGP 8X standard, which allows large volumes of texture and vertex data to be transferred faster from system memory to the chip (2.0 GB/sec).
• First to use pixel shaders to accelerate video
  With ATI's new VIDEOSHADER™ technology, RADEON™ 9700 continues the tradition of providing industry-leading video and DVD playback. RADEON™ 9700 also offers FULLSTREAM™ - a new technology that removes blocky artifacts from video and provides sharper image quality.

System Requirements

• Radeon 9700 PRO requires connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation. A 300 watt power supply or greater is recommended to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed.
• Intel® Pentium® 4/III/II/Celeron™, AMD® K6/Duron™/Athlon®/Athlon XP® or compatible with AGP 2X (3.3v), 4X (1.5V), 8X (0.8v) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (2X/4X/8X).
• 128MB of system memory
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
• DVD playback requires DVD drive

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