Vision - November/December 2008 - (Page 26)

Defining the Need The development of XGP began about two years ago as a simple notion within the company, recalls Stan Ossias, director of marketing for mobile discrete graphics at AMD in Toronto. But the real market need for it was demonstrated in April well along in its development, he says, by company-sponsored research that revealed consumer disappointment with the built-in graphics abilities of notebook computers. Of more than 1,000 consumers surveyed, Ossias says, 518 were notebook computer users, and 41 percent of these respondents identified graphics ability as their machines’ main performance limitation. Only 16 percent—the second largest group—identified the computer’s brain, the central processing unit or CPU, as its main performance limitation. In addition, Ossias says 51 percent of the survey respondents said they would like to see the graphics processing power of a desktop computer in their notebook computers. And 59 percent said they would like to have an external graphics processor with their notebooks. Indeed, says Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, an emerging technology advisory firm based in San Jose, CA, “The vast majority— nearly 80 percent—of notebooks in the market have been hindered by lackluster graphics.” Thus at least in concept, XGP is “a compromiseeliminating technology,” he says. “Qualitatively, I like the idea a lot,” concurs Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research in Tiburon, CA. “I think it gives you the best of both worlds.” Designing the Answer Two of the most important elements in XGP are a new cable and its matching connector. Co-developed by AMD and Japan Aviation Electronics Industry Ltd. (JAE), they represent a technology breakthrough in the external graphics arena, Ossias says, because they are the first in the category to be based on the PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 computer expansion card interface format. This permits eight “lanes” for transferring the graphics data between the peripheral device and the computer at a maximum speed of four gigabytes per second (GB/s). By comparison, the already established technology for adding an external GPU to a notebook computer—using a PCIe 1.1-based connector or an “ExpressCard” expansion card—offers just one lane with a data rate of only 250 megabytes per second (MB/s), he explains. Besides providing greater bandwidth, using PCIe 2.0 as the starting point also allowed the companies to make the cable thinner and lighter, and the connector smaller, than is possible with PCIe 1.1, Ossias says. Available in lengths as long as six feet, the new XGP cable also features built-in USB 2.0 connectivity, for linking other accessories to the notebook computer from the peripheral device. And because the XGP peripheral device is equipped with its own power supply and “cooling solution,” Ossias says there is no limit to its performance capability. Built- The result of all this technology is graphics performance in laptops rivaling that of the best gaming PCs and high-end workstations used for 3D computeraided design (CAD) applications. in features and functions can be wideranging, from two GPUs that work in unison —linked together by AMD’s CrossfireX technology—to a simple hard disk drive for data storage to an HDTV tuner. The result of all this technology is graphics performance in laptops rivaling that of the best gaming PCs and high-end workstations used for 3D computer-aided design (CAD) applications. Possible ways to use XGP in the real world other than for playing graphics-rich videogames, Ossias says, include outputting the notebook computer’s display to multiple monitors by attaching an additional display to the peripheral device; playing a Blu-ray DVD on the notebook computer and seeing it in its best possible resolution; and demonstrating a CAD creation while traveling to a client, without lugging a heavy computer. With XGP, “PCI capability potentially will fit into many different things,” says Mark Saubert, marketing manager at JAE Electronics Inc., in Irvine, CA. “It’s difficult to predict. This is really the first connector that is capable of this kind of performance that is this kind of size.” But Will It Catch On? XGP was introduced by AMD in June at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan along with the first products to include it, the Fujitsu-Siemens AMILO Sa 3650 ultra-mobile computer and its companion AMILO GraphicsBooster docking station, which is available only overseas. Commenting in the official AMD press release at the time, Bjorn Fehm, head of Strategy and Innovation Consumer, EMEA at Fujitsu-Siemens Corp., said the bundle gives the computer “two very different but equally compelling personalities.” The computer’s internal graphics processor contributes to long battery life and mobility for ordinary tasks, whereas with the XGP-based GraphicsBooster, “your gaming and multimedia performance is www.ce.org 26 November/December 2008 http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - November/December 2008

Vision - November/December 2008 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In this Issue The Economist C4 Trends Going Global Visionary CES Unveiled Eco-Intelligence Is Vital in a Sustainable Global Market XGP— A Game Changer Enhancing the Tech Experience High-Definition Decade Public-Private Partnerships CEA Newsline Tech Speak Tech Policy Eye on Business Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - November/December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.