14 DAY TRIAL // According to the PCI-SIG certification, ATI's next-generation mainstream graphics cards and graphics processors for mobile devices are ready to enter the market. Advanced Micro Devices, the company that acquired ATI, demonstrated through the launch of its latest ATI Radeon HD 4800-series graphics cards that the company is capable of having its high-end graphics boards released on time.
The PCI Express "integrators list" states that AMD's graphics processors also known under the code names of RV730, M98-L and M96 feature full compliance with the standard version PCI Express 1.1. Since the cards have been included in the list, the idea is that they are 100% operational and that we may expect them to be rolled out on the market any day now.
It is rumored that ATI RV730 is the actual successor of ATI's RV630 and RV635 chips, which proved to offer low performance and have been blamed for it right from the launch. The performance levels the RV730 is expected to bring are higher, and this should give AMD a boost on the market share war the company is undergoing with rival Nvidia.
For the mainstream and entry-level discrete graphics processors for mobile computers areas, ATI's graphics cards code-named M98-L and M96 are believed to be the processing units that will heighten the performance level established by the currently available ATI boards.
Since the back-to-school period approaches fast, AMD is likely to speed up the production of its ATI RV730 board, possibly categorized under the ATI Radeon HD 4600-series graphics cards so that they should be released on time. If not, the company will have to put on sale an older-generation of ATI Radeon HD 3850 graphics processor for that time frame, with a price tag set around $100.
Advanced Micro Devices did not comment on the news story.