Specifications

Upgrading or Replacing Your Video Card
927
Table 15.20 Continued
Manufacturer: SiS
Program-
mable
Hard- Vertex
GPU/Card DirectX ware Rendering Shader Memory Mfr.
(Codename) Version T&L Pipelines Pipelines Bus Process Notes
SiS315 7 Yes 2 N/A 64-bit, .15 micron AGP 4x
128-bit
Xabre 80 8.1 Yes 4 2 64-bit, .15 micron AGP 4x
128-bit
Xabre 200, 400 8.1 Yes 4 2 128-bit .15 micron Dual-display
(400); AGP 8x
Xabre 600 8.1 Yes 4 2 128-bit .13 micron Dual-dis-
play; AGP
8x; faster
version of
Xabre 400
Manufacturer: XGI
Program-
mable
Hard- Vertex
GPU/Card DirectX ware Rendering Shader Memory Mfr.
(Codename) Version T&L Pipelines Pipelines Bus Process Notes
Volari V8, V8 9.0 Yes 8 (16) 2 (4) 128-bit .13 micron Dual-dis-
Ultra (V8 Duo: (256-bit) play; AGP 8x
2-chip version)
Volari V5, V5 9.0 Yes 4 (8) 2 (4) 128-bit .13 micron Dual-display;
Ultra (V5 Duo: (256-bit) AGP 8x
2-chip version)
Volari V3 8.1 Yes 2 1 64-bit; .13 micron Up to four dis-
128-bit plays; based
on Trident XP4;
AGP 8x
AIW: Indicates ATI GPUs also used in the ATI All-in-Wonder series of TV-tuner/capture graphics cards.
PCinema: Indicates NVIDIA GPUs also used in Personal Cinema TV-tuner/capture graphics cards.
XGI: Spinoff of SiS’s graphics chip division; later acquired Trident’s graphics subsidiary.
Upgrading or Replacing Your Video Card
With today’s video cards offering sophisticated 3D graphics supporting DirectX 8.x and 9.x, multiple-
monitor support at most price points, and massive amounts of display memory (up to 256MB!), it makes
little sense to add most upgrades to an existing video card. The component-level upgrades that can be
added generally include:
■ TV tuners, permitting you to watch cable or broadcast TV on your monitor
■ Video capture devices, allowing you to capture still or moving video to a file
Chapter 15
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