EAH4850/HTDI/1G - 1GB Asus HD 4850 HTDI - 1986MHz GDDR3, GPU 625 MHz, 800 Cores, 2 x DL DVI-I/HDTV

ATI Technologies, now part of AMD, is one of the big three players with respect to manufacturing GPUs (graphics processing units). GPUs can either be integrated (on to a chipset) or discrete, which usually entails more higher performance and more power. GPUs are required to provide video output (2D) and, potentially, gaming (3D) performance for both desktop and mobile (notebook) environments.

This TekSpek explains DirectX 10, which graphics cards support it, how they work and what the consumer’s choices are.

Explaining how a modern GPU works in completeness would take a book. Or two. Per class of chip. Per vendor. They’re extraordinarily complex pieces of engineering and production, and the end result contains more transistors than multiple modern x86 processors.

This TekSpek will assume you know the affects of applying a level of anti-aliasing (AA) on your 3D accelerator, be it via the driver control panel or via a control in your game. We assume you know the effect it has on image quality, so you can think about a before and after scenario. So this TekSpek isn’t about explaining what it does as such, although it will, it’s about explaining the how and why.

If you’re the least bit interested in graphics cards, we’re sure that you’ve heard the terms SLI and CrossFire bandied about recently. Touted as a means of achieving maximum 3D performance by, effectively, using two or more graphics cards in tandem, multi-GPU technology is here to stay. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look SLI and CrossFire; the two competing multi-GPU solutions from NVIDIA and ATI Technologies, respectively.

This TekSpek explains why you’d want to overclock your graphics board, the risks in doing so and how you can go about doing it.

There’s a lot more to High Definition than just having the ability to run your screen at the right resolution. With more than one type of connection available, and the thorny subject of signal encryption to contend with, just because your monitor and graphics are capable of 1,920 x 1,080 or better does not necessarily mean they will be able to display HDTV in all its glory.