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ATI Announces Radeon 8500 for Mac
6:00 AM | Andy Largent | Comment on this story
After much speculation, ATI has finally announced the successor to their powerful 3D Radeon graphics cards, the Radeon 8500. Looking to answer the challenge posed earlier this year by NVIDIA's GeForce 3, the 8500 packs 64MB of RAM, their SmartShader and Truform technologies, as well as a similar $399 price tag. The card is expected out for both Mac and PC next month in AGP form.
While the company also announced two other cards, the 7500 and 8800, there is no indication yet that either will be available on the Mac. Here is an excerpt from the press release:
RADEON(TM) 8500: The Ultimate Gaming Graphics Card The RADEON 8500 is powered by the most advanced graphics technology in the world, and features 64MB of DDR (double data rate) memory, digital flat panel (DVI) support as well as dual monitor and video output, and DVD (digital versatile disc) video playback. The first gaming card with complete hardware support for DirectX 8.1, the RADEON 8500 will be available in late September and has an MSRP of (US) $399.
"The RADEON 8500 clearly positions ATI as the technology and performance leader in the enthusiast segment of the PC desktop market, providing an unequalled visual experience for games," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President of Marketing & General Manager, Desktop Business, ATI Technologies Inc. "The RADEON 8500 moves our industry's objective of bringing full visual reality to the PC and Mac platforms a quantum step forward."
"Beyond what ATI's RADEON 8500 will do in the way of offering a great 3D platform for next-generation games is what it will do for current games through its innovative TRUFORM technology," said Mark Dochtermann, Technical Director, MumboJumbo. "When playing Myth III on TRUFORM-enabled 3D hardware, the Myrkridia, Trow and other units look much more natural and realistic than ever before, bringing gamers one giant step closer to experiencing full visual reality with this graphics chip."
The power in the Radeon 8500 looks like it might be able to top even the much-praised GeForce 3, though keep in mind that at this point few games will be able to truly take advantage of the features of either. For much more information on the Radeon 8500, read through IMG's look at the card posted today. And stay tuned as more info on the 8500 becomes available as it nears release next month.
 Radeon 8500 Press Release
ATI Web Site
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