New AMD Chipset Integrates ATI Radeon Graphics

AMD's merger with ATI Technologies has produced its first offspring: The AMD 690 series chipset incorporates ATI Radeon X1250 graphics to accelerate Windows Vista's eye-candy Aero interface and ATI's Avivo technology for smooth video and multimedia playback, including high-definition output.

According to AMD, the DirectX 9.0-compatible 690 offers more display choices than any other chipset currently on the market, including integrated DVI and HDMI outputs. Also built in is support for the HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) standard for showing copy-protected content on an HDCP-capable display. Teamed with a dual-DVI ATI Radeon graphics card, the 690 supports as many as four monitors; its peak resolution on a single screen is 2,048 by 1,536 pixels in 32-bit color.

Vendor partners offering AMD Sempron/Athlon 64/Athlon 64 X2/Athlon FX-compatible motherboards based on the new chipset include Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, ECS, Elitegroup, Foxconn, and Sapphire.