Oak Technology's "EON" GUI Accelerator Raises Performance Bar for Graphics and Video Applications; New GrafixPump Architecture Enhances Windows 95 DirectX and Supports Latest Synchronous Memory Technology

Business Wire, July 15, 1996

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 1996--Oak Technology (NASDAQ: OAKT), a leading provider of multimedia silicon solutions, today announced the OTI-64217 "Eon"(TM) chip, its newest 64-bit graphics controller for PC and peripheral OEMs. Graphics-driven consumer and business applications, such as Internet, intranet and videoconferencing will especially benefit from Eon's high level of 2D, 3D and video performance. Utilizing Oak's new single-clocked, pipelined GrafixPump architecture to ensure maximum performance from display memory, Eon is the first EDO/SGRAM 2D graphics accelerator to feature acceleration for the Microsoft(R) Direct3D(TM) specification.

"Oak is committed to bringing the highest performance graphics solutions to the PC market, and the Eon chip is proof of this commitment," said David Tsang, president of Oak Technology. "Our combination of new memory technology and DirectX acceleration under Windows 95 and NT ensures that users will see a marked increase in overall 2D and 3D graphics performance."

Pentium Processor and System Memory Leveraged by Direct3D Acceleration

Eon's Direct3D acceleration combines the use of host-based rendering with a dedicated graphics hardware "pipe" to accelerate the transfer of images from system memory to the graphics display. This approach reduces the cost and complexity of the graphics chip while providing up to a 200% speed increase in Direct3D applications over standard GUI accelerators. Unlike other controllers, Eon's 3D graphics acceleration does not require additional graphics memory and does not sacrifice 2D performance for 3D speed.

According to Kevin Dallas, DirectX Marketing Manager of Microsoft, "3D applications can benefit from transparent 3D hardware acceleration through Microsoft's Direct3D API. Oak Technology's Eon solution will bring users 3D acceleration that will work seamlessly with an anticipated 30 Direct3D-based titles this holiday season."

In addition to accelerating Direct3D applications today, Eon's architecture will take advantage of Intel's MMX(TM) technology by allowing optimized 3D rendering algorithms to more efficiently transfer data to video memory for display.

Speed, Efficiency and Enhanced Memory for Internet Video, MPEG and Intercast

Eon supports several video input and playback formats, including YUV422 and planar YUV (YUV 12). The planar video format frees the system's CPU from the complex task of splitting incoming video streams into their luminance and chrominance components. This results in higher frame rates when used with Internet video, video conferencing, or with software MPEG and other video decoders.

"Eon's architecture makes efficient use of CPU cycles in host- based compression, decompression and rendering. The GrafixPump technology relieves the CPU from mundane graphics and video capture tasks, and uses the extra processing power in areas most visible to the end user. When compared with other 2D accelerators, Eon provides higher frame rates and better quality for 3D and video-enhanced applications," said Tony Rodrigues, marketing manager for Oak's Graphics Business Unit.

"We are glad to see that Oak is providing OEMs with the ability to take advantage of the power offered by Intel's Pentium(R) processors," said Jon Khazam, MMX technology program manager at Intel's Desktop Products Group. "Oak's innovative approach clearly demonstrates the flexibility and performance available with our processors and their integrated solutions."

The multiprocessing nature of Oak's GrafixPump is ideally suited to the high-bandwidth memory support of Eon, which includes 83 MHz EDO DRAM, 100 MHz Synchronous Graphics RAM (SGRAM) and Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) memory. Eon has a maximum memory bandwidth of 800MB/sec using 100 MHz SGRAM, without the latency associated with other multi-banked memory.

"Oak's Eon controller is a clever blend of 2D, video, and 3D features which should find application as a Direct3D game accelerator," said Jon Peddie, industry analyst in Tiburon, Calif. "This type of `free-D' performance will find use in VRML and Internet applications and offer general purpose business application acceleration as well."

Based on Oak's multimedia Foundation Architecture(TM), the Eon controller can easily interface via a VMI (Video Module Interface) compliant bus with other Oak and industry-standard multimedia components, including MPEG2 decoders for DVD applications. This bus incorporates a data stripper for separating text and Internet data from incoming video streams and allows Eon to support Intel's Intercast standard.

PixelVu(TM) Enhanced Graphics for Video and Games

Eon can display two live video windows and two pre-recorded source windows simultaneously, a feature important for videoconferencing and digital video editing applications. These windows can be independently sized, scaled and displayed in true-color utilizing Oak's PixelVu scaling technology. For MPEG or digital video playback, the PixelVu algorithms process both horizontal and vertical stretches to ensure a full-screen, crystal-clear image. This technology is also used in conjunction with Eon's Direct3D acceleration, allowing 3D images to be rendered at a lower resolution and then smoothly stretched to full-screen size.