Trident Graphics Chip, 9753WAVE, Speaks Loud and Clear

Business Wire, Oct 27, 1997

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1997--

New Audio-Graphics IC Provides Low-Cost and High-Performance Integrated PCI Wavetable Graphics Acceleration For Sub-$1000 PCs

Trident Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRID) today announced an advanced single-chip integrated audio-graphics accelerator for the cost-sensitive sub-$1000 PC and add-in 3D audio/graphics board markets.

The Trident 9753WAVE combines an advanced PCI-based 32-voice wavetable engine with the high-performance 3DImage 9753(TM) graphics core. The resulting single-chip multimedia audio-graphics controller provides Microsoft DirectSound, DirectSound3D and DirectDraw acceleration while maintaining complete legacy DOS games compatibility.

"The 9753WAVE is Trident's first step into the audio market. It also marks Trident's first major focus on the sub-$1000 PC market segment," said Dr. Gerry Liu, vice president, multimedia marketing. "We believe that Trident's audio technology, together with our proven advanced 3D graphics technologies, will be the winning combination to dominate that market."

"The 9753WAVE offers high performance graphics and audio in one package and delivers it at a price that is lower than most audio-only PCI devices," said Kenneth Ma, senior director, multimedia marketing. "The audio portion provides DirectSound acceleration, hardware wavetable synthesis and interactive 3D positional audio at an incremental cost below or equal to an ISA audio chipset. Our promise is to deliver the best value to our customers and end-users." Based on Trident's SoundSuite technology, announced in April, 1997, the audio portion of the 9753WAVE integrates the following advanced features :

-- High quality hardware wavetable synthesizer with support for upcoming Microsoft DirectMusic and DLS (DownLoadable Samples) standards.

-- Microsoft DirectSound and DirectSound3D hardware acceleration

-- DOS games compatibility with SoundBlaster Pro / SoundBlaster 16 support independent of core logic (with or without Distributed DMA support)

-- Legacy audio support for OPL3, MPU401, MIDI in/out

-- Fully PCI Plug-and-Play compliant

-- AC'97 Rev.2.0 compliant. Support 48KHz wavetable samples and output 16, 18 or 20-bit digital samples to AC'97 codec

-- High-precision 26-bit digital mixer

-- Digital Enhanced Game Port eliminates (up to 12%) CPU overhead in analog joystick polling, substantially improves system performance and gaming experience

-- Optional QSoft3D interactive 3D positional audio acceleration from QSound Labs, providing acceleration to Microsoft DirectSound3D API.

With DirectX games and applications right around the corner, applications fully utilizing the high-performance PCI bus mastering and bursting, wavetable synthesis, digital-enhanced game port and the optional QSoft3D acceleration will see performance improvements of typically 40% or above with the same application over an ISA audio controller.

"We have a very aggressive audio strategy to encompass both the high-integration and single-chip audio controller market. We are executing smoothly towards that goal," said Kenneth Ma, "Trident's strategy is to accelerate market transition to the PCI audio standard through aggressive integration and pricing strategies, this will benefit the overall market."

Trident 9753WAVE is currently in engineering sampling and mass production is planned for end Q4, 97 timeframe. Trident 9753WAVE is fabricated in advanced 0.35um, packaged in a 208-PQFP package and is priced at $16.00 in 10K quantities.

Trident Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRID), with headquarters in Mountain View, California, designs, develops and markets highly-integrated graphics controllers and multimedia video/audio chips for PCs. Trident's products are sold through a network of OEMs, original design manufacturers and system integrators worldwide. For more information about Trident Microsystems, Inc. and its products please consult our website at: http: //www.tridentmicro.com -0-

Note to Editors: Trident is a registered trademark of Trident Microsystems, Inc. 3DImage 9753 and 9753WAVE are trademarks of Trident Microsystems, Inc. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Trident Microsystems Inc.

Peter Brown, 650/943-3761

pbrown@tridmicr.com

WEB: tridentmicro.com