Oak unveils 3-D controller; leverages Intel architecture

Electronic News, July 15, 1996 by Andrew MacLellan

Sunnyvale, Calif.--Plotting a path to the 3-D graphics mainstream marketplace that will at the same time enhance the performance of its 2-D engine, Oak Technology has joined the field of developers vying to leverage Intel's Multimedia Extension (MMX) architecture and the Microsoft DirectX suite of application program interfaces (APIs).

In an effort to deliver 3-D graphics across its 2-D GUI accelerator, the company rolled out the 64-bit OTI-64217 Eon controller, combining new 2-D technology with support for synchronous graphics RAM (SGRAM) to boost frame buffer throughput to a claimed 800MB-per-second.

Oak called its strategy a departure from the industry's overt focus on gaming and entertainment applications which it said too often delivers 3-D at the expense of 2-D performance. To this end, the OTI-64217 chip increases memory-to-memory data rates over the 2-D PCI to 60MBps, while accelerating Direct3D, DirectDraw and Internet applications such as VRML and videoconferencing.

What's more, the Eon controller features Oak's GraphixPump architecture, a hardware pipeline which is claimed to achieve faster 3-D performance by more efficiently transferring the MMX 3-D rendering algorithms to the video display. The GraphixPump divides the data stream through a 32-bit PCI address and data bus and a 32-bit PCI direct memory access (DMA) interface for host-based rendering and graphics. The DMA engine includes scatter/gather capabilities to optimize bus master data transfer, while special 3-D registers remove z-buffering drop and clear functions from the CPU.

Using 1-4MB of frame buffer memory, the Eon is designed to optimize the multimedia processing power of Intel's planned P55C, and accelerate Microsoft's Direct3D applications by 2x compared to traditional 2-D GUI accelerators, according to Tony Rodrigues, marketing manager for Oak's Graphics business unit.

Packaged in a 256-pin BGA, the OTI-64217 is priced at $19 each in 10,000-unit quantities. Evaluation boards are available now with volume production slated for September.

The device, which includes unified memory architecture (UMA) support of EDO and synchronous DRAM, is capable of displaying two real-time windows, two pre-recorded windows and multiple software windows, sizing, scaling and displaying true-color through Oak's PixelVu scaling technology.

A 170MHz integrated RAMDAC includes built-in alpha blending and gamma correction, allowing the live or recorded video windows to be merged into the graphics screen. The chip also includes a mechanism for unpacking RGB from the YUV data stream, resulting in one memory plane for improved video frame rates over MPEG playback and alleviating CPU loading.