UPDATE: 27 July, 2009 @ 11:57 AM

Ex-Inq journo and long-time Valley rabble-rouser Charlie Demerjian has recently offered new insight on the wild world of ATI’s DirectX 11 codenames in a brutal piece on plagiarism in the world of tech journalism. Here’s the breakdown:

Hemlock: Highest-end desktop part, probably dual Cypress GPUs a la the rumored Radeon 5870 X2.
Cypress: High-end single-GPU part. Similar to the Radeon HD 4870 when it launched.
Juniper: Mid-range desktop part. Similar to the Radeon HD 4850 when it launched.
Cedar & Redwood: Low-end desktop parts. Similar to the Radeon HD 4650 and 4670.

The confusion in the codenames contained in the original story is most likely owed to a simple transcription error on behalf of The Inquirer. It happens, especially when (as Chuck D points out) you’re being blitzed with PR, buzzwords and codenames. Anyone who’s been to a trade show or a press event understands.

Original story follows:

Today’s semiconductor news from the likes of AMD and Intel aren’t quite headline material, but they’re better than the proverbial page bury. Times like these call for a roundup, but our taskmaster editor doesn’t like them. Good thing he’s sleeping off a lake party and isn’t around to stop us.

AMD’s DirectX 11 codenames

DirectX 11 is just around the corner, and NVIDIA’s struggles to get its shit together at 40nm has left AMD the sole heir to the estate this winter.

While considerable speculation remains over just how AMD plans to get into the spirit of the season, we do have codename confirmations to tide you over.

The family of 40nm DirectX 11 GPUs is collectively known as the Evergreen. The Evergreen architecture will launch with five parts that will span the price spectrum:

• Cypress (Desktop: For those with more money than sense)
• Redwood (Desktop: An enthusiast part like the Radeon 4890)
• Juniper & Cedar (Desktop: Mainstream parts like the Radeon 4670 and 4650)
• Hemlock (Desktop: Poisonous parts for the cheapskates amongst us)

Word has it that AMD has already received functioning Evergreen silicon back from the fab. If that’s true, we are indeed looking at a DX11 launch timed to coincide with Windows 7. It’s like the Radeon 9800 coup all over again!
(more…)

Yesterday GPU firm ATI demonstrated functioning DirectX 11 hardware in a presentation to press and execs at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan.

Big red tapped a demo that showcased hardware tessellation, a headlining feature of DirectX 11 that allows for lower GPU overhead when rendering complex 3D objects. Tessellation technology, present on ATI GPUs since the Radeon HD 2000-series, reduces the complexity of rendering an object’s details as it moves about a scene. DirectX 11 tessellation technology, if harnessed, could lead to significantly increased object detail in 3D scenes with a minimal performance impact.

ATI also demonstrated a technology in DirectX 11 known as “compute shader” which uses the GPU to process workloads traditionally allocated to the CPU. ATI’s preview of the technology used the GPU to process the AI of small characters taking the path of least resistance as they marched across rugged terrain.

Compute shader is essentially the formalization of the Stream Processing and CUDA initiatives from ATI and NVIDIA which use the GPU for massively-parallel general purpose applications. Standardizing a GPGPU model may make for more prevalent and consistent physics engines, AI, and other tasks the CPU was once responsible for.

It is strongly suspected that the GPU used to display this content was none other than the RV8xx core rumored to be at the heart of the ATI Radeon HD 5800-series coming this fall to coincide with the Windows 7 launch.

A slide displayed by AMD at CEATEC confirmed that the company is fixing to produce a DX11-ready GPU by the end of 2009. The firm also boasted that it is ready to switch to a 40nm fabrication technique which will permit significant additional horsepower to be packed into the same GPU space. Giant, hot and noisy GPUs are dead! Long live giant, hot and noisy GPUs!