DailyTech - AMD ATI CrossFire Xpress Chipsets Renamed, Again

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Hardware AMD ATI CrossFire Xpress Chipsets Renamed, Again
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - November 15, 2006 12:50 AM

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25 comment(s) - last by jonmcc33.. on Nov 16 at 7:40 AM

Goodbye CrossFire Xpress

AMD recently completed its acquisition of ATI and absorbed ATI.com. Nevertheless, ATI’s two performance chipsets remained branded by ATI. AMD’s CrossFire Xpress 1600 and CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipsets still carry ATI branding. AMD will be changing the names of its ATI CrossFire Xpress 1600 and CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipsets according to the latest roadmap.

The ATI CrossFire Xpress 1600 chipset will be renamed to AMD 480X CrossFire. This is the second time the RD480 chipset has been renamed. It was previously named Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire until ATI changed it to CrossFire Xpress 1600 to match the then newly released RD580 Radeon Xpress 3200 nomenclature. Features of the AMD 480X CrossFire remain unchanged. The chipset still supports two half-speed PCI Express x16 slots in CrossFire with a PCIe link to the SB450, SB460 or SB600 south bridges.

The enthusiast ATI RD580 CrossFire Xpress 3200 will be renamed AMD 580X CrossFire. Features of the AMD 580X CrossFire will remain the same. The chipset will continue to support two full-speed PCIe x16 slots with a PCIe link to the SB450, SB460 or SB600 south bridges.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

By Scabies on 11/15/06, Rating: 0

RE: !

By ahkey on 11/15/06, Rating: -1

RE: !

By mino on 11/15/06, Rating: 0

RE: !

By Pandamonium on 11/15/2006 3:00:02 AM , Rating: 1

Nobody cares about tiny grammatical errors. Stop nitpicking. If you truly think you can write news briefs better than the DT Staff, then you should send a resume to thier offices. The amount of time readers spend going through your worthless posts far surpasses the amount of time readers spend figuring out these insignificant errors. Your posts are even more counterproductive when you consider the fact that DT copyedits its briefs before thousands of readers see the original mistakes.

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RE: !

By WileCoyote on 11/15/06, Rating: 0

RE: !

By OrSin on 11/15/2006 9:14:51 AM , Rating: 1

He was pointing out the typo after giving his comment.
Give him a break its not like he is grammar Nazi.

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RE: !

By dice1111 on 11/15/2006 9:58:02 AM , Rating: 3

"No Grammar For You!!!"

*snags post away from forum*

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RE: !

By Axbattler on 11/15/2006 11:25:49 AM , Rating: 2

Well, it was a sarcastic comment linked to the typo. Still, I agree there was little point jumping on the poster for that. Especially given the poster did suggest a fix.

Is it crucial to fix the error? Perhaps not, the human brain is quite adapt at 'fixing' semantic errors. But it certainly doesn't hurt to point out even small errors for the sake of professionalism. It doesn't take a system driver programmer to notice bugs in a driver.

[Disclaimer: This post may contains spelling/grammatical mistakes ;)]

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RE: !

By zforgetaboutit on 11/15/2006 9:18:14 PM , Rating: 2

Let me try: sarcasm: witty language used to convey insults or scorn

I don't think the poster meant this at all. I read it as witty humor and kidding around.

At any rate, I hold journalists to a higher standard. If they screw up, then they're mere posters with a byline. The only way they will improve maximally is to give them tough love.

Get comfortable with the small mistakes, and they just keep getting bigger and more frequent. Human nature.

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RE: !

By zforgetaboutit on 11/15/2006 9:24:55 PM , Rating: 2

I meant to add, I have the highest respect for journalists/posters not having English as their first language, but nonetheless posting in it.

I suck at 2nd languages and therefore envy and appreciate their effort.

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ATI Brand

By abakshi on 11/15/2006 2:42:50 AM , Rating: 2

I don't think AMD's going to get anywhere by destroying the ATI brand. AMD has no real brand presence outside of CPUs, but simply renaming the existing ATI parts and creating more confusion is not going to do anything.

AMD Radeon (the switchover seems pretty inevitable) sounds horrible, ati.com looked a lot better than ati.amd.com does, and AMD 580X Crossfire just doesn't sound as good as ATI Radeon Xpress 3200, or Nvidia nForce 680, for that matter.

RE: ATI Brand

By Xavian on 11/15/2006 4:18:54 AM , Rating: 2

To be fair, it only sounds horrible because the letters ATI have preceded the name Radeon for the better part of 15 years. I'm sure once AMD has had the name for 15 years, it'll sound just as good.

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RE: ATI Brand

By lemonadesoda on 11/15/2006 6:29:28 PM , Rating: 2

No it won't, because "AMD" isn't as snappy as "ATI" due to the "M" and "D". The "T" is much much stronger and aspirates well after an "A".

"M" is swallowed when pronounced, and doesnt follow a vowel very well.

"D" is ambiguous after certain letters, is it a "dee" or a "tee"?

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RE: ATI Brand

By jconan on 11/15/2006 8:33:46 PM , Rating: 2

2nd that! & also it's good thing that amd isn't using intel's earlier naming convention for their cpu's using on 3#s to designate chips otherwise it'll confuse customers when looking up amd chips and getting a few references to intels. amd should just stick with ati and leave it at that and it's also cheaper. ati already has a brand history and is a well known name that almost every diy joes know when they go pick up their own parts or recommend to their associates.

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Am I wrong?

By Clauzii on 11/15/2006 5:34:26 AM , Rating: 2

Didn't AMD/ATI initially state that the ATI brand was to be carried on? Or was it only for the GPU-stuff?

(Personally I don't mind, as long as the product works. And AMD btw. is no bad name :)

RE: Am I wrong?

By Xajel on 11/15/2006 5:45:24 AM , Rating: 2

ATi brand name will be used for GPU's and Intel compatible chipsets only... other products ( Media, AMD chipsets, Stream, etc... ) will have AMD name...

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RE: Am I wrong?

By Axbattler on 11/15/2006 6:56:38 AM , Rating: 2

I wonder which of the two companies have the stronger brand though. AMD is the bigger company (hence the one doing the acquisition), but for the non-enthusiast, AMD is still the 'not an Intel' even during the post P2/pre-Core 2 days where it competed very well with Intel performance wise. And while ATI only became a major player from the enthusiast point of view with the Radeon line, they already had a pretty chunk of the market share even prior that.

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Well,

By mino on 11/15/2006 1:04:30 AM , Rating: 2

At least the new AMD nomenclature does make some sense.

Otherwise a pretty poitless move. To make Xpress 1150 boards readily available would be much more beneficial IMHO.

RE: Well,

By Jedi2155 on 11/15/2006 1:25:53 AM , Rating: 2

I personally like the new names...its much easily IMO to say 580X CrossFire than 3200 Crossfire Express.

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Moderated

By Spar on 11/15/06, Rating: 0

RE: The best

By MarkHark on 11/15/2006 9:32:47 AM , Rating: 3

When is someone going to MODERATE this SPAMMER off?

Better yet, why not giving him a 60-day off time, together with a warning that this will not be tolerated?

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confusing?

By juanito on 11/15/2006 11:27:02 AM , Rating: 2

isn't this going to confuse buyers? for instance, you want to run sli with nvidia, well you buy an nvidia nforce sli motherboard.

with ati if you wanted to run ati crossfire you have always bought an ati crossfire motherboard. but now you have to buy and amd motherboard to run crossfire with your ati graphics cards, thats stupid. unless of course they are going to change the ati name to amd. which would be just as stupid.

Which is a stronger Brand Name? ATI or AMD

By lemonadesoda on 11/15/2006 6:34:14 PM , Rating: 2

I actually think AMD made a branding mistake. Even though ATI was the smaller company, it should have used the ATI name as the Holding Company/Group name, with AMD-Processors as a subsidiary brand name.

That would have been much better strategic marketing, particularly since ATI has a major market share (in its field), and should have used the "market share = winner" concept to brand its poorer sister, AMD.

Disappointment

By jonmcc33 on 11/16/2006 7:40:37 AM , Rating: 2

I've been an ATi fan since the 9700 Pro came out, having gotten an X800XT and X1900XT after that. But honestly, this AMD crap has me fed up. I'll be going back to Intel and will switch to nVIDIA with my next upgrade.

a move away from Intel

By RussianSensation on 11/15/2006 10:10:57 AM , Rating: 1

Intel is sure not going to like selling Intel Core 2 Duo system with AMD branded motherboard chipset. This pretty much spells the end of ATI-based chipsets for Intel. AMD also will likely license crossfire to intel chipsets for a fee soon, or make it AMD exclusive, which is even worse.

I also hate to see green AMD videocards and green Nvidia cards. But on a more serious note, AMD would make a big mistake with going away with the ATI branded videocards if they are going to replace them to something like AMD Radeon. A lot of customers would think ATI went bankrupt and they'll view AMD is a newcomer into the graphics card world and be more cautious with proven Nvidia as an alternative.

From a brand name perspective it is not a logical move. Pepsi did not rename Gatorate products to Pepsi, Chrysler cars did not become Mercedes, and Reebok is not Addidas. There is something to say about customer loyalty, brand recall and brand awareness. And if those are healthy, as in ATI's case, you shouldn't change what works well.