ATI brings enthusiast-class features and performance to the mid-range with the new Radeon X1950 PRO

(Auszug aus der Pressemitteilung)

MUNICH, GERMANY / MARKHAM, CANADA – October 17, 2006 – ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX:ATY, NASDAQ:ATYT) today announced that it is introducing new levels of performance at a mid-range price point with the new Radeon® X1950 Pro graphics card. Available and shipping today with an estimated street price of US$199 or €199 (VAT included), the Radeon X1950 Pro bests competing offerings at the same price in both single-card and dual-card configurations.

The Radeon X1950 Pro is the first graphics card to make use of new native CrossFire™ technology, simplifying the multi-GPU experience by eliminating the need for a branded CrossFire Edition card. Using CrossFire bridge interconnect cables that attach directly to the cards, installation is easy and gamers get a clean, elegant look. Native CrossFire technology also delivers the same high-performance multi-GPU gaming experience CrossFire is known for, enabling high resolutions and refresh rates. The new CrossFire technology works on the same broad range of Intel and AMD platforms that cable CrossFire technology supports, including AMD socket 939 and AM2 motherboards, and Intel® 975X and P965 motherboards.

“The Radeon X1950 Pro is incredibly good value,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, PC Business, ATI Technologies Inc. “Bringing ATI’s high-end features into the mid-range gives gamers blistering performance and gorgeous image quality that’s unmatched at this price. The Radeon X1950 Pro shows that ATI is taking gamers’ feedback to heart with the introduction of new native CrossFire technology to make it easier than ever for gamers to get up and running with a CrossFire setup. ATI will continue to enhance CrossFire to be more open, flexible and easy to use, giving gamers the superior performance they expect from our products.”

For games that look stunning, the Radeon X1950 Pro includes the same image quality features as ATI’s flagship Radeon® X1950 XTX, such as the ability to enable FP16 High Dynamic Range effects with anti-aliasing at the same time. Sharp texture filtering makes certain that every game detail is crisp and clear. Beyond gaming, the Radeon X1950 PRO also provides exceptional video quality when playing today’s high-definition media formats, displaying one billion colors, or 10-bit throughout the graphics pipeline. The new card is also HDCP-compliant, including a built-in EEPROM and HDCP key.

With Windows Vista™ on the horizon, the Radeon X1950 Pro is ready to enable the premium experience. Armed with the stability and performance of ATI’s Windows Vista drivers, the company recently earned the industry’s first graphics hardware Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification for Microsoft’s new operating system.

For Folding enthusiasts, the GPU clients now available for Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computing project also support the Radeon X1950 Pro. For information on the project and how you can use your ATI GPU to contribute to disease research, please visit the Folding@home website at http://folding.stanford.edu.