Intel740
Encyclopedia
The Intel740, or i740, is a graphics processing unit
using an AGP
interface released by Intel in 1998. Intel was hoping to use the i740 to popularize the AGP port, while most graphics vendors were still using PCI. Released with enormous fanfare, the i740 proved to have disappointing real-world performance, and sank from view after only a few months on the market. Some of its technology lived on in the Intel GMA
systems that continue to be sold to this day.
"Visual Docking Simulator" that was used to train Apollo to dock the Command Module and Lunar Module. GE sold their aerospace interests to Martin Marietta
in 1992, a victim of Jack Welsh's aggressive downsizing of GE. In 1995, Martin Marietta merged with Lockheed
to form Lockheed Martin
.
In January 1995, Lockheed Martin re-organized their divisions and formed Real3D
in order to bring their 3D experience to the civilian market. Real3D had an early brush with success, providing chipsets and overall design to Sega
, who used it in a number of arcade game
boards, the Model 2 and Model 3. They also formed a joint project with Intel and Chips and Technologies
(later purchased by Intel) to produce 3D accelerators for the PC market, under the code name "Auburn".
Auburn was designed specifically to take advantage of (and promote) the use of AGP interface, during the time when many competing 3D accelerators (notably, 3dfx Voodoo Graphics) still used the PCI
connection. A unique characteristic, which set the AGP version of the card apart from other similar devices on the market, was the use of on-board memory exclusively for the display frame buffer, with all textures being kept in the computer system's main RAM
. At the time, most accelerators used the CPU for triangle setup and geometry calculations, then handed the data off to the card to apply texture mapping
and bilinear filtering
. By leaving this data in main memory, and giving the graphics card a high-speed channel to the data, performance could be improved while also reducing the total amount of memory in the system.
In the lead-up to the i740's introduction, the press widely commented that it would drive all of the smaller vendors from the market. As the introduction approached, rumors of poor performance started circulating. In spite of this, pundits continued to agree that its release would have enormous effects on the market. Peter Glaskowsky noted that "Very few of the manufacturers have the access to the [manufacturing plants] that Intel does, S3 could be the big loser here--it doesn't sell to the performance market. Intel has the resources to beat S3 on those terms and they have the performance". The i740 was released in January 1998, at $34.50 in large quantities. A number of companies had cards to introduce on that day.
The AGP Texture concept soon proved to be a tremendous error in design, because the card had to constantly access the textures over a channel that was upwards of eight times slower than RAM placed on the graphics card itself. Although AGP did indeed improve performance of moving geometry, this was wiped away by the growing use of textures, which were much larger. In real-world use it proved to be much slower than existing solutions like the Voodoo2
, and was only able to hold its own with slower 2D/3D cards like the Nvidia RIVA 128
. The release of the Nvidia RIVA TNT
removed even that advantage. By the end of the year it went largely unmentioned in benchmarks against newer 3D products, already forgotten.
In August 1999, after less than 18 months on the market, Intel withdrew the i740 from the market. In September Lockheed announced a "customer-focused organizational realignment" that shed many of its divisions, and then closed Real3D on 1 October 1999 (following Calcomp
in late 1998). Intel purchased the company's intellectual property
, part of a series on ongoing lawsuits, but laid off the remaining skeleton staff. Some staff were picked up as contractors within Intel, while a majority were hired by ATI
and moved to a new office.
Intel also sold the i740 to 3rd party companies, and some PCI versions of the accelerator also were made. They used an AGP-to-PCI bridge chip and had more on-board memory for storing textures locally on the card, and were actually faster than their AGP counterparts in some performance tests.
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
using an AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port
The Accelerated Graphics Port is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. Since 2004 AGP has been progressively phased out in favor of PCI Express...
interface released by Intel in 1998. Intel was hoping to use the i740 to popularize the AGP port, while most graphics vendors were still using PCI. Released with enormous fanfare, the i740 proved to have disappointing real-world performance, and sank from view after only a few months on the market. Some of its technology lived on in the Intel GMA
Intel GMA
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, or GMA, is a series of Intel integrated graphics processors built into various motherboard chipsets....
systems that continue to be sold to this day.
History
The i740 has a long and storied history that starts at GE Aerospace as part of their flight simulation systems, notable for their construction of the Project ApolloProject Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
"Visual Docking Simulator" that was used to train Apollo to dock the Command Module and Lunar Module. GE sold their aerospace interests to Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
in 1992, a victim of Jack Welsh's aggressive downsizing of GE. In 1995, Martin Marietta merged with Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
to form Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
.
In January 1995, Lockheed Martin re-organized their divisions and formed Real3D
Real3D
Real3D, Inc. was a maker of arcade graphics boards, a spin-off from Lockheed Martin. The company made several 3D hardware designs that were used by Sega, the most widely used being the graphics hardware in the Sega Model 2 and Model 3 arcade systems. A partnership with Intel and SGI led to the...
in order to bring their 3D experience to the civilian market. Real3D had an early brush with success, providing chipsets and overall design to Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
, who used it in a number of arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
boards, the Model 2 and Model 3. They also formed a joint project with Intel and Chips and Technologies
Chips and Technologies
Chips and Technologies was the first fabless semiconductor company, a model developed by its founder Gordon Campbell. Founded by Dado Banatao.Its first product was an EGA IBM compatible graphics chip...
(later purchased by Intel) to produce 3D accelerators for the PC market, under the code name "Auburn".
Auburn was designed specifically to take advantage of (and promote) the use of AGP interface, during the time when many competing 3D accelerators (notably, 3dfx Voodoo Graphics) still used the PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
connection. A unique characteristic, which set the AGP version of the card apart from other similar devices on the market, was the use of on-board memory exclusively for the display frame buffer, with all textures being kept in the computer system's main RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
. At the time, most accelerators used the CPU for triangle setup and geometry calculations, then handed the data off to the card to apply texture mapping
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
and bilinear filtering
Bilinear filtering
Bilinear filtering is a texture filtering method used to smooth textures when displayed larger or smaller than they actually are.Most of the time, when drawing a textured shape on the screen, the texture is not displayed exactly as it is stored, without any distortion...
. By leaving this data in main memory, and giving the graphics card a high-speed channel to the data, performance could be improved while also reducing the total amount of memory in the system.
In the lead-up to the i740's introduction, the press widely commented that it would drive all of the smaller vendors from the market. As the introduction approached, rumors of poor performance started circulating. In spite of this, pundits continued to agree that its release would have enormous effects on the market. Peter Glaskowsky noted that "Very few of the manufacturers have the access to the [manufacturing plants] that Intel does, S3 could be the big loser here--it doesn't sell to the performance market. Intel has the resources to beat S3 on those terms and they have the performance". The i740 was released in January 1998, at $34.50 in large quantities. A number of companies had cards to introduce on that day.
The AGP Texture concept soon proved to be a tremendous error in design, because the card had to constantly access the textures over a channel that was upwards of eight times slower than RAM placed on the graphics card itself. Although AGP did indeed improve performance of moving geometry, this was wiped away by the growing use of textures, which were much larger. In real-world use it proved to be much slower than existing solutions like the Voodoo2
Voodoo2
The Voodoo2 was a set of three graphics processing units on a single chipset, made by 3dfx. It was released in February 1998 as a replacement for the original Voodoo Graphics chipset. The card ran at a chipset clock rate of 90 MHz and used 100 MHz EDO DRAM, and was available for the PCI interface...
, and was only able to hold its own with slower 2D/3D cards like the Nvidia RIVA 128
RIVA 128
Released in late 1997 by Nvidia, the RIVA 128, or "NV3", was one of the first consumer graphics processing units to integrate 3D acceleration in addition to traditional 2D and video acceleration...
. The release of the Nvidia RIVA TNT
RIVA TNT
The RIVA TNT, codenamed NV4, is a 2D, video, and 3D graphics accelerator chip for PCs that was manufactured by Nvidia. It was released in mid 1998 and cemented Nvidia's reputation as a worthy rival within the developing consumer 3D graphics adapter industry. The first RIVA TNT based card released...
removed even that advantage. By the end of the year it went largely unmentioned in benchmarks against newer 3D products, already forgotten.
In August 1999, after less than 18 months on the market, Intel withdrew the i740 from the market. In September Lockheed announced a "customer-focused organizational realignment" that shed many of its divisions, and then closed Real3D on 1 October 1999 (following Calcomp
Calcomp
Calcomp Technology, Inc., usually known as Calcomp, was a company best known for its Calcomp plotters, which it was founded to produce in 1959. It produced a wide range of plotters , digitizers, and other graphic input/output devices. It also produced IBM plug-compatible disk and tape products...
in late 1998). Intel purchased the company's intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
, part of a series on ongoing lawsuits, but laid off the remaining skeleton staff. Some staff were picked up as contractors within Intel, while a majority were hired by ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
and moved to a new office.
Intel also sold the i740 to 3rd party companies, and some PCI versions of the accelerator also were made. They used an AGP-to-PCI bridge chip and had more on-board memory for storing textures locally on the card, and were actually faster than their AGP counterparts in some performance tests.
External links
- [ftp://download.intel.com/support/graphics/intel740/29061902.pdf i740 Datasheet (PDF)]
- Intel Support Pages: i740 Express3D Starfighter
- i740 Feature Sheet