Working on Two Fronts: ATi's Radeon VE Handles Two Monitors

Castrated 3D Engine?

ATi reached for the scalpel to make the Radeo VE graphics card cheaper. By way of comparison - the Radeon VE's price tag of $89 makes it only half as expensive as the full-version Radeon.

The cuts become clear in a look at the architecture. ATi does entirely without the Transform & Lighting Engine (T&L) as well as a texture unit. This makes reduced performance unavoidable, as can be seen later in the benchmarks.

In contrast to the slimmed-down 3D engine, ATi donates a second Ramdac for analog VGA screens. In addition to the standard TMDS transmitter for digital flat panel screens, the Radeon VE can also be equipped with a second external TMDS transmitter in order to enable control of two digital DVI displays simultaneously. It remains to be seen whether ATi will make use of this or not - this depends on the OEM customers' needs. The Radeon VE has two independent display engines to guarantee dual monitor support.