HWSW Q&A with David Harold of Imagination Technologies

Since the announcement of STMicroelectronics' KYRO chip at the Computex 2000 Expo, the gaming community has been filled with enthusiasm about the coming of a new competitor into the 3D market. At that time nobody knew what the promising chip would be able to offer and accordingly speculation began webwide about such mystical terms as Tile-Based Rendering or 8-layer multitexturing. In the meantime, KYRO has become a reality. In early September, three companies announced their product based on the new chip (these being InnoVISION Multimedia with its Inno3D KYRO 2000, PowerColor with its EVIL KYRO, and Videologic with its Vivid!).

Now that some of these cards are already available on retailers' shelves, we thought it fit to ask a few basic questions about the new chip. This time it was David Harold, PR Manager at Imagination Technologies, who was so kind as to lay his head under our public executioner hatchet.

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HWSW: Though the PowerVR Series 2 had several innovative features, it could hardly be regarded as a blockbuster product in the PC market. It had several Direct3D and OpenGL driver issues and accordingly provided but mediocre performance when compared to your competitors' wide range of products. Can we expect some changes in this respect with the coming of the KYRO chip?

David: PowerVR Series2 was hugely successful in the arcade and console markets. The PC variant was largely produced to show that we can apply the technology to the PC market. For some users, particularly PCI users, it was a good product but it was a niche offering. KYRO on the other hand is a mass-market part with great compatibility with DirectX and OGL titles and lots of neat features like FSAA, ITC and 8-layer multitexturing. In terms of bang-per-buck it's a very strong competitor.

HWSW: 8-layer multitexturing - offered by your KYRO chip - is definitely a unique feature in the 3D market today. What this feature can offer to game developers? And also does not it result in a dramatic decrease in performance?

David: 8-layer multitexturing significantly improves on the dual or triple texturing capabilities of traditional accelerators. With its support of multiple texture layers, KYRO allows more detailed backgrounds, realistically lit models, and more plausible environments to be rendered. When compared with traditional accelerators, KYRO's 8-layer multitexturing results in significant performance and quality improvements.

HWSW: Can you explain to us what exactly 32-bit Internal True Color processing means?

David: Basically all of the pixel operations are rendered on chip at full 32-bit Internal True Colour resolution, maintaining the best possible image quality irrespective of the number of image layers or frame buffer bit depth. When operating in 16bpp frame buffer, KYRO avoids the colour banding or grainy effects seen on traditional 3D hardware to give best game performance without sacrificing visual quality. Internal True Colour also saves memory bandwidth whatever the colour depth, thus enabling KYRO products to provide class-leading performance in 32bpp modes.

HWSW: It has become a custom among graphics chip makers to release multiple versions of a given graphics technology targeting various segments of the 3D market. Do you also plan to release several versions of the KYRO family?

David: STMicroelectronics has announced that KYRO is the first in a family of PC chips. I'd love to tell you about the others. But I can't...

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HWSW: Why did not you choose to implement hardware T&L in the KYRO? Did you think that it would have been a premature step?

David: T&L is good technology and we are already using it in our latest arcade solutions. However, the applications just aren't there on the PC right now. At the minute T&L isn't as useful a benefit on a PC processor as Tile Based Rendering. Compare Dagoth Moor at 32bit 1024x768 on a KYRO Board and a GeForce II MX and you can see this.

HWSW: Do you plan to breathe new life into the PowerSGL Direct API or rather you intend to concentrate on Direct3D and OpenGL? That is, are there any software developers around displaying interest in the PowerSGL Direct API?

David:We, like the rest of the industry, are focusing on DirectX and OGL. The API is still available in the DDK.

HWSW: Why was it necessary to move away from the original 3-layer PCB design to a 6-layer solution? And also does not this step increase the cost of manufacturing?

David: KYRO boards are remarkably cost effective - the VideoLogic Vivid! For example is just 99 GBP. We did have earlier eval boards at 3-layer and moved to 6-layer for the KYRO reference boards to ensure the product's quality. This step didn't delay KYRO products at all.

HWSW: If I am not mistaken, you were to face certain problems with 32MB sample boards in the past. Have you managed to fix these issues?

David:I'm not aware of any problems with 32MB boards. I used a 32MB for the KYRO press launch tour in June and it worked perfectly and the VideoLogic Vivid! is a 32MB board. I think this is just a rumour.

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HWSW: Initial benchmark results show that KYRO chip based cards cannot compete in performance with your competitors' T&L equipped products. What stratum of consumers is the KYRO targeted at?

David:Woah! What benchmarks? I'm delighted that on tests that allegedly show off T&L on competitive products we can actually beat those cards (I'm talking about Dagoth Moor here - try 32bit 1024 on Vivid! and a GeForce 256 or GeForce II MX.) To really beat Vivid! in performance you have to pay a lot more $$$, particularly if you're running at 32-bit.

HWSW: Now here comes my obligatory question. Many customers nourish some feelings of resentment over the aggressive 6-month product cycle in the 3D market - which cycle NVIDIA dictates and meets from time to time. On the one hand, people say it is a good policy as it serves the development of the industry; but on the other, people can hardly afford buying a new product in every sixth month. Moreover, even software developers can hardly keep up with this speed. How do you see this?

David: It's hard to get away from the industry cycles - advances are coming fast in 3D graphics. However, we are committed to keeping the price of that advancement as low as possible. I understand that asking anyone to consider paying $300-400 every year for a new card is outrageous. But $100-150 is much less painful. Also, because PowerVR's performance doesn't go down as depth-complexity increases in games PowerVR products tend to keep their performance levels much better than other products as newer games arrive so you don't have to upgrade as often.

HWSW: In my view, the most serious hindrance to stepping forward in the development of graphics chips is the memory bottleneck issue. Your KYRO chip uses Tile-Based rendering to overcome this particular problem. However, there are other alternatives turning up: recently NVIDIA has announced its GeForce2 Ultra card, which will be equipped with 230 MHz DDR SDRAM memory; while ATi is using its HyperZ technology to boost up memory speed. In what sense can your solution be seen as superior to your competitors' innovations?

David: I think a simple cost/performance comparison would clarify this one. Our solution provides good performance and a wide-feature set at price points the mass market can afford. The problem with competitor solutions is that they heap $$s onto the board price.

HWSW: Could you intimate to us the specific core and memory clock details of the upcoming retail cards?

David: Both core and memory are clocked 115 [MHz].

HWSW.33: And my inevitable 0.33 question: what graphics card do you have in your rig?

David: Now I have a Vivid! board of course!

Thank you.