ATI Brings Radeon 9700 Power To Mainstream

After launching its first DirectX 9.0-compatible graphics cores earlier this year, ATI on Thursday introduced three new cores designed to bring DX9 to the mass market.

ATI's argument is simple: the fastest technology wins the praise, but not customer dollars. ATI market research, conducted with NPD Intelect, shows that only 1 percent of sales goes to ultra-high-end $350 graphics cards. The vast majority, or 83 percent, of consumers buy graphics cards at $149 or below.

"We have accomplished a tremendous feat - one never seen before in the industry - by driving our high-end product features into the mainstream market while maintaining the lead in the enthusiast market," said David Orton, president and chief operating officer of ATI Technologies Inc., in a statement. "We are strongly positioned as 'the king of graphics.' Once again, we are leading the industry by being the first to drive DirectX 9.0 support into the mainstream, and offering high-end features to that market."

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