Radeon
Brand of GPUs and other computer products by AMD.
Radeon is a brand owned by AMD's Radeon Technologies Group, covering graphics processing units, RAM, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives. ATI Technologies launched the brand in 2000, and AMD bought ATI in 2006 for $5.4 billion. Radeon Graphics replaced the Rage line, with four main microarchitecture families: fixed-pipeline, TeraScale, Graphics Core Next, and RDNA. ATI and AMD developed various technologies for Radeon, including TruForm, HyperMemory, HyperZ, XGP, Eyefinity for multiple monitors, PowerPlay for energy efficiency, CrossFire for multi-GPU setups, and Hybrid Graphics. Certain models also include SIP blocks like the Unified Video Decoder, Video Coding Engine, and TrueAudio. Until August 2010, the brand was called "ATI Radeon," then renamed to boost AMD's global brand recognition. Products up to and including the HD 5000 series are branded as ATI Radeon, while the HD 6000 series and beyond use the new AMD Radeon branding. On September 11, 2015, AMD split its GPU business into the Radeon Technologies Group, with Raja Koduri as Senior Vice President and chief architect. AMD does not sell Radeon cards directly to consumers (with some exceptions). Instead, it supplies Radeon GPUs to third-party manufacturers, who build and sell the cards to OEMs and retailers. These manufacturers include ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Club 3D, Diamond, Force3D, Gainward, Gigabyte, HIS, PowerColor, Sapphire, VisionTek, and XFX. Early Radeon generations used a number with major/minor alphabetic prefixes; later ones had code names. New or heavily redesigned architectures got an R prefix (e.g., R300, R600), while slight modifications used RV (e.g., RV370, RV635). The first derivative, RV200, broke this pattern. The fixed-pipeline family began with R100/RV200. The R100, launched in 2000, was ATI's first fully DirectX 7-compliant GPU, boosting bandwidth and fill-rate efficiency via HyperZ. The RV200, a die-shrink of the R100 with clock speed tweaks, debuted in 2002 as the Radeon 7500, offering better performance without new features. The R200 generation introduced a sophisticated pixel shader architecture and was the first to implement Microsoft's pixel shader 1.4. Its performance lagged behind competitors, leading to canceled revisions in favor of next-gen development.
Quick Facts
- Model
- 2000–02: 7000, 8000, 9000 series
- Created
- 1 April 2000 by ATI
- Predecessor
- Rage
- Process
- 180 nm to 4 nm
- Designfirm
- ATI (2000–2006) / AMD (2006–present)
- Manufacturer
- ATI / AMD / Samsung / TSMC
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Radeon brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006 for US$5.4 billion. The brand was previously known as 'ATI Radeon' until August 2010, when it was renamed to increase AMD's brand awareness on a global scale. Products up to and including the HD 5000 series are branded as ATI Radeon, while the HD 6000 series and beyond use the new AMD Radeon branding. On 11 September 2015, AMD's GPU business was split into a separate unit known as Radeon Technologies Group, with Raja Koduri as Senior Vice President and chief architect. Radeon Graphics is the successor to the Rage line. Four different families of microarchitectures can be roughly distinguished: the fixed-pipeline family, the unified shader model-families of TeraScale, Graphics Core Next, and RDNA. ATI/AMD have developed different technologies such as TruForm, HyperMemory, HyperZ, XGP, Eyefinity for multi-monitor setups, PowerPlay for power-saving, CrossFire (for multi-GPU) or Hybrid Graphics. A range of SIP blocks is also found on certain models: Unified Video Decoder, Video Coding Engine and TrueAudio. AMD does not distribute Radeon cards directly to consumers (though some exceptions can be found). Instead, it sells Radeon GPUs to third-party manufacturers, who build and sell the Radeon-based video cards to the OEM and retail channels. Manufacturers include ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Club 3D, Diamond, Force3D, Gainward, Gigabyte, HIS, PowerColor, Sapphire, VisionTek, and XFX.
Reader's Guide
The Radeon brand is notable for its long history in graphics hardware, beginning with ATI's first fully DirectX 7 compliant GPU, the R100, in 2000. It introduced key technologies such as HyperZ for bandwidth efficiency. The R300 was the first GPU to fully support DirectX 9.0 in 2001, and the R520 brought complete Shader Model 3.0 support in 2005. The transition to unified shader models began with the R600, and the Evergreen series launched in 2009 introduced DirectX 11 compatibility. The Northern Islands series was the first marketed solely under the AMD brand. The Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture debuted with the Southern Islands series in 2012, and the RDNA microarchitecture succeeded GCN in 2019 with the Radeon RX 5700-series. RDNA 2 was announced in 2020 and is used in the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles. The brand's significance lies in its continuous architectural evolution and its role in powering both PC and console graphics.
Did You Know?
- AMD acquired ATI Technologies in 2006 for US$5.4 billion.
- The R300 was the first GPU to fully support Microsoft's DirectX 9.0 technology.
- The RDNA microarchitecture succeeded Graphics Core Next and debuted with the Radeon RX 5700-series in 2019.
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