Radeon R300

The Radeon R300 (introduced August 2002) is the third generation of Radeon graphics chips from ATI Technologies. The line features 3D acceleration based upon Direct3D 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0, a major improvement in features and performance compared to the preceding Radeon R200 design. R300 was the first fully Direct3D 9-capable consumer graphics chip. The processors also include 2D GUI acceleration, video acceleration, and multiple display outputs.

R300 refers to the development codename of the initially released chip of the generation, the Radeon 9700, and it was the first time that ATI marketed it as a Visual Processing Unit (VPU), instead of following the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) moniker established by rival Nvidia. R300 and its derivatives would form the basis for ATI's consumer and professional product lines for over 3 years.

The integrated graphics processor based upon R300 is called Xpress 200.

Development

<!-- Unsourced image removed: -->ATI had held the lead for a while with the Radeon 8500 but NVIDIA retook the performance crown with the launch of the GeForce 4 Ti line. A new high-end refresh part, the 8500XT (R250) was supposedly in the works, ready to compete against NVIDIA's high-end offerings, particularly the top line Ti 4600. Pre-release information listed a 300&nbsp;MHz core and RAM clock speed for the R250 chip. ATI, perhaps mindful of what had happened to 3dfx when they took focus off their Rampage processor, abandoned it in favor of finishing...
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