Ati has decided that it's next generation mobile graphics processor will not be DirectX 9 compatible, despite its own roadmaps.
The reason, the INQUIRER has learned, is that the firm needs at least six months to tune its current chip design and to make it suitable for laptops and in line with their miserly power requirements.
That means the M9 will be very similar to the Radeon 8500 that has been available for some time.
We are assuming that the basics will be similar to ATI's soon-to-be-introduced RV250 chip, with pixel shader 1.4 and vertex shader support.
ATI still believes it will be first to the market with a DirectX 8.1 chip.
The ATI roadmaps were overoptimistic to suggest DirectX 9 support for the M9 technology, because in the war between it and Nvidia, mobile graphics chips come second.
News source: The Inquirer
