The new Radeon 9800 DirectX 9 VPU (R350) supersedes the highly successful Radeon 9700 (R300). Technologically, the chip is an updated and optimized R300 core, with changes that go beyond a simple clock speed bump. The shader unit (SmartShader) has been supplemented with a so-called "F-Buffer", which theoretically allows shader code of infinite length. As a dig at NVIDIA for calling the FX a "DirectX 9+" part because of its extended programmability, ATi has named their R350 a "DirectX 9++" part. You've got to love that creativity.

Changes have also been made to "SmoothVision" (now 2.1) and HyperZ III (now III+ - you can't go wrong with pluses). Also, the clock speed was increased from 325/310 to 380/340. Neither the fabrication process nor the memory type have changed, however. Like the R300, the R350 will be manufactured on an 0.15 micron process and use a 256Bit interface to connect to the DDR(-I) memory. Although all R350 chips are DDR-II ready, according to ATI, only the 9800 PRO model, due out later in H1/03, will use the newer memory. Like its predecessor, the R300 has eight pixel pipelines and four vertex shader units.