White Paper

| A  MD RADEON HD 7900 AMD RADEON HD 7800 AMD RADEON HD 7700 SERIES GRAPHICS DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION Discrete Digital Multi-Point Audio Multi-display Technologies Stereoscopic 3D Wide Color Gamut DISCRETE DIGITAL MULTI-POINT AUDIO Overview DDMA Applications AMD Display Library SDK DISPLAYPORT 1.2 DisplayPort 1.2 Overview High Bit-rate 2 Stereoscopic 3D on AMD Radeon Graphics Multi-Stream Transport Maximum AMD Eyefinity Technology Resolution High Bit-rate Audio AMD HD3D TECHNOLOGY AMD HD3D Technology Overview Frame Sequential Displays HDMI Stereo 3D Packed Frame DisplayPort MSA Misc1 Bits 4K X 2K Overview COLOR ACCURACY Overview SUMMARY 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 6 7 7 8 11 12 12 12 13 14 15 16 16 17 17 19

April, 2012

INTRODUCTION
Display devices have always been an integral part of the PC experience. Whether it is in the form of a desktop monitor, a notebooks embedded panel, or the touch screen of a PC tablet, display devices play a vital role in defining the users visual experience. The new display technologies integrated exclusively in the AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series are designed to deliver new and unique experiences with impressive performance in these different technologies:

Discrete Digital Multi-Point Audio

> As the display industry moves toward digital interfaces that support audio, such as HDMI and DisplayPort, more PC monitors now have the ability to output audio through built-in speakers or a stereo jack for external speakers. AMDs new Discrete Digital MultiPoint (DDM) Audio technology takes advantage of this trend and enables new uses cases that were not previously possible.

Multi-display Technologies
> DisplayPort 1.2, a new display interface, boasts features such as tremendous bandwidth and daisy-chaining capabilities. Combined, these features complement the AMD Eyefinity technology multi-display technology very well.1

Stereoscopic 3D
> Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs are the first graphics cards in the market to support 3GHz HDMI bandwidth to enable a smoother and more responsive Stereoscopic 3D gaming experience.2 This whitepaper will explain how this feature, exclusive to the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series, enables the PC to deliver a high-performance stereoscopic 3D gaming experience.

Wide Color Gamut

> Monitors and notebooks with wide color gamut panels, once reserved for the professional market, have become more prominent with several products shipping in the market. While these types of LCD panels display a wider range of colors, there are drawbacks and challenges which will be explained in this whitepaper, as well as the color gamut remapping technology integrated in Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs. This whitepaper provides an overview of the display technologies integrated into the display engine of Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series graphics.3 These capabilities and technologies, when combined with cutting edge display devices, enable The Ultimate Visual Experience.

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

DISCRETE DIGITAL MULTI-POINT AUDIO

Overview
Todays PC monitors increasingly support HDMI and DisplayPort inputs. Typically, these PC monitors have the ability to decode and convert a digital audio stream from the HDMI (or DisplayPort) input and transmit the sound through its embedded speakers or a stereo jack for external speakers. In addition, end users today have the option of connecting their PCs to HDTVs, which support audio through HDMI. With this in mind, AMD looked for ways to enable new and unique use cases for end-users using multiple displays with audio capability. This gave birth to a new feature introduced by the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs: Discrete Digital Multi-Point Audio (DDMA). DDMA enables Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs with the ability to output multiple and independent audio streams simultaneously through digital interfaces that support audio, such as DisplayPort and HDMI. Each audio stream can be multi-channel (up to 8 channels). Previous generation GPUs only output one audio stream at a time, even if multiple DisplayPort or HDMI outputs were connected to displays with audio support (as shown in Figure 1):

Figure 1: Current GPUs only support one audio stream at a time

The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs are the worlds first GPUs to output more than one independent multi-channel audio stream simultaneously (see Figure 2). In fact, up to six audio streams are supported by the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs.

Figure 2: Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs can simultaneously output multiple independent digital audio streams
AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

Transmitting multiple audio streams can be achieved through multiple DisplayPort outputs, and can be combined with one HDMI output. For graphics cards with limited display output connectors, DDMA can be fully realized with DisplayPort 1.2-enabled equipment, such as a multi-stream transport hub or daisy-chainable monitors.

DDMA Applications
There are numerous use cases that DDMA enables, the most prominent of which is multi-display video conferencing. DDMA technology enhances a multi-display video conferencing experience by adding a directional audio element when used with multiple audio-capable displays. As illustrated in Figure 2, an application can utilize DDMA technology to assign each persons video and audio stream to an individual display and the speakers connected to it. As expected, only that persons voice can be heard from the displays speaker. In addition, the application is no longer required to mix all of the audio streams into one. This significantly enhances the experience. DDMA technology also enables audio that follows the window of the video playback application. Through AMDs ADL SDK, a video playback application can map the audio stream to the end-point associated with the display that its window is currently located in. While the audio from the video content seamlessly follows the window of the video, all the system sounds can still be heard through the systems default audio end-point.

Audio

Another DDMA application caters to end-users with multiple displays in their homes, which is becoming very common today given the low prices of HDTVs. With DDMA, one PC equipped with an Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPU can act as a media hub or server and drive all the displays with independent video and audio content

Figure 3: A single PC equipped with an Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPU can drive multiple displays in the home with different content

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

Application developers can innovate in this area and provide unique solutions for end-users to control their media server wherever they are located. As an example, there are applications today that allow users to interact with and control the media server application using smartphones or tablets that communicate through their wireless network. DDMA technology is a cost-effective solution to support multi-room entertainment. Todays PC gamers typically like to multi-task while they are playing their favorite games. Whether they are waiting for their opponents in turn-based RPGs, or waiting for a long game cut-scene to end, gamers like the ability to watch and listen to different video and audio content. With DDMA, they can do just that: keep themselves in the game with video on another display featuring audio that does not interfere with the audio in the players headset.

Figure 4: Multi-tasking with DDMA

AMD Display Library SDK

The AMD Display Library (ADL) SDK is available to developers who want to take advantage of DDMA. This SDK gives developers the ability to map independent audio streams to specific audio-end points and enable new and unique use cases, including those described in this document. For more details, please visit : http://developer.amd.com/sdks/Pages/default.aspx.

Figure 5: AMD Display Library SDK is available for developers to enable support for DDMA

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

DISPLAYPORT 1.2
DisplayPort 1.2 Overview
In 2006, PC manufacturers (including AMD) collaborated in designing the next generation PC display interface, which would eventually be known as DisplayPort. DisplayPort was designed to replace DVI and VGA by offering features that are beneficial to both system integrators and end users. It was also designed to be flexible and easily extensible for new features that the market will require in the future. The first generation of DisplayPort provided 10.8 Gbps of raw bandwidth, which no other display interface can match. DisplayPort also supported very long non-active cables, optional latch designs for connectors, and audio support. In addition, DisplayPort supports spread spectrum clocking, which can dramatically reduce EMI. Finally, Source devices such as GPUs can also operate in dual-mode (otherwise known as DP++); this is valuable because it allows the same connector to transport TMDS signals to support DVI and HDMI outputs using inexpensive level-shifting adapters. The data link rates of DisplayPort 1.1a are fixed at either 1.62 Gbps per lane or 2.7 Gbps per lane, irrespective of the timing of the attached display device. This design only requires a single reference clock source to drive as many DisplayPort streams as there are display pipelines in the GPU. In contrast, DVI and HDMI both require a dedicated clock source per display timing. This unique DisplayPort feature allows for the most efficient multi-display design and complements the AMD Eyefinity . Please refer to the AMD Eyefinity Brief for more information. All the features of DisplayPort 1.1a proved that it was the superior PC display interface. To further enhance the DisplayPort interface, the same group of companies collaborated once more to define the next version of DisplayPort, which paved the way to DisplayPort 1.2. In 2010, the DisplayPort 1.2 specification was ratified by VESA. This new revision of the standard adds support for new and exciting features including high bit-rate audio, even higher link bandwidth, and multi-streaming capabilities. The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series is AMDs second generation of GPUs that are DisplayPort 1.2 certified. Table 1 is a simplified comparison of display interface capabilities integrated into the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs:

DisplayPort 1.2
Bandwidth Video Data Rate Maximum Resolution Support @ 60Hz 24bpp Audio Support Embedded Application Support In-band Stereo 3D signaling Multi-stream support 21.6 Gbps 17.28 Gbps
>2560x2048

DisplayPort 1.1a
10.8 Gbps 8.64 Gbps 2560x2048 Yes Yes Yes No

SL-DVI
4.95 Gbps 3.96 Gbps 1900x1200 No No No No

DL-DVI
9.9 Gbps 7.92 Gbps 2560x1600 No No No No

HDMI
9.0 Gbps 7.2 Gbps
>1920x1200

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes No Yes No

Table 1: Display interface capabilities of the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

High Bit-rate 2
DisplayPort 1.2 supports up to twice the bandwidth of DisplayPort 1.1a. High Bit-rate 2 (HBR2) provides up to 5.4 Gbps/lane of bandwidth, or up to 21.6 Gbps in a full four lane configuration. This lends itself very well to many applications that require ultra-high bandwidth. Chart 1 illustrates the wide range of display timings (resolution, refresh rate, and color depth) supported by various digital display interfaces.

Chart 1: Comparison of video data rate versus resolution at different refresh rates and color depths

As illustrated in Chart 1, DisplayPort 1.2 can easily support a multitude of display timings combining high resolutions, high refresh rates and high color depth. No other PC display interface can match this capability today.

Stereoscopic 3D on AMD Radeon Graphics

Frame sequential 3D displays present one view at a time (left or right eye) to the user and require the use of liquid crystal shutter glasses. According to Stereo 3D enthusiasts, at least 60fps (or 60Hz) per eye is required for these types of displays to have a pleasant 3D experience. This means that the minimum total refresh rate required is 120Hz. DisplayPort 1.2 provides ample bandwidth to drive frame sequential 3D displays at 120Hz with support for resolutions up to 2560x1600.

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

Multi-Stream Transport
Leveraging the micro-packet architecture of DisplayPort, DisplayPort 1.2 adds the capability to address and drive several display devices through one DisplayPort connector. This feature has often been referred to as daisy-chaining or addressable displays. Multi-stream transport, or MST for short, can be leveraged using two types of system design. Figure 6 illustrates how MST can be used with daisy-chainable monitors. Each of the monitors in the daisy-chain configuration, with the exception of the last monitor in the chain, must have a DisplayPort receiver and a transmitter. Once the monitor extracts the video and audio stream addressed to it, it will then transmit the rest of the video and audio streams addressed to the other monitors down the chain.

Figure 6: Daisy-chaining monitors Figure 7 illustrates the alternate method of using MST to drive multiple displays through the use of MST Hub or Splitter devices. The hub device receives a DisplayPort 1.2 MST signal from the source device and splits up and routes the video streams independently to each display device. Using this type of configuration also allows the use of non DisplayPort 1.2 monitors. To support non DisplayPort outputs, such as VGA, DVI or HDMI, the MST hub has to actively convert the DisplayPort signal to the other types of display interface signals. Active adapters that convert from DisplayPort 1.1a to legacy interfaces such as VGA or DVI/HDMI exist today.

Figure 7: Using MST Hub or splitter

AMD ZeroCore Power Technology

The number of display devices, and also the timings that each display device can be driven at, will depend on the available bandwidth. Table 2 lists the multi-display configurations possible with HBR and HBR2 bandwidth:

HBR
1366x768 @ 60Hz, 24bpp 1600x900 @ 60Hz, 24bpp 1920x1080 @ 60Hz, 24bpp 2560x1440 @ 60Hz, 24bpp Up to 5 Up to 3 Up to 2 1

HBR2
Up to 64 Up to 62 Up to 4 Up to 2

Table 2: Display configurations supported by HBR1 and HBR2

In 2009, AMD first announced the Eyefinity Multi-display feature. This differentiating feature has been well received by reviewers and endusers alike. While the appeal is mainly for ultra-wide screen and high resolution gaming, this feature also caters to those looking to increase their productivity through multi-monitor configurations. The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series will be the second generation of GPUs that extend the capabilities of AMD Eyefinity technology with DisplayPort 1.2 MST. Using daisy-chainable displays or MST hubs significantly extends the number of display configurations possible with a reference board design that has at least one DisplayPort 1.2 connector. For example, with the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series GPUs, six-display configurations are only possible using six DisplayPort 1.1a connectors as shown in Figure 8. This was realized with the acclaimed ATI Radeon HD 5890 Eyefinity6 Edition graphics card.

Figure 8: ATI Radeon HD 5890 Eyefinity6 Edition driving six displays with six mini-DP connectors

AMD ZeroCore Power Technology

As an example of how to combine MST and AMD Eyefinity , consider Figure 9. Using an MST hub, which is expected to be available in the second half of 2012, even the AMD Radeon HD 7900 reference board can drive up to six displays using only two DisplayPort connectors. This provides an upgrade path for end-users who have three monitors today, but may want to upgrade to five or six monitors in the future.

Figure 9: Using MST Hub to drive six displays

Aside from multi-output hubs, AMD expects less expensive DisplayPort 1.2 MST dongles in the market, which support up to two display outputs. Figure 10 illustrates how you can support up to six displays using two of these dongles combined with the DVI or HDMI display outputs on the graphics card.

Figure 10: Using MST dongles and legacy outputs on graphics card to drive six displays

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

10

Maximum AMD Eyefinity Technology Resolution

The ATI Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs supported a maximum AMD Eyefinity technology resolution of 8192 pixels wide by 8192 pixels high. The AMD Radeon HD 6000 and 7000 Series GPUs removes this limitation and supports a maximum AMD Eyefinity technology resolution of 16384x16384 pixels, which enables new usage scenarios. Figure 11 shows one example of an AMD Eyefinity technology configuration which is not supported with previous generation GPUs.

Figure 11: AMD Eyefinity technology configuration that exceeds 8192x8192 limitation but supported by AMD Radeon HD 6000 & 7000 Series GPUs

There are other possible configurations supported by the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs combined with DisplayPort 1.2 MST monitors, hubs and dongles. Please note that to take advantage of this feature, Windows 7 Aero glass must be disabled. In addition, only DirectX 11 games allow resolutions above 8192x8192 pixels.

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

11

High Bit-rate Audio

Radeon GPUs have supported pass-through audio through HDMI since the ATI Radeon HD 2000 series GPUs, without external audio cabling. In 2009, AMD released the ATI Radeon HD 4700, 4600 and 4500 and 4300 series GPUs which were the first GPUs in the market to support audio through DisplayPort. Today, there are several DisplayPort-enabled monitors in the market that can take advantage of this feature, all of which have the option of attaching external speakers or a sound bar to the monitor. Although DisplayPort 1.1a supports audio, the specification does not have provision to support high bit-rate compressed audio formats, such as those found in Blu-ray movies. DisplayPort 1.2 adds this capability and the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series will be the second generation GPUs in the market to support High bit-rate audio through DisplayPort. Table 3 lists the high bit-rate audio formats found in premium content, now supported through DisplayPort 1.2:

DTS-HD Master Audio

Bitrate Bits/Sample Sampling Rate Channels Up to 24 Mbps 24 bits/sample Up to 192 kHz Up to 8

Dolby TrueHD
Up to 18Mbps 24 bits/sample Up to 192 kHz Up to 8

PCM 7.1ch
Up to 36 Mbps 24 bits/sample Up to 192 kHz Up to 8

Table 3: Compressed and uncompressed audio formats supported through DisplayPort 1.2

This capability is attractive to HTPC enthusiasts who want the latest in audio technologies in the market.

AMD HD3D TECHNOLOGY

AMD HD3D TECHNOLOGY Overview
Stereoscopic 3D is a technique that creates the illusion of depth using a stereo image pair. Each image represents the scene as viewed by the left or the right eye. The illusion of depth is achieved when the display device (along with the passive polarized and active glasses in most 3D systems) is able to present the left image only to the left eye and the right image to the right eye. To fully understand how AMD HD3D technology can deliver stunning 3D images, it is helpful to first examine the Stereoscopic 3D gaming pipeline. The majority of DirectX games available in the market do not support stereo 3D natively. This means that the stereo image pair must be generated external to the game engine. This can be achieved with third party stereo 3D conversion software, such as Dynamic Digital Depths TriDef gaming driver. The stereo 3D conversion software intercepts DirectX calls from the game. Using these calls, the stereo 3D conversion software generates the stereo image pair, or the Left and Right eye view. For certain types of 3D displays, the stereo 3D conversion software blends the two views together to form a single frame using a format that the display supports (e.g. Row interleave, checkerboard, side-by-side, etc). Once the frame is in the correct format, the stereo 3D conversion software sends the frame to the GPU, which will then be sent to the 3D display device.

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

12

Figure 12: Stereo 3D conversion software architecture

Frame Sequential Displays

Frame sequential 3D displays (also known as page flipped displays) require special treatment. The stereo 3D conversion software typically must output in frame sequential format to support frame sequential 3D displays, and does not need to convert the frames into any of the formats illustrated in Figure 12. However, the stereo 3D conversion software requires a new API known as AMDs quad buffer.

Figure 13: Stereo 3D conversion software architecture using AMDs quad buffer

AMDs quad buffer API provides the infrastructure for stereo 3D conversion software to support frame sequential 3D displays by creating a double-height buffer using the existing front & back buffer in DirectX. After the stereo 3D conversion software stores the left and right images in the quad buffer, they are then fetched by the display engine which ensures that the frames remain in ordered sequence throughout the pipeline. Before the frames are transmitted, the display engine formats the output to provide frame polarity information to the display device. Two standardized methods of conveying frame polarity information are supported by the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs. These will be described in the next section.
AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

13

For more information regarding AMDs quad buffer API, please visit: http://developer.amd.com/sdks/QuadBufferSDK/Pages/default.aspx

HDMI Stereo 3D Packed Frame

The HDMI 1.4a specification provides a method to support Stereo 3D display devices. This specification provides a mechanism for the source device, in this case the GPU, to convey frame polarity information, while maintaining full resolution. The majority of stereo 3D TVs released in the market since 2009 support the HDMI 1.4a specification. Today, monitors support stereo 3D through HDMI. Similar to AMDs quad buffer described in the preceding section, every stereo image pair is assembled into a standard format known as a packed frame. The GPU creates a buffer that is twice the height of the resolution of the frame, with active space in between. As per the specification, the top half of the packed frame is reserved for the left eye view, while the bottom is reserved for the right eye view. After both frames are packed into one double-height frame, the GPU will then send it over the HDMI link as a packed frame. Once the TV receives this packed frame, it is then unpacked and typically presented to the viewer in a frame sequential or page flipped manner. Since the polarity of each frame is known, the display can reliably control the emitter to send the correct signal to the shutter glasses. The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs are the first in the world to support all of these packed frame 3D modes: > New - 1920x1080 @ 60Hz/Eye ( 120Hz total ) > 1920x1080 @ 24Hz/Eye ( 48Hz total ) > 1280x720 @ 60Hz/Eye ( 120Hz total ) > 1280x720 @ 50Hz/Eye ( 100Hz total ) The first mode listed above (1920x1080 @ 60Hz/Eye) is very critical to gamers who want to play games in stereo 3D. With the 3GHz HDMI speed supported by the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs, higher frame rates (up to 60Hz/Eye) at Full HD resolution can now be transmitted to the display device resulting in smooth and responsive game-play. Another feature enabled by 3GHz HDMI speed is support for 4kx2k resolutions, which will be discussed later.

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

14

DisplayPort MSA Misc1 Bits

The DisplayPort standard specifies a method in which the source device can send frame polarity information through the DisplayPort main link. This method is often referred to as the MSA method. MSA (Main stream attribute) is a secondary packet sent by the GPU to the display device, which is transmitted during the vertical blanking interval. This table shows how the GPU sets the MISC1 bits for left and right images.

Due to the high bandwidth requirement of Stereo 3D as well as the MSA method for signaling, monitor vendors are designing their next generation Stereo 3D monitors to support DisplayPort. In fact, Samsung has released multiple stereo 3D monitors in 2011 that support this method of signaling through DisplayPort (Samsung A700, A750 and A950 series). The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series are the second generation GPUs that are ready to support these monitors. This method is also applicable to embedded DisplayPort to support embedded stereo 3D panels for notebook and All-in-one platforms. The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs also support stereo 3D video playback. The stereo 3D video pipeline is similar to the gaming pipeline, where a third party application is required to convert 2D content to 3D, or to decode native Stereo 3D content. These applications also convert the format of the frame, depending on the type of 3D display device attached to the PC.

MSA MISC1 Bits Bit 1

No Stereo Video Video Frame is Right Reserved Video Frame is Left 0 0 1 1

Bit 1
0 1 0 1

Figure 14: Stereo 3D Video pipeline

The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs support the following features: > UVD accelerated MVC Decode for Blu-ray 3D movies > Windowed mode playback of Blu-ray 3D movies through HDMI and DisplayPort > Clone mode 3D movie playback For more information, please refer to the AMD Video Technologies technical whitepaper.
AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

15

4K X 2K
Overview
Ultra-high resolution displays have existed for years but were targeted for professional applications. However, 4Kx2K TVs have started to appear in many tradeshows and demonstration events. In the future, AMD envisions TVs and monitors supporting significantly higher resolutions, well above WQXGA (2560x1600). There are various resolutions for 4Kx2K displays, with different aspect ratios. Table 4 lists some examples:

4Kx2K Resolution
4096x2304 4096x2160 3840x2400 3840x2160 Table 4: List of 4Kx2K resolutions

Aspect Ratio
16:9 19:10 16:10 16:9

Current 4Kx2K displays require multiple display interface inputs. For example, to support 3840x2400 @ 60Hz, four single-link DVI inputs, or two dual-link DVI inputs are required. These displays can be supported by most AMD GPUs, assuming the right combination of display outputs is supported. Next generation 4Kx2K displays ( including TVs, monitors and projectors ) will only require a single cable and a single display interface input. The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs are the first that are capable of supporting next generation 4Kx2K displays through a single DisplayPort or HDMI cable.

Display Interface
DisplayPort 1.1a ( HBR1 )

Resolution
4096x2304 4096x2304 4096x2160 3840x2400

Refresh Rate
30Hz 60Hz5 24Hz 30Hz

DisplayPort 1.2 ( HBR2 )

HDMI ( @ 3Ghz ) DL-DVI

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

16

COLOR ACCURACY
Overview
A displays color gamut refers to the range of colors that it can represent. The most common method of illustrating a display devices color gamut is by using a gamut diagram, similar to Figure 15. The supported color gamut of the display is represented as the area bounded usually by a triangle - in this case labeled sRGB. The majority of display devices in the past had the capability to fully display the sRGB color gamut. (Note: This is usually advertised as 72% NTSC). In addition, the majority of content are captured in sRGB color gamut, including pictures and videos. Even the Microsoft Windows desktop is rendered in sRGB color gamut. Today, there are LCD monitors in the market that can display a color gamut greater than sRGB. Some monitors can cover 80% NTSC, while professional monitors can cover Adobe RGB (92% NTSC) or more. The problem arises when the end user views sRGB content on wide color gamut monitors without color correction - the colors become distorted and over saturated in most cases. This problem can be addressed by a process called color correction or color gamut remapping. Figure 15: Color gamut diagram for sRGB

Figure 16: Difference between corrected and uncorrected image6

While the uncorrected image may seem more vivid, some of the colors look unnatural - especially flesh tone colors. One can imagine the problem this would cause in professional graphics applications where color accuracy is paramount. Even for mainstream consumers, uncorrected color images could lead to frustration for those who print photos at home, or those who view and purchase items through the internet. Previous generation GPUs, for example the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series, had the capability to perform gamut remapping. However, the capability is limited, in that the color gamut remapping or color correction is performed in non-linear space (i.e. gamma space). This limits the precision and accuracy of the color gamut remapping process.
AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

17

The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs remove this limitation by performing the color gamut remapping in linear space, as illustrated in Figure 17:

Previous Generation GPUs

AMD Radeon HD 6000 & 7900 Series

Figure 17: Comparison of color gamut remapping hardware

Adding the de-gamma step in the display engine and an advanced gamut remapping algorithm ensure high precision color gamut remapping throughout the pipeline, resulting in excellent color reproduction even on wide gamut panels. In addition, since the color gamut remapping process is performed by the display engine hardware and not through software, it will not incur any CPU or shader performance penalty and can be applied to full screen and windowed applications. AMD plans to publish an API that can take advantage of this new hardware capability, along with SDK documentation. These will soon be available for application developers at http://developer.amd.com.

AMD Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series Display Technology

18

SUMMARY
AMD is a recognized industry leader in display technologies, providing innovation through introduction of new technologies and display interfaces in our products. The Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs marks the introduction of these innovative display technologies: > First GPU to support multiple independent audio streams > First GPU to support 3GHz HDMI speed for uncompromised Stereo 3D gaming performance In addition, the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series GPUs continue to support these advanced features: > DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Streaming & HBR2 > Stereo 3D through both DisplayPort and HDMI > Enhanced color gamut remapping for wide color gamut displays With AMD Radeon and the introduction of Discrete Digital Multi-Point Audio (DDMA), Radeon HD 77007900 Series GPUs enable new and interesting multi-display applications. Combined with support for DisplayPort 1.2, high performance stereo 3D gaming through HDMI, and improved AMD Eyefinity, the Radeon HD 7700-7900 Series is positioned as the GPUs of choice for gaming, HTPC and multimedia enthusiasts.

DISCLAIMER The information presented in this document is for informational purposes only and may contain technical inaccuracies, omissions and typographical errors. AMD reserves the right to revise this information and to make changes from time to time to the content hereof without obligation of AMD to notify any person of such revisions or changes. AMD MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE CONTENTS HEREOF AND ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS INFORMATION. AMD SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL AMD BE LIABLE TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN, EVEN IF AMD IS EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
SUBSTANTIATION 1 AMD Eyefinity works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort connectors, and/or DisplayPort compliant active adapters to convert your monitors native input to your cards DisplayPort or Mini-DisplayPort connector(s), are required. AMD Eyefinity can support up to 6 displays using a single enabled AMD Radeon graphics card with Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase. SLS (Single Large Surface) functionality requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays. 2 AMD HD3D is a technology designed to enable stereoscopic 3D support in games, movies and/or photos. Requires 3D stereo drivers, glasses, and display. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies. A list of supported stereoscopic 3D hardware is available at http://www.amd.com/HD3D. 3 The GCN Architecture and its associated features (PCI Express 3.0, AMD ZeroCore Power technology, DDM Audio, HDMI (with 4K and 3GHz) and 28nm production) are exclusive to the AMD Radeon HD 7900, HD 7800 and HD 7700 Series GPUs. 4 HBR2 bandwidth can support more than six displays with this specific timing, but the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series GPUs support up to a maximum of six independent displays. 5 D  riving a resolution of 4096x2304 @ 60Hz requires a monitor that supports DisplayPort 1.2 HBR2. This type of monitor will be driven by the GPU as two 2Kx2K monitors (side-by-side) using the DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport protocol over one DisplayPort cable. 6 Simulated saturation to show the difference between color corrected and uncorrected image on wide gamut panels. 2012 Advanced Micro Devices Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, Radeon, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. HDMI is a trademark of HDMI Licensing, LLC. Other names are used for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. PID# 51883A

AMD ZeroCore Power Technology

19