Cirrus ships chip for Intel AGP

Cirrus (CRUS) announced today that they have shipped sample versions of a 64-bit chip designed for use with Intel's Accelerated Graphics Port.

The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), a dedicated connection between 3D graphics chips and system memory that is designed to help the PC keep up with the demands of data-intensive 3D applications, will bring high-end 3D graphics to mainstream PCs as well as users of high-performance platforms.

Personal computers using AGP-compliant accelerators are expected to arrive in the second half of this year, coinciding with the introduction of systems using the next-generation Intel Pentium Pro processor code-named Klamath.

AGP can store information in excess system memory, rather than in more expensive memory chips that have been optimized for use with graphics accelerators. Cirrus says they are able to deliver the first AGP-compliant product because the Laguna3D family already functions in a similar fashion.

Cirrus says sample chips have been provided to key industry partners such as Microsoft and Intel.

(Intel is an investor in CNET:The Computer Network.)