computer science

Sapphire Technology

Sapphire Technology is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sapphire Technology rather than just read about it. In short: Sapphire Technology Limited (Chinese: 藍寶科技) is a Hong Kong–based technology company, which produces video cards for personal computers and workstations, motherboards, TV tuner cards, digital audio players and LCDTVs Founded in 2001, Sapphire's products are based on ATI/AMD GPUs, and both ATI/AMD and Intel motherboard chipset technology. The company is the largest supplier of AMD-based video cards in the world.

Key takeaways

Sapphire Technology belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sapphire Technology to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sapphire Technology from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sapphire Technology Limited (Chinese: 藍寶科技) is a Hong Kong–based technology company, which produces video cards for personal computers and workstations, motherboards, TV tuner cards, digital audio players and LCDTVs Founded in 2001, Sapphire's products are based on ATI/AMD GPUs, and both ATI/AMD and Intel motherboard chipset technology. The company is the largest supplier of AMD-based video cards in the world. Sapphire was the first company to release a video card with a HDMI connector. Sapphire was the first company to release a video card having clock speed of 1000 MHz (1 GHz) with the release of the Sapphire Atomic Edition HD 4890.

Manufacturing facilities As of 2007, Sapphire has two ISO 9001 and ISO 14001-certified manufacturing facilities in Dongguan, China, which have a monthly production capacity of 1.8 million video cards. The manufacturing facility had an area of about 250,000 m2 used by 16 independent production lines as of May 2005.

Manufacturing process

Sapphire buys PCBs from an external contractor, but they place components on the PCB and reflow them in their own factories. AMD GPUs have historically been used in their products.

Gallery

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sapphire Technology

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sapphire Technology claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sapphire Technology before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sapphire Technology ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sapphire Technology

In research: Sapphire Technology appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sapphire Technology in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sapphire Technology is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2001 establishments in Hong Kong, Computer hardware companies, Computer systems companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sapphire Technology outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sapphire Technology in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sapphire Technology means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sapphire Technology out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sapphire Technology in simple terms?

Why does Sapphire Technology matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sapphire Technology?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sapphire Technology.