Shipping: Late November

Ever since a 1986 United States governmental budget report was given to members of the media that accidentally included the mention of a previously undisclosed military project code named "Aurora", the public's fascination with the possibility of the existence of a secret high-speed spy plane has reached massive proportions.

Thought to be a hypersonic, Mach 8-capable, reconnaissance aircraft that flies at altitudes in excess of 200,000 feet using newly developed pulse-wave detonation engines, the USAF's "Aurora" aircraft has come to signify the ultimate in lofty performance no matter what the nickname is applied to.

USAF Aurora?

Strange contrail left by aircraft that uses high-speed Pulse Wave Detonation Engines

Fittingly, ATi engineers chose the name Aurora for an undisclosed video accelerator project meant to achieve new performance highs when compared to anything else on the market and establish ATi as an ultimate performance-orientated company.

It's ironic that, for the past two years, video card manufacturer 3dfx has made efforts to emulate ATi's business model of OEM market dominance through cost-effective value parts, while ATi has sought the recognition and publicity that comes from offering the fastest video accelerators in the world, as only 3dfx used to.