A Sneak Peek at AMD's First Fusion APU @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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A Sneak Peek at AMD's First Fusion APU - We got our hands on a working Fusion APU at AMD's Austin campus last week. While embargo restricts us from giving you solid benchmark numbers today, we can relate "high level impressions" about the system to you.
 
Too bad it isn't out now. Just bought me a cheap low powered laptop.
 
I had to lol at "Black Vision." Otherwise that's cool, what exactly was the heat and battery power like (unless I missed it :confused:)? Are we talking MBP heat and can't function as a "lap"top?
 
sweet thanks for the preview. makes me glad i just sold my 3rd 300 dollar eepc on craigslist for 500 dollars. ahh cant wait for a usable low power netbook/notebook again! thank you AMD.

(yeah thats right my third. they are to damn slow for me so after a couple months i get sick of them and throw them on craigslist and usually profit off it instead of losing money)


King Icewind said:
I had to lol at "Black Vision." Otherwise that's cool, what exactly was the heat and battery power like (unless I missed it :confused:)? Are we talking MBP heat and can't function as a "lap"top?
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yeah when i saw the black vision, the first thing that came to mind was "Oh! multiplier unlocked zacate! hell ya!" but i know that's not really the case but we can dream can't we. :D
 
I did have issues with VLC player ...
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As far as I know, VLC player has not implemented any significant hardware acceleration for ATI/AMD GPUs. NVIDIA only, and still a pretty light implementation.

I'm not saying that's the cause, but that's why I would expect sub-optimal performance with VLC on such a CPU.
 
Could these go into tablets? I really dislike atom processors and windows 7.
 
This is indeed very exciting for those of us laptop users who don't even need the Mobility Radeon 4530's that came with it. Anything that lowers power consumption, reduces heat, and simplifies things in a laptop is always going to be welcome.

I just wish AMD could pose a challenge to Intel at the high end as those obscene "EXTREME" prices need to come down along with the obscene prices for Intel's Xeon server chips.
 
This info is quite great. I wish I had it before I bought my laptop. Does anyone have a price on this one? Would love to save for it. Thanks!
 
This seems like its more of a mobile system and not really for desktops except for maybe for those really small office computers I see at government offices that are always to slow to get anything done.

As fast as technology moves I really cant see this being used by enthusiasts, you would be replacing the entire PC every 6 months instead of replacing just the GPU or just the CPU, doesn't seem cost effective.

So many questions really need to be answered, looking forward to a full review of a working system, preferably a Black Fusion desktop. One question everyone wants to know is "Can it run Crisis?"
 
Kyle,

thanks for the article, but one quick question.

If a SIMD is 80 shaders and the APU is described as sporting dual SIMD's, does this not mean that Zacate/Ontario have 160 shaders?
 
munkle said:
Could these go into tablets? I really dislike atom processors and windows 7.
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it is still going to be a rubbish tablet with Ontario, much better sticking with ARM & Android/MeeGo.
 
I'm suddenly glad I held off on buying a laptop for myself. Now I have something to look forward to now when I do drop the coin on one.
 
Diablo2K said:
This seems like its more of a mobile system and not really for desktops except for maybe for those really small office computers I see at government offices that are always to slow to get anything done.

As fast as technology moves I really cant see this being used by enthusiasts, you would be replacing the entire PC every 6 months instead of replacing just the GPU or just the CPU, doesn't seem cost effective.
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Yes this isnt for enthusiasts. This is for the other 90% of the PC user world thats still getting by with their 3GHZ P4 / 2Ghz AthlonXP 512MB setups and are looking for something new that gives them a more 'complete package' to look after them for the next 5 years.

The CPU power for most folks has been around for several years. Its just that no one has bothered or been able to put it all into a nice rounded package GPU/CPU/Media wise till now.

I've been rolling out dual core Atom IONs to business folks for a year now and while we may sneer at them, they feel they have been given a Ferrari as the performance leap for them has been 5 years or more. The feedback has been incredible.

Remember most folks dont upgrade their kit every 6 months or so like a lot of us do. Time stand still for them.

There are a lot of folks to appeal to out there for this kind of kit.

One average box to do all the average computing for five years.:D
 
daglesj said:
Yes this isnt for enthusiasts. This is for the other 90% of the PC user world thats still getting by with their 3GHZ P4 / 2Ghz AthlonXP 512MB setups and are looking for something new that gives them a more 'complete package' to look after them for the next 5 years.

The CPU power for most folks has been around for several years. Its just that no one has bothered or been able to put it all into a nice rounded package GPU/CPU/Media wise till now.

I've been rolling out dual core Atom IONs to business folks for a year now and while we may sneer at them, they feel they have been given a Ferrari as the performance leap for them has been 5 years or more. The feedback has been incredible.

Remember most folks dont upgrade their kit every 6 months or so like a lot of us do. Time stand still for them.

There are a lot of folks to appeal to out there for this kind of kit.

One average box to do all the average computing for five years.:D
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And besides.
if bulldozer becomes a APU, the GPU would be used for opencl, direct compute, and you can have a dedicated power guggler to do your rendering.
see the wins ? :)
This is just a hope, I just really hope it does happen, anyways.
Theese products are basicly meant now for people up to 5570 performance levels, or even 5670 at 90watts for quadcore + gpu.
they actually have a whole wopping 90 watts to work with, seeing how a 18 watt fare, then you can imagine how a 90W would.

So us with dedicated graphics would go under the bulldozer line of cpu's, or use intel's.
 
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Is there any word as to whether or not these chips will be available for DIY PC builders. I could see them being great in always on boxes like a Windows Home Server machine or an HTPC.
 
Did AMD say anything about using these in embedded devices? I could see these working great in set-top boxes, TVs, and other devices that have integrated apps.
 
ANYTHING is better than intel integrated graphics.

I never want to see or hear of another notebook produced with such pathetic 3D capabilities as Intel's, and this product by AMD takes us a big step closer.

Thanks AMD.
 
I wonder if we could see this in a plastic MacBook. Apple has complained about Intel's laptop chipsets for years because they have no graphics. A low power laptop that can handle a 13" display sounds about this chipset's sweet spot. Considering the way they build the Air, all Apple would add is RAM, and a PCI-E SSD (I assume the chipset comes in a -n wireless flavor). With a fast SSD and snappy graphics (for the price) it would fell much faster than it actually is.

I know Apple hasn't used AMD in the past, and currently uses nVidia for its laptop graphics now - but do you think Apple the type of company to make one laptop on AMD just to tweek Intel? Me too. :)
 
The real test will be if AMD can put them into products people want. For too long apple has had a monopoly on design and build quality. If another notebook manufacturer could just come up with a competively priced zacate system that could compete on some level with the macbook air in terms of looks and feel, they'd sell like hotcakes. I'm all for substance over style, but I'm sick of flimsy plastic acers and glossy asus notebooks, which are my only options to replace my anemic eeePC
 
I could honestly see apple switching over to fusion in the near future. This looks good, now bring on Llano.
 
The Zacate set looks amazing. Hard to imagine that much performance under 20W. The Brazos could probably power some killer tablets. It will be interesting to see what these actually end up in. Looks like they would make nice HTPC boxes, also. I also second the notion that it is good to see AMD moving forward. Without AMD, Intel and Nvidia would just sit on their asses.
 
rocky928 said:
ANYTHING is better than intel integrated graphics.

I never want to see or hear of another notebook produced with such pathetic 3D capabilities as Intel's, and this product by AMD takes us a big step closer.

Thanks AMD.
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Intel graphics are fine for most business users, even the pre-i5 graphics.

As for the newer Intel i3/i5 graphics, it's better than the 5 year old Geforce card that was in my kids system. Runs everything they need since they are not into serious 3d games.
 
I'd like to see this in a HTPC.
The Atom chips, even the dual core version, just doesn't have the CPU power I need for streaming/transcoding. The i3 chips draw more power than I'd like for something on 24/7.
If this APU is about 30-50% faster then the same clock speed atom, and especially if I can make use of the GPU for transcoding, the 18 watt version just might be compromise I'm looking for.
 
nutzo said:
Intel graphics are fine for most business users, even the pre-i5 graphics.

As for the newer Intel i3/i5 graphics, it's better than the 5 year old Geforce card that was in my kids system. Runs everything they need since they are not into serious 3d games.
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To defend intel based IGP's is unacceptable blasphemy and should be punished with prejudice..

that is all
 
Kyle,

Are you able to talk about the AMD road map? I would love to have an idea of when we will be seeing these in low power, small form factor desktops.

Do you see these systems being able to run games with CPU/GPU demands of games like Starcraft2 or HL2:E2 at 2560x1600 resolution at low to medium settings in the next 12 to 18 months? Do you know if AMD plans to have the desktop systems support eyefinity setups in non-gaming circumstances (i.e. it could power 3 monitors while running windows and various office apps or web browsers, but could only power 1 monitor while gaming)?

Is there any word on desktop form factors?
 
dajet24 said:
To defend intel based IGP's is unacceptable blasphemy and should be punished with prejudice..

that is all
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At the same time to bash them just because a minority don't find them good enough is rather foolish and doesn't make sense.

At work I'd much rather have intel graphics on a users computer than nvidia or ati graphics. Less of a mess with drivers, they work just fine for everything people actually do, and they honestly have less failure rates and cause less headaches.

It doesn't matter if something performs better if you don't need that performance, it draws more power, and topping it all off causes more problems.

Yes this isnt for enthusiasts. This is for the other 90% of the PC user world thats still getting by with their 3GHZ P4 / 2Ghz AthlonXP 512MB setups and are looking for something new that gives them a more 'complete package' to look after them for the next 5 years.

The CPU power for most folks has been around for several years. Its just that no one has bothered or been able to put it all into a nice rounded package GPU/CPU/Media wise till now.
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Agreed 100%, plus this is improvement where it's needed most, less power and a smaller form factor. These will be great. :)
 
Skiplives said:
I know Apple hasn't used AMD in the past, and currently uses nVidia for its laptop graphics now - but do you think Apple the type of company to make one laptop on AMD just to tweek Intel? Me too. :)
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iBook G4s and the PowerBooks used ATI GPUs. The earlier MacBook Pros used x1600s.

Anyways, the new white MacBooks use nvidia GPUs these days with pretty good results.
 
Hmm, if it's Evergreen, can it do Eyefinity? Having 3 displays would be awesome -- one internal, and two external. Even the low-end discrete HD5450 can do that.
 
dajet24 said:
To defend intel based IGP's is unacceptable blasphemy and should be punished with prejudice..

that is all
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bring on the punishment because i honestly dont mind the intel IGP on my i7 620m.....it plays simple games (CoH and L4D2) at acceptble levels for a portable machine for me, pulls very little power(CPU/GPU pull less than 30w at load), and ya know what quit bashing the dam thing if you want to do serious graphic stuff get a dam nVidia or ATI, if you want something on a buisness level machine, to do what its supposed to do without any issues whatsoever, the intel based GPU is more than enough.....
 
DanaG said:
Hmm, if it's Evergreen, can it do Eyefinity? Having 3 displays would be awesome -- one internal, and two external. Even the low-end discrete HD5450 can do that.
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According to other sites' analysis, you can currently only run two displays from this tech.
 
Amazes me all these folks wanting it to do stuff it was never considered or intended for.

Why is it so many enthusiasts just cant understand that not all tech is designed with them primarily in mind?

This stuff is designed for your mum and dad to use.
 
Ahh the wait for Lynx/Llano is so excruciating!! I think I'm sold on this Fusion. For my next desktop PC, I think I'll be getting the Llano and probably skipping discrete graphics. (Not really a gamer.)
 
W.Feather said:
bring on the punishment because i honestly dont mind the intel IGP on my i7 620m.....it plays simple games (CoH and L4D2) at acceptble levels for a portable machine for me, pulls very little power(CPU/GPU pull less than 30w at load), and ya know what quit bashing the dam thing if you want to do serious graphic stuff get a dam nVidia or ATI, if you want something on a buisness level machine, to do what its supposed to do without any issues whatsoever, the intel based GPU is more than enough.....
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You've got it right, it's the hate on IGP's and stress on high end shit that is killing PC gaming anyways. Does it turn well on culv and intel igp which is what most want and need, if so it's a good game, if not, it's hurting pc gaming.
 
Thanks for the sneak peek Kyle. This would be a strong recommendation for the student crowd. Hopefully notebook manuf don't cheap out on the battery just because this is a 'miser.
 
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