AMD New APU Details Leaked

AMD New APU Details Leaked

Fusion early, Llano later in 2011 and two new, still power hungry, DX11 APUs is the latest AMD news roundup to come out of the company's earnings call and a German forum leak.

The magnificent codename of Zacate (Hay) has been identified by German site ATi Forum, to be behind AMDs latest APU which will feature DirectX 11 and will combat Intel's similar offering.

The processor roadmap revealed, indicates two APU chips, to be released on or about the last month of 2010, that will feature dual and single cores and will consume 25W and 18W respectively and will both support DX11. The chips are said to be Ontario chips including a Bobcat CPU.

Accelerated processor units (APUs) include both a CPU and a GPU and it is reasonable that they will require more power than a CPU alone and although the figures are quite low by AMD standards, it still seems that a single core design could do better than 18W. We do need to remember however, that the APU principles call for an advanced level of graphics so we might have to wait and see exactly what AMD will reveal.

The remaining news, a result of an AMD earnings call, was that the Fusion architecture will come early and will be available in Q4 2010 which appears to agree with the forum leak.

So in Q4 of this year, we will get the Fusion chips while Q1 of 2011 will see the glamorous, so obviously delayed, Llano arrive with its 32 nm and 2.5W to 25W range of power consumption.