AMD today announced the availability of the industry's most advanced motherboard GPU, the AMD 780 Series, delivering a rich computing experience for casual gamers and multimedia enthusiasts as the core of quiet and energy-efficient PC designs.
When paired with an AMD Phenom 9000 series quad-core processor or Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor, the AMD 780 Series delivers significant enhancements in gaming and high-definition experiences for mainstream PC customers. The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU is scheduled to be widely available from more than 40 AMD partners at launch. Global OEMs are expected to offer AMD 780 Series-based PCs starting in Q2 2008.
The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU is a core platform component for both the AMD desktop PC platform codenamed "Cartwheel" and AMD notebook PC platform codenamed "Puma" which are both scheduled to launch in Q2 2008.
"The launch of the AMD 780 Series marks an uncommonly large step forward in mainstream PC capabilities. Starting today, consumers can attain superior HD video and casual 3D gaming experiences, as well as remarkable energy efficiency," said Phil Eisler, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Chipset Division. "The release of the AMD 780 Series is in keeping with the AMD vision that computing can deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience and now at mainstream PC price points."
Gamers looking to scale their performance with the addition of a discrete graphics card can achieve superior performance with ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology. This technology harnesses the graphics power of both a discrete graphics card and the motherboard GPU in tandem, delivering in some applications up to 70 percent improvements in 3D performance. In addition, the AMD 780G chipset is the second generation AMD chipset to feature AMD Overdrive, a simple user interface that brings performance tuning to the masses.
"AMD continues to deliver innovative hardware technology so that consumers and game enthusiasts can enjoy improved graphics experiences on Windows Vista," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows, Microsoft. "The new 780G series chipset provides enhanced performance scalability in DirectX 10 to gamers of all types, from casual to hardcore, so that everyone using DirectX 10 on Windows Vista can have a fantastic gaming experience that is tailored to their needs."
The AMD 780G chipset brings a full HD experience with support for the latest and most demanding formats, including VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 to the mainstream PC. Featuring the AMD Unified Video Decoder (UVD), it directs HD playback to the better-suited GPU rather than to the CPU so consumers may enjoy a smooth HD viewing experience - no lag, stalling or dropped scenes - in the latest HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles. As a cool and quiet solution, AMD 780G-powered PCs may be placed in the living room as part of a home theater. In addition, PC's built around the AMD 780G can give consumers tremendous flexibility with a broad range of video interfaces, including DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI, and with support for AMD Surroundview consumers may connect to multiple monitors.
As the world's first chipset to deliver 55nm process technology, the AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU delivers optimal power management both in idle, or when playing Blu-ray movies, without compromising performance. This motherboard GPU provides more computing power than the previous generation, yet draws less energy at idle, making the AMD 780 Series- based PCs ideal for consumers and enterprises looking for cool, quiet, energy efficient PCs.