RSS Feeds
Hardware
Details Of AMD And ATI's Fusion Baby Leak
Posted by Matt Hickey at 1:00 PM on August 5, 2008
A few new details about AMD's mysterious Fusion CPU/GPU combo chip have leaked to the Web and they seem to confirm what some rumours have been saying, namely that AMD would be making the chip with help from the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest chip plants. ATI, whom AMD bought two years ago, had been a long time customer of TSMC so the deal makes sense. The technical details point to the first processor under the Fusion name will launch Q1 of next year, and will be a dual-core Phenom CPU running along side an ATI RV800 as GPU at 40nm, a "half-node" size that will probably transition to 32nm within a year. It's an exciting idea, we just hope AMD can pull it off. [TG Daily]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
justin
Posted August 5, 2008 2:53 PM
Yay! This means that Intel will soon be sending under-the-table payments to retailers and manufacturers to exclude AMD from the market while Intel plays catch-up (copy-up).
MrBlahBlah
Posted 1:12 PM 5/8/08
i'm not edumacated in the matters of processors, but is dual core gonna cut it?
MrBlahBlah
kOtic
Posted 1:12 PM 5/8/08
But does it play Crysis?
kOtic
Ariel_Wollinger
Posted 1:06 PM 5/8/08
raytracing already?
Ariel_Wollinger
Jon!
Posted 1:41 PM 5/8/08
@MrBlahBlah: Not really sure, I mean, its ok for now, my Intel Core 2 Duo runs great. I think they should have bumped it to a quad though....but perhaps I am missing something.
Jon!
the1sen
Posted 1:39 PM 5/8/08
hey, i drew this on some TP the other day.
the1sen
godwhacker
Posted 2:05 PM 5/8/08
@MrBlahBlah:
@laio:
my dual-core amd 5600+, w/sli'd 8600gt's will play crysis on medium, yeah i can't play it on high, but the play is nice and smooth.
godwhacker
laio
Posted 1:56 PM 5/8/08
seems great, and really, 2 cores are enough, if they are fast.
sadly that's not AMD's case (comparing to intel by price and performance)
it will run crysis, but you will probably cry cause won't be playable.
anyway, i'm way more interested about fusion on the notebooks and maybe... subnotes.
this thing will be so energy efficient, if it was done right.
laio
nocar
Posted 1:51 PM 5/8/08
A "Baby Leak" sounds like something to stay far away from.
nocar
DarkNight_DS
Posted 2:39 PM 5/8/08
What you guys seem to miss is that we will most likely see dual cpu sockets on the fusion MB's to allow for 4 GPU's and CPU's on a single board.
DarkNight_DS
EQC
Posted 2:50 PM 5/8/08
If AMD is outsourcing the fabrication process to TSMC, won't that put them at a disadvantage relative to Intel if Intel comes out with a similar product? Seems like this would add another middle-man in there that would raise prices.
I know ATI and NVidia have always outsourced the chip fabrication...but they were competing with each other. AMD is competing with Intel, who makes all their own chips...and that seems like it could be a competitive disadvantage for AMD.
EQC
HexiumVII
Posted 3:29 PM 5/8/08
I'm not sure what they are going to do about memory bandwidth. Probably do something like the hypermemory crap we saw a few generations ago. Even with triple channel DDR3 you get about 40GBps still half that of 256bit DDR3 found in last gen video cards. Current top end cards need 100+GBps to really see them shine.
HexiumVII
Griffehpoo
Posted 3:36 PM 5/8/08
@kOtic: Of course. It won't, however, save you from the awful dialogue.
Griffehpoo
jayhawk11
Posted 3:33 PM 5/8/08
@kOtic: No, it won't play Crysis. It does come with a complimentary copy of Duke Nukem Forever, though.
jayhawk11
mhlaxp
Posted 4:55 PM 5/8/08
It sounds like a great option for the average user, especially with DirectX 11 supposedly introducing support for GPU acceleration of things like the next photoshop, and I would put one of these chips in a HTPC or something like that. Laptops too would benefit from this type of setup.
Gamers, however, would still be better off with a dedicated CPU and GPU seperate from each other. I certainly wouldn't want to upgrade the whole package every time I want to step up my gaming performance.
mhlaxp
KroKan
Posted 10:23 PM 5/8/08
Hmm this would be perfect for notebooks!
It would be cheap, energy efficent and free of retarded INTEL graphics or suicidal NVIDIA graphic chips/heaters
KroKan
Slizzo82
Posted 12:26 AM 6/8/08
@KroKan: The main reason for Fusion IS for notebooks and integrated designs. It's not meant to be a platform for PC enthusiasts or gamers.
Slizzo82
DisposableInterloper
Posted 5:42 AM 6/8/08
I'm hoping this will at least be a competent gaming platform. Nothing droolworthy, but handy for games all the way up to and including Crysis.
DisposableInterloper
geoboy
Posted 2:17 PM 5/8/08
The GPU/CPU are not necessarily cores, but processing centers; like right now you could have a quad core CPU and a GPU with many processors. The key here is that there will be some more direct link between the CPU and GPU, and as on-processor cache increases, data can bypass the ram. The CPU can easily assign tasks to a GPU which is doing nothing else, and not have to pass via the system bus.
geoboy
chrisjohnie6
Posted 1:34 PM 5/8/08
Yes, I believe it will for the next few generations. Other advances are being made which are improving processors, primarily with new materials, which are less extreme/expensive than adding additional cores.
chrisjohnie6
chrisjohnie6
Posted 1:07 PM 5/8/08
I've heard that this new chip uses the new hafnium oxide dielectric technology which allows for faster processing and less power consumption. Anyone in the industry have any more info in regards to this?
chrisjohnie6
Chewbenator
Posted 2:16 PM 6/8/08
@Slizzo82: Correct, it's not meant as a gaming platform or for enthusiasts. It is meant as a budget solution and the dual core goes along with that. Hopefully Intel doesn't have a competing product because honestly they need some more competition with their current chips blowing AMD out of the water.
Chewbenator