Previewing AMD's Brazos, Part 1: More Details on Zacate/Ontario and Fusion
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 9, 2010 1:09 AM ESTThe Chipset err...Fusion Controller Hub
The Zacate/Ontario APUs have an integrated PCIe interface sporting 8 lanes. Four of those lanes are used for AMD’s Universal Media Interface (UMI) - a bus that links the APU to the Hudson FCH. The remaining four can be used for discrete graphics or a combination of discrete graphics and other PCIe controllers. Both PCIe interfaces can run at gen 1 or gen 2 transfer rates.
Display output naturally stems off of the APU. You can drive two displays in tandem over any combination of VGA or Display Port/DVI/HDMI/LVDS.
As I mentioned earlier, the APU sports a single channel memory controller - but you can install up to two DIMMs on that channel. Speeds are down from the 1333MHz system we tested at IDF, DDR3-1066 is the max you’ll officially see on a Brazos system.
The Hudson FCH supplies up to 14 USB 2.0 ports, 6 x 6Gbps SATA ports and another 4 PCIe lanes. The FCH is based on AMD’s SB800 series of South Bridges. Despite the small size, this is a full featured platform.
From the looks of it, AMD has all of the right ingredients for some very competitive entries in the mainstream and ultraportable notebook markets. Now it’s just up to the OEMs to build something cool out of it.
Check back in about a week for the full rundown on Zacate performance.
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miahshodan - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
I meant HD4500 graphics, not 945asmoma - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
First gen CULV does have lower power consumption than brazos and about the same as 2. gen CULV.http://media.bestofmicro.com/amd-fusion-power,1-6-...
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/toshibat235d_08...
5,31(minutes/wh)*1,35 is 7(minutes/wh). But because only the cpu and chipset is taken into consideration, the actual minutes/wh is lower.
This does not make the brazos platform a bad product(like the yukon and congo platform(rubbish!)), but it won't be a product for high end(high quality) products like macbooks and vaio z.
asmoma - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
"5,31(minutes/wh)*1,35 is 7(minutes/wh). But because only the cpu and chipset is taken into consideration, the actual minutes/wh is lower"Maybe even lower than 2. gen culv
jbhunt17 - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
What game is that on the screen? Looks cool.LeftSide - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
Anand,Will these new amd processors support ECC ram? I want to build a new low power Windows Home Server, and want to use ECC ram. Atom is too slow and doesn't support it.
Thanks!
ProDigit - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
Darn, Homer Simpson's APU would not like it to be compared to a computer chip!So what do we call it, APU (A-Poo, APU with the u from 'under' or the U from 'unanimous')?
ProDigit - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
In all honesty, those cpu's + GPU's are good enough for (heavy powerdrawing) netbooks, not notebooks or laptops, and especially not desktops!They may be good for HTPC's or small servers, but I see no unit strong enough to replace a C2Duo laptop (or desktop). (especially not at the price).
jabber - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - link
Again this setup isnt for enthusiasts.Its not designed with you in mind.
Its designed for your mum and dad who are still hobbling along with their old P4 or Celeron machine they bought back in 2005.
Its designed for the knock about family PC that gets used mainly for Ebay, Messenger and Facebook and may allow the 13 year old daughter to play the Sims.
This will be plenty powerful enough for small low power boxes in the home.
Dark_Archonis - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - link
Whether you know anyone who wants an iPad is irrelevant. Personal anecdotal observations are frankly irrelevant.It is a statistical fact that *since* the iPad went on sale, netbook sales have been declining harder. Acer in particular is suffering as its netbook sales over the last few months have been down BIG-TIME, and Acer is one of the big netbook OEMs.
Millions of iPads have already been sold, and Apple continues to sell them at a very high rate.
Yes Atom's lack of performance in some areas might have contributed. However it is ludicrous to completely deny the impact the iPad is having on netbook sales.
bloodterfly - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - link
For someone who uses statistics as an argument, you seem highly ignorant of the fact correlation != causation.iPad goes up, net books go down doesn't prove anything.
Any number of myriad factors could've caused netbooks to stop selling.