by Anton Shilov
04/04/2011 | 01:09 PM
Advanced Micro Devices on Monday said that it had started commercial shipments of its code-named Llano accelerated processing units (APUs). The new chips have up to four x86 processing cores as well as integrated Radeon HD 6000-class graphics core. System makers are going to start shipping desktops and laptops based on Llano later in the second quarter.
“Customers are very excited about Llano coming to market and we will look forward to seeing our “Llano”-based systems in the market this quarter - the second quarter," said Thomas Seifert, chief financial officer and interim chief executive officer.
Production units of AMD’s 32 nanometer quad-core “Llano” A-series accelerated processor units (APU) with discrete-level graphics are now shipping to various makers, according to AMD, but the company remains tight-lipped about exact companies, who are receiving the chips.
As reported previously, AMD A-series desktop APUs will have either four K10.5+/Husky x86 cores as well as Radeon HD 6000-class "BeaverCreek" (320 or 400 stream processors) graphics core or two x86 cores and "WinterPark" (160 stream processors) integrated graphics engine. The chips will support dual-channel DDR3 memory controllers, up to 4MB of cache, select processors may also feature AMD Turbo Core dynamic acceleration technology as well as a special multi-GPU graphics support.
The initial family of AMD A-series desktop chips due in Q3 2011 will include four quad-core microprocessors with 100W or 65W TDP, one dual-core flavours with 65W power consumption, according to a document seen by X-bit labs. Later during the third quarter the company also plans to release a dual-core low-end offering based on Llano design. In Q4 2011 the company is projected to refresh the A-series family with new A8, A6 and A4 models.
| AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units Due in 2011 | |||||||||||
| Model | A8- 3560P | A8- 3550P | A8- 3560 | A8- 3550 | A6- 3460P | A6- 3450P | A6- 3460 | A6- 3450 | A4- 3360 | A4- 3350 | E2- 3250 |
| Cores | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky | Husky |
| Core Count | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Stream Core Count | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 320 | 320 | 320 | 320 | 160 | 160 | 160 |
| Clock-Speed | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| GPU Clock-Speed | TBD | 594 MHz | TBD | 594 MHz | TBD | 443 MHz | TBD | 443 | TBD | 594 MHz | 443 MHz |
| Radeon Brand | HD 6550 | HD 6550 | HD 6550 | HD 6550 | HD 6530 | HD 6530 | HD 6530 | HD 6530 | HD 6410 | HD 6410 | HD 6370 |
| Cache | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB | 2MB | 2MB | 1MB |
| Memory | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1866 MHz | DDR3, 1600 MHz |
| Process Technology | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm |
| TDP | 100W | 100W | 65W | 65W | 100W | 100W | 65W | 65W | 65W | 65W | 65W |
| Turbo Core | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Packaging | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 | FM1 |
| Launch | Q4 2011 | Q3 2011 | Q4 2011 | Q3 2011 | Q4 2011 | Q3 2011 | Q4 2011 | Q3 2011 | Q4 2011 | Q3 2011 | Q3 2011 |
AMD and its partners pin a lot of hopes onto graphics capabilities of the A-series APUs. It is expected that the integrated graphics cores with up to 400 stream processors will offer performance that will by far exceed that of Intel Core i-series "Sandy Bridge" microprocessors and will thus attract attention of multimedia enthusiasts to the code-named Lynx desktop platform. In addition, AMD pins hopes onto compute capabilities of the integrated Radeon HD 6000-class graphics engine as well as applications that can be accelerated by stream processors in order to offer higher performance than competing offerings in general non-gaming applications.
The world's second largest supplier of microprocessors was projected to start commercial shipments of its A-series "Llano" chips - which are made using 32nm silicon-on-insulator technology by Globalfoundries - on the week of July 20th, 2011.