AMD Moves Forward with Fusion

AMD Fusion technology combines the CPU and GPU functions into a single chip, or APU, thereby providing faster performance, decreased power usage and lower cost compared to a conventional multi-chip setup. It is an innovative step, and one that AMD is aiming at the gamut of PC devices, from tablets to high-end desktops, and everything in-between.

Although AMD has promoted the architecture for several years, it is only lately that we have seen actual hardware. The Fusion development path has been a strange one. The Llano chip was to be the first Fusion model out the door, but a variety of delays and other issues ditched that plan. Then it was up to the mobile Bobcat architecture to take over the top space in the Fusion release schedule, and AMD was able to sneak that one in before the end of 2010.

AMD Brazos for Success

This came in the form of the AMD Brazos platform, which is designed for the slimline mobile market, including notebooks and netbooks. Brazos uses the low-power Ontario and Zacate chip architectures, which share the same Bobcat CPU lineage, but differ in terms of power usage and performance.

Ontario is primarily designed for the tablet and netbook markets and features the low-voltage AMD C-Series APU with an estimated 9W TDP. The Zacate is a bit more powerful, with its E-Series APU line sporting higher clock speeds and faster onboard graphics, topping out at a full 18W TDP. 18W may seem low, but comparable low-voltage mobile processors from Intel dip down to 10W and the chipset does not use 8W of power.

Both Ontario and Zacate models will ship in single and dual-core configurations and the initial APUs will include the dual-core AMD E-350 (1.6 GHz) and single-core AMD E-240 (1.5 GHz) Zacate models, and the dual-core AMD C-50 (1.0 GHz) and single-core AMD C-30 (1.2 GHz) Ontario processors. Both feature a single-channel DDR3 memory controller at up to 1066 MHz clock speeds, and link to system devices using the Hudson Fusion controller hub.

The type of integrated DirectX 11 GPU is another area that the two Fusion lines differ. The Ontario uses the baseline Mobility Radeon HD 6250 while the higher-end Zacate is an upgrade to the faster Radeon HD 6310. These two mobile GPUs are based on the Radeon HD 43XX chip with 80 unified shaders, but the HD 6250 features a clock speed of only 280 MHz while the HD 6310 almost doubles this to a full 500 MHz.

The GPU gains its Radeon HD 6000-series name from an upgraded 3rd generation unified video decoder, which allows parallel decoding of two high-definition video streams and even supports Blu-ray 3D. Adding an entry-level Radeon HD GPU to a low-cost platform like Brazos opens the door up to GPU computing programs and allows mobile developers to access this extra performance.

The Brazos platform sits on the bottom rung of the AMD Fusion roadmap, and Zacate will compete against the Intel Pentium and Celeron notebook processors, while the Ontario lines up against the Intel Atom in both the tablet and netbook arenas. Prices should be very competitive, with entry-level Brazos systems available at less than $500. AMD recently began shipments of Zacate and Ontario chips, and availability of retail devices is expected in January 2011.

The pre-release performance numbers of the Zacate E350 APU are underwhelming on the application side, showing AMD has not yet cracked the Intel Core nut, but its showing in gaming, media and entertainment is a lot better. AMD still cannot outperform the CPU portion a competing Intel notebook, but the AMD GPU is going to outpace Intel’s anemic integrated graphics. Graphics and value are going to the terms used to promote the Brazos platform.

It is much the same story with power usage and AMD Zacate pre-release notebooks cannot match the baseline results of comparable Intel systems, but offer better graphics performance in the same power envelope. How this impacts potential buyers all relates to the eventual usage patterns for the device. If office tasks are important, then Intel is still in the driver’s seat, but those wanting a bit more game and entertainment options will take a close look at a slimline Zacate-based notebook.

The entity formerly known as ATI has allowed AMD to introduce feature-rich, DirectX 11 onboard graphics, but it also creates a push-pull scenario of how powerful it can be to ensure discrete GPU sales are not affected. Intel does not have that problem, but even with some potential leftovers from the Larrabee project, catching up to AMD will be extremely difficult.

Llano Still on Hold

The Zacate and Ontario mobile platforms are not intended to compete against the Intel Core i3 and i5 notebooks, and that task will fall to AMD’s mainstream Llano architecture. The Brazos platform and its Bobcat APUs are designed for only the baseline segment of mobile users, while Llano-based Lynx (desktops) and Sabine (notebooks) platforms are much more pervasive and cover the range of Vision performance segments.

Llano is an important release for AMD, and one that was slated to be the first Fusion chip out of the gate. Unfortunately, it has experienced several delays along the way and AMD’s latest projections have Llano shipping sometime in the second quarter of 2011, with systems appearing soon after. There were rumors that production issues were quite severe with chip yields being extremely low.

Since then, things have been looking up for AMD and Llano. Production seems to be on schedule and we may get our first taste of the mainstream Fusion early in 2011. While Ontario and Zacate provide some insight into the technology, Llano is the chip that will make or break AMD Fusion in 2011.

No matter the delays with Llano, AMD still needs to compete against Intel in 2010, and last week updated its line with a pair of top-end Phenom II Black Edition processors. The new six-core Phenom II 1100T BE runs at 3.3 GHz while the dual-core X2 565 BE is a bit higher at 3.4 GHz. These Black Editions feature high-end clock speeds and unlocked multipliers, and due to AMD’s competitive pricing, can really give Intel headaches with enthusiast buyers and even business users looking to tweak performance at a low cost.

AMD: We Don’t Need No Stinking Brands

With the official unveiling of the first Fusion-based APUs, the overall branding strategy has changed gears as well. AMD already put ATI out to pasture and has been making a lot of fuss about how consumers no longer care what processor is inside their notebooks or desktop systems. Instead of giving the new Fusion APUs and platforms a product name, these will be rolled into the Vision family.

Vision will not be a purely homogenous term and will instead be separated, or branded, into different sections denoting enhanced feature sets and higher performance. Zacate resides in the baseline Vision segment, but AMD will allow buyers to move up to the Vision Premium, Vision Ultimate and Vision Black categories. At the bottom of the scale comes HD Internet, which includes netbook and tablet processors like the Ontario line.

Getting rid of brand names certainly has its risks, one being that your hardware becomes less visible in the marketplace. AMD’s stance is that the majority of customers do not care what hardware are in their system and instead make purchase decisions based on other factors like features, display and aesthetics. I think this denigrates many consumers and businesses that do care about the individual components and it runs the risk of alienating this influential group.

It is also a marketing path that Intel is unlikely to follow. The chip giant has made billions with its “Intel Inside” branding strategy and the capability to subdivide its market segments based on processor family names like Atom, Celeron and Core, so to throw all that away would be corporate suicide. In fact, it is very easy for AMD to espouse a brand-free future when they have the least to lose.

The release of the AMD Brazos platform does give us a look at the upcoming APUs designed for baseline mobile devices, but it is just small taste of what Fusion will be bringing to the table. The real test will be the introduction of the mainstream Llano-based Lynx and Sabine platforms, which are due in 2011 and will represent the core element in the AMD business plan.