New Technology Reviews!.: Fusion

MSI slips AMD's Fusion into 13-inch X370 ultraportable, hopes you'll notice

<img align="right" alt="" border="0" hspace="4" src="http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/6506/msix370.jpg" vspace="16">Tired of Intel's Core i5 taking a beating on your X-Slim X360's battery life? Join the crowd. For those less concerned with playing Crysis 2 and more concerned with a solid overall machine, MSI's new X370 looks to strike a lovely balance. The 13.4-inch ultraportable gets a 1366 x 768 resolution display, AMD's hot-off-of-the-presses Zacate E-350 APU, Radeon HD 6310 graphics, HDMI / VGA outputs, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, an internal card reader, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, gigabit Ethernet, a 1.3 megapixel camera and (nearly) as much DDR3 memory as you can stuff into it. You'll also get a 320/500/640GB hard drive, a 4- or 8-cell battery and a chassis that weighs 3.08 pounds with the smaller of the two cells. Naturally, Windows 7 (64-bit) is the OS of choice, but the company's stopping short of providing a hard price or release date -- here's hoping it falls somewhere between "cheap" and "price mistake."MSI slips AMD's Fusion into 13-inch X370 ultraportable, hopes you'll notice <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/msi-slips-amds-fusion-into-13-inch-x370-ultraportable-hopes-yo/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">via</A>

MSI slips AMD's Fusion into 13-inch X370 ultraportable, hopes you'll notice

Tired of Intel's Core i5 taking a beating on your X-Slim X360's battery life? Join the crowd. For those less concerned with playing ...

AMD announces first Fusion chips

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/upgrades-and-peripherals/processors/images/amd-logo-200-200.png"> AMD has launched the first-generation of its new Fusion chips, which combine both GPU and CPU functions on the same die, something that AMD calles an APU, or accelerated processing unit. AMD is planning various changes to its line-up as 2011 shapes up to be a truly revolutionary year in terms of computing architecture. Designed to coincide with CES and another <a href="">big announcement from a certain other chip manufacturer</A>, AMD's new chips sit on the Brazos platform.The processors used will come in two different guises – a super low-power Ontario processor needing only 9W of power – and the 18W Zacate chip for more mainstream notebooks. AMD has turned its attention toward netbooks – a stronghold for Intel with its Atom chips. AMD is promising huge advances in battery life from netbooks and laptops running these chips – though we'll have to wait until we get kit to see how this really pans out. Not only that, the company also hopes its expertise in graphics will hit home with buyers looking for a low power, portable netbook but who still want DirectX 11 graphics. Bobcat and Bulldozer Both of these chips are based on a new core codenamed Bobcat, based on a 40nm manufacturing process. After Zacate, AMD is planning a 32nm core called Llano, which will be with us during the first half of this year. The company also will debut its long-awaited high-performance x86 multi-core CPU architecture codenamed Bulldozer. <img alt="AMD" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/upgrades-and-peripherals/processors/images/bobcat_bulldozer-420-100.jpg" width="420"></IMG> In basic architectural terms, <a href="">Bulldozer looks even more revolutionary than Intel's new Sandy Bridge</A>. With Bulldozer, AMD will do away with the conventional notion of CPU cores and create a much more modular chip designed to deliver a better balance of integer and floating point performance. If Bulldozer manages even to just close the gap significantly between AMD's chips and Intel's Sandy Bridge, that will be some achievement.

AMD announces first Fusion chips

AMD has launched the first-generation of its new Fusion chips, which combine both GPU and CPU functions on the same die, something that AMD ...

In Depth: AMD Fusion APU explained

<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/4851/pcf247wtechchip20020029.jpg" /></div>Zacate is a Spanish noun that means grasses, generally those used for grazing animals. It is used chiefly in Mexico. It's also the code name for AMD's new wunderkind. 
 
 
This Zacate is a little low-power number aimed at notebooks, and is more than a straight Intel Atom rival, it's a bit beefier than that. Zacate is the first of AMD's two new cores and reflects its new design philosophy; and shows the direction AMD is going, so take note. 
Zacate is a twin-core chip (well, one version is), and these cores are the completely new Bobcat design. Sitting next to these on the die are integrated graphics. Zacate is the first of what AMD has dubbed Fusion APUs. 
APU (Accelerated Processor Unit) is AMD's term for bunging graphics onto the die and Fusion is AMD's name for its new approach at doing this. Fusion is the coming together of processor and graphics in a single chip in co-operative manner, hence the name 'fusion' [I think everyone gets it now, move on – Ed]. 
Integrated and okay? 
The basic block diagram of a Fusion APU puts a graphics engine on one side, a processor, or processors, on the other and between them a bus and memory controller. Both sides share the system resources depending on the job in hand. 
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8398/pcf247wtechtestrig24209.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="test rig 1" border="0" src="http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8398/pcf247wtechtestrig24209.jpg" width="420" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: center;"> 
</div>Instead of thinking of two discrete data processors doing two jobs, we have a single unit programmed as one, with operations piped down the most suitable route. GPUs are only specialised CPUs after all. 
It was the Fusion programme that drove AMD to buy ATI in 2006, as it needed the company's GPU expertise. PCs boasting integrated graphics have only really been tolerable in laptops out of necessity. Any desktop listing such a feature is rightly shunned by any right-thinking person. Fusion should bring us on-board graphics that we might actually be pleased about. 
Okay, that might be going a bit far, we may not run away in horror though. The concept is due to creep up the form factors, from netbooks and thin laptops through to mini-PCs and onwards. 
Refreshing re-think 
The blurb from AMD talks big. Fusion is "a new approach to processor design", and is "ushering in a new era of visual computing experiences". It takes on an epic biblical air in places, but all cynicism aside, Fusion is a refreshing re-think, especially if the SDKs get a good airing and code is written with them in mind. 
The aim is a decent graphical punch in a small system – what's not to like? Along with the nice new Bobcat cores the new GPU is DX11 capable and has 80 stream processors. If this were a new desktop graphics card we might pause and cogitate here as that's not a lot of stream processors, but putting it into context of a tiny low-power chip that's not half bad. 
Do you want high definition video? Of course you do and there is a unified video decoder specifically for the job. 
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Test rig 2" src="http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/1894/pcf247wtechtestrig14209.jpg" width="420" /> </div>Zacate's processor cores and GPU are clocked differently, the later being a fair bit slower (current estimates reckon on 500MHz maximum). The whole package comes in with a TDP of 18W. Low, but not ultra low enough for really small packages where Atom has been pitching its tent. 
Zacate comes on a tiny 40nm die and is a BGA package (that means soldered directly on to boards). Memory consists of a single channel of DDR3-1333. 
There will be two initial flavours: the twin core E350 and the single core E240, which will be the same, but one core is zapped. 
To go with the new chip, we have a new hub chip, the Hudson DI. This connects to Zacate via a PCI-e 2.0 x4 bus (fast enough for now). Hudson will carry SATA 300 and USB 2.0, but no Ethernet (huh?). 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8398/pcf247wtechtestrig24209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> 
</a></div>First public run 
At the unveiling of Zacate (held at the same time as Intel's IDF – just for kicks) AMD pitted a Zacate development rig against a mainstream laptop running an Intel i5 520, which also boasted integrated graphics, of course. 
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>Running City of Heroes at 1,024 x 769 pixels, the Intel-powered notebook managed around 16 to 17fps. The Zacate board trotted along at a more acceptable 30fps. That's nearly twice as fast, folks. 
Some questions were raised about drivers and whether or not it was a level playing field, but honestly can't you lot be impressed for a change? No, suspect everyone, it's the only way to be sure. 
Some fiddling about with drivers and the use of other games and benchmarks followed. It transpires that while some results are only on a par with the 520 (the IE9 benchmark is as near as makes no odds), it is still a highly impressive games chip. 
Reportedly Batman Arkham Asylum ran at 16.5 fps as against 11.3fps and City of Heroes 39.6fps against 25.5fps. That's still half as fast again – tasty. 
The killer is that Zacate is doing this with a TDP of 18W, while the Intel i5 520 takes a more substantial 35W, which translates into mucho battery life. This means they won't be direct rivals as such, which is all the more impressive. 
All in all, Zacate looks to be a very good thing. Obviously AMD has spent a small fortune developing it and so it jolly well better had be. What we will get is faster portables with better gaming – no complaints there. 
Does this mean we can live in a world where real high-power gaming is properly portable and we can finally do what we always dreamed of? Playing proper butt-clenching 3D games while sat anywhere we like. No. Desktops will remain gaming kings and always will. There is just no getting around the fact that your desktop PC can put 300W through a graphics card. 
Are we nearly there yet? 
We should see Zacate-powered hardware early next year. Initially, it'll be machines in the lower half of the portable market. Mini-ATX boards will follow, so we can expect other formats. There are Atom-powered servers around, so perhaps we will see Zacate or something very similar. 
Bang per watt is attractive in all form factors. What have we missed? Oh yeah, clock speeds. Nothing official on this at the time of writing, although 1.6GHz has been touted. The days when it was all about frequencies are over (unless it makes you look especially good, of course). 
Also, don't expect to see the names Zacate and Bobcat splashed about when the hardware arrives. These are just code names and branding will be under a different banner. 
AMD has the Vision brand all ready and waiting as well as the Fusion name. The world of netbooks and laptops is going to get a lot more competitive and capable. Zacate is just AMD's vanguard too, there's a lot more to come. 
 
<a href="http://www.techradar.com%20/">Source.</a>

In Depth: AMD Fusion APU explained

Zacate is a Spanish noun that means grasses, generally those used for grazing animals. It is used chiefly in Mexico. It's also the code ...

In Depth: Fusion, ARM and x86: what's Nvidia's next move?

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/upgrades-and-peripherals/processors/images/amd-llano-200-200.jpg"/>With AMD tooling up to give the market a <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/amd-radeon-hd-6000-what-to-expect-902180">second masterclass in DX11 graphics</a>, the spotlight will soon turn on Nvidia, its main rival in the graphics business.Nvidia has a few things up its sleeves in terms of new graphics chips. But even if the mooted update to the troubled Fermi graphics architecture is successful, that won't secure Nvidia's future.<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/amd-radeon-hd-6870-902549/review">Read our AMD Radeon HD 6870 review</a></li></ul>The problem for Nvidia can be summed up in a single word. That word is fusion. Both AMD and Intel are committed to fusing most, and eventually probably all, of their PC processors with graphics chips. A single chip will handle all the computationally intensive work inside future PCs.Facing up to fusionNvidia, of course, doesn't make PC processors. It only makes the graphics half of the fusion equation. More to the point, it lacks the licences required to produce a PC processor. At least, it lacks the all-important x86 licences required to make processors compatible with AMD and Intel's x86 chips. Processors that will run software like the desktop Windows operating systems natively.Nvidia itself has more or less admitted it will eventually have to face up to fusion. In early 2009, senior Nvidia suit Michael Hara told investors that it was more a case of when than if Nvidia would want to get into the general purpose processor business."I think some time down the road it makes sense to take the same level of integration that we've done with [the ARM-based] Tegra...someday it's going to make sense to take the same approach in the x86 market as well," Hara said.Of course, the problem with that analogy is that British-based ARM is very much in the business of licensing out entire processor architectures to third parties. It doesn't make any chips itself.Sleeping with the enemyHistorically, however, Intel and AMD have done precisely the opposite, manufacturing everything in-house. Recently, AMD has shifted to a slightly different model, spinning off its manufacturing arm into a separate company. But arguably, even that caused ructions regarding its licenses to produce x86 chips. Flogging designs off to a third-party like Nvidia would be even more problematical.What, then, can Nvidia possibly do? In terms of directly licensing an x86 processor design, there really only seems to be one option, Intel. The good news is that Intel is indeed looking to get its Atom processor core into as wide a range of chips as possible.That includes for the first time farming out production to Taiwanese chip fab TSMC. Intel realises that custom chips are often needed for mobile devices like smartphones. The best way to serve that need is to allow third parties to cook up solutions based around Atom but including IP from other companies.In theory, that could include Nvidia. The catch is that relations between Nvidia and Intel are not exactly amourous. In fact, you could say that the very last company Intel would licence out Atom cores to would be Nvidia. At best, therefore, Nvidia would be a bit player providing graphics IP for someone else to knock out an Atom-based chip.There is, however, one last hope for an Nvidia x86-based fusion processor. Rightly or wrongly, America's Federal Trade Commission appears to have its sights set on Intel. Having already forced Intel to pay AMD one billion dollars for behaviour relating to CPUs, the FTC is now saying <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10416699-64.html">Intel is engaged in anti-competitive behaviour</a> in the graphics.To cut a long story short, it's just possible legislators and regulators in the US will force Intel to give Nvidia an x86 licence. Code morphingIf that doesn't happen, there is one possibility left, although very remote. Theoretically, Nvidia could produce a chip that implements some kind of translation technology to run x86 code non-natively.This approach isn't without precedent. A small startup known as Transmeta had a stab at this in the early to mid '00s with its "code morphing" Crusoe processors. The business failed. But its chips did work well enough to provide proof of concept.Rumours involving an ARM-based Nvidia chip with x86 codemorphing have indeed been circulated. Given that power efficiency is increasingly crucial, however, a non-native x86 processor and all the overheads that come with it seems rather implausible.But perhaps even more telling are recent comments made by Nvidia's head honcho Jen-Hsun Huang. "ARM will be the most important CPU architecture of the future and it already is the fastest growing processor architecture," <a href="http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4208752/Nvidia-ARM-smartphones-will-bury-x86-PCs">Huang said</a> in September.Intel and ARMIn fact, Huang claims ARM will replace x86 as the dominant processor architecture in PCs. It is indeed probable that Intel will face increasing competition from ARM-based architectures, even in its core PC market. Mobile devices are rapidly taking over the computing ecosystem and ARM rules mobile. ARM might even eventually come out on top.But that battle has only just begun. What's more, Nvidia's own ARM-based Tegra chip has so been a bit of a flop. So, even if ARM wins, Nvidia may still lose. However you slice it, in other words, Nvidia will need to up its game.

In Depth: Fusion, ARM and x86: what's Nvidia's next move?

With AMD tooling up to give the market a second masterclass in DX11 graphics , the spotlight will soon turn on Nvidia, its main rival in th...