On die GPU, coming in 2010.

My last blog post RD890/SB800, The Perfect Storm was really a rushed job. I started thinking about how the new NB/SB was going to work for AMD/ATI and it dawned on me they were waiting to release it with a new CPU. About half way through writing it all down, it came to me that this CPU will finally be their Fusion part we had heard a lot about during the latter half of 2008.

The inclusion of an integrated clock manager into the NB: This would allow the GPU core to be clocked differently than the CPU. This just makes sense and until hearing this piece I always wondered how they were going to get around voltage/clock settings on a multi-cored system.

Increased PCIe bandwidth, along with Hydra: Crossfire between the on die GPU and a third party graphics card attached to the PCIe slot. This setup could actually allow for 5 GPUs in a system, if they implement it correctly. Seriously though, this just sounds insane! I wish I could get my hands on some test hardware to flex an on die GPU crossfired with a 3rd party card.

So I guess we will see what happens with AMD/ATI during the first half of 2010 with the release of new hardware, I got my money riding on a VERY interesting product.

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RD890/SB800, The Perfect Storm

It was late in 2008 when I started hearing rumors about AMD’s new Southbridge solution. Well, it is getting late in the game 2009, and we are still seeing nothing but rumors.
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If you are into computer hardware, and especially graphic hardware, it has been hard to miss the debut of AMD/ATI’s 4000 series GPU. If you have been totally in the dark, go get caught up here and here. Basically no one has been able to touch their GPU power, only Intel’s vaporware Larrabee has the ability to oust it..on paper. Video and more after the jump
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First Looks AMD SB750

After doing Google searches for this chipset for months now, finally review sites are rolling them out and getting their hands on them.

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This is NOT film. Watch a realtime render of a scene that was created entirely in a virtual environment – made possible with the processing power ATI RV770-codenamed graphics cards and AMD Phenom X4 processors.

Now this is some impressive stuff, while the previous videos I had posted here were of poor quality and taken on someone’s mobile phone, this one here shows the true clarity and beauty of what this platform is doing. I say platform and not CPU/GPU should be evident by some of the performance analysis and outlook that can be found at this article from AnandTech.com. This is not about the fastest processor anymore, and its not just about the fastest GPU either, its about the ENTIRE package. Apple proves to us everyday that you have to have complete control of your hardware and software, the widget as they call it. Never more is this evident than in today’s computer hardware world. The folks in Sunnyvale just may have hit a home run with this idea, and their acquisition of ATI. You may have remember there were some leaked specs of the Radeon 4850 on Amazon a few days ago, well those same great folks over at AnandTech have gotten their hands on one of the cards and some details (read the whole review here) .
The quick and dirty:

  • 800 Stream Processors
  • 55nm
  • 16 ROPS
  • Single Slot Cooling
  • 512mb
  • Single PCIe power
  • support for 8-channel LPCM output over HDMI
  • $199

    Yes, you saw that last one correctly, only ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE DOLLARS. While Nvidia’s flagship GPU is on sale right now for well over $600 USDA, this little puppy is WAY cheaper. So which card are YOU going to go out and buy, Nvidia’s new hot and heavy killer who sucks up power, or the Red Team’s sleek, small and cool card for $199? To me, its a no-brainer…I am gonna wait a week, even with Nvidia’s newly announced price drops on the 9800. ;)

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