AMD combines CPU and GPU for mobile and desktop computing

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 05 January 2011 13:27

Business IT - Technology

The new Fusion family of processors from AMD puts the performance of a discrete graphics unit onto the same chip as the CPU.

AMD officials claim that the new Fusion accelerated processing units combine "more compute capabilities than any processor in the history of computing."

The single chip design combines multi-core x86 CPU, Direct-X 11 capable graphics and parallel processing engine, HD video acceleration, and "all-day" battery life.

"We believe that AMD Fusion processors are, quite simply, the greatest advancement in processing since the introduction of the x86 architecture more than forty years ago," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Products Group.

"In one major step, we enable users to experience HD everywhere as well as personal supercomputing capabilities in notebooks that can deliver all-day battery life. It's a new category, a new approach, and opens up exciting new experiences for consumers," he added.

Fusion is initially available in two series. The E-Series (aka Zacate) is offered in single-core 1.5GHz and dual-core 1.6GHz versions. It is designed for mainstream notebooks, all-in-ones and small form factor desktops.

There's also the C and A-Series - see page 2.