AMD Ups the Ante on Entry Level
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Something that almost got by me, an article on Techspot, stating that AMD is going to be offering a new platform for the entry level that makes a huge step up for the bottom rung.
AMD is seeking to expand their offerings on the entry-level market later this year. Working with their industry partners, AMD has revealed that they are developing a new platform dubbed Pisces, aimed specifically at low-cost machines. The platform is based upon the Athlon II series of processors along with a 780G+ chipset that has a Radeon HD 4200 GPU built in it. That’s an upgrade from the existing 780G chipset, which relies on a Radeon HD 3200-based IGP.
The first production-ready hardware coming from this platform is expected to demo within the next few months, which could translate in a third or fourth quarter launch. AMD’s moves come as Intel has already put significant effort in the entry-level market, ranging from dual-core Celerons to faster Atom CPUs, all of which help vendors put out systems at low price points.
AMD isn’t working just at entry-level hardware either, with a recent demonstration of Havok physics at the GDC earlier this month.
I own an Asus 780G motherboard, which has a Phenom X4 9950 BE, and it amazes me that this motherboard, considered upper-mid range less than 3 months ago, will now be below the entry level, with a lowest level having built in graphics a full series number above what is in my board.
Not every manufacturer will be building a motherboard capable of using the upper processors in the AMD line, but it clearly points out that Intel, with the Atom line, and AMD, with this new line, code named Pisces, are aiming at different customers. I haven’t had the chance to play with an Atom board, but I suspect that half the reason that the newest ones are appearing at the 2 GHz mark is because those original models at 1.6 GHz just don’t cut it. No matter how people spin it, I get the feeling that those lower clocked Atom boards are finding their way into the most basic of PCs, and possibly dedicated boxes, such as a Smoothwall machine.
Such progress in this short span is truly amazing.
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4 Comments
James Hill
April 3rd, 2009
at 10:29pm
do you know if AMD will be releasing a Atom competitor?
the oracle
April 3rd, 2009
at 11:26pm
James, there was a story on Ars a few weeks ago, but no details were given. AMD has discontinued the Geode series, which we were told was not efficient enough to compete. The Geode was basically an Athlon XP or Duron run at lower voltage.
As you may remember, these were not particularly power efficient, though they were much more efficient than the competitor at the time, the Pentium 4.
I think that AMD might forget about the really low power area, as Intel seems to have it sewn up right now.
With the possibility of nVidia buying a large chunk of VIA, nVidia might have a direct competitor to Atom before AMD.
In the end, I read about many things, but with the economy as it is, I am amazed that many of these things are continuing on. We’ll see what happens in about 6 months is my feeling. (not picked from thin air, but observed to be about when things appear after first spoken of in the popular places)
Thanks for the comment.
BTW, what are you looking for in your next processor?
Сан
April 4th, 2009
at 1:13am
личшие блоги рунета…
Something that almost got by me, an article on Techspot, stating that AMD is going to be offering a new platform for the entry[...]…
AMD Talk » AMD Ups the Ante on Entry Level ~ Revelations From An Unwashed Brain
April 4th, 2009
at 1:18am
[...] Agam Shah wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAMD is seeking to expand their offerings on the entry-level market later this year. Working with their industry partners, AMD has revealed that they are developing a new platform dubbed Pisces, aimed specifically at low-cost machines. … [...]