The APU is really coming early next year. The "Bobcat" processor, a new generation of AMD-powered "Fusion" processor, will soon be on the market. There is no doubt that this will inject new products into the traditional market of netbooks, tablets, notebooks and DIY. vitality. Because of the extremely low power consumption and outstanding performance of the new processor, some once-excellent products may be eliminated, and traditional high-definition and green energy-saving platforms will also be shuffled.

In the past few years, under the constant emergence of new technologies, people's concept of processors has been constantly changing. Intel’s P4 to i3 and Atom have consistently pursued performance in the past, the stronger they are, the better they are, and the most appropriate for the current search. The products that can fulfill their own needs at the lowest cost, saving energy and not wasting has become the mainstream of this era that promotes low carbon.

AMD's Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that combine CPUs and GPUs include two product lines, one of which is "Llano" and the other is "Bobcat," where Llano is intended to replace Phenom and Phenom II processors are used primarily in desktop PC and performance grade notebook products. "Llano" will not be put into operation until the second half of 2011. In contrast, "Bobcat" is a new product developed for AMD's thin and light notebooks and netbook market. At present, Intel's ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) series and Atom series processors respectively occupy the majority of the thin and light notebook market and the netbook market, while AMD has previously been trapped by high power consumption. "Bobcat" is AMD. The Pioneer of Transformation will be available in January next year. It will launch the most fierce counterattack in the low-power market.

AMD has officially disclosed the model and specifications of the Ontario/Zacate processor. The specific models of the Zacate APU are the AMD E-240 and E350, which are single-core 1.5GHz and dual-core 1.6GHz respectively. The graphics core is Radeon HD 6310 with 80SP and 500MHz. The core frequency, providing the mainstream HD entertainment experience, will catch the logo of AMD VISION Basic Edition. Ontario APU is lower than AMD C-30 and C-50 specifications, and the power consumption is up to 9W, providing a high-definition Internet browsing experience. The logo is the new HD Internet.

If you go to “Llano”, AMD plans to officially launch the processor based on the new Fusion series APU “Bobcat” integrated x86 CPU and DirectX 11 graphics chip core for netbooks, tablets, and notebooks in the first quarter of next year. Including the "Zacate" chip (E series APU) with a power consumption of only 18 watts, and the "Ontario" chip (C series APU) with a power consumption of only 9 watts. Both chips use TSMC's 40-nanometer process. The commission began to produce films by TSMC. According to AMD's instructions, Zacate and Ontario APU are at the same level as Pentium and Celeron, respectively. Poor Atom is not considered to be the same level.

AMD executives have confirmed that the first batch of Fusion APU Fusion Accelerators, code-named Ontario and Zacate, will be officially released at the CES 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas early next year. Rick Bergman, AMD’s senior vice president and general manager of the product division, informed the partners of the release plan, and is providing OEMs with samples of two new chips that are fully functional and operate at expected levels. AMD also said that the original target for production in the fourth quarter has also been successfully achieved.

So will APU be able to dominate the 2011 market? Intel does not worry about it at all? What is the significance of the release of the APU to us? Does Sandybridge's positioning conflict with the APU? Below, the author will analyze one by one for you.

APU Pioneer Bobcat Positioning Entry Level "Bobcat" Positioning Pro-AMD Fusion Technology Symbolizes the arrival of a new model of processor design and software development through a single-silicon chip processor called the Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). High-definition video, 3D video, and data-intensive computing requirements bring powerful serial, parallel, and visual computing capabilities.

Accelerated processing units combine high-performance serial and parallel processing cores with other special-purpose hardware accelerators to deliver breakthrough innovations in vision computing, security protection, performance per watt, and device specifications. Software developers can use AMD's drivers, libraries, ATI Stream SDK, or Microsoft DirectCompute APIs to take full advantage of the unique computing power of AMD discrete graphics and AMD Fusion series acceleration processors to enhance user experience and accelerate application software Processing efficiency.

As we have said many times, the APU is basically a fusion of traditional CPUs and GPUs. It combines serial computing and parallel computing to reduce the bottleneck between the two. It is more suitable for thin and light devices and can effectively extend the battery life. Life time. Multiple user needs are also important reasons for the birth of the Fusion APU. For example, we now need a lot of parallel acceleration in addition to games, such as video decoding, video editing, document processing, web browsing, e-mail, and instant messaging. These have no limitations on CPU performance, but rather can get faster from better graphics performance.

The Brazos platform targets netbooks and tablet PCs and will compete directly with Intel's Pentium and Celeron grade notebooks, and will provide better display cores and better performance at the same or even lower prices. This has led to Intel's current platform does not have to compete with the same level of the platform, and Atom in HD, games and other graphics card depends on the performance is not enough to see, the price is no advantage, Brazos dominate the low-power platform just around the corner.

According to AMD, both "Zacate" and "Ontario" are X86 architectures and support DirectX (Direct3D) 11 dual-core processors and include a memory controller chip. Although the number of channels supported by the controller is not yet clear, It has been determined that it can support 1.35V low-voltage DDR3-1333 memory, which requires less power than normal 1.5V DDR3 memory. Low-power AMD's new processors also have low heat generation characteristics, and they will not feel very hot when they are touched by normal operation. Heat dissipation is not a concern.

AMD Fusion APU Chipset Specifications Introduction The first batch of AMD APU processors is divided into two major parts, among which the ultra-low-power platform Brazos includes two sub-series Zacate E-series and Ontario C-series, which will be released early next year. The high-performance platforms Sabine and Lynx are respectively For mobile and desktops, both are equipped with 32nm Llano and will be launched mid-year next year. Because the AMD APU integrates the graphics core, memory controller, and UVD decoding engine, the supporting chipset “Hudson” is simplified into a single-chip design and is called the “Fusion Controller Hub” (Fusion Controller Center), or PCH for short. There are seven different versions for three market segments.

Including Asustek, Gigabyte, MSI, and Sapphire motherboard makers will launch Brazos platform motherboards in the first quarter of next year, which can be used in netbooks, thin and light notebooks, entry-level desktop computers, and eBrazos platform motherboards. In digital signage, medical imaging, gaming machines, point of sale information systems (POS) and other markets. And while the Brazos/eBrazos chipset Hudson-D1/M1 doesn't natively support USB 3.0, the motherboard maker is still adding an independent control chip to allow the motherboard to support dual-port USB 3.0.

Summing up Intel’s current focus on the next-generation processor, Sandy Bridge, positioning the mid- to high-end market with a new architecture and a more efficient core, it also has a display core, and can achieve good performance through new Turbo Boost, but the problem Yes, it is still not as obvious as it is. High-end users will often choose a separate graphics card to get a better experience, of course, can also be achieved by switching the graphics card to save energy, but also very good. From this it can be seen that Intel is focusing on the high-end (i7, i5, i3) and low-end (Atom) markets to meet the demanding performance requirements of users; while AMD is both high-end (bulldozer) and mainstream market (Bobcat) It will bring the realistic digital computing experience that only high-end PCs can enjoy to the mainstream of open prices, providing users with a more comfortable and convenient experience. However, the emergence of the Bobcats has been a big blow to Atom for several years. Since Intel Atom's alternatives have not yet appeared, Atom's situation is worrying.