AMD fuses CPU and GPU

[Blademrk]

Discrete devices such as graphics and physics cards will still have a place next to a Fusion processor, to meet the demands of specific scenarios.

you could probably still upgrade the graphics card by disabling the on-chip, or maybe use a new card in conjunction. But would this mean locking nVidea solutions out?

[heman]

Super hot chip methinks. HSF sizes will need to get bigger.

Also fdoes this make upgrading easier, or more diffucult?

[kalniel]

Super hot chip methinks. HSF sizes will need to get bigger.

Also fdoes this make upgrading easier, or more diffucult?

Or they'll make chips cooler to go with it. It'll make upgrading easier in that you now just buy your cpu-gpu with pre-installed HSF and plug it into an easy to upgrade socket. But it'll also be more painful in that you might be throwing away a perfectly fast CPU just because you want to upgrade the GPU.

[Clunk]

I wonder if each model will have a faster gpu and a faster cpu, or they will sell fast cpu and average gpu for those who dont need it?

[Tobeman]

I don't like the name Fusion, it reminds me of the new crappy Gillette TV adverts - though the lab assistant in the white coat, and seemingly nothing else, gets a thumbs up from me

[father smurf]

buger the name - the technolgies what counts

[merlin2001]

bit of a risky move imho - but if they pull it off, then it could really give them a competitive advantage in the OEM channel and that's where the volume and profit really is. it also has the potential consumer benefit of simplification of product offerings - Think "Oh, my PC is a fusion 3 or fusion 4 and that doesn't match the required specs on this game here" -- of course AMD have every possibility of creating a complex, bewildering range of 'fusions'.....

[Nikumba]

Seems like interesting tech, but I cant help thinking its not well though out. As people have said CPU / GPU upgrades are often at different times.

If they do this, the user will be back to sharing its ram with gfx card much like the Intel gfx chips do.

I would also think nVidia, Intel would try to stop it on anti-competive grounds as its a one chip solution, or come up with their own version of it.

[Tom|Nbk]

CPU/GPU is indeed very exciting as its new technology, the merger of ati and amd has definetly kickstarted a big technological advance looking forward to seeing whats in the pipeline, and what nvidia and intels plans would be

[muddyfox470]

this is the sort of stuff that is likely to be good news for dell, just starting using amd chips, and they are always quite keen to make their pcs so you cant mess with them, so having this would negate the use of any pci-e slot and thus be pretty much what dell like to do

ian

[awm]

Exactly what I was thinking, computers could be cheeper it they were just a CPU and a southbridge for audio, ethernet, and USB. Small cheep and profitable for AMD/ATI.

[SpawnofSonic]

for notebooks and OEM builds its a sound idea as your getting almost the best of both worlds, now for us ethusiasts and ppl wanting to customise and have the latest in gfx then other solutions would be needed, but i think they would have a good turn over in notebooks and oem

[kempez]

Remember that AMD have specifically said that they think that top-end GPU's will continue on being PCI-e parts and that they cannot see the graphics card as we know it going away for gamers

They said that GPU companies like AMD's Graphics Product Group (i.e. ATI) will still continue to innovate in the discrete card market

[kalniel]

Remember that AMD have specifically said that they think that top-end GPU's will continue on being PCI-e parts and that they cannot see the graphics card as we know it going away for gamers

They said that GPU companies like AMD's Graphics Product Group (i.e. ATI) will still continue to innovate in the discrete card market

That's true.. but then we're still paying for the cost of having half a CPU-GPU that we're not using

[kempez]

That's true.. but then we're still paying for the cost of having half a CPU-GPU that we're not using

But the GPU is an awesome parallel processor and so can be used for loads of stuff...physics, folding you name it

[awm]

Thats a good point, so you can have a CPU/GPU + nothing or a CPU/PPU + GPU. I'm sure the company, whatever they call themselves, will proabably try to push a similar thing. Who knows, games may even be writen for the combo, like SSE or MMX.