AMD fuses CPU and GPU

[muddyfox470]

I think there are two main targets here, main stream, low spec office etc pcs and laptops

If they do it right they could make big money

Ian

[kempez]

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.

I think that this is what AMD is trying to accomplish - making the x86 code fit their CPU/GPU's

[kalniel]

*nods* that's a very good idea

[zimon]

The only way I can see this working to benefit both high and low end users, is to seperate the actual output from the 'fusion' chip:

Either have a couple of DX9 GPU pipelines on-chip, or have some kind of fully unified CPU+GPU arrangement...

Then have a dedicated PCI-e or HT link to the output card..

This could allow a pure output only card, like the one Sapphire released recently for Intel chipsets (Include it with the mobo or Fusion maybe?)

High-end users could plug in their x9900 or whatever, and hopefully make use of those on-chip pipelines as well, maybe just for Z-buffer or as an arbiter for the main card?

-anyhoo.. first-post ravings over-

[pyroball]

Well dont forget that since the CPU and GPU will be basically intertwined, u'll get no bottlenecking of data between the two. Yeah, you'll have to spend buttloads of money to get the kind of hardware you'd get with separate components, but the integration will make up for the lost clock speeds. Thats how AMD is able to compete w/ Intel's P4. The P4 can operate at a higher frequency, but it cant communicate as fast with the rest of the system as say an A64. Same principle when talking about merging the CPU and GPU. Im also sure that we'll see DDR3 and possibly higher available on motherboards for an affordable price in two to three years, and the amount supported will probably grow too depending.

[kempez]

I did a small writeup of this with pics and everything, which I think/hope is pretty decent...let me just ask if I can post the link

[madmobile]

so what we gonna do with our amd cpu and ait graphic card??
Do that mean, we'll get a amd mother board with very powerful ati integrated graphic card. How can we crossfire with that option?

[kempez]

Haven't heard back to I assume this is ok?

Linkee

[Mike Fishcake]

Kempez - if my opinion holds any weight it's fine by me

Madmobile - if I had to take a guess, I'd say that this wasn't an option for all AMD CPUs, just the budget level ones.

[Kumagoro]

Like what has already been said I think that this is a good move in the
integrated graphics sector. We could have 3d bios screens hahah.

[father smurf]

Madmobile - if I had to take a guess, I'd say that this wasn't an option for all AMD CPUs, just the budget level ones.

I gues it will be another family - so u can have wiv or without

[kempez]

I would say that a top-end CPU/GPU combo would be awesome with the GPU running the physics.....

[pyroball]

I would say that a top-end CPU/GPU combo would be awesome with the GPU running the physics.....

well if you put it like that, you might wanna look at getting a dual core CPU/GPu cuminating in a Quad core picture of lovliness. one core on the GPU does physics, the other rendering, and them we have the dual core processor. Sounds like fun to me!

>

[kempez]

well if you put it like that, you might wanna look at getting a dual core CPU/GPu cuminating in a Quad core picture of lovliness. one core on the GPU does physics, the other rendering, and them we have the dual core processor. Sounds like fun to me!

>

Aye that's exactly what I meant

[baius]

Tying your CPU and GPU together just makes me shiver. Sounds like the kind of thing Apple would use, not gamers.

Can we conclude from your comment that there are no Apple gamers?

it will be good for oems etc to make cheap pcs - as people have said, it wont contain a top level cpu and gpu, simply because of heat and size of die.

It will be interesting though for multiple displays, htpcs, office pcs and mini pcs

Yes, you might finally get a Dell with good graphics - I stress, might. (Alienware not included.)

Not just mini-pcs - what about mini laptops? What about full-size laptops? What percentage of laptops at the moment have good graphics capability? 10%? 5%?

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'.....

QFT - you think we'll get the fusion 3.14...? Your (and probably AMD's) idea of "Fusion 3" or "Fusion 4" would simplify things, hopefully - and simplification (unlike the word just written) is never bad.

I know if I'm recommending a laptop, or even considering one myself, I currently look for if it's got "Core 2 Duo". If it does, good, if it doesn't, bye bye. When "Core 3" (Nehalem?) comes out, the story will be similar.

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

Eh? I'm not so sure about that, tbh. It's good news for Dell, sure, but do they like people messing about with their systems? Their motherboards sometimes have one PCI slot - and that's if you're lucky...

[baius]

As I alluded to above, I'd like to see powerful integrated solutions for laptops.

The main thing I don't like about (most) laptops atm is that you can't game on them. I'm on the train 4 hours a day for 4 days of my week - a spot of Far Cry, NFS or C&C would be good. Apart from Starcraft (v1), and maybe a few others at LOW settings, gaming is problematic on laptops.

I did just watch a good YouTube video of someone playing Fear on a Sony UX. (See my other posts.) Again, low resolution, low settings.

My point is, if the GPU is ON CHIP, it won't take up much room (hopefully), and we'll be able to get "acceptable" graphics performance in smaller designs.


I like the idea of a single chip in desktops, too - It will certainly save space, and hopefully save power too.

For hard-core gamers, I expect there'll still be PCIe16 - but I'd guess you'll be able to swap between discrete and integrated, on the fly, dependent on whether you're using 3d or 2d, and possibly even use the two in a crossfire configuration. (Note: See AMD 780G.)


I think we're all going to have an exciting time next year. (Nehalem will shake things up a bit, too, don't forget...)