AMD unveiled a new motherboard, created especially for
gamers and multimedia lovers. The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU [video] will be the core
platform component for the AMD desktop PC platform codenamed “Cartwheel” and
AMD notebook PC platform codenamed “Puma”, the chip maker said. Both are scheduled
to launch in Q2 2008.
The new platform supports AMD Phenom 9000 series quad-core
processor or Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor.
“The launch of the AMD 780 Series marks an uncommonly large
step forward in mainstream PC capabilities. Starting today, consumers can
attain superior HD video and casual 3D gaming experiences, as well as
remarkable energy efficiency,” said Phil Eisler, corporate vice president and
general manager, AMD Chipset Division. “The release of the AMD 780 Series is in
keeping with the AMD vision that computing can deliver The Ultimate Visual
Experience and now at mainstream PC price points.”
The AMD 780G chipset is the first chipset created by the
company that offers DirectX 10 game compatibility.
For the gamers AMD offers ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology,
that harnesses the graphics power of both a discrete graphics card and the
motherboard GPU in tandem, delivering in some applications up to 70 percent
improvements in 3D performance.
Also, the AMD 780G chipset brings a full HD experience with
support for the latest and most demanding formats, including VC-1, MPEG-2 and
H.264 to the mainstream PC. Featuring the AMD Unified Video Decoder (UVD), it
directs HD playback to the better-suited GPU rather than to the CPU so
consumers may enjoy a smooth HD viewing experience.
But the new chipset, which delivers 55nm process technology,
is also energy efficient.
The PCS built around the AMD 780G could be ideal for Home
Theater solutions as they will offer a broad range of video interfaces,
including DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI.
With this new series, AMD also hopes to steal away some
market share from Intel. AMD expects the motherboards using the AMD chipsets to
cost about $80 to $120, less than motherboards using integrated graphics from
rival Intel Corp.
AMD also announced ATI Catalyst 8.3, a milestone software update in delivering both
CrossFireX for Windows Vista as well as ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology for
casual gamers.
“AMD packed ATI Catalyst 8.3 with a double-barreled set of
leading technologies to simultaneously push the Ultimate Visual Experience to
new heights and to a wider population of PC users,” said Rick Bergman, senior
vice president, AMD Graphics Product Group.
Through three- and four-GPU configurations in CrossFireX,
gamers can see multi-GPU performance scaling across a range of today’s most
popular DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 games on Windows Vista - up to 3.2 times the
performance over a single GPU2 in some scenarios. The flexible architecture of
CrossFireX allows for the mixing and matching of high-performing ATI Radeon
GPUs. Any ATI Radeon HD 3850, ATI Radeon HD 3870 or ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards
can be combined to harness the power of up to four GPUs. CrossFireX also
supports a wide range of platforms, enabling many gamers to take advantage of
three- and four-GPU gaming on their existing hardware.
ATI Catalyst 8.3 also introduces ATI Hybrid Graphics support
for Windows Vista. An industry first that is unique to AMD processor-based
platforms, ATI Hybrid CrossFire delivers a significant 3D performance boost. Up
to 70 percent increases in performance are possible in some gaming scenarios3
based on PCs comprised of an AMD 780G motherboard and ATI Radeon HD 3400 Series
graphics product in Windows Vista. ATI Hybrid Graphics also support up to four
independent displays through the SurroudView feature for those who want to
maximize productivity.
