Thread: ISSCC 2010 - AMD unveils Llano, the first APU (CPU with integrated GPU)

AMD took the ISSCC 2010 to unveil its first APU, and engraved his first chip to 32 nanometers...



AMD was present at the 2010 edition of the International Solid State Circuit Conference, and it was not for nothing, since the Texas firm has unveiled its first processor engraved to 32 nanometers. This is not the only thing unique about Llano, since it is also the first APU, a chip combining CPU cores with a GPU core...

Intel has launched its Core i3, i5 and Pentium "Clarkdale" of last month, but this processor is actually an assembly with a die CPU, dual-core, one side engraved at 32 nm, and a die GPU another engraved at 45 nm. The Llano AMD will compete rather the future Sandy Bridge, scheduled for 2011. For its part, AMD is expected to send the first copies of the APU to its partners in the coming months. With regard to the general public, it will be waiting at Intel 2011...

AMD has so far revealed that the heart of its x86 APU. Measuring only 9.69 mm ², it contains just over 35 million transistors. It is clocked at above 3 GHz, and with a voltage between 0.8 and 1.3 volts. Its use should not exceed 25 watts (2.5 watts in idle). Each core will have 1MB of L2 cache, 16-way and include four in Llano and therefore will have 4MB of L2. The end result is very similar to the current Athlon X4 II, and we regret the absence of progress at this level ...

The APU also include a DDR3 memory controller (dual channel), and of course the GPU supports DirectX 11! If you believe the rumors that ran a few months ago, it would offer 80 stream processors.



In conclusion, the revelations of the day focused on the burning process to 32 nanometers, which is more energy efficient in several respects than the current 45 nm. Be expected to have the first chips on hand to judge it...