AMD's Fusion technology is long enough to walk since the release of the E-350 that can be said is the first trial of this technology called APU. Integration between the CPU and GPU in a die is the basic concept of the APU.
after some time philosophy, exists Llano, which offers much better performance than Zacatte. Having previously present in the mobile (notebook), Llano finally landed on the desktop. Llano desktop version is not much different from its mobile variant.
In architectural design, Llano is a quad-core processors are unfortunately still using the old architecture K10.5 generation processors (Athlon II).
The difference, in Llano, AMD provides additional L2 cache thus making a total of 1 MB for each core. In addition, the production process Llano already using base 32 nm. AMD also said that Llano has a performance improvement of up to 6% when compared to its predecessor.
There is also a feature on the Llano TurboCore which was introduced in the AMD Phenom II X6. The latest version of this TurboCore more advanced and different mainly because impementasinya at APU. Based on the measurement of workload factor, power and temperature, CPU speed can be changed.
For example when an application requires more CPU resources, CPU speed will go up. But when the GPU was go to work and produce specific heat (in the limit of TDP), TurboCore will not be activated. Unfortunately TurboCore feature is not available for all variants of the APU.
Next, GPU APU contained in this new GPU design is a modification that has been used by the Radeon HD5570. Coded name "Sumo", this GPU has the same specification that is with 400 shader units and 128-bit memory controller.
The basic design is then adjusted based on variants of its APU unit. For example in A8-3850, the GPU is therein has a full specification. As for variant A6, shaderunit numbered only 320. Interestingly, the GPU on this APU supports CrossFire mode with VGA separate series of six specific types.
GPU architecture design modifications of the most significant is the memory interface. At Llano GPU memory accesses through integrated northbridge also in the APU. So on the Llano CPU and GPU share the same memory pool. By default, the GPU will automatically allocate the space of 512 MB of main memory as a frame-buffer.
This is where the APU restrictions arise. Despite its powerful GPU on paper, because it occurs on the bandwidth bottleneck, performance is also affected from the main memory speed. But fortunately, Sumo architecture design allows the GPU to access memory directly without having to pass through the CPU first.
In addition, the UVD unit that existed at Sumo using version 3 which is also used on the Radeon series 6. The advantage of using this third version is already capable of accelerating HD content including codecs MVC (Multi-View Codec) which is used for 3D Video (eg Blu-Ray 3D).
Hence, the output of the Llano HDMI can deliver 3D content to be enjoyed on the HDTV supports. UVD3 also able to work more efficiently because it can work independently of the GPU (shaders on the GPU so the unit can be disabled when playing videos).
For now Llano is available on the market before the variant A6 and A8. But soon the lowest variant, A4, will follow. In addition to trimming the number of cores in both its CPU and GPU, memory support, too, whittled down to only DDR3-1600. While quad-core brother was already supports DDR3-1866 memory usage. Featured TurboCore was absent in dual-core variant of this APU.
Along with the Llano, AMD also launched a new platform called the Lynx, a combination of series A with APU chipset series A. Yes a new platform that uses a new chipset Socket FM1 and FCH (Fusion Controller Hub) functions like a Southbridge, providing support for SATA-III and USB 3.0. There are two variants of FCH, the A75 and A55 (which is cheaper). The difference, A55 support of SATA-III and USB 3.0 abolished.
AMD for this is still not able to compete directly with Intel in terms of computing performance. It also looks at Llano which roughly is still using the old architecture. However, it seems to target AMD Fusion Llano and this is presenting a processor that has a pretty good performance in almost all lines. This kind of solution is very attractive especially for AIO desktop market, so as to provide a balance of performance and better prices.
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