AMD's Tablet Architectures: Hondo at 4.5W, Future Sub-2W SoC
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 2, 2012 2:06 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- AMD
- Trade Shows
- AMD FAD 2012
In its client roadmap AMD revealed Hondo, a 4.5W APU with 1 - 2 low voltage Bobcat cores and an on-die DX11 GPU built on a 40nm process. Hondo will fit into Windows 8 tablets starting later this year. Going forward, AMD wants to get into the sub-2W market although we don't have a codename to associate with that power target. Mobile is very important to AMD going forward both in tablets and ultra thin notebooks and it looks like AMD is planning on building the architectures it needs to be successful there.
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rrohbeck - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
>a lot more 28nm die can be cut from the same size wafer.... if your process is mature. Bulldozer showed that it isn't. You don't want high leakage/low yield CPUs in a low power/high volume environment.
silverblue - Saturday, February 4, 2012 - link
Bulldozer was on GF's first gen 32nm HKMG process. Piledriver will be on their second. Additionally, Hondo will be on a very mature 40nm TSMC process, so you can bet that it's an improvement over Brazos in some way.tonyn84 - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
I would really like to see this kind of chip in a Transformer-style dockable tablet for Win8. ARM version defeats the purpose for me, I want to be able to have my current desktop programs installed, not have to buy them again.hasu - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
I still like AMD and most of my machines are AMD. But AMD is not a good company to invest. For some reason, the news they release does not jive with the stock price trend. No wonder why their beta is high.Impulses - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
AMD should have shifted their focus like this five years ago... It's not exactly a recent revelation to anyone that most PCs reached a "fast enough" stage for most users years ago (hence netbooks) and that mobile devices have been outselling desktops for years.Ammaross - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
"AMD should have shifted their focus like this five years ago..."Why do you think they ousted their last CEO?
I agree though, most people are happy with the performance level of a PhenomII-class chip. AMD is targeting the mainstream, which means Bulldozer is more than enough power for them to work with. Now they're just spreading it far and wide, on a cheap-to-make 40nm mature process. They've got the best on-die GPU available, which means power savings or at least grabbing the bottom half of the mobile (laptop) gaming community. I specifically by AMD-based laptops simply because an Intel GMA (even SNB on-die ones to an extent) can't compete with the Radeon chips that go into some low-price AMD laptops.
Duwelon - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
Peg, now, this is the first three-day weekend I've had in a year. It's not like I'm gonna have a good time - you and the kids are gonna be there. But not the Wanker wagon from Milwaukee, Peg! Please, not that. "Hondo" is gonna be on this weekend. Now, that's some of the Duke's best work. It's never on TV. I've got a blank tape already. I wanna watch "Hondo", Peg. I want a clean tape of "Hondo".iwod - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
They could design a Bobcat for NAS where the market is growing. Even Intel is moving their Atom line over to NAS.duploxxx - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
oem could very easy already adopt brazos (zacate) for NAS, it's just typical oem that drive the intel all over the place engine.....Prosthetic Head - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
I did a quick search and found some bobcat based NAS designs.When I eventually upgrade my DIY nas box (currently VIA Nano powered) a fanless bobcat board looks like an attractive option.