The chipsets will be available worldwide starting March 5

Jan 24, 2008 11:22 GMT  ·  By

AMD has just unveiled three new chipsets with integrated graphics processors for the Chinese market only. The three chipsets are the AMD 740G chipset with ATI Radeon 2100 graphics (RS740), AMD 780V chipset with ATI Radeon 3100 graphics (RS780C) and AMD 780G chipset with ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics (RS780).

According to the chip manufacturer, the 740G chipset is an upgrade of the former RS690 chipset, and will only support DirectX 9.0, HyperTransport 1.0 and the PCI Express 1.1a standard. However, it is pin-to-pin compatible with the RS780 version. The RS690 is targeted at the entry-level market and will power the low-cost motherboards only ($40-60).

The RS780 series is the main reason for the partial launch. It is comprised of two chipsets, namely the RS780 that will power the high-performance and mainstream motherboards, and the RS780C, a chip that will meet the needs of lower-end markets.

The RS780 comes with AMD's UVD engine, Hybrid CrossFire technology and local frame buffer memory, but the RS780C version is stripped down of these goodies. While the RS780-based motherboards will be priced around $70-80, the lower-end 780C chipset boards will feature a price tag of about $60-70.

I have mentioned that the RS780 series is the main reason for AMD having launched the products in China only. A worldwide launch was out of question because of the chip's new Hybrid CrossFireX technology, one of AMD's most important achievements in a long period of time.

The company engineers, however, did not manage to include Hybrid CrossFireX support in the chipset driver yet, and the manufacturer did not take the chance of repeating the Barcelona and Phenom experience.

In order not to lose momentum, AMD decided to release the chipsets on a limited market, with worldwide availability as soon as the driver is completely functional.