14 DAY TRIAL // The Taiwanese AMD subsidiary spilled the beans earlier this week on the company's APU (Accelerated Processing Unit), also known as the Fusion chip. As its name suggests, Fusion is a new breed of chips, similar to Intel's Larrabee project, which combines both GPU and CPU technologies onto a single silicon die.
Currently, there are few details available about the Fusion chip and it is unknown whether it would hit the market as a multi-chip module or if it will use AMD's DCM technology (Direct Connect Module) to interconnect all the cores. Unlike MCM, the DCM eliminates the north-bridge and exclusively relies on HyperTransport 3.0 links, which accounts for blistering transfer rates and access times.
The first Fusion stock keeping unit will be called the Swift and is expected to hit the shelves during the second half of 2009 in large units. According to AMD Taiwan, the Swift architecture will deliver "richer graphics and a better media experience with improved overall performance and longer battery life".
AMD seems committed to designing a mobile chip that delivers maximum performance at a minimal battery penalty. "We want to achieve the highest performance with the lowest power consumption", the report claims.
However, early reports emerging from the CPU manufacturer pointed to the fact that the Fusion chip will not be ready earlier than 2010, maybe even 2011. However, the company claims that although the desktop parts might be running late on the market, the roadmap for the mobile counterpart is still on track for an H2 2009 release.
Swift will come in either single- or dual-core stock keeping units. According to the latest rumors, it will be comprised of up to two Star 45nm cores and built-in RV710 graphics cores. However, it is not clear whether this will be the default configuration, but even if the RV710 were replaced with RV620 graphics, it would still be running smooth and sweet.