US chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. unveiled details of its upcoming mobile processor, code-named Griffin, as well as the platform that will support it, code-named Puma at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday.
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With the release of it’s first-ever chip platform designed specifically for notebook personal computers, AMD is apparently making attempts to catch up with Intel Corp.’s Centrino notebook platform, formerly code-named Santa Rosa.
"Puma", a collection of microprocessors, graphics chips and other chips, is expected to improve battery life, graphics and video processing, and improve overall visual performance.
The new platform is expected to be built upon the AMD M690 mobile chipset and 65nm process-based AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core mobile technology, released in April and May 2007, respectively.
AMD said it will combine Puma with next-generation notebook processor, Griffin and next-generation mobile chipset, dubbed AMD "RS780", which is based on PCI Express Generation 2 and the HyperTransport 3.0 specifications.
"Griffin," which will be AMD's first architecture specifically designed for mobile use, will allow notebooks to have much more powerful systems going for them while having much better power management, memory efficiency, and processor bandwidth.
Puma-based notebooks sporting the chips will arrive in mid-2008, AMD said.
"Through the combination of our recent processor and chipset launches and the Better by Design program, AMD is constantly establishing new heights of competitiveness in serving the needs of our notebook customers," said Chris Cloran, vice president, AMD Notebook Division. "With the unveiling of the 'Puma' mobile platform, we're sending a clear signal to the market that we intend to drive continued innovation in notebook computing in 2008 and beyond."
In its core, besides the "RS780" chipset and the notebook Griffin microprocessor, the central computing engine in computers, the Puma platform includes ATI Radeon graphics chips, Nvidia chipset and graphics technologies and also different wireless technologies, AMD told in the conference.
The combination will lead AMD to "Fusion," the code-name for the integrated CPU/GPU part planned for release sometime in 2009, says Maurice Steinman, AMD Fellow, and lead architect for the Griffin processor.
The Puma will face challenge from the Intel Santa Rosa upgrade to the Centrino notebook PC platform, which was launched by US chip giant Intel on May 9th.
AMD said Puma will have access to a new integrated graphics chipset with consolidated shader support for DirectX 10 and OpenGL, and should prove to be the more powerful platform.
Shares of Sunnyvale, California-based personal-computer processors manufacturing company, AMD, jumped 5 cents to $15.48 in morning trading.
Advanced Micro Devices is the world's second-largest maker of personal-computer processors, behind Intel. The company is also world's second-largest supplier of x86 based processors, the largest supplier of discrete graphics products as a result of the merger with ATI Technologies in 2006, and owns a 37 percent share of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.
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