AMD's Ambitious Platform Designs - Page 2

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Also coming in the second half of 2009 will be Pisces, a platform targeting power users at home with a balanced CPU/GPU combination and support for high-definition entertainment.

Maui, a home-theater PC design with support for full high-definition video and AVR surround sound audio, is making its debut this quarter.

For power users and gamers, AMD is launching Dragon in the first quarter of 2009. It will be built on a new, upcoming series of 45nm Phenom client processors, called Phenom II. Dragon also will feature AMD technologies that include Fusion, which combines a CPU and GPU on one die, and Stream, which enables graphics hardware to be used for non-graphical computation. It also will support AMD's OverDrive overclocking for system tweakers.

Bulldozers gets plowed backwards

Allen also announced a batch of new processors and detailed AMD's roadmap to 2011. Coming in 2009 are the new Phenoms, called Deneb and Propos. Both are quad-core designs, with a 2MB cache on Propos and an 8MB cache on Deneb.

In addition, Allen talked up Caspan -- a previously disclosed dual-core, 45nm notebook processor with a 2MB cache. He also unveiled Conesus, a dual-core model with a 1MB cache designed for ultraportables and slated to ship in 2009. In 2010, AMD will introduce Champlain, a quad-core notebook with 2MB of cache, and Geneva, a dual-core ultraportable processor with 2MB of cache, he said.

The delayed Bulldozer will come the following year. While the rumor mill had been expecting eight or 16 cores, but Bulldozer will start more modestly. The first processor in the lineup, Orochi, will be a four-core chip for desktop users, offering more than 8MB of cache and support for DDR3 memory and built using a 32nm manufacturing process.

The next model, Llano, will be a similar design, but with 4MB in cache and a GPU -- presumably AMD's Fusion technology. The processor will be used for desktops and notebooks.

Meanwhile, a dual-core processor with 1MB of cache, called Ontario, will be the Bulldozer for ultraportables.

There wasn't much server talk among all of these processors, since much of that aspect of AMD's roadmap is already on the table in the form of Istanbul, Sao Paulo and Magny-Course. But it's also a choice of emphasis on AMD's part.

"Let there be little doubt that the main focus for us will be to drive greater share for that mainstream and client markets," Allen said.

Joanne Feeney, managing director and senior research analyst for FTN Midwest Securities, was one of many analysts in attendance. She said she felt AMD has gotten itself back on the right track.

"They were smart to push Bulldozer back," she told InternetNews.com. "They need to develop the platform market and get traction with OEM partners."

"I think now they are taking a more pragmatic view of trying to win by businesses instead of trying to win technology races," she added.