Officials with Advanced Micro Devices and NVIDIA
Monday unveiled plans on unseating Intel
as king of the semiconductors.
The two Silicon Valley-based companies agreed to configure NVIDIA nForce Platform Processors and GeForce Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for optimal use with AMD’s next-generation Opteron processor and eighth-generation Athlon architectures.
AMD said its new Opteron processor will have extra power for powerful commercial and personal computing platforms including an integrated memory controller and HyperTransport data bus technology.
Known for its graphics chips in the Microsoft Xbox game console, NVIDIA said it has both 32-bit and 64-bit software drivers in development that will leverage the power of the 64-bit AMD Opteron and Athlon processors upon their release in the market, and will introduce a new line of nForce-based core-logic chipsets for the AMD Opteron processor architecture later this year.
The new AMD Opteron processor (formerly known as Hammer) will mark the introduction of the industry’s first x86-64 technology. The new processor’s high points include an integrated memory controller, which reduces memory bottlenecks, and HyperTransport technology, which increases overall performance by removing or reducing I/O bottlenecks, increasing bandwidth and reducing latency.
“We are excited about new high performance 64-bit and 32-bit X86 architectures that excel in professional and consumer applications,” stated NVIDIA vice president of marketing Dan Vivoli. “By combining AMD’s forthcoming processors with NVIDIA’s graphics, audio, networking and streaming technologies, NVIDIA can deliver the fastest, most feature-rich, multimedia and networking experiences for both the consumer and commercial desktop PC markets.”
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD also showed off the new graphics standard, AGP-8x, at a trade show in Taipei, Taiwan. The advanced graphics technology has features like low memory latency, increased data throughput, and the option for larger cache sizes.
“Implementing new technologies like AGP-8x on AMD’s future eighth-generation processor-based platforms is designed to increase the data throughput between the processor and the graphics card,” said Rich Heye, vice president of Platform Engineering and Infrastructure at AMD’s Computation Products Group. “Customers using graphically intense applications, ranging from gamers to digital content creators, will benefit from faster screen refreshes and reduced graphics data bottlenecks enabled by systems based on these new platforms.”
The company also continued its support for its new high-speed chips with a handful of partnerships with manufacturers including Phoenix Technologies, O2Micro and Cypress.
