AMD preparing launch of A-Series Fusion "Trinity" desktop APUs: report
Summary: According to rumors, AMD is getting ready to unveil A-Series Fusion "Trinity" accelerated processing units (APUs) for desktop systems to compete with Intel's Ivy Bridge silicon.
Rumors are circulating that AMD is preparing to launch A-Series Fusion "Trinity" accelerated processing units (APUs) for desktop systems.
Japanese tech site Hermitage Akihabara, chips have already made their way to partners and systems featuring this silicon should be available from October 1, just in time for the holiday season.
These processors follow-on from the A-Series Fusion mobile parts unveiled back in May and will require motherboards with the new Socket FM2 and will make use of AMD's new A85X chipset. These APUs, like their mobile predecessors, combine a CPU and GPU onto a single die and AMD hopes that they will put pressure on Intel's Ivy Bridge processors.
Details are offers up for five A-series 5000-series desktop APUs. These processors will be manufactured using AMD/GlobalFoundries 32-nanometer technology.
| Processor | Cores | Speed (GHz) | TDP (W) | Graphics |
| A6-5400 | 2 | 3.6/3.8 turbo | 65 | HD 7540D |
| A8-5500 | 4 | 3.2/3.7 turbo | 65 | HD 7560D |
| A8-5600 | 4 | 3.6/3.9 turbo | 100 | HD 7560D |
| A10-5700 | 4 | 3.4/4.0 turbo | 65 | HD 7660D |
| A10-5800 | 4 | 3.8/4.2 turbo | 100 | HD 7660D |
Systems built around APUs with a lower TDP will benefit from requiring less cooling, not only making them cheaper to build but also quieter to run.
All of the APUs feature an AMD Radeon HD 7000-series graphics core which offers DirectX 11 graphics support and an improved video playback engine.
On paper, these APUs seem to have an advantage over Intel's Ivy Bridge parts in that the HD 7000 series GPU is superior to the GPU found in equivalent Ivy Bridge processors. We will however have to wait for independent benchmark testing of hardware to confirm these observations.
Image source: Hermitage Akihabara.
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Talkback
Already own one of these new chips
Not an AMD fan, but this idea is great.
Not the same market.
The corporate market is the problem
We purchase Dells and every one has a PCI express video card because the integrated graphics are so terrible its not even usable for 2D desktop work like Microsoft Office.
AMD's offering here would reduce the cost of corporate PC's considerably but as long as the big makers like Dell relegate AMD to "Value PC" status even though it isn't, well the buyer will automatically assume "value" means low performance.
its the same thing here
My company
Having said that, with the Core2 Intel did unfortunately solidify their reputation and leave AMD gasping in their performance wake trail.
a83500
I have an AMD K10 4 core and a Sandy Bridge 4 core with H/T both work well .
The Intel can however spank AMD in proc. intensive stuff. For everyday use the AMD is great
in fact it is my daily driver. The Intel is for production/editing, Core efficiancy / xtra muscle does well there. That's why they say "Nobody ever got fired for buying Intel".
You just don't want to go up against an Intel i5 or more w/discreet graphics for hard core gaming with any AMD. That being said AMD's are fine and can be decent gamers/office boxes for most people. Avg person ( hard core gamers and photo/video editing excepted) won't be able to tell much if any difference .
correction
The Sandybridge /Ivy brdige pats run Aero ,Hd Video and desktop apps just fine.
Any serious gaming and you will need discrete graphics but that's true for the A8 as well.
Just curious Intel hasn't supported PCI only PCIE for a good while how old are those Intels at work?