Tuesday, September 14th 2010
18W AMD Fusion Beats Intel Core i5 at Graphics Performance
As with every IDF event, AMD camped nearby at hotel suites, showing off its latest. Even as Intel is busy selling Sandy Bridge to the press, AMD has some goods of its own. The green team displayed a notebook development platform built around the Fusion "Zacate" APU, which a dual-core APU based on the Bobcat architecture, with a DirectX 11 compliant GPU embedded into it. A more interesting specification is its TDP, just at 18W, with a more energy-efficient die suited for netbooks, at just 9W (codenamed "Ontario". The test platform was pitted against an Intel Core i5 processor-driven notebook, and the two were tested on casual gaming a run of City of Heroes, and HTML5 web-rendering performance using Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 test suite.
The Intel HD graphics embedded intro the Intel Core i5 managed just 6~7 fps @ 1024 x 768, while the Fusion "Zacate" managed close to 5 times that, around 30 fps, which made the game playable. Next up, the two setups were compared with MSIE9 HTML5 demos. In one such graphics-intensive demo that shows a virtual bookshelf from which you can pick up books, read a teaser, and then buy it off Amazon.com, the Fusion "Zacate" was able to deliver smooth animations, while that from the Core i5 looked choppy. Lastly, a close look at the demo board reveals that Fusion is indeed a 2-chip solution (APU + chipset). Compared to current AMD mobile platforms, it will significantly cut down board area, letting manufacturers build faster, and smaller ultraportables and netbooks. A video of the demo can be watched here.
Sources:
TechReport, Netbooknews
The Intel HD graphics embedded intro the Intel Core i5 managed just 6~7 fps @ 1024 x 768, while the Fusion "Zacate" managed close to 5 times that, around 30 fps, which made the game playable. Next up, the two setups were compared with MSIE9 HTML5 demos. In one such graphics-intensive demo that shows a virtual bookshelf from which you can pick up books, read a teaser, and then buy it off Amazon.com, the Fusion "Zacate" was able to deliver smooth animations, while that from the Core i5 looked choppy. Lastly, a close look at the demo board reveals that Fusion is indeed a 2-chip solution (APU + chipset). Compared to current AMD mobile platforms, it will significantly cut down board area, letting manufacturers build faster, and smaller ultraportables and netbooks. A video of the demo can be watched here.
52 Comments on 18W AMD Fusion Beats Intel Core i5 at Graphics Performance
I see AMD as aiming for a very powerful small/mobile type of market where as I see Intel being a full blown desktop powerhouse system, which mostly has always known to have been.
As I said before maybe I'm wrong, but it is just how I see thing's for now. :)
Nvidia has already been farming out to AMD for large orders in the past.
I've said this for years in that the low-end segment, no matter how maligned many make them, is a group that should be catered to since it will only help grow PC use.
Can't wait to see what Intel brings out to match or exceed it, should be a great thing for the consumer in the end.:)
To seeing the 18W Fusion beats 5 times the lot more power hungry Core i5 in 3D applications, that means in the near future I can have a pretty awesome little laptop:respect:.
My girlfriend has a T42 with 2gigs of ram 7200 rpm 250 gb IDE drive and 1.8 ghz centrino (intel P M based.
And it really suprises me....
if they do 2 ghz with apu at 25 W i'm SOLD!
And so would you, to get a good laptop with acceptable performance.
No kidding Intels current generation GPUs are rubbish. Whoop de doo you beat it. Have you not realised Sandy Bridge is around the corner? Have you not realised the GPU in that is powerful enough to beat the Radeon HD5450?
Show us you beating that in performance and them come bragging.
Regards,
Someone Who Thinks
Intel's integrated graphics are shit, and likely always will be.
Does it hurt that AMD provided IP tech to your precious leader so they didn't suck so bad? Intel talked about it, AMD did it.
Really this is just the tides turning like they always do. AMD will have it out, then Intel will flex its muscle, make something that performs 20% better for 50% more and people will jump at it.