AMD Unveils 6th Generation A-Series Processor

[btarunr]

AMD today announced its 6th Generation A-Series Processor, the world's first high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) in a System-on-Chip (SoC) design. Previously codenamed "Carrizo," the 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processor takes advantage of extensive AMD processor and graphics IP enabling exceptional computing experiences not possible before. The 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processor is the most versatile notebook processor ever produced, built to excel at today's and tomorrow's consumer and business applications, delivering premium streaming entertainment, unmatched smooth online gaming, and innovative computing experiences, with all day unplugged performance.

The world's first high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit in a SoC design marks a number of technology firsts: the world's first High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) hardware decode support for notebooks, the first Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) 1.0-compliant design, and the first ARM TrustZone-capable high-performance APU. The new processor harnesses up to 12 Compute Cores -- 4 CPU + 8 GPU -- leveraging AMD "Excavator" cores and the third generation of AMD's award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The result is a groundbreaking processor that boasts more than twice the battery life of its predecessor, up to 2x faster gaming performance than competitive processors, innovative computing experiences enabled through HSA, and a premium Microsoft Windows 10 experience with support for DirectX 12, adding up to an extraordinary experience for consumers.



"The notebook remains the ideal, versatile, connected hub in people's lives -- the one device that does it all and does it well, and today's consumer shouldn't have to pay a premium to enjoy high quality streaming video, superior online gaming, and powerful content management as mainstays of today's computing experience," said Matt Skynner, corporate VP and general manager, Products at AMD. "That changes today with the 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processor, designed to deliver exceptional experiences never before seen in a mainstream notebook, truly making innovation available to everyone. Our partners have plans to introduce our 6th-generation APU in many of today's most innovative notebook platforms, demonstrating the full potential of the APU's capabilities."

"AMD and Microsoft continue to innovate in personal computing with advancements in Windows 10 and DirectX 12 and the introduction today of AMD 6th Generation A-Series processors," said Roanne Sones, general manager, Operating Systems Group, Microsoft Corp. "Consumers will enjoy the most compelling features of Windows 10, enabling a great notebook experience."

Superior Streaming Entertainment

• 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processors bring HEVC/H.265 to the notebook for the first time, enabling consumers to benefit from higher quality, lower bandwidth streaming video playback versus traditional H.264 videos.
• Enjoy superb visual quality for entertainment including support for Ultra HD resolution videos using AMD Perfect Picture with Steady Video technology.
• Benefit from energy-efficient playback that allows for almost 2x more viewing on a single battery charge than its predecessor.
• Power through media conversion faster with up to 5x accelerated encoding performance compared to CPU-only processing.

Smooth Online Gaming

• 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processors come with discrete-class graphics built in, harnessing AMD Radeon Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture to deliver up to 2x the gaming performance of competitive processors.
• Enjoy true, playable HD notebook gaming with the most popular online titles including DoTA 2, League of Legends, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, among others.
• Play for hours unplugged on the latest eSports titles, almost twice the duration of its predecessor.
• Benefit from AMD Dual Graphics combining 6th Generation AMD Notebook Processors with select AMD Radeon R7 Mobile graphics to boost frame rates in games by up to 42 percent.
• Enjoy smooth, stutter- and tear-free gaming with AMD FreeSync technology.
• Be ready for the future with support for multi-threaded APIs including DirectX 12, Vulkan and AMD's Mantle that enable the most advanced gaming technologies designed to improve performance and visual fidelity.

Innovative Computing Experiences

• 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processors punch above their weight, harnessing up to 12 Compute Cores (4 CPU + 8 GPU) to realize up to twice the performance of competitive solutions in compute-heavy workloads.10
• AMD Gesture Control is available on mainstream notebooks, allowing users to navigate and control their notebook with a simple wave of the hand without added costs.
• For the most complete Microsoft Windows 10 experience, 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processors accelerate video playback on the forthcoming operating system with native HEVC decode supported, and enable the latest Windows 10 features with Secure boot and resume, Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0), and Drive Key Encryption using the first AMD Secure Processor for performance APUs.

Notebooks featuring the 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processor will be available from top OEMs starting in June.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[micropage7]

looks nice but AMD should put their attention not on how many cores only since AMD has many cores but their perfomance like stuck behind their competitor

 

[silapakorn]

Have faith. More cores mean more future-proof.

 

[Toothless]

Have faith. More cores mean more future-proof.

After how bad the FX series turned out to be compared to the hype? Hmm...

 

[Hood]

I've never heard a bigger load of crap than this self-congratulatory pap, actually says nothing while patting itself on the back, "6th Generation AMD A-Series Processors punch above their weight", what does that even mean? They clearly can't compete with their "Weight" class, but maybe this will "punch above" a Raspberry Pi or Arduino...

 

[R-T-B]

I've never heard a bigger load of crap than this self-congratulatory pap, actually says nothing while patting itself on the back, "6th Generation AMD A-Series Processors punch above their weight", what does that even mean? They clearly can't compete with their "Weight" class, but maybe this will "punch above" a Raspberry Pi or Arduino...

Be nice...

I mean It probably beats a core 2 duo.

 

[MikeMurphy]

Too little too late. The last eight botched years of their CPU R&D has been a disaster and will be fatal.

 

[Frick]

After how bad the FX series turned out to be compared to the hype? Hmm...

On the other hand at least according to this the FX 8350 looks quite good in certain games. And given that even phones have octa-cores now the problem with their bet was timing.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Have faith. More cores mean more future-proof.

Yeah, that's why an a10-5750m gets it's arse beaten by the i5 4300m, a dual core part that uses less power and wins in every benchmark, including multi-threaded ones; meanwhile performing on par, if not slightly faster than, the 5750m in games using the iGPU.

Add in the fact that kaveri 7600p (the only competitive chip they had for mobile)was completely MIA, as well as iris pro 6200's performance embarrassing even the big a10-7870k, i've got no confidence in these chips.

I WANT them to be good, as i'd rather have an a10 or FX apu, but they simply can't compete on any field right now.

 

[Frick]

iris pro 6200's performance embarrassing even the big a10-7870k

In mobile space it will all depend on how the HDx000 series perform. If history is any indication the Iris Pro stuff will only end up in +€1000 machines (and loads of Macbooks).

 

[Liquid Cool]

I actually like AMD's processors being out of favor...they are literally giving away APU laptops on eBay and I love the little things.

Thinking of adding an HP Probook 655 to my collection.

,

Liquid Cool

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I'm guessing these notebooks will be available in the $300-$450 range and at that price point they are literally leading the class..
Yes Intel is faster at this or that but these little bastards excel at Facebook and online media as well as casual games or what 99% of their users will use them for...

They are not high end anything and they don't have the high end price.

 

[xfia]

looks like AMD isnt worried about Intel catching up on apu's anytime soon