AMD's next set of consumer desktop platforms, the high-end "Leo" and mainstream "Dorado" are what will bring together AMD's newest system components, including its next round of CPUs, next-generation graphics processors from the DirectX 11 compliant Evergreen family, and the 8-series platform core-logic (chipset) to drive it all. According to latest information pieced together by VR-Zone, AMD's newest chipset will arrive in two rounds of launches, ranging between April and May, 2010.

The two rounds are centric to the platforms they will belong to. On the northbridge front, the enthusiast and high-performance 890FX and 890GX hit retail with products based on it appearing in April 2010, accompanied by the high-end SB850 southbridge. The three will make up the chipset offerings for the Leo platform, which succeeds the current Dragon platform. Following these, the 880G northbridge, accompanied by the SB810 southbridge will make for product launches in May 2010. This pair makes up the mainstream Dorado platform that succeeds the current Pisces platform. The parts will have passed two stages of sampling by this November, and mass production commences in February and April. AMD's newest chipsets are bound to bring in new technologies such as SATA 6 Gb/s, USB 3.0, integrated MAC, and integrated clock generator, along with several other changes.

Without doubt, AMD needs something revolutionary to pull it out of the mess it set itself in. AMD's first reaction to the Conroe onslaught was to lower prices and build up a "Smarter Choice" repute, though with successive price cuts from Intel and down-scale products based on the Core architecture coming out by the fortnight, and the transit to 45nm fab process, there's been an increasing need for AMD to get back to the drawing boards with their CPU division.

From what looks like an excerpt from an AMD company slide, can be seen AMD's CPU plans for 2009. The chart broadly shows that K10 architecture is here to stay. Throughout the year, desktop CPUs based on the K10 architecture feature in the roadmap, with no signs of their "truly next-gen" architecture. AMD completes its transit to the 45nm silicon fabrication process and will finally embrace DDR3 system memory standards. To begin with, the fact that the Deneb core's entry slightly steps into the 2008 column shows that the Deneb core-based desktop CPU could release sometime towards the very end of this year. Sources note that two models based on the Deneb core could be out by the end of this year. It supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory standards and socket compatible with current AM2+ and future AM3. From what's known so far, AM3 is the same 940 pin design that adds pins for the DDR3 memory interconnect between the CPU and the memory.