AMD Bringing G-Series APUs to Embedded Systems

[zarx]

When we last wrote about AMD’s Fusion Accelerated Processor Units, we mentioned that the new CPU+GPU combo units would likely be targeting a different market than Intel’s beastly Sandy Bridge. The APUs are designed to deliver better graphics performance than Intel’s integrated solutions, but the CPU won’t be breaking any records with clock speeds in the 1.6GHz range.

In addition to the low-power ultraportables and other mobile devices Fusion will soon be showing up in, AMD has its sights set on another market segment: embedded systems. The AMD G-Series, codename eBrazos, will be going after Intel’s x86 embedded processors and RISC CPUs from companies like ARM. If AMD succeeds, the G-Series could be powering everything from the new Microsoft Surface to the set-top box sitting beside your TV.

The G-Series brings AMD’s APU into the embedded market with a distinct advantage over Intel’s x86 offerings. While eBrazos doesn’t match the low power consumption of ARM’s chips, it offers a dual-core CPU and a capable Radeon GPU in a single package. G-Series runs on one or two 40nm Bulldozer CPU cores and either a Radeon 6310 or 6250 GPU. The fastest APUs hum along at 1.6 GHz, while the slowest, with only one CPU core, is clocked at 1.2 GHz. Depending on the speed of the CPU and GPU, the G-Series APU draws either 18W or 9W of power.

AMD claims the G-Series can handle 1080p video thanks to a unified video decoder and it supports a variety of output formats, including HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort and VGA. The Radeon GPUs can likely run circles around Intel’s Atom solution that’s currently on the market. As point of sale terminals, public kiosks and set top boxes demand more advanced graphical capabilities, AMD’s Accelerated Processor Units may be the perfect fit. They use less power while supplying a stronger GPU.

Of course, Intel is releasing new products all the time and has made impressive strides with Sandy Bridge’s integrated graphics processing. Do you think AMD has what it takes to become a dominant player in the embedded system market, or will Intel snatch back the spotlight before the year is out?

http://www.tested.com/news/amd-bringing-g-series-apus-to-embedded-systems/1679/

Definitely good area to get into I think, it's a growth area and hopefully some of the improvements to power consumption etc bleed back into the other components...