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Power and performance delivered by AMD FirePro™ Graphics with AMD Graphics Core Next

community.blogs@amd.com — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:41:21 GMT

If you’ve been craving the computer performance to achieve the pinnacle of creativity and entertainment, then your wait will soon be over. For the first time ever, the Apple Mac Pro will feature dual AMD FirePro graphics processors based on AMD’s Graphics Core Next architecture. With even faster graphics performance than before, Mac Pro is the ideal solution for motion graphics, 3D modeling, video editing, rendering and animation.

Designed exclusively for professional users, AMD FirePro GPU delivers powerfully built graphics to support a wide variety of applications.

The AMD FirePro graphics brand is recognized world-wide as a leading solution for brilliant visuals and technical excellence. Mac Pro users will benefit from the incredible multitasking performance and superb visual quality enabled by the dual AMD FirePro graphics processors. Whether it’s giving designers smooth interactivity or enabling artists to work with advanced visualization, complex models, large data sets or video footage, the dual AMD FirePro graphics will rise to the challenge.

The AMD FirePro graphics options for Mac Pro feature up to 6GB of VRAM, up to 2048 stream processors per GPU, and top configurations capable of up to 7 teraflops of compute performance. All told, the Mac Pro will be a fast and powerful system for serious workstation users.

AMD FirePro graphics are built on the strength of award-winning Graphics Core Next – an architecture designed from the ground up to intelligently manage workloads. The combination of Graphics Core Next with OpenCL™ (Open Computing Language) – strongly supported by both Apple and AMD – is designed to deliver massive compute performance for applications that leverage graphics processor acceleration.

It’s exciting to imagine the potential solutions that customers will create with the new Mac Pro thanks to the combined efforts of Apple and AMD.

David Cummings is a senior director and general manager, Professional Graphics at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

OpenCL and the OpenCL logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. used by permission by Khronos. Apple and Mac Pro are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

Experience the AMD Test Drive Program

community.blogs@amd.com — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:12:12 GMT

When I need a break from the world, I often stare down one of my PC chassis until I invent a problem that can only be solved by ripping it open, swapping out some parts, rebooting and then rebooting again because I forgot to hit F10 or delete at the BIOS splash screen. If you know what I'm talking about you are going to love my next sentence.

AMD is looking for some enthusiasts (nerds), like me, to participate in AMD’s all new A-Series Test Drive program, launching in conjunction with the announcement of our new 2013 Elite A-Series APUs for desktop. We want to share our excitement with representatives from our DIY community. The first step is to get our test-drivers everything they need for a killer new system based on our latest and greatest desktop APU, the A10-6800K, codenamed "Richland". Of course, every expedition needs a trusty, but slightly off-beat tour guide. Not to worry, I got you! I will be participating and blogging my experience with said test drive. We can all chronicle the experience together; transform our respective stacks of hardware into the engines for real-world experiences. That's the key. We AMDers want to know how you're turning technologies into action. I remember using my first home build to unleash my fury on the Kilrathi in Wing Commander and I remember my wife using our PC to design our wedding invitations. That's science becomes art.

Details, details. Here they are ...

The AMD A-Series Test Drive program targets AMD’s most vocal fans who are active in the component community. AMD provides the components and software (OS, apps) necessary to build an A-Series-based system and asks in turn that participants build a system, then comment/post their experiences (videos, photos, comments, etc.), ultimately helping to guide other enthusiasts to become advocates of AMD.

I am excited. I have been at AMD for almost 7 years and I have owned every generation of APU. The evolution has been breathtaking, but I have cleared a spot in my home office for the newest, fastest, APU. With you, as a part of the AMD Test Drive program I will benchmark, game, time my bootup and maybe throw a few different OSs on there for good measure.

Check back after launch for updates from the “Youngblood” lab. I'll also introduce you to my partner in crime, my just-turned-4-year-old son.

Gerald Youngblood (@GCYoungblood) is Head of North America Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

Supporting Resources

Check out the new 2013 Elite A-Series APUs for Desktop here
For information on ‘Where to Buy’ the new 2013 Elite A-Series APUs for Desktops
Find out more information about the AMD APU Advantage
Visit the 2013 Mobility APU landing page for videos, photos and more
Read about recent AMD APU news here
Visit our COMPUTEX landing page to get the latest on all of our show happenings
Check out demos on the 2013 Elite A-Series APUs for Desktop YouTube Channel
Follow all the news from AMD on Twitter: @AMD_Unprocessed
Follow AMD on Facebook

AMD Leads Data Center Innovation with the New AMD Opteron X-Series Processors

community.blogs@amd.com — Wed, 29 May 2013 16:22:27 GMT

Today, we are excited to announce our highly anticipated Opteron X-Series processors, previously known as “Kyoto.” The AMD Opteron X-Series processors are a brand new family of low power server processors and are the industry’s highest density, most power-efficient small core x86 processors ever built. They’re ideally suited to dense server clusters, the latest in AMD’s portfolio of low power offerings.

What’s more, the new AMD Opteron X-Series processors come in both APU and CPU-only versions, making this the very first available server APU, integrating both CPU and GPU engines on a single die. The AMD Opteron X2150 consumes just 11 watts, while the AMD Opteron X1150 consumes as little as 9 watts and is a CPU-only version optimized for general scale-out workloads.

With twice the performance and less power usage than the top-performing Intel Atom processor, the new X1150 and X2150 processors beat the Intel Atom processor based on several performance benchmarks. They also have twice the cores and L2 cache with a more advanced pipeline architecture, provide higher integration, and support up to 32 GB of DRAM – that’s four times more than the Intel Atom processor!

In addition, the AMD Opteron X-Series processors are ideal for next-generation scale-out web and cloud applications, ranging from big data analytics to image processing, multimedia content delivery and hosting.

It’s only natural that one of the first systems to use the AMD Opteron X-series chips will be HP’s Moonshot servers, which utilize extreme low-energy server technologies. The AMD Opteron X-series processors are a critical part of the Moonshot ecosystem offering both performance and power.

The AMD Opteron X2150 APU and X1150 CPU are generally available now for $99 and $64 respectively, in 1K quantities.

John Williams is vice president of Marketing, Server Business Unit, AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

AMD and Barco: Supporting Clinical Outcomes for 10 Years

community.blogs@amd.com — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 02:37:44 GMT

For more than a decade, Barco has relied exclusively on AMD FirePro™ workstation graphics cards (display controllers) to power its diagnostic displays. Our companies work together to help address customer mandates, whether it’s extending the life of older technology, or undertaking a redesign of existing graphics cards in response to customer requests, or enabling new cutting edge features. Further, Barco expands on the FirePro™ unified software driver to include technologies and features unique to its displays, ensuring the best possible experience for its customers. Bottom line – AMD and Barco are committed to providing the best visual experience possible for the medical imaging community. Watch this video to learn more:

Mitch Furman is a senior product manager, Professional Graphics at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

Sneak Peek: Adobe® Premiere Pro Next GPU Performance Testing

community.blogs@amd.com — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:00:46 GMT

Earlier today Adobe revealed some of its next generation professional video and audio products, including the next version of Adobe® Premiere Pro. Basically Adobe is giving users a sneak peek at the new features coming to the next versions of its software. And we’ve decided to give you a sneak peek too, providing a look at how the next version of Premiere Pro performs when accelerated by AMD FirePro™ 3D workstation graphics and OpenCL™ versus Nvidia Quadro workstation graphics and CUDA. Before I jump into an explanation of how we measured performance, I want to take a step back. The whole idea of enabling GPU acceleration with OpenCL in the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro is to enable real-time workflows. Users can add effects and see high quality results in real-time. With GPU acceleration, users don’t have to render and wait to see results. Because it’s difficult to quantify real-time performance, we created and rendered files into memory so we can compare the differences. This allowed us to see the performance differences between OpenCL and CUDA GPU acceleration performance. So we applied several effects (filters), including many effects from Adobe’s Lumetri™ Deep Color Engine, and measured the time to render the effects In and Out. In Premiere Pro, users can mark In and Out points to define a portion of video sequence they plan to render in the preview window. The effects (filters) we tested include:

ProcAmp
Sharpen
Color Balance (RGB)
RGB Color Corrector
Lumetri - Compression 1
Lumetri - Cinematic 1
Lumetri - Sepia
Lumetri - B&W Yellow Filter
Lumetri - Maxiumum Desaturation
Lumetri - Back in the Day
Lumetri - Dreams 2
Lumetri - Duo-toning
Lumetri - Warm Overall

These effects are designed to help users craft the perfect look for every project. These effects enable high quality adjustments to video footage in real-time, including color matching, adjustments to compensate for gamma irregularities and color shifts, color layering, primary and secondary color correction, and more. Our first test looked at the next version of Premiere Pro running on a CPU only. We compared the CPU-only render in/out times to the render in/out times when GPU accelerated in OpenCL by AMD’s latest AMD FirePro™ workstation graphics cards, built on the Graphics Core Next architecture. As expected the GPU accelerated render times are significantly lower than CPU only processing. With AMD FirePro™ 3D workstation graphics and OpenCL acceleration, the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro runs up to six times as fast. (1)

Next we took a look at the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro with CUDA-based GPU acceleration provided by Nvidia Quadro 3D workstation graphics cards. What we found is that AMD FirePro™ and OpenCL-based GPU acceleration is faster across the board – up to 27%. (2)

Last but not least, we took a look at GPU utilization for AMD FirePro™ and Nvidia Quadro 3D workstation graphics when running the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro. When GPU accelerated by OpenCL and AMD FirePro™ graphics cards, GPU utilization is up to 28% more efficient than the competing cards. (3) While this performance testing is conducted on a pre-release version of the next Adobe Premiere Pro, we’re really pleased with the results. As with all of the professional applications we support, we’ll continue to make driver optimizations for Adobe Premiere Pro that can only help to improve the overall user experience and application performance. So if you’re considering a GPU upgrade as part of your transition to the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro, definitely consider taking a look at AMD FirePro™ 3D workstation graphics cards. At NAB 2013 in Las Vegas next week (April 8-11, 2013), Adobe plans to showcase the next version of Premiere Pro in its booth (#SL3910) running on AMD FirePro™ graphics cards. Be sure to stop by and check it out if you are at the show. To learn more about the creative collaboration between AMD professional graphics and Adobe, please visit www.fireprographics.com/adobe

Theresa Chavez is a Product Marketing Manager, Professional Graphics, at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

1 - Testing configuration includes AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 graphics cards, Adobe Premiere CS Next (pre-release version), 4K TIFF 24-bit sequence content, Microsoft Windows® 7 64-bit, Intel Xeon E5530 @ 2.40 GHZ, 12GB system memory, and AMD driver version 12.102. Software only at 1021 seconds vs W9000 at 170 seconds. FP-80

2 - Testing configuration includes AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 graphics cards (AMD driver version 12.102 ) compared to Nvidia Quadro K5000, K4000 and K2000 graphics cards (Nvidia driver version 311.35) running Adobe Premiere CS Next (pre-release version), 4K TIFF 24-bit sequence content, Microsoft Windows® 7 64-bit, Intel Xeon E5530 @ 2.40 GHZ, and 12GB system memory. K2000 at 262 seconds vs W5000 at 207 seconds. FP-81

3 - Testing configuration includes AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 graphics cards (AMD driver version 12.102 ) compared to Nvidia Quadro K5000, K4000 and K2000 graphics cards (Nvidia driver version 311.35) running Adobe Premiere CS Next (pre-release version), 4K TIFF 24-bit sequence content, Microsoft Windows® 7 64-bit, Intel Xeon E5530 @ 2.40 GHZ, and 12GB system memory. K2000 at 46% GPU load vsW5000 at 36% GPU load. FP-82

AMD FirePro™ Technology at NAB 2013

community.blogs@amd.com — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:00:44 GMT

It’s April again. So it’s time for silly jokes, warmer weather and the annual NAB show in Las Vegas. If you are headed to the desert for the show next week (April 8-11, 2013) be sure to check out the AMD action. First, don’t miss the “A Taste of Vegas” Sony User Event on Monday, April 8, 2013. Our own Melanie Ball, senior manager of ISV Alliances for AMD Professional Graphics, is one of four keynote speakers. She will be addressing the overall Sony and AMD partnership, how GPUs benefit non-linear editing workflows and why AMD FirePro™ technology is the best choice for Sony Vegas Pro. And one lucky attendee will win big and walk away with their very own AMD FirePro^TM V5900 workstation graphics card. WHEN: Monday, April 8, 2013 from 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. WHERE: Las Vegas Convention Center, Room N250 REGISTER: Pre-registration is required to attend, as space is limited: vasst.com For more details on the event and other keynote speakers, click here. Also, several of our partners taking advantage of AMD FirePro™ technology to power demos at the show, including:

Adobe® (#SL3910): is previewing the next version of Premiere Pro, powered by AMD FirePro™ graphics
Assimilate Inc. (#SL12705): is showcasing SCRATCH® 4K DI workflows taking advantage of AMD DirectGMA technology that enables low latency PCIe® ‘peer-to-peer’ transfers and flexible SDI I/O connectivity
Autodesk® (#SL3316): is featuring multi-monitor 3ds Max® and Maya® 2013 workflows
bluefish444 (#SL9721): is demonstrating how AMD DirectGMA technology enables low latency transfers between its Epoch video cards and AMD FirePro® graphics cards
Dell (#S110LMR): is previewing the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro, with AMD FirePro™ technology powering an OpenCL™ accelerated Mercury Playback engine in Windows® for blazing fast performance
Sony (#C11001): multi-monitor Vegas™ Pro workflows
Ventuz (#SL6830): multi-monitor display walls powered by AMD FirePro™ graphics, showcasing Ventuz 4, Ventuz Director and Ventuz Express

Have a great time at NAB 2013. Be sure to let us know what you saw and what your thoughts are. If you have any questions, just post them here and I’ll get back to you. Theresa Chavez is a Product Marketing Manager, Professional Graphics, at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

Stony Brook University and AMD Combine Talents to Create the Reality Deck - the World’s First Gigapixel Resolution Display

community.blogs@amd.com — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 01:20:23 GMT

1, 4, 6, 18, 72, 416, 1.5 billion What do the above numbers mean? I’ll explain, starting from the last number to the first. Recently, Stony Brook University, with the financial assistance of the National Science Foundation, completed an ambitious project called the “Reality Deck” that involved designing and building an entire room of flat panel monitors, the goal being to establish the world’s first gigapixel resolution display. And they succeeded, with the room comprising hundreds of monitors, stacked floor to ceiling and even covering the door, with the sum of all pixels exceeding 1.5 billion! To put that in perspective, a 1080p computer monitor or television has just over 2 million pixels, so the Reality Deck is nearly three orders of magnitude greater in overall resolution. In total, 416 Samsung S27A850D LED monitors were used, each running at a native resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. To drive this many monitors, 72 AMD FirePro™ graphics cards were divided amongst 18 computer systems, or nodes, and each node fitted with an AMD S400 sync module to synchronize the output across all graphics cards and systems. Each AMD FirePro graphics card fed six monitors, and each node housed four AMD FirePro graphics cards. And the 1? Well, this effort started with one person, Arie Kaufman, and his interest in building a display unlike any other. Why? In our recent visit to the Reality Deck, Dr. Kaufman talked about the impetus behind the Reality Deck. Faced with expanding data sets in almost every industry and in many cases lacking the ability to adequately view inside that data, Dr. Kaufman saw the need to build an environment where data could be visualized like never before. Dr. Kaufman and his team at Stony Brook University are now working with researchers from both the public and private sector to understand data in a whole new way. AMD is very excited to have been an integral part of bringing Dr. Kaufman’s vision to reality. A video of the Stony Brook University Reality Deck can be found at http://youtu.be/E9KNLnzaHOI

Mitch Furman is a Senior Product Manager of Professional Graphics at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

THE AMD FIREPRO™ R5000: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF REMOTE GRAPHICS

community.blogs@amd.com — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 02:45:29 GMT

Earlier this week at the VMware Partner Exchange in Las Vegas, we introduced the AMD FirePro™ R5000 remote graphics card. We designed this card with two key stakeholders in mind: the ever-challenged IT manager and the demanding workstation user. For the latter, we ensured this remote graphics card delivers the raw computing power professionals have come to expect from AMD FirePro™ workstation graphics cards. For the former, we engineered a solution that maximizes space and power consumption within the data center and enables organizations to begin delivering powerful hardware. The journey here didn’t happen overnight. Our development team tapped into our community of IT managers, listened to their feedback and learned about their major concerns as it relates to delivering graphics horsepower to remote users. From these discussions, AMD learned performance, responsiveness, power consumption and cooling costs, systems reliability and security were top of the list. At the end of the day, they are looking for a straightforward solution that delivers impressive functionality, doesn’t eat power by the megawatt, and ultimately delivers low-latency performance to workstation professionals. To that end, we delivered in a big way with the AMD FirePro™ R5000. IT managers will immediately notice how it optimizes space in the DC and offers the flexibility, functionality, security they were looking for from a premium remote graphics solution. But let’s face it, the proof is in the pudding; when it comes to declaring victory, end users often have the final say. That’s where our secret sauce comes in: Teradici’s PCoIP. We’ve integrated advanced PCoIP adaptive encoders to automatically adjust image quality on congested networks, meaning professionals who demand big data pipelines for daily workflows will experience minimal latency periods. And, with data security top of mind, the AMD FirePro™ R5000 helps protect corporate IP and keep sensitive data safeguarded in the data center, intact and uncompromised by encrypting all transmissions. So what can the AMD FirePro™ R5000 deliver to users? Simply put, a thin-client, remote workstation experience comparable to one found on the desktop. Loaded with 2GB memory and nearly eight-times the memory bandwidth than our previous generation card, it enables efficient multi-tasking capable of running graphics-intensive applications across multiple monitors. In this way, it is an ideal graphics workhorse for mid-range, multi-monitor workflows like those found in medical imaging, financial services and graphic design industries where professionals demand a seamless graphics experience. For more information on the AMD FirePro™ R5000 (MSRP $1,099 USD), and a listing on where to purchase it, visit AMD FirePro™ at http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/firepro-remote-graphics/r5000/Pages/r5000.aspx Mohamed Jivraj is a product manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD

Penguin and AMD, Changing the Status Quo

community.blogs@amd.com — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:05:18 GMT

By: Phil Pokorny, Chief Technology Officer, Penguin Computing I've been working in the server industry with Penguin Computing for over 10 years now, and one of the constants during that time is that server features are driven by the motherboard and that motherboard is usually an exercise in compromises. The majority of a motherboard is dictated by the manufacturer of the CPU and chipset. Motherboards that have the features you want also come with features you don't want. Customers looking to lower costs, ask if removing components they don't need could lower costs. In practice, a custom run of motherboards with parts removed could cost as much as or more than standard motherboards with the parts included. And motherboards tend to be optimized for cost as it's the easiest thing to measure and compare. But this can lead to compromises in things that are harder to measure like power efficiency, reliability and features. But Open Compute and AMD are turning this “one size fits all” motherboard status quo on its ear. The largest users are finding that their needs have changed and fortunately, it is now possible for them to get exactly the motherboard they want. With the help of AMD, a motherboard that has what users want and doesn't have what they don't want is within their reach. Based on the AMD Open 3.0 platform, this new development enables the general IT community to easily configure a “right size” motherboard to meet their specific computing demands. And AMD's involvement helps insure that reliability, efficiency and performance features are not compromised. Penguin Computing is particularly excited about this new motherboard and system design because it's a good fit for the kinds of systems our customers want. What they want is flexible, low cost, high-performance CPU and memory machines to be part of high-performance compute clusters and scale-out processing farms. Penguin started targeting this segment years ago with our Altus 600 and Altus 650 "low cost compute nodes." We expect a wide range of customers to be excited about the feature set of this new AMD platform. It’s a unique approach for creating solutions that are tailored to provide users just what they need and nothing more. Phil Pokorny, is Chief Technology Officer at Penguin Computing. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

Keeping it Real - AMD Merges Virtual with the Actual at CES 2013

community.blogs@amd.com — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:28:55 GMT

We live in an increasingly virtual world – not just because of the technologies we use to communicate, but also in the realities we create in our lives and in our industry. At CES, AMD is keeping it real, while building a bridge between the virtual world and the real world. We’re keeping it real by delivering on our strong product roadmap. There’s a virtual reality that some outside of the company have created about our brand, and it’s time for a reality check. This reality check comes in the form of the products we showcased earlier this afternoon. Take a look at our products, and you’ll see very real contenders helping to push the industry forward and addressing the pace at which consumers are adopting new technologies. These products drive high-performance, low-power and enhanced mobile graphics directly into mainstream applications that support the promise of the Surround Computing era, which AMD CTO Mark Papermaster describes as the era where "…our sense, natural motion and daily patterns work together to create an environment that is unencumbered by our devices and enabled by our intentions." Read his blog post on it here or find his DellWorld presentation here.The AMD Reality Check As described in today’s press release, our 2013 APU line-up delivers huge leaps forward in performance-per-watt and elite software experiences:

Our APU codenamed “Richland” is a new addition to the AMD roadmap that brings significant increases in performance over the previous generation AMD A-Series APUs without increasing power consumption.
Our APU codenamed “Kabini” targets ultrathin notebooks with exceptional battery life and impressive levels of performance in dual and quad-core options. “Kabini” delivers major increases in productivity and visual performance-per-watt over the previous generation AMD essential computing APUs.
Our APU codenamed “Temash” is AMD’s elite low-power, mobility processor for Windows 8 Tablets and Hybrids. Leveraging the performance of our APUs, AMD is enabling an elite software experience, which includes:

Facial recognition
Gesture recognition
Screen Share to easily mirror content from mobile device to larger monitors and TVs
Photo editing and video conferencing

AMD is also extending its leadership in graphics today through the launch of the AMD Radeon™ HD 8000 mobile graphics series – the AMD Radeon HD 8800M, HD 8700M, HD 8600M and HD 8500M mobile graphics processing units (GPUs), delivering discrete graphics performance to a variety of notebook designs, including the incredibly portable ultrathin form factors. The AMD Radeon HD 8000M series of graphics products are available now in systems from ASUS and will be announced in systems from other OEMs in the coming weeks. AMD SurRoundHouse (an Immersive Computing Experience) In addition to these exciting product announcements, AMD is bringing a virtual experience to life at CES. It's a preview of what's to come in the era of Surround Computing. The AMD SurRoundHouse is an immersive computing experience that brings the sense of sound, touch and sight to life at CES. We've built a “holodeck” of sorts that transports the participant to another place through the immersive, sensory experience we've created inside the AMD SurRoundHouse. Make sure to stop by the AMD SurRoundHouse if you are at CES and experience it for yourself. AMD enters 2013 energized about the strength of our roadmap and its ability to deliver the experience consumers expect today and for years to come. As you make the annual technology pilgrimage to Las Vegas – virtually or physically – we hope you’ll keep it real with us. Join us in the AMD Experience Zone at CES, online or wherever our paths may cross this year. Chris Hook is Senior PR Manager, AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied. This blog contains forward-looking statements concerning AMD, the timing and features of AMD’s future products, the ability of AMD to win in high-growth consumer segments with new APU products in 2013, the benefits from AMD’s new technology partnerships and the timing of future products that incorporate AMD’s products, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "expects," "believes," "plans," "intends," "projects," and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this document are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this blog and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

The Goldilocks Effect in Tablets

community.blogs@amd.com — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:01:16 GMT

Steve Belt, corporate vice president, Ultra Low Power Products

Today’s announcement of the new AMD Z-60 APU and the upcoming Microsoft launch of Windows® 8 calls to mind Goldilocks’ search for the perfect porridge. Much like the famous fairy tale, people will start searching for a Windows 8 tablet that is “just right” as they start to come to market. Research I've seen confirms that the bar is already set high for the consumer experience on tablets. Miss the mark by serving them the wrong porridge and they are likely to walk away. The AMD Z-60 APU aims to hit that evasive sweet-spot that marketers always talk about, but in this case a pretty compelling case can be made for AMD’s argument. There are two camps on either side of the AMD Z-60 APU, so let’s take a look at them: At the low-end are the Windows RT systems built around some flavor of the ARM architecture from any one of a number of their licensees. Yes, they will probably end up being in there among the more affordable options and their power management will be good. Where they may fall short is on experience and performance. I anticipate that compatibility with the full suite of legacy Windows applications is not going to be in place anytime soon. AMD’s support for x86 instructions and Windows application compatibility is an established strength and provides a clear advantage vs. the expected Windows RT offerings. On the performance side of the ARM-based solution equation the processing power currently is just not there for the high resolution visual experiences users want on a tablet. I believe the “Clover Trail”-based systems from the other x86 provider will similarly struggle to perform as well as the dual-core AMD Z-60 APU with its AMD Radeon graphics engine. The AMD Z-60 with AMD Radeon™ graphics supports Full HD 1080p resolution and can support some of the most demanding games on the market without breaking a sweat. On a tablet the visual experience is paramount and it is really spectacular with AMD. The real elephant in the room is the price paid for CPU performance at the high-end of the market. In a world of lightweight, ultrathin notebooks that cost under $800, is there really a market for the thousand dollar tablets using our competition’s CPU? So where does Goldilocks go for a “just right” experience? Tablets from AMD’s technology partners in form factors as thin as 10mm are expected to hit the market later this year. They are being designed to provide that balance of price, performance and battery life that delivers an experience that will keep users coming back. I encourage you to keep an eye out for more from AMD as these products start to roll out. Steve Belt is Corporate Vice President, Ultra Low Power Products. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

Note to my DIY brothers and sisters: Meet the Next-Gen Desktop PC Build, APU Style

community.blogs@amd.com — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 12:32:06 GMT

By: John Taylor, Director of Global Business Unit Marketing at AMD. I am always looking for an excuse to build a new desktop PC, and this week my employer AMD gave me just the excuse I need to get the credit card out: new A-Series APUs (A-Series brand equals AMD’s best APU products) and new socket FM2 motherboards from AMD partners. To trigger a new build, my standards are fairly high, though – just the release of a new processor alone is not enough to send me online to start filling up a shopping basket. I want to build PCs that are part of some big new wave that lets me experience firsthand the technology that will drive the DIY PC realm for years ahead. Same thing for PC games – I don’t buy and play them all, but there are some titles that are so highly anticipated, or move the industry forward in a big way, that you just have to buy and play. Today, we’re excited to announce retail and channel availability for our second-generation desktop AMD A-Series APUs and the attending FM2 infrastructure that will power future generations of AMD accelerated processors. With these APUs, I can build a very affordable PC that can power today’s games and coolest digital media experiences in a single chip, or I can go a little higher end with my build and include an A-Series APU/AMD Radeon discrete graphics pairing for Dual Graphics performance. All at the industry’s most competitive prices[1]. Our second-generation desktop AMD A-Series APUs offer up to 4 “Piledriver” cores and up to 4.2 GHz of processing speed to deliver an incredibly responsive, high performance experience. DIYers look for value and an easy upgrade path so we made sure new FM2 motherboards will support future generations of our AMD A-Series APUs making upgrades simple and cost-effective! Motherboard Partners

ASUS
MSI
ASRock
Biostar
ECS
GIGABYTE
Jetway
Zotac
SAPPHIRE
Foxconn

What kind of speed can you expect from our second-generation desktop APUs? Take a look for yourself! From our AMD A6-5400 to the A10-5800K APUs, we’re proud of the performance increases delivering up to 40% more performance than our mobile platforms which bring brilliant visual experiences to the desktop[2].

AMD A-Series Component Desktop APUs
APU Mode	AMD Radeon™ Graphics	TDP	CPU Cores	CPU Clock (Max/Base)	AMD Radeon™ Cores	GPU Clock	L2 Cache	Max DDR3 Memory Support	Suggested Retail Pricing
A10-5800K	HD 7660D	100W	4	4.2 GHz / 3.8 GHz	384	800 MHz	4MB	1866 MHz	$122
A10-5700	HD 7660D	65W	4	4.0 GHz / 3.4 GHz	384	760 MHz	4MB	1866 MHz	$122
A8-5600K	HD 7560D	100W	4	3.9 GHz / 3.6 GHz	256	760 MHz	4MB	1866 MHz	$101
A8-5500	HD 7560D	65W	4	3.7 GHz / 3.2 GHz	256	760 MHz	4MB	1866 MHz	$101
A6-5400K	HD 7540D	65W	2	3.8 GHz / 3.6 GHz	192	760 MHz	1MB	1866 MHz	$67
A4-5300	HD 7480D	65W	2	3.6 GHz / 3.4 GHz	128	724 MHz	1MB	1600 MHz	$53

You may have caught a few of the previews of the new products back in late September. Here’s what a few of the top technology reviewers had to say: “For anyone looking to build a good entry level gaming PC, the Trinity platform easily delivers the best processor graphics performance on the market today.”- Anand Shimpi, Anandtech“For this preview we compared the AMD A10-5800K to the Intel Core i7-3770K ($329.99) and [Virgo] was found to be faster in our testing. Not bad and it is pretty amazing to see a processor that costs $200 less winning by such a large percentage in the benchmarks.” – Dan Stoltz, Legit Reviews“The A10 was very efficient at idle, consuming only 44 watts at the wall (this was the entire system).” Josh Walrath, PC Perspective And let’s not forget our AMD Eyefinity technology. These are the only desktop APUs available that support a single-surface view across up to four monitors. In addition, our second-generation APUs include AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 series graphics, providing high-performance discrete-class graphics without an add-on graphics card. And if that isn’t enough, AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics support can boost performance by an additional 75 percent[3]. Do you feel the excitement inching up your spine? We certainly do! If you’re looking for a new desktop, eyeing a home theater PC, craving processing speed and stunning graphics – all without sacrificing value - don’t look any further than the new AMD A-Series APUs. Planning an A-Series APU build? Let me hear from you (@jtrex) and send those specs and photos! John Taylor is Director of Global Business Unit Marketing. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

[1] The Quad-core AMD A10-5800K using AMD Turbo Core technology has a maximum frequency of 4.2 GHz with a suggested retail price of $122 as compared to the Dual-core Intel Core i3 2120 / 3220 with a maximum frequency of 3.3 GHz (Intel Turbo Boost technology is not available for the Intel Core i3 family of processors) and a retail price of $124.99. Intel pricing on TigerDirect.com on 9/26/2012: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3734679&csid=_61 [2] AMD Performance Advantage refers to the advantages of desktop PCs over notebooks. Testing conducted by AMD performance labs using PCMark7 benchmark, the AMD A10-5800K APU with AMD Radeon™ HD 7660D Graphics using 2x4GB DDR3-1866 and a 7200rpm Hard Drive with Windows® 7 64 bit based on ES Silicon (Engineering Sample) on AMD Annapurna reference designs scored 2782 while the AMD A10-4600M APU with Radeon™ HD7740G Graphics using 2x4GB DDR3-1600 and a 5400 RPM Hard Drive with Windows® 7 64 bit based on ES Silicon (Engineering Sample) on the Pumori reference design scored 1965 . All scores rounded to the nearest whole number. TRD-2 [3] Testing conducted by AMD performance labs using DiRT 3™@ 1280x1024, DirectX®11 under medium settings. The AMD A10-5800K APU with a AMD Radeon™ HD 6570 in AMD Dual Graphics mode scored and average of 92.62 fps while the AMD A10-5800K APU with only the AMD Radeon™ HD 6570 Graphics card enabled scored an average of 52.63 TRD-18

A “Manly” Undertaking: Maximum Compute Power in the Least Amount of Space

community.blogs@amd.com — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 22:15:21 GMT

By: Theresa Chavez, product marketing manager, Professional Graphics at AMD Remember Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor from the 90’s television hit Home Improvement, portrayed by actor Tim Allen? The character was just a tad bit obsessed with modifying machines and household appliances to achieve "more power." This phrase was the first thing that popped into my mind when I was introduced Dell PowerEdge C8000 Chassis, and I think you’ll be pretty impressed with the amount of compute power it’s capable of generating. Each C8000 chassis can hold up to four new Dell PowerEdge C8220X double-wide compute/GPU sleds, and each of these sleds is able to support up to two of our new AMD FirePro™ S9000 server graphics cards. If you were take this platform full throttle and deploy eight AMD FirePro S9000 cards, you could achieve up to a whopping 6.44 TFLOPS of double precision and 25.84 TFLOPS of peak single precision peak floating point performance. That’s a lot of compute power in one 4U chassis. As Tim would say, “You’re darn right more power."

Dell PowerEdge C8000 Chassis

Dell PowerEdge C8220X Compute/GPU Sled

AMD recently launched AMD FirePro™ S9000 server graphics cards, and they are an ideal match for the Dell PowerEdge C8000 chassis and C8220X compute/GPU sled. The PowerEdge C8000 is part of Dell’s hyperscale-inspired PowerEdge C server line designed to bring the most compute power in the least amount of space with the least energy draw. AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics can help Dell to achieve its goal, because it’s a card for real men. Each card brings:

6GB high speed GDDR5 memory
284 GB/s of memory bandwidth – up to 1.49 times the bandwidth of the competing solution[1]
3.23 TFLOPS of peak single precision floating point performance – up to 2.4 times that of the competing solution[2]
806 GFLOPS of peak double precision floating point performance – up to 1.2 times as fast as the competing solution[3] (and more than enough compute power to figure out how to successfully launch a BBQ into space)
ECC Memory support to ensure computation precision and accuracy
Energy efficiency, consuming 225W at max power
AMD PowerTune Technology, state of the art power management that provides direct control over GPU power usage
AMD ZeroCore Power reduces GPU power consumption at idle
Support for PCIe® 3.0
Direct GPU pass-through VDI support for Citrix® XenServer® and VMware® ESXi
Support for Microsoft® Hyper-V and RemoteFX for corporate desktop replacement deployments
Passive cooling, designed for silent operation and simplifies thermal design for servers

This graphics card definitely brings a lot of compute power, intelligent power management and monitoring technologies and the flexibility to support a variety of deployments in the data center. Admit it, you hear Tim’s ape-like grunt of approval in your head right now. While AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics and the PowerEdge C8000 chassis offer a bit more power than Tim ever needed to automate his wife Jill’s closet, there are many customers out there in real need of more compute power. Big data applications and data analytics, high performance computing, cloud building and hosting can really take advantage of the C8000’s density, compute performance and energy efficiency. These resource-intensive workloads are pushing infrastructure limits, requiring more performance, bandwidth, memory and adaptability than ever before. Last but not least, the C8000 is the first and only platform enabling a mix and match of compute, storage and GPU in a single 4U shared infrastructure chassis. And don’t forget. If it doesn’t say “AMD FirePro” or “Dell PowerEdge”, someone else made it. While the Dell PowerEdge C8000 Chassis is compact and energy efficient, when outfitted with four C8220x compute/GPU sleds and eight AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics cards it can pack a heavyweight power punch capable of knocking out toughest workloads, or it can power eight simultaneous VDI sessions (via direct GPU pass-through) with no compromise graphics acceleration; drive finite element analysis or CAD/CAM applications seamlessly from the same machine! Dell plans to offer the PowerEdge C8220X double-wide GPU compute sled with AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics cards later this year. In the meantime, be sure check out these videos for more information:

Dell PowerEdge C8000 Series Overview with Architect Joel Sekel

Dell PowerEdge C8220X Compute/GPU Sled Overview

“We’ll be right back after a word from Binford Tools.” Theresa Chavez is a product marketing manager, Professional Graphics, AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

[1]AMD FirePro™ S9000 features 264 GB/s memory bandwidth, compared to Nvidia Tesla M2090 with 177 GB/s memory bandwidth, both with ECC Memory support turned off. Visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html for Nvidia product specs. FP-56

[2]AMD FirePro™ S9000 delivers 3.23 TFLOPS of peak single precision floating point performance, compared to Nvidia Tesla M2090 that is capable of 1.33 TFLOPS peak single precision. Visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html for Nvidia product specs. FP-54

[3]AMD FirePro™ S9000 delivers 806 GFLOPs of peak double precision floating point performance, compared to Nvidia Tesla M2090 that is capable of 665 GFLOPs double precision peak floating point performance. Visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html for Nvidia product specs. FP-55

YOU CAN’T STOP A GOOD THING – AND AMD FIREPRO™ GRAPHICS IS ALL GOOD!

community.blogs@amd.com — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 02:25:52 GMT

Having just wrapped another intense five days at IBC, the AMD FirePro™ product team feels like it’s just put a little more icing on the workstation graphics cake. For those of you who follow our products and news, you know we’ve been exceedingly busy over the past several months. And I think it’s safe to say our momentum isn’t waning…in fact the complete opposite is true. It’s rolling – big time! In fact, it was during IBC preparations that I took a step back to review the many accomplishments of our AMD FirePro™ graphics team this past year. After some reflection, I felt compelled to recap and share our achievements – from our vigorous launch cycle, to our recent flood of ISV certifications, to our tremendous work with media and entertainment (M&E) partners. What you’ll find below is a tally of our awesome work, all of which, of course, we highlighted at IBC. Outstanding M&E Capability for AMD FirePro™ Technology Last year’s launch of the AMD FirePro™ 7900 SDI ushered in our first offering for the SDI market. Our ultra-low latency communication with 3rd party SDI cards hit the mark and ensured the support of many ISVs, including Drastic Technologies, Eyeon, and Tweak Software. This year we’ve continued this dedication to M&E. In particular, we’ve advanced our robust driver and SDK programs, bolstering AMD FirePro™ SDI-Link and DirectGMA support for both Windows and Linux environments. Of course this provision extends to Open GL, DirectX^® 9, 10 and 11, with recently added support for Assimilate Scratch and Tweak RV-SDI. We have also continued to forge trusted relationships with industry leading IHVs. Currently we have support and SDK inclusion with AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design, Bluefish, Deltacast, Datapath, and DVS. With an IHV roster of this calibre, it’s clear our commitment to supporting the M&E industry is resonating with the industry’s best and most innovative. Eleven Products in Under Three Months Since June, AMD has launched a significant lineup of workstation and server graphics cards powered by our award winning Graphics Core Next Architecture (GCN). Each card is optimized for heterogeneous computing and delivers outstanding compute density – which is precisely what our users are looking for, and just can’t get anywhere else. Here’s what we’ve launched to date – each is currently available to professionals:

AMD FirePro W9000	AMD FirePro W8000	AMD FirePro W7000
AMD FirePro W5000	AMD FirePro S9000	AMD FirePro S7000
AMD FirePro W600

We also launched our first-ever AMD FirePro™ A300 Series APU, which combines CPU and GPU functionality on a single chip to provide a blend of workstation performance and application-certified compatibility for graphics professionals. Additionally, we launched three AMD FirePro™ graphics processors for mobile workstations, which meet the demands of graphics professionals on the go. Unrivaled OpenCL™ Support Where I truly feel we’re driving the industry forward, more than any other graphics company, is our unrelenting support of OpenCL™. Through our development efforts, I believe AMD has not only effectively positioned itself as a visionary company, but also as a dominant force in GPU compute. And we’re not alone in believing industry standards lead to greater innovation and performance. Industry-leading CAD/CAE and M&E software developers from around the world are reaping its benefits. From scientific studies to Hollywood blockbusters, here are just a few of the benefits OpenCL is bringing to the table:

OpenCL in CAD/CAM/AEC & Science:
- FEA (finite element analysis) for industrial design, construction, manufacturing & engineering
- CFD (computational fluid dynamics) for aerospace, industrial design, and scientific modeling
- Real-time/Interactive 3D rendering & data visualization for design, scientific modeling and manufacturing

OpenCL in M&E:
- Real-time/Interactive 3D rendering and data visualization
- Real-world fluid dynamics and physics simulations to drive lifelike 3D animation
- Real-time processing of digital media for production, post-production, broadcast and viewing

Certifications Galore! It’s hard to argue that when the best want to work with you, you’re doing something exceptionally well. This past year we experienced a remarkable amount of software certification from ISV partners, and we shared some of the most exciting news at IBC, which included the following:

AMD FirePro™ is increasingly becoming the graphics of choice for broadcast professionals
The Foundry’s Mari now supports AMD FirePro™ professional graphics
Maxon is now certifying AMD FirePro™ graphic cards for Cinema 4D
Assimilate supports AMD FirePro™ W8000 & V7900 SDI for Scratch
Autodesk is demoing bullet & fluids in Autodesk Maya using OpenC

Clearly we’re very proud of the momentum we’ve established over the course of this past year. And while I may be a tad biased, I’ll leave this post on one final note: the 37 software certifications from 18 of our trusted ISV partners is, I believe, proof positive that our graphics are truly leading the market. Melanie Ball, Sr. Manager, Strategic Alliances, AMD Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

Cast your vote now for these APU All-Stars

community.blogs@amd.com — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 03:08:13 GMT

Major League Baseball is winding down its annual all-star game festivities this week and in case you missed it, the National League routed the American League 8-0. The victory was largely due in part to the contributions of players from the San Francisco Giants, including starting pitcher Matt Cain and the game’s most valuable player (MVP) Melky Cabrera. You may recall in one of my previous blogs that the Giants were leveraging AMD technology in their ballpark to help make a final all-star voting push for their players. Cabrera was one of those players who got in as a result of that final push. Going into the final week of voting, Cabrera was fourth among NL outfielders and by the end of the week he was first. As a lifelong baseball fan and a longtime AMDer, it's always fulfilling to see these two areas of interest intersect and knowing AMD technology played a small role in putting these Giants players into the All-Star game. And since the Giants had so much success using AMD's "all-star APU" technology, I thought it would be a great time to call out some of the latest "all-star" notebooks and desktops that are available from our partners and let you cast your vote. Here's a great entertainment notebook from HP, the HP Pavilion Dv7, now available with a quad-core AMD A-10 APU that you can order here from Amazon. In this case you can truly say you are using the same technology that helped put the Giants into the All-Star game. Touchscreen All-in-Ones are something you truly should consider, especially if the Windows 8 transition is on your radar screen. If you go that route then you definitely want one with a GPU for the best touchscreen responsiveness. Here are a couple of options from HP you may want check out at Newegg and Amazon. I'm a big fan of deal sites. Not only do they help you find best bang for your buck but they do the legwork for you. Slickdeals and dealnews are probably my two favorites. Through dealnews, you can find one of the new AMD-based ultrathins - the HP Envy 6 Sleekbook that you have been hearing us and HP talking a lot about. A great ultrathin and the big plus is the 15.6" screen which makes it perfect for gaming and other entertainment applications. If you want an ultrathin with a smaller screen, you may want to check out the Samsung Series 5 with a 13.3" screen which you can find at Amazon. Desktops with our latest A-Series APU are available now as well. Darren Gladstone from HP gives a great review of the HP Pavilion P7 desktop with an A8-5500 APU. Here’s one coming soon from MSI, but one you will want later this summer when its available, especially if you are a serious gamer on the go as it includes an AMD A10-4600M APU and a dedicated AMD Radeon™ HD 7970M discrete solution for a true dual-graphics experience. We will have more on the MSI GX60 notebook when it is available but for now, you can read all about it here. This should get you started in terms of where you should cast your vote for these "APU all-star" notebooks, desktops and ultrathins. If you have one of these systems already, let me know what you think. You can comment here or ping me on Twitter at @AMDPhil. Again, congratulations to the Giants MLB All-Stars and their fans that helped push them into the All-Star game. They definitely did not disappoint. Phil Hughes is a Senior PR Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.