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AMD 'Trinity' A-Series APUs launched, with 2X performance-per-watt

AMD today announced the launch of its 2nd-Generation AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) for mainstream and ultrathin notebooks, as well as All-in-One and traditional desktops, home theater PCs and embedded designs.

The 2nd-Generation A-Series APU, codenamed “Trinity”, is supposed to be a “grounds-up improved design” over the previous generation (Llano), which according to AMD, enables “best-in-class PC mobility, entertainment, and gaming experience.” A total of five SoC AMD Fusion APUs were released, with three mainstream laptop 35W processors, as well as two 25W and 17W ultrathin laptop processors.

The new AMD Fusion A-Series APUs promise double the performance per watt of the previous generation, and an increase in CPU performance up to 29 percent. All this is possible with the new AMD Piledriver and its 3rd Generation Turbo Core technology, dynamically clocking the GPU and CPU, and capable of boosted CPU frequencies up to 3.2GHz. AMD’s Start Now technology should ensure a resume time as little as two seconds, boot time as little as 10 seconds.

APU Model	AMD RadeonBrand	TDP	CPU Cores	CPU Clock (Max/Base)	AMD Radeon cores	GPU Clock (Max/Base)	L2 Cache	Max DDR3
AMD A-Series Mainstream Notebook APUs
A10-4600M	HD 7660G	35W	4	3.2GHz/ 2.3GHz	384	686MHz/ 497MHz	4MB	DDR3-1600 DDR3L-1600        DDR3U-1333
A8-4500M	HD 7640G	35W	4	2.8GHz/ 1.9GHz	256	655MHz/ 497MHz	4MB	DDR3-1600 DDR3L-1600        DDR3U-1333
A6-4400M	HD 7520G	35W	2	3.2GHz/ 2.7GHz	192	686MHz/ 497MHz	1MB	DDR3-1600 DDR3L-1600        DDR3U-1333
AMD A-Series Ultrathin Notebook APUs
A10-4655M	HD 7620G	25W	4	2.8GHz/ 2.0GHz	384	497MHz/ 360MHz	4MB	DDR3-1333     DDR3L-1333    DDR3U-1066
A6-4455M	HD 7500G	17W	2	2.6GHz/ 2.1GHz	256	424MHz/ 327MHz	2MB	DDR3-1333     DDR3L-1333    DDR3U-1066

Graphical performance has also been improved, with AMD promising an increase of 56%, using the new AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics. According to AMD, combined, the CPU and GPU cores deliver more than 700 gigaflops of computing performance, which is several times more than the fastest x86 CPUs. AMD Eyefinity technology is also onboard, without the need for a discrete GPU. With AMD Radeon dual graphics however, AMD says that a performance boost up to 75% is possible.

Also onboard is the new AMD HD Media Accelerator, with new and improved AMD Perfect Picture HD, and AMD Steady Video, and the new AMD Quick Stream technology, and True HD video chat with up to four people at once.

With the announcement of the 2nd-Generation A-Series APUs, AMD is emphasizing on the vibrant developer ecosystem for the AMD Fusion platform, enabling over 100 applications and games to be accelerated by AMD APUs. The new A-Series will provide superior Web-based video experience, with new plug-ins for Chrome, Firefox and IE9 enabling AMD Steady Video technology. Recently optimized applications include Photoshop CS6, WinZip 16.5, and VLC Media Player. AMD says the A-Series APUs are also well-positioned to take advantage of the upcoming transition to the Windows 8 operating system.

The first AMD 2nd-Generation A-Series APUs will begin shipping with Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba devices, starting today.