Although we wrote about AMD's native USB 3.0 support with its Fusion Controller Hub on Sabine and Lynx platforms back in December, it has now been pretty much confirmed that AMD will be the first one that will have this support on AMD A75 and A70M chipsets. On the other side, Intel will hold back with native support until 2012 or, simply, the introduction of the new Ivy Bridge platform.
The confirmation for AMD's native USB 3.0 support came from USB-IF official product database. The noted database places A75 FCH and the A70M FCH with USB 3.0 ports. These two are probably the mobile Hudson-M3 and the desktop Hudson-D3 variants that we wrote about back in December. The implementation of the native USB 3.0 by AMD will certainly make things easier for the OEMs on both desktop and mobile markets.
On the other hand, Intel places its faith in Thunderbolt, which can, in case you somehow missed it, currently be found in Apple's MacBook Pro. Intel didn't forget USB 3.0 and will implement it on its next Ivy Bridge chipset that is scheduled for 2012. Motherboard manufacturers will have to stick to third-party solutions which in general terms only complicates things and makes a product a bit more expensive.
AMD has put a lot of effort in its Fusion line and it looks like it is going to pay off.
Intel to wait for 2012
Published in
Motherboard
Latest from Slobodan Simic