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AMD to announce Trinity APUs for notebooks on May 15th

by on06 April 2012

amd vision logo

Comal notebook platform on Socket FS2

According to an X-Bit Labs source with knowledge of AMD's internal APU release plans, the chip giant is preparing to launch its second-generation 32nm Trinity APU platform for notebooks on Sunday, May 15th.

As we reported back in September 2011, Trinity is AMD's second-generation 32nm Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) architecture and is ideal for premium ultrathin notebooks, nettops, HTPCs and other low-voltage and ultra-low voltage form factors. When compared to first-generation 32nm Llano APU performance, Trinity's new Piledriver modular CPU core allows for improved compute performance up to 25-percent.

amd trinity powerpoint

Image source: X-Bit Labs

Moreover, the first-generation Lynx desktop platform and Sabine notebook platform for 32nm Llano APUs will be succeeded by the Virgo desktop platform and the Comal notebook platform for 32nm Trinity APUs, respectively. As far as the desktop chips are concerned, Lynx and Virgo platforms should be socket-compatible as the chip packaging is almost the same, even though Trinity APUs will utilize the new Socket FM2. The only difference is that Socket FM1 has one extra pin (905 pins for Llano versus 904 pins for Trinity), but independent sources have already confirmed that Trinity APUs should still be compatible with older FM1 motherboards. At least AMD isn't pulling an Intel (see: Socket LGA 1156 -> Socket LGA 1155 -> Socket LGA 1150, none of which are socket-compatible). The real question is whether or not AMD's notebook Socket FS2 for Trinity APUs will be pin-compatible with the previous Socket FS1 for Llano APUs.

amd llano versus trinity

32nm Llano desktop APU (left) versus 32nm Trinity desktop APU (right)

Nevertheless, AMD's Trinity APUs for notebooks will feature TDPs of 35W to 45W, and the Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) models will have TDPs of 17W. The chips will also feature Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics cores with DirectX 11 support, DDR3 memory controllers.

AMD has already started mass production on its desktop and notebook lineups of 32nm Trinity APUs as of mid-March and is currently pumping out its desktop A-series Trinity models with 65W TDPs. By early May, it will then begin mass production of desktop A-series Trinity models with 100W TDPs, and of course, will subsequently announce its Trinity notebook APUs for the Comal Socket FS2 platform on May 15th.

Last modified on 06 April 2012
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