IDF2010: AMD launches Fusion chipset to rival Intel's Sandy Bridge

AMD has announced its Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) chipset, codenamed Zacate, to improve graphic capabilities and GPU-enabled web browsing on lower-cost PCs during the Intel Developer's Forum (IDF) in San Francisco..

Comparing its new dual-core, 18-watt TDP processor to Intel's processor-based notebooks in San Francisco this week, AMD demonstrated the APU-based platform containing graphics capabilities on a single die to improve PC performance.

John Taylor, director of Fusion Marketing at AMD, said in a blog post, "Zacate is ideal for cloud computing with highly-mobile form factors. Each represents a new power-efficient design approach to serial, parallel and graphics-intense workloads, which enables the enhanced internet experience and interaction that consumers are coming to expect."

AMD said it is targeting notebooks and desktops to bring graphical capabilities to low-cost PCs. The chipset also includes HD streaming for online video, DirectX 11-capable GPU and GPU-enabled web browsing.

Manufacturers are scheduled to receive first shipments of Zacate in the fourth quarter of 2010, said Taylor.

Meanwhile Intel has launched its second-generation Intel Core processor family, code-named Sandy Bridge at this year's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

A built-in processor graphics engine shares cache and memory with the processor's core to increase computing and graphics performance while maintaining energy efficiency.