AMD’s Fusion APUProcessors CombinesCPU & GPU
The last time I went to buy a
desktop, I found myself at
crossroads when it came to
deciding what to choose: faster
CPU or better GPU? I finally
ended up asking my dad for
more funds.
In today’s age where you cannot
expect parents to give you more
funds, just so that you can get
faster and better graphics, we
have to make smarter choices.
Thankfully if you are planning to
buy a desktop in the next few
months, AMD has come up with
some options!
A CPU manufacturer helping out
with my graphics needs? It is
natural to be asking that
question but before I tell you
what AMD has done, let us go
over what the current scenario
is.
The Problem with Processors
A motherboard has two bridges.
North Bridge and South Bridge.
North Bridge handles all the fast
paced communication between
the RAM, CPU and GPU. While the
South Bridge handles slower
communication between the USB
ports ,keyboards and other
peripheral devices. The bus
speeds may vary for different
Bridges. Too complicated? Let me
simplify it for you.
Assume that there are two
rooms in an office called
Northbridge. One of them is
called the CPU and the other GPU.
The front desk (called as Memory
Controller Hub) of the office
deals out the work to the
respective rooms. Also,
Northbridge office is somewhat
fancy. It names the corridor
between the front desk and the
CPU as FSB and that between
front desk and GPU as PCI. The
front door is in the middle of the
central corridor as shown in the
picture:
Normally, when information/
work arrives at the front desk,
the person there decides what
sort of work it is. If its a graphic
work, i.e, it involves complex
float ( decimal range upto 10^
+/-32) computation, he sends
the work to GPU.
GPU people are good at that sort
of work. If anything else is
encountered, it is then sent over
to CPU.
CPU is expected to process a task
as fast as possible whereas a
GPU must be capable of
processing a maximum number
of tasks on a large-scale of data.
This means GPU has lots of
people working inside it. CPU has
a fewer but faster workers.
It takes a lot of power to run
both the rooms as resources are
duplicated (like air-conditioning,
lights etc). Also, as there is only
one door from the front desk to
the either of the rooms , a
bottleneck for work flow is
created.
There is GPU-CPU communication
too, which keeps increasing the
overall time required to complete
the job.
The Solution by AMD
Now consider a new office
designed by AMD. Let’s say AMD
was a consultancy hired to build
more efficient office by the guys
at Northbridge. They want to
increase the overall performance
of the office by reducing the
average time required to
complete each job and make
efficient use of resources.
You don’t really have to be an
Einstein to figure out this
solution. Combine both the
offices, make the CPU office
bigger and add the GPU people
inside it.
That’s exactly what the folks at
AMD have done. They combined
their CPU design and processing
skills along with the amazing
pixel crunching skills of ATI (AMD
has acquired ATI in 2006). This
way the new AMD Fusion
Accelerated Processing Unit
(APU) is born!
‘What does this mean to me?’
Well, remember how the GPU had
lots of people and it was
draining resources like usage of
electricity? Power that is very
valuable when you have a laptop
or running a computer on a UPS.
Power, which when saved ,
keeps the world’s environment
cleaner and your electricity bills
go down. Since the front desk
doesn’t have to go through the
trouble of separating out the
work to GPU or CPU , we can
expect faster working speed and
lesser average execution time.
This means, faster speeds out of
lesser resources!
AMD Fusion (APU) Features
The innovative AMD Fusion
Accelerated Processing Unit
(APU) combines the powerful
AMD processor technology and
discrete-class, DirectX® 11–
capable graphics combined on a
single chip.
It’s the perfect combination of
beauty and brawn – delivering
smooth HD video, powerful
multitasking and energy
efficiency.
AMD’s new APU features up to 4
x86 cores combined with up to
400 Radeon™ graphics cores in a
single microchip.
And that is no joke in terms of
computing. Infact, in their
‘Vision’ campaign they claim 10+
hrs of computer usage and 94%
better performance in gaming.
Head on over to the AMD website
and check out their cool videos
describing how the combined
awesomeness of AMD processors
and ATI gfx can make gaming,
video/photo/music editing
breeze lightening and at nearly
half the power usage. For the
tech savvy this guy has the 411
on AMD Fusion. Also, for those
with decent tech know-how
check out the white paper (its
brown!) that AMD has released.
desktop, I found myself at
crossroads when it came to
deciding what to choose: faster
CPU or better GPU? I finally
ended up asking my dad for
more funds.
In today’s age where you cannot
expect parents to give you more
funds, just so that you can get
faster and better graphics, we
have to make smarter choices.
Thankfully if you are planning to
buy a desktop in the next few
months, AMD has come up with
some options!
A CPU manufacturer helping out
with my graphics needs? It is
natural to be asking that
question but before I tell you
what AMD has done, let us go
over what the current scenario
is.
The Problem with Processors
A motherboard has two bridges.
North Bridge and South Bridge.
North Bridge handles all the fast
paced communication between
the RAM, CPU and GPU. While the
South Bridge handles slower
communication between the USB
ports ,keyboards and other
peripheral devices. The bus
speeds may vary for different
Bridges. Too complicated? Let me
simplify it for you.
Assume that there are two
rooms in an office called
Northbridge. One of them is
called the CPU and the other GPU.
The front desk (called as Memory
Controller Hub) of the office
deals out the work to the
respective rooms. Also,
Northbridge office is somewhat
fancy. It names the corridor
between the front desk and the
CPU as FSB and that between
front desk and GPU as PCI. The
front door is in the middle of the
central corridor as shown in the
picture:
Normally, when information/
work arrives at the front desk,
the person there decides what
sort of work it is. If its a graphic
work, i.e, it involves complex
float ( decimal range upto 10^
+/-32) computation, he sends
the work to GPU.
GPU people are good at that sort
of work. If anything else is
encountered, it is then sent over
to CPU.
CPU is expected to process a task
as fast as possible whereas a
GPU must be capable of
processing a maximum number
of tasks on a large-scale of data.
This means GPU has lots of
people working inside it. CPU has
a fewer but faster workers.
It takes a lot of power to run
both the rooms as resources are
duplicated (like air-conditioning,
lights etc). Also, as there is only
one door from the front desk to
the either of the rooms , a
bottleneck for work flow is
created.
There is GPU-CPU communication
too, which keeps increasing the
overall time required to complete
the job.
The Solution by AMD
Now consider a new office
designed by AMD. Let’s say AMD
was a consultancy hired to build
more efficient office by the guys
at Northbridge. They want to
increase the overall performance
of the office by reducing the
average time required to
complete each job and make
efficient use of resources.
You don’t really have to be an
Einstein to figure out this
solution. Combine both the
offices, make the CPU office
bigger and add the GPU people
inside it.
That’s exactly what the folks at
AMD have done. They combined
their CPU design and processing
skills along with the amazing
pixel crunching skills of ATI (AMD
has acquired ATI in 2006). This
way the new AMD Fusion
Accelerated Processing Unit
(APU) is born!
‘What does this mean to me?’
Well, remember how the GPU had
lots of people and it was
draining resources like usage of
electricity? Power that is very
valuable when you have a laptop
or running a computer on a UPS.
Power, which when saved ,
keeps the world’s environment
cleaner and your electricity bills
go down. Since the front desk
doesn’t have to go through the
trouble of separating out the
work to GPU or CPU , we can
expect faster working speed and
lesser average execution time.
This means, faster speeds out of
lesser resources!
AMD Fusion (APU) Features
The innovative AMD Fusion
Accelerated Processing Unit
(APU) combines the powerful
AMD processor technology and
discrete-class, DirectX® 11–
capable graphics combined on a
single chip.
It’s the perfect combination of
beauty and brawn – delivering
smooth HD video, powerful
multitasking and energy
efficiency.
AMD’s new APU features up to 4
x86 cores combined with up to
400 Radeon™ graphics cores in a
single microchip.
And that is no joke in terms of
computing. Infact, in their
‘Vision’ campaign they claim 10+
hrs of computer usage and 94%
better performance in gaming.
Head on over to the AMD website
and check out their cool videos
describing how the combined
awesomeness of AMD processors
and ATI gfx can make gaming,
video/photo/music editing
breeze lightening and at nearly
half the power usage. For the
tech savvy this guy has the 411
on AMD Fusion. Also, for those
with decent tech know-how
check out the white paper (its
brown!) that AMD has released.
Category Article AMD’s Fusion APUProcessors Combines CPU and GPU
