AMD just introduced its new Desna chip for tablets last month, but Turkish web site DonanimHaber has obtained leaked slides with details about a new low power tablet chip from AMD due out in 2012. The new chip is code-named Hondo, and the company plans to have it ready to go by the time Microsoft launches the Windows 8 operating system.
The Hondo chipset will feature a dual-core processor with a 4.5TDP. But the slides suggest it has a lower “app power” of about 2 watts. The 40nm processor will include Radeon HD 6250 graphics and will be able to handle 720p HD video playback and DirectX 11 graphics. But the low power chip is designed for use in fanless computers which means it won’t generate much heat.
According to the leaked slides, AMD will send samples of Hondo chips to hardware partners in December with the processor expected to go into production in the second quarter of 2012.
via Fudzilla
Very strange news as another reader has pointed out 2012 is a 28nm year, not 40nm! AMD has just caugth up with INTEL by delivering a very advanced 32nm process: SOI/HKMG/gate first from Globalfoundries, this product comes out of TSMC so maybe there is a problem there….Brad this deserves more investigation.
Another way to look at it, if the TDP is on a 40nm process then it shows AMD is getting better at power efficiency design. But if it is 28nm then that means they are relying on the power reduction that comes naturally from the manufacture size reduction and still have far to go to get really competitive on power efficiency design.
Brad ~ error: “..able to handle 270p…” should read 720p.
-A
where does it say 40nm?
i’d be amazed if an AMD product going into production in the Q2 2012 wasn’t manufactured using 28nm!
It doesn’t flat-out say it, but some of the other slides basically say it’ll have the same CPU cores as the AMD C-50 Ontario processor which is a 40nm chip.Â
surely that is an architectural comment, rather than a process question?Â
Basically, it takes time for a company to move all its manufacturing process to a new smaller specification.
Take Intel for example, they started 32nm with Sandy Bridge for their main lineup, but the Intel ATOM line won’t see 32nm Cedar Trail (replaces Pine Trail) come out to market till September and the 32nm Cloverview (replaces Oak Trail) won’t come out till nearly the same time as Windows 8 a little over a year from now.
While AMD will only start producing 28nm next year. So it’ll take awhile before they can adopt it for their less powerful offerings.