AMD Clarifies 7000M Strategy

CES has wrapped up now and we’re all back home, but we’ve still got a few items to cover. While Anand was meeting with AMD on Thursday to go over some other their other tech, I got a chance to head into a separate area for a briefing on their mobile technology. There are two items I want to quickly discuss: the Radeon 7000M lineup, and Trinity.

We’ve already covered some of the 7000M parts that will ship in the very near future—quite a few laptops at CES were running these “new” GPUs. The 7400M, 7500M, and 7600M are all VLIW5 parts, which we’ve called “rebadged” GPUs. AMD pointed out (and we at agree at least in part) that calling these rebadged GPUs is a bit too harsh—reused or recycled might be a better term, particularly if you’re into the whole “green” thing. But seriously, the latest 7000M GPUs aren’t just a straight rerelease of the same silicon under a new name; we’ve pointed out in the past that as time passes, companies become more familiar with a process technology, both on the fabricator side and on the chip designer side. This is why initial 40nm GPUs don’t offer all the performance and features of later model 40nm GPUs for example. AMD didn’t specifically state that the 7400M/7500M/7600M will use a new revision/spin of the existing Northern Islands cores, but it was at least implied, and it’s likely that we’ll see slightly better performance and power characteristics out of the latest batch. You can see the released specs and expected performance in the gallery below.

Gallery: AMD Clarifies 7000M Strategy

Okay, that’s part one of the 7000M strategy: reuse the existing Northern Islands family to occupy the value and mainstream price segments. The second part of the strategy, we don’t have any specifics to reveal in terms of specs, but AMD did let us know one important piece of information. They have in essence drawn a line in the sand (e.g. in their product portfolio), and everything 7600M and below will reuse their existing 40nm VLIW5 architecture while all of the yet-to-be-announced parts above 7600M (7700M/7800M/7900M) will switch to 28nm GCN (Graphics Core Next). It sounds like the mobile GPUs will use lower power variants of “Pitcairn” and “Cape Verde”, leaving “Tahiti” as a desktop-only GPU for the time being, but features like DX11.1, VCE, and ZeroCore Power Technology will be present in the higher performance 7000M parts when they launch. And just when will that be? AMD wouldn’t give us a date, but all indications are we’ll see the 7000M Southern Islands GPUs in the April/May timeframe.

AMD had a couple of laptops (okay, monstrous DTR beasts really) running in their booth to show that they had working silicon for both classes of 7000M hardware. Both notebooks are Clevo X7200 units using desktop CPUs, so they’re more proof of concept than something that most people are going to buy, but they were both happily running 3D applications. The notebook on the left has a single HD 7690M running a custom AMD demo, while the notebook on the right has CrossFire high-end 7000M hardware (presumably something in the HD 7900M class) running Aliens Vs. Predator 2.

Finally, a few people continue to ask questions about Trinity hardware. Obviously Trinity was running in a couple demonstrations, but AMD is not yet disclosing the full hardware specs. Some have speculated that Trinity will have a GCN-based graphics core, but if you stop to think about it for a minute that’s obviously not going to happen. GCN is coming out on TSMC’s 28nm process technology while Trinity will use GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 32nm process; as AMD is busy trying to work on the improved Bulldozer cores in Trinity along with upgrading the GPU, trying to bring GCN into the mix would seriously delay the whole process. The short story is that AMD (again) confirmed that Trinity is using a VLIW4 core for graphics, and it offers enhanced performance relative to the core in Llano. We’ll hopefully have final hardware in hand in the next few months to provide the full performance analysis.

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Nvidia: Our strategy is coming into its own

Nvidia is expecting strong growth in the next year, pointing to its new Tegra 3 platform as it insists that its strategy is coming into its own.

The chip giant believes that our increased focus on not just mobile but also on what we expect from graphics is behind a modest rise in revenue in its latest financial results, with brighter times ahead.

"Nvidia's strategy is coming into its own, as the world becomes increasingly visual and mobile," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive of Nvidia.

Accelerated

"Our GPU business accelerated in the third quarter, driven by strong demand from gamers and the professional market. And our mobile business benefited from new devices coming onto the market," he added.

"With Tegra 3 phone wins well ahead of Tegra 2's pace, we're expecting strong growth in the year ahead."

The company recorded a 4.9 per cent increase in revenue to $1.07 billion (c£672m) over the last quarter and a 26.3 per cent rise year on year.

Nvidia took the opportunity to reflect on some of its recent announcements as it looks ahead – including the launch of Tegra 3 in the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the addition of three more Tegra phones, 13 more Tegra-toting tablets (which takes the total to 23) and the news that the Titan supercomputer will use 18,000 Tesla processors.

Nvidia: Our strategy is coming into its own

Nvidia is expecting strong growth in the next year, pointing to its new Tegra 3 platform as it insists that its strategy is coming into its own.

The chip giant believes that our increased focus on not just mobile but also on what we expect from graphics is behind a modest rise in revenue in its latest financial results, with brighter times ahead.

"Nvidia's strategy is coming into its own, as the world becomes increasingly visual and mobile," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive of Nvidia.

Accelerated

"Our GPU business accelerated in the third quarter, driven by strong demand from gamers and the professional market. And our mobile business benefited from new devices coming onto the market," he added.

"With Tegra 3 phone wins well ahead of Tegra 2's pace, we're expecting strong growth in the year ahead."

The company recorded a 4.9 per cent increase in revenue to $1.07 billion (c£672m) over the last quarter and a 26.3 per cent rise year on year.

Nvidia took the opportunity to reflect on some of its recent announcements as it looks ahead – including the launch of Tegra 3 in the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the addition of three more Tegra phones, 13 more Tegra-toting tablets (which takes the total to 23) and the news that the Titan supercomputer will use 18,000 Tesla processors.

LG Announces 4-Pronged Mobile Strategy for 2011

On the first day of MWC 2011, LG announced its four-part smartphone and tablet strategy for 2011 as part of what it's calling a "new beginning" for becoming a key contender in the mobile space.

The strategy is simple and four-pronged. The first is dual-core and multi-core processing for performance. We've already taken a look at the LG Optimus 2X, the first dual-core phone, and found that it brought Android an appreciable speed increase. The software on the Optimus 2X is getting more stable - we're told the instability we saw in our review unit is totally fixed in newer builds, which we're having flashed. 

The second part is display innovation, which no doubt is a reference to the LG Optimus Black and its super-bright NOVA display, or the inclusion of 3D stereoscopic displays on other LG smartphones. We got to look at the NOVA briefly at CES and were impressed with how bright and contrasty the display is, and we'll look at it in due time. Hopefully NOVA displays will move into more displays beyond just the Black. 

The third arm is 3D - which brings us to the LG Optimus 3D. As we already mentioned, the LG Optimus 3D is OMAP4 based with an OMAP4 4430 and features a glasses-free autostereoscopic 3D display and stereoscopic camera. The 3D camera system consists of two rear-facing 4 MP cameras spaced 24 mm apart. Recording in 3D also includes a live 3D preview with real-time adjustible depth control. We got a few minutes to look at the Optimus 3D and came away decently impressed with the glasses-free 3D screen. You can't see it above, but that golf game is entirely 3D on the Optimus 3D.

LG is aggressively  marketing fact that the Optimus 3D is both dual-core and dual-channel. By dual-channel, LG is referencing OMAP4's dual-channel LPDDR2 memory interface. The Optimus 3D is listed as having 4 Gigabits of RAM translating to 512 MB. LG showed off the overall quadrant score of the 3D, and though we're not completely sold on Quadrant being a competent benchmark that truly reflects performance, the 2958 score is impressive next to 2670 which we saw on the Optimus 2X. The Optimus 3D captures 3D at 720P and 2D in 1080P. We look forward to benchmarking OMAP4 in due time. 

Physical Comparison Samsung Galaxy S FascinateLG Optimus 2XMotorola Atrix 4GSamsung Galaxy S IILG Optimus 3DHeight106.17 mm (4.18")123.9 mm (4.87")117.8mm125.3mm128.8 mmWidth63.5 mm (2.5")63.2 mm (2.48")63.5mm66.1mm68 mmDepth9.91 mm (0.39")10.9 mm (0.43")10.95mm8.48mm11.9 mmWeight127 grams (4.5 oz)139.0 grams (4.90 oz)135.0 grams116 grams168 gramsCPU1 GHz Samsung HummingbirdNVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual-Core Cortex-A9 (AP20H) @ 1 GHzNVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual-Core Cortex-A9 (AP20H) @ 1 GHzSamsung Exynos 4210 Dual-Core Cortex A9 @ 1GHzTI OMAP 4430 Dual-Core A9 @ 1 GHzGPUPowerVR SGX 540ULV GeForce @ 100-300 MHzULV GeForce @ 100-300 MHzARM Mali-400 MPPowerVR SGX 540RAM512 MB LPDDR1512 MB LPDDR2 @ 600 MHz data rate1024 MB LPDDR2 @ 600 MHz data rate1GB512 MB LPDDR2 - Dual-ChannelNAND2 GB, 16 GB microSD (Class 2)8 GB integrated (5.51 GB internal SD, 1.12 phone storage), up to 32 microSD16 GB integrated, up to 32 microSD16 GB integrated, up to 32 microSD8 GB integrated, up to 32 microSDCamera5 MP with auto focus and LED flash8 MP with autofocus, LED flash, 1080p24 video recording, 1.3 MP front facing5 MP with autofocus, LED flash, 720p video recording, VGA MP front facing8 MP with autofocus, LED flash, 1080p video recording, 2MP front facingDual 5 MP autofocus stereoscopic - 720P 3D capture, 1080P 2DScreen4" Super AMOLED 800 x 4804" IPS LCD 800 x 480

4" PenTile LCD 960 x 540

4.3" Super AMOLED Plus 800x480

4.3" Autostereoscopic 3D LCD 800x480

LG has secured a strategic partnership with YouTube to enable the Optimus 3D to both upload and locally play 3D content. YouTube feels that the Optimus 3D provides a leading 3D experience by enabling record and playback, and and in this way will catalyze 3D adoption.

The Optimus 3D also has a dedicated 3D interface, including some preloaded 3D games from gameloft. It looks like NOVA (as in the game, not the display - how's that for a namespace collision) will be an included HD 3D title. 

 

The fourth part of LG's strategy is getting into the "true tablet war" with the Optimus Pad. 

LG wants the Optimus Pad to be an optimal balance between portability and productivity with an 8.9" size, and thinks it has the form factor right. The size is indeed an interesting balance between the 7" and 10" form factors we've seen thus far. LG made numerous illustrative comparisons with the Galaxy Tab and iPad.

The Optimus Pad is NVIDIA Tegra 2 powered, running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and also incorporates a 3D camera system consisting of two 5 MP cameras. There's a host of preview modes, including mixed, anaglyph, and side-by-side viewing. There's also HDMI 1.4 output to playback that 3D on appropriate displays. The Optimus Pad also brings a 2 MP front facing camera (which seems to be the new standard) for HD video conferencing. We got some time with the Optimus Pad and plan to publish our impressions of the tablets we've seen so far in the next few days of MWC.

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The Optimus Pad will be available in April, the Optimus 3D in May.

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