AMD’s Fusion Will Be Based On The Phenom Core
AMD's idea of having a CPU and a GPU on the same chip is not something new, because others tried it before, without any interesting results (I am talking about the dead & gone Cyrix MediaGX). Anyway, the market looks different today when compared to late 90s, as well as AMD's approach to the idea. The AMD Fusion technology should hit the market in late 2009, and we have a long road until then, but for now, let's stick to what we know: according to sources from AMD, the Fusion chip will be a redesign of the current Phenom processor...
Today, we have on-board video chips for low-cost and media center computers, and tomorrow, with Fusion's help, we could have the CPU and GPU on the same chip, taking the manufacturing price of such systems even lower. On the other hand, such solutions could also be used on various portable devices, such as game consoles and other gadgets.
For now, 2009 seems one century away, but in the meantime, AMD should bring in a Turion 64 mobile CPU with even closer integration of the GPU, which should help extending the battery life of notebooks using it, according to sources from inside the company.
I don't know how good is going to end up Fusion to be, but this may be the winning card for AMD. If the desktop and server markets seem lost, the mobile devices market is a sector where AMD could make up for the lost territory and prepare its comeback against Intel, but until we get to see that, the coming year is going to be probably one of AMD's hardest years so far...
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