"When AMD unveiled the Bobcat CPU architecture behind its first Fusion APUs, the company claimed its Atom-killer would achieve 90% of the performance of mainstream desktop processors. But does it? This article compares the AMD E-350's performance to more than 20 desktop CPUs between $87 and $999 to find out, and the results aren't particularly encouraging. Although Fusion offers much better integrated graphics than Intel's latest Atom, neither stands much chance of keeping up with even low-end desktop CPUs.

"Much like Intel, AMD has plopped a GPU right onto its chip die. However, AMD's GPU sounds a bit more advanced, with full DirectX 11 support (which Intel won't get until next year at the soonest).

"AMD's new low-power platform Brazos goes for the throat, attacking Atom where it's weakest -- graphics. AMD has announced four upcoming models, which are already shipping to OEMs and should pop up in netbooks, notebooks, and other form factors by January/February 2011 at the latest." | more

2011, dual-core with IGP

We have told you that AMD's Llano dual-core is coming in 32nm and this should happen in the first half of 2011. The following chip, codenamed Ontario, should also be an exciting twist.

First of all, it is a chip that has CPU and GPU cores and it is planned for the 40nm process that is usually reserved for graphics or chipsets, but not for CPUs. We believe that there is a strong chance the chip will be manufactured in Globalfoundries fab in Dresden, but we cannot confirm anything at this time.

Works just fine

We got word from our sources that the first Fusion, which Rick Bergman just demonstrated in Taiwan, is the real deal. Well, there's no reason to doubt this as senior vice president and general manager of AMD’s products group has showed it to all in Taiwan.

Our sources have confirmed that there is a prototype and that the chip has been taped out some time ago. In the CPU world, it takes roughly a year from the first successful tape out to a real product which indicates that the silicon is more than a few weeks old.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the second-biggest computer-processor maker, will unveil the first working versions of its Fusion line of chips in a bid to offer graphics features that rival Intel Corp. can’t easily match.

The Fusion lineup, which combines a microprocessor and a graphics processor in one piece of silicon, will appear in personal computers early next year, said Rick Bergman, a senior vice president at Sunnyvale, California-based AMD.

Advanced Micro Devices recently confirmed that it had received the first samples of its second Fusion design code-named Ontario that is aimed at netbooks, tablets and other low-power devices. But while AMD pins quite a lot of hopes onto Ontario, the company has so far been tight-lipped about its peculiarities, which seem to be pretty interesting.