AMD's Puma notebook graphics 3x quicker than Intel's current best?
AMD
Watch the video here, exclusively on HEXUS.tv.
AMD is feeling particularly bullish about the prospects for its latest
mobile platform, Puma, and it's not hard to see why.
HEXUS
detailed Puma's underpinnings some nine months' ago,
comprising of the all-new, mobile-oriented Griffin CPU (Turion Ultra)
and accompanying
780M chipset.
The CPU is based on the K8 architecture present on the 65nm Athlon 64
range, albeit with significant power-saving technology - with
independent power-planes for each core and the northbridge - built-in
to conserve mobile battery life.
Patrick Moorhead, AMD's VP for advanced marketing, allowed the HEXUS.tv
film crew behind-the-scenes access at CeBIT 2008, to shoot a
Puma-powered MSI notebook taking on an Intel equivalent - Penryn CPU on
top of a G35 motherboard - when running a timedemo in Half-Life 2, at
1,024x768.
The video,
viewable
here, shows the AMD notebook to be up-to 3x faster,
Surprised? You shouldn't be.
Now, AMD launched the desktop variant, RS780,
last week. 780G, the headline SKU, combined a
fully-functioning DX10-compliant
integrated graphics core - based almost
entirely on a
discrete Radeon HD 2400 GPU - with a new supporting southbridge. Our
view was that 780G's 3D performance unequivocally raised the bar for
IGP-based rendering, ensuring that casual gamers could play the latest
games at a 1,024x768 resolution.
Much of 780G's goodness has been carried on over to the mobile 780M,
leading to, well, stellar 3D performance from a mobile IGP.
There are a few flies on the ointment, however. Puma-based notebooks
will only be available in Q2/Q3, and we fully expect to see Intel hit
back with its
Centrino
2 platform - formerly known as Montevina - that will ship
with
energy-efficient 45nm Penryn CPUs on a
G45-class
mobile chipset that also promises potent DX10 graphics and full-screen,
hardware-accelerated HD decoding for Blu-ray content.
Bottom line: AMD's Puma looks to be a winner on paper, sure, but don't
count
out Intel's Centrino 2. H2 2008 will bring significant IGP performance
upgrades to
the mobile space.
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...fully charged battery...
We saw BluRay playback quickly demonstrated just after this was shot - and the quality difference was impressive - but not easy to capture on camera :(
We'll test the battery claims soon enough ;)Quote
is that with the screen dimmed as much as possible, with the speakers barely audible, and the actual blueray playing from a drive (not HDD cached), and at full screen ?
i trust someone at hexus will have great fun watching films to test :)Quote
Probably they will set screen to 50% and use headphones...to mimmick what you would have on a plane. They will probably also use a 12cell battery, Meet the Spartans (60mins long) etc etc :p
I don't think they would run it from a HD since ripping blueray to HD is not something they would want to suggest people should do.
Either way, intel's solution with centrino 2 I think will be better than current IGP solutions, but from early indications not AS good as AMD's.
Their CPUs might be better, but intel's solution apparently scores 11003dmarks 2006 versus approximately 1600 for the 780G. I don't believe in 3dmark, but it might give a clue as to relative performances. Current IGP from intel can't even finish 3dmark 06 i think.Quote
Thanks Hexus for the episode :bowdown:Quote
Looks very promising judging by what I have seen on the show. A very attractive product for some casual gaming on the go, without having to find the plug ALL the time.
Thanks Hexus for the episode :bowdown:
Definitely have to add my thanks.
I've been ranting on about AMD Fusion recently, which promises 1/2 way decent graphics, but the subject of the video address sounds good, too.
15fps compared to 49fps - Hmmm... Depends on the games, the settings, etc, and I'll wait till Hexus/THG/etc gets to test the platform in person before I'm convinced. However, hopefully winning by a factor of 3 (plus) in ANY benchmark means AMD are doing something right.
I just want to get some gaming in at medium/high settings on a "mobile" computer.
I wonder what these laptops will cost, at launch?Quote
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