AMD Reveals "Griffin" and "Puma" Mobile Platform

by Marco Chiappetta — Friday, May 18, 2007, 12:01 PM EDT

AMD recently disclosed a few details regarding their upcoming mobile platform technologies, codenamed "Griffin" and "Puma". We've been given some preliminary information regarding these plans and thought we'd share a few of the more salient details with you here. The "Griffin" codename pertains to an upcoming mobile processor that incorporates a number of features designed specifically for the mobile segment, with the intention of increasing performance and battery life. And "Puma" is the name given to the new platform as a whole.

According to AMD, Griffin will be manufactured at 65nm and it will feature a new mobile optimized, on-die Northbridge with a power optimized DDR2 memory controller, HyperTransport 3 connectivity, and larger L2 caches than current designs. The new memory controller should extended battery life thanks to new power saving features, one of which allows the controller to operate on separate power plane, and at a lower voltage than the execution cores. According to AMD, the new memory controller also enables deeper sleep states on systems with integrated graphics.

The execution cores in Griffin are also optimized for power efficiency thanks to new dynamic performance scaling abilities. Each core in the CPU will feature separate voltage planes and each core can operate at independent frequencies and voltages. Griffin processors will also minimize power consumption by always running at an optimal power state or by operating at a lower minimum power state than current products. The HyperTransport 3 link utilized by Griffin should also minimize power consumption through the use of dynamic scaling of link widths between the processor and chipset, which can be altered even while the cores are being utilized.

Speaking of the chipset, the initial foundation of "Puma" will be the RS780 chipset. RS780 features a DX-10 class graphics core with full support for accelerated Blu-Ray and HD-DVD playback and output options that include DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. We don't have many details regarding the IGP itself, but what you may find more interesting, is a feature of the chipset related to graphics. Apparently, RS780 will be able to switch on the fly between an IGP and a discreet GPU when operating on battery or AC power. AMD has dubbed this feature "PowerXpress".

AMD has stated that the combination of “Griffin” and “RS780” will provide significantly better performance-per-watt-per-dollar than their existing platforms. Finally, AMD offers that the tighter integration of chipset and CPU features is an important first step in the direction of the company's Fusion strategy.

Tags: AMD, Mobile, Platform, griffin, EA, PLA, AM, Puma, and, ALS, ile

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com