AMD Leo

According to the original plans, the release of the AMD Leo platform was to coincide with the release of the RD890 chipset in approximately the fourth quarter of 2009. However, in July 2009, it became known that the exit of the platform was postponed, and its output was postponed to the first quarter of 2010 ^[1] .

In November 2009, the VR-Zone website published information that the release of Leo will take place in April 2010, and the website The Digitimes Internet resource, referring to sources from the motherboard manufacturers, claimed that both platforms will appear on the market in May. At the same time, both resources converged on the fact that in May the AMD Dorado platform will also be presented, aimed at the average price range. ^[2] .

In early March 2010, i.e. On the eve of CeBIT 2010 , AMD held a conference on the upcoming six-core Phenom II X6 processors , which are part of the AMD Leo platform. A working prototype of the Phenom II X6 was demonstrated on a Gigabyte 890GX motherboard. However, during the demonstration, the manufacturer did not disclose any new information, technical characteristics or test results ^[3] .

Preliminary Information

In July 2009, only the following was known about the technical components of the platform: a motherboard with a Socket AM3 connector, a RD890 or RS880 chipset with a new IGP chipset (both compatible with the new SB850 Southbridge chipset), DDR3 memory, HyperTransport 3.0 bus technology and Crossfire multi GPU technology ^{[ 1]} .

In early September 2009, the VR-Zone Internet resource clarified information about components, adding information about support for processors manufactured using 45nm technology, 890FX / GX + SB850 chipsets, AMD Evergreen and Hemlock video cards (a top-class dual-processor model supporting API DirectX 11 ), as well as support for ATI Stream and OpenCL technologies, Hybrid CrossFire, CPU overclocking capabilities, profile support for the memory subsystem, and 6 Gb / s Serial ATA ports and USB 3.0 ^[4] .

In the June issue of PC Games magazine a preliminary review of the platform was published, which clarifies known information at the time of printing the number (approximately, the second half of April). According to published information, within the framework of the AMD Leo platform, a new six-core Thuban processor and a quad-core Zosma will be presented, produced at 45nm norms. The six-core Thuban crystals are all in the same AMD Phenom II line and have an X6 index. Initially, three models will be presented: 1035T (with a frequency of 2.6 GHz), 1055T (2.8 GHz) and 1090T (3.2 GHz). Closer to the third quarter of 2010, AMD Phenom II X6 1075T processor with a clock frequency of 3 GHz will appear. In this case, the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T processor will exist in two versions: with 95 W and 125 W power consumption. And the Zosma processor will actually be the same six-core Thuban, but with two cores disabled. At the same time, the AMD Leo platform will include only one quad-core model: AMD Phenom II X4 960T with a clock frequency of 3 GHz and a consumption level of not more than 95 W.

At the same time, despite the fact that at the end of 2009, support for only DDR3 memory and Socket AM3 connectors was announced, the article refers to the backward compatibility of processors with Socket AM2 + and DDR2 memory. However, it will not work in bundles of Socket AM2 + / DDR3 and Socket AM3 / DDR2 processors. The letter T in the name of processor models means support for AMD Turbo Core technology (similar to Intel Turbo Boost ). In addition, these processors will support AMD Cool'n'Quiet , AMD-V , SSE4a, AMD OverDrive instruction set.

The system logic of the platform will be represented by the 890FX / GX North Bridge (GX contains an integrated graphics core) and the SB850 South. For peripherals, 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 ports (including ATI CrossFire X technology), 8 PCI Express x1 ports, 4 PCI slots are supported. For the first time at the chipset level, support will be provided for the operation of six devices with SATA 6 Gb / s interface In addition, there will be support for 14 USB 2.0 devices and two PATA.

Thus, the AMD Leo platform will be significantly changed compared to AMD Dragon: processors and video subsystems will be updated, due to which AMD Leo will have a much higher performance compared to its predecessor ^[5] .

Final Information

• AMD Leo - a new generation platform for powerful PCs (rus.)