CEBIT: AMD unveils new graphics chip set

Advanced Micro Devices announced a new graphics chip set at the CeBIT conference in Germany.

The new AMD 780G chip set will include DirectX 10 -- an update to DirectX 9 -- a collection of APIs for handling multimedia tasks. The new chip set will also have nearly three times more transistors than its predecessor offering, according to Adam Kozak, a product manager at AMD.

"It has 205 million transistors, compared to 72 million in the AMD 690G," Kozak told Computerworld . "And while almost tripling the amount of transistors, we've cut energy consumption by up to 40 per cent, bringing it under 1 watt."

The new graphics chip set, which will run with AMD's Phenom and Athlon chips, connects the processor with functions like the graphics card, the mouse and MP3 players.

"Having integrated graphics will allow users to run more graphically intensive stuff," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group. "It's good for desktop users, but it's even more important for laptops. Laptop graphics cards are pretty expensive, plus they generate a lot of heat and use a lot of power. So AMD-powered laptops will have a graphics advantage, which will appeal to anyone who wants to run serious games or other graphics-intensive stuff. ... It will definitely appeal to the gamer crowd. They love this stuff."

Including the graphics on the chip set increases performance by 50 per cent to 60 per cent compared to the predecessor chip, Kozak added. "It's cool. It's energy efficient. It's quiet," he said. "It makes it more appealing to the person who wants to have a PC in the living room."

The new chip set is available immediately.

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