AMD Announces World's First x86 Quad-Core System-on-Chip

APUs codenamed "Temash" and "Kabini".

During CES 2013, AMD announced the world's first x86 quad-core system-on-a-chip designed for both tablets and laptops.

The accelerated processing units are codenamed "Temash" and "Kabini" and will be the first quad-core system-on-a-chip processors based on an x86 architecture as opposed to the more standard ARM mobile chips.

Temash is compatible for Windows 8 tablets and convertible tablet/notebook hybrids. AMD said it'll deliver 100 percent graphics processing performance when compared to the firm's previous Hondo chips.

As for the Kabini, it'll be available in both dual-core and quad-core variants, which can be utilized in ultrathin notebooks. AMD noted that it'll offer improved battery life, accompanied by a 50 percent performance improvement when compared to the firm's Brazos 2.0 processors.

AMD also announced it's shipping a new "Richland" APU to manufacturers. It's said to offer performance increases between 20 and 40 percent. A successor based on AMD's 28nm manufacturing process to Richland is planned in the form of "Kaveri", which is scheduled for a release during the second half of 2013.

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Top Comments

29 Ð

Fokissed , January 11, 2013 1:41 AM

"AMD said it'll deliver 100 percent graphics processing performance when compared to the firm's previous Hondo chips."
So the same performance as Hondo?
21 Ð

jacobdrj , January 11, 2013 1:42 AM

They are late, but I think this one summarizes it better than some other sites I have seen. Kudos to AMD... If only their marketing department could demonstrate that these awesome SOCs exist and their benefit to potential consumers...
21 Ð

BrutalPigeon , January 11, 2013 1:38 AM

Sooo, Richlands are already shipping to OEM's. When will tom have a review?

Go AMD!

Other Comments

19 Ð

m32 , January 11, 2013 1:33 AM

Why does Tom's have to be so late with articles?
21 Ð

BrutalPigeon , January 11, 2013 1:38 AM

Sooo, Richlands are already shipping to OEM's. When will tom have a review?

Go AMD!
20 Ð

Marco925 , January 11, 2013 1:40 AM

Exciting! A Tablet to do real work on.
29 Ð

Fokissed , January 11, 2013 1:41 AM

"AMD said it'll deliver 100 percent graphics processing performance when compared to the firm's previous Hondo chips."
So the same performance as Hondo?
21 Ð

jacobdrj , January 11, 2013 1:42 AM

They are late, but I think this one summarizes it better than some other sites I have seen. Kudos to AMD... If only their marketing department could demonstrate that these awesome SOCs exist and their benefit to potential consumers...
0 Ð

anonymous@guest , January 11, 2013 1:52 AM

Didn't Intel announce a quad core SoC for the next ATOM? Maybe AMD's will come out first and that is what they are saying.
7 Ð

JAYDEEJOHN , January 11, 2013 2:04 AM

Announcing and having, two different things
12 Ð

ltdementhial , January 11, 2013 2:09 AM

im expecting to see AMD rise with the help from his ARM partners, mean while il remain buying their products for my low end-htpc-mid end builds. GO AMD Go!.

PS: im not a fanboy i just don't like to see intel going mono like anyone here and anyway i sell pc's with APU's and FX 6300 like hot cakes...there so much to pick but people just ask me for those and i5 for more high end builds xD

PS2: excuse my bad english.
4 Ð

piesquared , January 11, 2013 2:42 AM

JAYDEEJOHNAnnouncing and having, two different things

They do already have them. Benchmarks have been shown and they are being shipped to partners.
1 Ð

BrutalPigeon , January 11, 2013 3:04 AM

Here are some test od Richland. I don't if they are legit. But it looks quite a good improvement over Trinity.

http://hardware.mydrivers.com/2/227/227950_11.htm
1 Ð

BrutalPigeon , January 11, 2013 3:08 AM

ups, it's not legit
4 Ð

g00fysmiley , January 11, 2013 3:39 AM

amd has one big strength... and it is intel's weakness, when they purchased ati and now under amd they are making great low tdp graphic chipsets. with the soc integration they might have a market they cna dominate due to having better graphics than intel and since nvidia does not have a x86 lic they have no graphics competition unless via comes up with somethign out of left field this might be amd's big break
12 Ð

AncientNoob , January 11, 2013 4:07 AM

lostmyclanAMD Fuc% intel and other competidor ahmm ? whats upppppppppppp

Smartest thing I read all day
9 Ð

ta152h , January 11, 2013 5:19 AM

Fokissed"AMD said it'll deliver 100 percent graphics processing performance when compared to the firm's previous Hondo chips."So the same performance as Hondo?

I'm glad someone said it.

This site is not only over a day late, but the writing is atrocious. In virtually every article I see very poor writing, whether it be grammatical mistakes, awkward phraseology, or mistakes that convey incorrect information (like the example you pointed out).

There's just no excuse for such poor writing. They need to find a new editor, the current one sucks.
1 Ð

anonymous@guest , January 11, 2013 5:30 AM

Zak Islam is Dyslexic and he "bytes" the "Big One".

Horrible writing, duse.
2 Ð

SteelCity1981 , January 11, 2013 5:42 AM

SoC designs are the future of central computing chip technology. Smart phones and tablets have already incorporated SoC technolgoy in recent years. I mean AMD and Intel already show some eliments of an SoC on their x86 cpus now with their APU's that combined the gpu and cpu onto one core structure. So it's just the next logical step that x86 cpus will be full blown SoC's in the near future with cpu, gpu, audio, device controllers etc all being intergrated onto one central computing circut to cut manufacture cost and to reduce power consumption.
-1 Ð

tomfreak , January 11, 2013 11:00 AM

I am not entirely happy with quad core. Brazos 2.0 are weak on IPC. They should have improve the IPC, not doubling the cores.

We still need a low power Core 2 duo/Athlon X2 replacement. Not some underpowered IPC quad core.
0 Ð

blazorthon , January 11, 2013 12:03 PM

TomfreakI am not entirely happy with quad core. Brazos 2.0 are weak on IPC. They should have improve the IPC, not doubling the cores. We still need a low power Core 2 duo/Athlon X2 replacement. Not some underpowered IPC quad core.

The article says that Kabini is supposed to be around 50% greater performance than Brazos 2.0. The Temashi models are probably for lower power markets than Brazos 2.0 rather than higher performance.

As for what those performance numbers translate into for performance per core, IDK, but the article isn't really conclusive on that, so I wouldn't pass judgement just yet.
-2 Ð

tomfreak , January 11, 2013 3:09 PM

I hope that 50% improvement isnt come from the extra 2 cores. Still, even with all that, they shouldnt even bother getting quad core version out. Would prefer another even higher IPC/higher clock dual core over quad core.

The tablet apps are mostly still dual core optimized, so even porting over to x86 is likely to dual core only.
-3 Ð

bitmaiden , January 11, 2013 5:31 PM

Quad core x86 SoC? I think AMD is fearing the power of ARM processors on tablets and smartphones. I see this announce more as a marketing to call the attention than something that can have a real improvement on current systems.

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