AMD Officially Launches Z-60 Chip for Windows Tablets
AMD is entering the tablet space with the launch of its new Z-60 chip. Aimed at performance tablets as thin as 10mm and SFF machines, the Z-60 is touted as AMD's lowest power APU and features support for Windows 8 as well as compatibility with Windows 7.
The Z-60 APU packs AMD's Start Now technology, which enables fast boot times as well as quick resume times. It also features support for USB 3.0, 1080p, HDMI out, and Direct X11. It doesn't look like there's any support for systems other than Windows, so anyone hoping to see an Android slate based on the Z-60 is out of luck for now.
The Z-60 is a dual-core chip with 1MB of L2 cache and HD 6250 graphics. It boasts a 1GHz clock speed and a 4.5W TDP. AMD says the Z-60 is already shipping to partners that are expected to launch systems based on the chip later this year. So, it looks like we won't have long to wait before we see this chip in action.
Microsoft's Surface tablets are launching on the same day as Windows 8, October 26, and we're sure to be inundated with Windows 8 tablets in the weeks and months following. Apparently there'll be Z-60 solutions mixed in with the Intel and ARM-based tablets before the year is out. Stay tuned!
Technically speaking, this is still the same 40nm Bobcat APU, with 2 x86 cores at 1 Ghz and a Radeon HD 6250, VLIW 5, 80 core GPU, clocked at 276 / 275 Mhz.
In other words, this has the same performance as the C-50 (or C-60 if you disable Turbo). The difference I think is that both the Z-01 and the Z-60 support DDR3L in addition to the regular DDR3.
Given that it's still manufactured with 40nm technology, and comparing the 4.5w TDP to the original 9w TDP of the C-50, it will be interesting to see how many of these Z-60's AMD will be able to make.
Technically speaking, this is still the same 40nm Bobcat APU, with 2 x86 cores at 1 Ghz and a Radeon HD 6250, VLIW 5, 80 core GPU, clocked at 276 / 275 Mhz.
In other words, this has the same performance as the C-50 (or C-60 if you disable Turbo). The difference I think is that both the Z-01 and the Z-60 support DDR3L in addition to the regular DDR3.
Given that it's still manufactured with 40nm technology, and comparing the 4.5w TDP to the original 9w TDP of the C-50, it will be interesting to see how many of these Z-60's AMD will be able to make.
If they were able to come up with a viable mobile chip that really shook things up, their stock would be a good buy right now. On the other hand, they could fail to see the true market and end up filing for bankrupsy in the comming years.
A 28nm updated Brazo is what we want Amd do this with a low TDP of 3.5 watts or less to compete with Arm as well.
I believe it was canceled, and the *new* Temesh Kabini with Jaguar cores is taking its place.
That would be incorrect.
Brazos I/II are TSMC bulk 40nm.
I wrote games for Z80s... darn, I am getting old :-)
Brazos beats Atom and most if not all ARM SoCs in performance per Hz on the CPU. If this is Brazos, then it is probably pretty decent. AMD's Hondo will probably be much better.
This seems to be some old chips being re-used, hence the older process node. Don't worry about successors, AMD has been working on a good one.
To be fair, that doesn't really disprove falchard's post. If GF wasn't doing good enough, then moving to a half-node with TSMC would have been a reasonable compromise. I think that falchard is wrong about it too, but his/her explanation doesn't seem too unlikely if it is true.
I can't downrank you, even though you deserve it...
In an aCtual review elsewhere on the site
You are correct in that mhz to mhz the AMD chips rule. I am in no way an atom supporter, I think they are an atrocity but the current generation of Atom chips (n2800) have more than twice the performance of the Z-60 in terms of CPU (2/2x 1ghz Vs. 2/4 x 1.86Ghz), and sadly not everything is optimized for GPU rendering.
http://www.sonexpc.com/benchmark/netbook
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Z-01-Notebook-Processor.54787.0.html
Also I Lol at all the people voting my previous post down. Go buy a C-50/Z-01 product, and play back 1080p video on it. I still love my little tablet, but the CPU is just too weak at its stock clocks. Fortunately you can flash an unlocked bios and get the extra 20% CPU needed on the version I purchased, but this is not possible on all Brazos systems.
Ignorance is bliss?