1. Overview of Recent Chipsets for the AMD Platform
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_______ AMD-ATI
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ATI entered the PC chipset market in 2002 with the integrated graphics chipset family called Radeon IGP & IXP for value to mainstream desktop and notebook PCs both for AMD and Intel, where
They were geared toward the OEM market. A shift occurred in late 2004 with the release of ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series for AMD K8 processors. The current AMD Chipsets are:
Northbridge
ATI 480 Series with or without integrated Radeon X300 graphics core
First released on November 8, 2004. The first ATI chipset for the AMD K8 processors with the official model name ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series for AMD Processors. The series includes ATI's first chipset with dual PCI Express x8 supporting CrossFire.
ATI 580 Series
Released on March 1, 2006. Actually there is only one model that features dual PCI Express x16 supporting CrossFire.
AMD 690 Series with integrated Radeon X700 graphics core
Released on February 28, 2007. AMD's first integrated graphics chipset. Supports HDMI and partial HD hardware acceleration.
AMD 7 Series with or without integrated graphics
To be released in Q3–Q4 2007. Supports HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0. The high-end model supports dual PCI Express x16. The integrated graphics supports universal video decoder (UVD).
Southbridge
Each northbridge can be coupled with southbridge
ATI SB400 (IXP 400)
ATI SB450 (IXP 450)
ATI SB460 (IXP 460)
ATI SB600 (IXP 600)
ATI SB700 (IXP 700) (Q4 2007)
via A-Link Xpress (PCI Express x2) or A-Link Xpress II (PCI Express x4). As A-Link Xpress (II) is backward compatible with PCI Express links, they can also be coupled with any third-party southbridge that relies on PCI Express links to connect to northbridge such as
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 for AMD Processors (codenamed RS480), released on November 8, 2004
ATI Radeon Xpress 200P for AMD Processors (codenamed RX480), released on November 8, 2004
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 for AMD Processors (codenamed RS482), released in June 2005.
ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 for AMD Desktop (codenamed RS482), released on May 23, 2006
ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 for AMD Desktop (codenamed RS485), released on May 23, 2006
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire Edition (codenamed RD480), released on September 27, 2005. This chipset was renamed twice:
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire Edition in September 2005
ATI CrossFire Xpress 1600 in April 2006
AMD 480X CrossFire after the acquisition of ATI by AMD
ATI SB450 (IXP 450), released in June 2005
ATI SB460 (IXP 460), released on March 1, 2006 along with RD580
ATI SB600 (IXP 600), released on May 23, 2006 along with Radeon Xpress 1100 and Socket AM2
Northbridge
RS480
HT 1000/800MHz
22 PCI Express lanes with links 16,1,1,4 (2/4 for A-Link Xpress II)
Radeon X300 (RV370)-based Integrated graphics with 300MHz core clock
RX480
Discrete graphics version of RS480
RS482
Die-shrink of RS480 from 130 nm to 110 nm
RS485
The same as RS482 apart from 400MHz graphics core clock and component video out.
RD480
HT 1000/800MHz
22 PCI Express lanes with links 16,1,1,4 or 8,8,1,1,4 (2/4 for A-Link Xpress II) supporting CrossFire
Southbridge
SB450
2 PATA, 4 x SATA at 1.5Gbps
RAID 0/1
4 PCI Express lanes (2/4 for A-Link Express II)
HD Audio, 8 x USB 2.0
SB460
A die-shrink of SB450, pin-compatible with SB600
SB600
1 PATA, 4 x SATA at 3.0Gbps
RAID 0/1/10, AHCI (NCQ, Hot-Plug)
4 PCI Express lanes (2/4 for A-Link Xpress II)
HD Audio, 10 x USB 2.0
3. AMD 580 Series Chipset Motherboards
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Models
ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 (codenamed RD580) for enthusiast users, released on March 1, 2006 (the AM2 version was released on May 23, 2006). The chipset was renamed to:
AMD 580X CrossFire after the acquisition of ATI by AMD
AMD 570X CrossFire (codenamed RD570)
ATI SB600 (IXP 600), released on May 23, 2006
Northbridge
RD580
HT 1000/800MHz
40 PCI Express lanes with links 16,16,1,1,1,1,4 (2/4 for A-Link Xpress II) supporting CrossFire
RD570
HT 1000/800MHz
32 PCI Express lanes with links 16,8,1,1,1,1,4 (2/4 for A-Link Xpress II) supporting CrossFire
Southbridge
SB600
1 PATA, 4 x SATA at 3.0Gbps
RAID 0/1/10, AHCI (NCQ, Hot-Plug)
4 PCI Express lanes (2/4 for A-Link Xpress II)
HD Audio, 10 x USB 2.0
The main difference of the dual PCI Express x16 graphics between AMD and NVIDIA is:
AMD: The two PCI Express x16 links are connected via Xpress Route inside northbridge so that data from one PCI Express x16 slot traveled to the other graphical slot with minimal latencies and at a highest possible rate.
NVIDIA: One PCI Express x16 link is connected to northbridge and the other to southbridge. northbridge and southbridge is connected via HyperTransport 2.0 with the same bandwidth as PCI Express x16 (8.0GB/s bidirectional) so that this architecture should not be a bottleneck.
AMD's first integrated graphics chipset AMD 690 Series consists of
AMD 690G (codenamed RS690; mainstream class IGP), released on February 28, 2007
AMD 690V (codenamed RS690C; value class IGP), released on February 28, 2007
ATI SB600 (IXP 600), released on May 23, 2006
There is no discrete graphics version like RD690 or RX690 as seen in previous chipset roadmaps.
Northbridge
RS690
HT 1000MHz
24 PCI Express lanes with links 16,1,1,1,1,4 (2/4 for A-Link Express)
ATI Radeon X1250 Graphics derived from Radeon X700 graphics core
RS690C
The same as RS690 except for ATI Radeon X1200 Graphics
Southbridge
SB600
1 PATA, 4 x SATA at 3.0Gbps
RAID 0/1/10, AHCI (NCQ, Hot-Plug)
4 PCI Express lanes (2/4 for A-Link Express II)
HD Audio, 10 x USB 2.0
Integrated Graphics
ATI Radeon X1250 Graphics
400MHz core clock, 1GB video memory
Vertex Shader/Pixel Shader/Texture Mapping/Render Output Units: 0/4/4/2, DirectX 9.0 Pixel/Vertex Shader Model 2.0/2.0
VGA: 2048 x 1536, DVI: 2560 x 1600, HDMI 1.2: 1080p, TV: 1080i
MPEG-2/VC-1/H.264: hw/sw/sw. Support for Avivo
Integrated HDMI audio controller (stereo PCM and 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS)
SurroundView support for up to three monitors with an ATI discrete graphics card
ATI Radeon X1200 Graphics
The same as Radeon X1250 except for the lack of DVI/HDMI support
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