AMD Releases the Dragon Desktop Platform Technology at CES 2009
AMD promises to offer elite-le
Dragon platform technology combines AMD?s highest-performing CPU, the AMD Phenom II X4 processor, with ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series graphics and AMD 7-Series chipsets. Dragon-based systems are available for up to $1,200 U.S. dollars, AMD said.
Leading global PC manufacturers HP, Dell and Alienware plan to offer Dragon platform technology-based desktop systems in the first quarter of 2009, with Dell offering immediate availability in its Dell XPS desktop line.
Available initially as the Phenom II X4 940 at 3GHz and the 920 at 2.8GHz, the new quad-core design is the highest performance processor ever launched by AMD. Previously codenamed Deneb, the Phenom II chips feature a unified 6MB L3 cache plus a 512KB L2 cache dedicated to each core and support for DDR2 memory up to 1066MHz.
In the Dragon platform, the Phenom II chips fit into AMD's AM2+ socket infrastructure, but a planned transition to the AM3 socket later in the first quarter of 2009 will add support for DDR3 memory up to 1,333MHz, AMD said.
However, while rival chipmaker Intel already markets chips that support the faster DDR3 memory. But AMD seems to count on the fact that the DDR3 memory is still expensive for the mainstream users.
The heart of Dragon platform technology is the AMD Phenom II X4 processor featuring intelligent multi-core technology that automatically provides processing power where it?s needed most during multitasking among demanding applications. Offering frequencies up to 3.0 GHz with significant headroom for overclocking,6 AMD Phenom II CPUs give consumers the power to use their favorite productivity, HD gaming and multimedia applications without skipping a beat.
The platform offers fast DirectX 10 graphics to improve integrated graphics processor performance, and ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics allows gamers to enjoy gaming in the highest game settings on display resolutions beyond HD, limited only by the resolution of their monitors, according to AMD.
AMD Phenom II CPUs also feature AMD Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 which automatically provides power management improvements. Its efficient multi-core design offers low processor temperatures and quiet fans, even when computing in HD.
Free Software Supercharging Consumers can take performance to the next level with free software from AMD. Download all now at: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx.
Dragon platform technology consisting of the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor, ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB graphics card, the AMD 790GX motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2-1066 memory can be purchased for approximately $900 USD. By comparison, a competitive platform consisting of an Intel Core i7 3.2 GHz, x58 motherboard, 3 GB of DDR3-1333 memory and the same GPU can be purchased for just over $2100.11 AMD claims that both platforms run the most demanding PC games like Crysis at elite performance levels, and deliver comparable Crysis benchmark frame rates at an average of 38 frames per second.
In addition to Dragon platform technology, individual AMD Phenom II X4 processors will be available from AMD channel e-tailers at launch:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition processor ? (3.0GHz) ? $275 MSRP
AMD Phenom II X4 920 processor ? (2.8GHz) ? $235 MSRP
Leading global PC manufacturers HP, Dell and Alienware plan to offer Dragon platform technology-based desktop systems in the first quarter of 2009, with Dell offering immediate availability in its Dell XPS desktop line.
Available initially as the Phenom II X4 940 at 3GHz and the 920 at 2.8GHz, the new quad-core design is the highest performance processor ever launched by AMD. Previously codenamed Deneb, the Phenom II chips feature a unified 6MB L3 cache plus a 512KB L2 cache dedicated to each core and support for DDR2 memory up to 1066MHz.
In the Dragon platform, the Phenom II chips fit into AMD's AM2+ socket infrastructure, but a planned transition to the AM3 socket later in the first quarter of 2009 will add support for DDR3 memory up to 1,333MHz, AMD said.
However, while rival chipmaker Intel already markets chips that support the faster DDR3 memory. But AMD seems to count on the fact that the DDR3 memory is still expensive for the mainstream users.
The heart of Dragon platform technology is the AMD Phenom II X4 processor featuring intelligent multi-core technology that automatically provides processing power where it?s needed most during multitasking among demanding applications. Offering frequencies up to 3.0 GHz with significant headroom for overclocking,6 AMD Phenom II CPUs give consumers the power to use their favorite productivity, HD gaming and multimedia applications without skipping a beat.
The platform offers fast DirectX 10 graphics to improve integrated graphics processor performance, and ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics allows gamers to enjoy gaming in the highest game settings on display resolutions beyond HD, limited only by the resolution of their monitors, according to AMD.
AMD Phenom II CPUs also feature AMD Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 which automatically provides power management improvements. Its efficient multi-core design offers low processor temperatures and quiet fans, even when computing in HD.
Free Software Supercharging Consumers can take performance to the next level with free software from AMD. Download all now at: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx.
Dragon platform technology consisting of the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor, ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB graphics card, the AMD 790GX motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2-1066 memory can be purchased for approximately $900 USD. By comparison, a competitive platform consisting of an Intel Core i7 3.2 GHz, x58 motherboard, 3 GB of DDR3-1333 memory and the same GPU can be purchased for just over $2100.11 AMD claims that both platforms run the most demanding PC games like Crysis at elite performance levels, and deliver comparable Crysis benchmark frame rates at an average of 38 frames per second.
In addition to Dragon platform technology, individual AMD Phenom II X4 processors will be available from AMD channel e-tailers at launch:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition processor ? (3.0GHz) ? $275 MSRP
AMD Phenom II X4 920 processor ? (2.8GHz) ? $235 MSRP
