AMD launching HD 7000M, gets power saving technology Enduro

AMD has offered alot of rebranded mobile graphics cards this generation, but now it’s time to introduce the upper segment with some fresh news. Except for the new HD 7700M, 7800M and 7900M graphics cards, the company introduces Enduro which take up the fight with NVIDIA Optimus.

Because of the now relatively powerful graphics circuits that is integrated into our processors, neither AMD nor NVIDIA has developed anything new in the lower segment, but has settled for rebranding graphics cards. There is still money to be made in the upper segment on the marker though, which is where AMD now releases new graphics cards. The HD 7700M and 7800M series is based on their Cape Verde that can be found in the Radeon HD 7750 and 7770, while their new king of the hill; HD 7900M is Pitcairn in disguise, used in the Radeon HD 7850 and the 7870.

*Maxvimum value, there will be several models with lower memory frequency/bandwidth

The new graphics cards from AMD has alot of similarities with their discrete counterparts, but as usual it is the best chips that has been handpicked for lower power consumption, that will find its way into laptops.

Except for the performance which should have increased with approximately 30 to 60 percent compared to their previous flag ship, the HD 6990M, the tessellation performance should also have improved significantly thanks to the new GCN architecture. All graphics cards support exactly the same technologies as their discrete counter-parts, with the exception of the HD 7700M series that will have to settle for PCI Express 2.0 support.

NVIDIA has succeded in taking a large part of the mobile market shares, thanks to their Optimus technology which dynamically switches between the discrete graphics card and the integrated graphics (if such a card exists).  What this results in is relatively good battery time with normal use, even on computers with high gaming performance. One of the main features with the new graphics cards from AMD is the new Enduro technology, which takes up the fight with NVIDIA Optimus. We can’t say anything other than: that’s about time!

Enduro gets in the fight against NVIDIA Optimus

The company’s new ZeroCore technology has been used to develop Enduro. The computer can switch to the processors integrated graphics to completely turn off the discrete graphics card, which in turn lead to lower power consumption and sound level when the graphics cards fan is turned off. The graphics card is activated when there is a demand for higher graphics performance, and it’s this dynamic function that has given it it’s name, Enduro. At least this sounds as a better solution than NVIDIA’s Optimus where the graphics card never will be turned off completely, but will always be consuming a small amounf of power in the background.

Power-gating allows the graphics circuits to shut down big parts of the GCN units when they are not needed, to have just enough of activated to supply the monitor with an image. PowerTune which the company introduced with the launch of the Radeon HD 6900 literally forces the power consumption to go down where it is possible, to make sure that the graphics card consumes as little power as possible depending on what type of load it is subjected to.

We can expect that laptops with the new graphics cards should show up on store shelves within the next few weeks. Nordichardware is now trying to get their hands on a computer to evaluate the new graphics cards, not to mention to see if Enduro is as good as AMD promises.