AMD will launch the new Bulldozer arhitecture in Q2 2011. With the Zambezi processors comes a new platform, Socket AM3+. The heart of the new motherboards will be the new 9 series of chipsets, a family we now know more about.
AMD’s currently planning four different chipsets for desktops and the product names will be similar to those already available; AMD 990FX, AMD 990X and AMD 970 are the three northbridges that ships without integrated graphics, while AMD 980G sports a DirectX 10.1 capable graphics circuit clocked at 560 MHz. Common for the four northbridges is support for HyperTransport 3.0, AMD IOMMU and PCI Express 2.0.
More new functions can be found in the previously mentioned southbridges SB950 and SB920 where AMD has pushed in SATA 6.0 Gbps ports and 14 USB 2.0 ports. The top model SB950 also supports RAID 5, two extra PCI Express 2.0 lanes and FIS-based switching for a more efficient storage controller.
As expected the roadmap point to AMD’s new chipsets arriving sometime early Q2 2011, together with the new Bulldozer processors.
Source: AMD Zone
