Six versions, dual to quad-core
AMD's upcoming Llano APU series has been the talk of the town for quite some time, but we lacked quite a few details and much of its spec was in the realm of speculation.
However, now we can start to piece the puzzle together and it appears that the first Llano engineering samples will appear in March 2011. Production should start in June and we can expect availability in early Q3, provided AMD manages to stick to its schedule.
Llano will appear in several distinct versions, starting with three dual-core SKUs with Winterpark DirectX 11 graphics. These parts will have a 65W TDP and at least one of them will appear at a later date, towards the end of Q3. A triple-core version with the Beavercreek DX11 capable GPU will appear launch in Q3, with a 100W TDP. At the top of the pyramid we're looking at two proper quad-cores with Beavercreek graphics and a 100W TDP, both slated for Q3.
Quick reminder, Llano is a Socket FM1 part based on a new 32nm K10.5-derived core codenamed Husky. It will rely on the Hudson D3 Fusion Controller Hub (FCH) to communicate with the outside world and it will support DDR3 up to 1600MHz. The desktop Lynx platform and Llano processors will eventually replace AMD's mainstream lineup based on Callisto, Propus and Rana processors.
The Hudson FCH is a rather interesting piece of technology in its own right and since it will be used with all future AMD APUs we will post the full spec in a separate article.
