AMD 780 Series Gives Mainstream PCs an Innovation Overhaul: Robust 3D Gaming, Ultimate Blu-ray™ Experience and Energy Efficiency

HANOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the availability of the industry’s most advanced motherboard GPU, the AMD 780 Series, delivering a rich computing experience for casual gamers and multimedia enthusiasts as the core of quiet and energy-efficient PC designs. When paired with an AMD Phenom™ 9000 series quad-core processor or Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor, the AMD 780 Series delivers significant enhancements in gaming and high-definition experiences for mainstream PC customers. The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU is scheduled to be widely available from more than 40 AMD partners at launch. Global OEMs are expected to offer AMD 780 Series-based PCs starting in Q2 2008.

“The launch of the AMD 780 Series marks an uncommonly large step forward in mainstream PC capabilities. Starting today, consumers can attain superior HD video and casual 3D gaming experiences, as well as remarkable energy efficiency”

The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU is a core platform component for both the AMD desktop PC platform codenamed “Cartwheel” and AMD notebook PC platform codenamed “Puma” which are both scheduled to launch in Q2 2008, as AMD innovation creates unprecedented high definition (HD) and 3D capabilities at mainstream PC price points.

“The launch of the AMD 780 Series marks an uncommonly large step forward in mainstream PC capabilities. Starting today, consumers can attain superior HD video and casual 3D gaming experiences, as well as remarkable energy efficiency,” said Phil Eisler, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Chipset Division. “The release of the AMD 780 Series is in keeping with the AMD vision that computing can deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience™ and now at mainstream PC price points.”

ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology & Mainstream DirectX10 Gaming

As the first AMD chipset to offer DirectX 10 game compatibility, casual gamers can now enjoy enhanced game performance, truly lifelike 3D graphics and dynamic interactivity in the latest game titles. Gamers looking to scale their performance with the addition of a discrete graphics card can achieve superior performance with ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology.¹ This technology harnesses the graphics power of both a discrete graphics card and the motherboard GPU in tandem, delivering in some applications up to 70 percent improvements in 3D performance.² In addition, the AMD 780G chipset is the second generation AMD chipset to feature AMD Overdrive^TM, a simple user interface that brings performance tuning to the masses.³

“AMD continues to deliver innovative hardware technology so that consumers and game enthusiasts can enjoy improved graphics experiences on Windows Vista," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows, Microsoft. "The new 780G series chipset provides enhanced performance scalability in DirectX 10 to gamers of all types, from casual to hardcore, so that everyone using DirectX 10 on Windows Vista can have a fantastic gaming experience that is tailored to their needs."

The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for HD

The AMD 780G chipset brings a full HD experience with support for the latest and most demanding formats, including VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 to the mainstream PC. Featuring the AMD Unified Video Decoder (UVD), it directs HD playback to the better-suited GPU rather than to the CPU so consumers may enjoy a smooth HD viewing experience—no lag, stalling or dropped scenes—in the latest HD-DVD™ and Blu-ray^TM titles. As a cool and quiet solution, AMD 780G-powered PCs may be placed in the living room as part of a home theater. In addition, PCs built around the AMD 780G can give consumers tremendous flexibility with a broad range of video interfaces, including DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI, and with support for AMD Surroundview^TM consumers may connect to multiple monitors.

Energy Efficient Computing

As the world’s first chipset to deliver 55nm process technology, the AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU delivers optimal power management both in idle, or when playing Blu-ray movies, without compromising performance. This motherboard GPU provides more computing power than the previous generation, yet draws less energy at idle, making the AMD 780 Series- based PCs ideal for consumers and enterprises looking for cool, quiet, energy efficient PCs.

Ecosystem Support

The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU will be widely available from partners, including ASUS, ASRock, Colorful, DFI, ELITEGROUP COMPUTER SYSTEMS CO., LTD, Foxconn Technology Group, GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD, J&W Technology Ltd., MSI Computer Ltd, Onda, PCPartner Ltd., Sapphire, Shuttle Computer Group Ltd., SOYO Group Inc., Speedway, SUPoX, Universal abit Inc., Unika and Yeston.

In addition, numerous system integrators are on board including Altech Computers, CDC S.p.A., Compuzone Inc., CyberPower Inc., Equus Computer Systems Inc., Firstway, Founder, iBUYPOWER, Icoda, Komplett, Leo Computer, Maingear PC, MESH Computers, Olidata, Pro2000, Rain Recording, ThirdWave, TongFong, Tsukumo, UnitCom, Velocity Micro, Vero, Vigor Gaming, Wolf & Fox and ZT Systems.

For press collateral pertaining to the AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU, including images and videos, please visit www.amd.com/780chipset/presskit.

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit www.amd.com.

Cautionary Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements concerning product and technology introduction schedules, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as “would,” “may,” “expects,” “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “projects” and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this release are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Risks include the possibility that Intel Corporation’s pricing, marketing and rebating programs, product bundling, standard setting, new product introductions or other activities targeting AMD’s business will prevent attainment of AMD’s current plans; AMD will require additional funding and may not be able to raise funds on favorable terms or at all; customers stop buying the company’s products or materially reduce their operations or demand for its products; the company will be unable to develop, launch and ramp new products and technologies in the volumes and mix required by the market and at mature yields on a timely basis; the company’s competitors, customers and suppliers may take actions that will negate the anticipated benefits of the company’s acquisition of ATI; demand for computers and consumer electronics products and, in turn, demand for the company’s products will be lower than currently expected; global business and economic conditions will worsen, resulting in lower than currently expected revenue in the first quarter of 2008 and beyond; there will be unexpected variations in market growth and demand for the company’s products and technologies in light of the product mix that it may have available at any particular time or a decline in demand; the company will be unable to transition to advanced manufacturing process technologies in a timely and effective way, consistent with planned capital expenditures; the company will be unable to maintain the level of investment in research and development and capacity that is required to remain competitive; and the company will be unable to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity or components to meet demand for its products or will under-utilize its microprocessor manufacturing facilities. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2007.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, SurroundView, The Ultimate Visual Experience and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

¹ Not all ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology features may be available for use with all operating systems. Please visit www.amd.com for more details.

² Based on testing conducted with the following system configuration:

Screen Resolution: 1024x768x32

AMD 780G –Phenom 9500 2.2GHz, HT 1.8 GHz, DDR2-800, WD 320GB

Intel G35 –Intel Q6600 @2.4 GHz, DDR2-800, WD 320 GB

Hybrid Graphics – ATI Radeon HD 3450

		Frames Per Second
Game		AMD 780G		AMD 780G + ATI Radeon HD 3450		Intel G35
Call of Duty 4		44		75		23
Half Life 2 EP2		40		68		15
Doom 3		35		60		12

³ AMD is not responsible for damage caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is ended with AMD OverDrive^TM software