AMD Launches First-Ever AMD FirePro APU

I thought this would be AMD's big margin market for APUs ever since the Llano came out, just didn't know if it would come out under the Opteron or Fire brands. A one chip workstation solution is gonna make OEMs take notice if they can get them out in quantity. They look like rebadged A10-5800K and 5700, I wonder how much of a premium AMD is going to put on them.

I'm really curious how much a FirePro APU laptop will cost. Hopefully far less than laptops with discreet Quadro and FirePro graphics. As a project management company we rarely have to work with 3D CAD drawings, so there's no justification spending money on a CAD laptop (we're a very mobile company), so I tend to go with powerful gaming laptops because it's much cheaper, like the HP DV series.

If the FirePro APU laptops can match that, it would really hit the spot.

I also use HP DV series with APU for general 2D cad (sine basic 3D work) mobile stations and they work great.

Now, if these carry the Firepro branding, as AMD states, support and reliability are critical. It would be nice if this will be the case, and this type of testing & support trickles down to mainstream products.... HINT! HINT!

That being said, I will reread, but why release an Unlocked core? Dunno about anybody else, but that is the last thing I would want, getting calls from people fiddling around with that would be that last thing I would want.

What's the pricing?

Yakk said:

I also use HP DV series with APU for general 2D cad (sine basic 3D work) mobile stations and they work great.

Now, if these carry the Firepro branding, as AMD states, support and reliability are critical. It would be nice if this will be the case, and this type of testing & support trickles down to mainstream products.... HINT! HINT!

That being said, I will reread, but why release an Unlocked core? Dunno about anybody else, but that is the last thing I would want, getting calls from people fiddling around with that would be that last thing I would want.

Click to expand...

Overclocking in professional rendering platforms does sound kinda like users would be asking for problems. Sure you wanna go fast and stuff, but why compromise reliablity in a production environment? Leave the messing around outside factory specifications to home users who want to play around with their toys.

SkribbelKat said:

Overclocking in professional rendering platforms does sound kinda like users would be asking for problems. Sure you wanna go fast and stuff, but why compromise reliablity in a production environment? Leave the messing around outside factory specifications to home users who want to play around with their toys.

Click to expand...

Given that these chips will be OEM only by the sound of the PR it is pretty weird. Don't often see much customization in OEM BIOS/EFI. I think it might just be an artifact of the rebranded desktop chips since there is no A10-5800 non K.

What I forgot to think about is Trinity's (lack of) support for ECC which could be a major stumbling block for serious workstation adoption. There is a rumored Trinity "2.0" revision in the works for late 2012/early 2013 that could address that but it would be a feature that never sees much support with Kaveri right around the corner.