While attending a press event out in Los Angeles, California last week, to discuss the impending Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 launch, we had the chance to get an early look at some of the first, fully functional samples of AMD’s upcoming “Llano” processor, or APU (Applications Processer Unit).



For those unfamiliar with Llano, it is 32nm “Fusion” product that integrates CPU, GPU, and Northbridge functions on a single die. We don’t have full specifications and can’t disclose much about the test platform pictured here, other than to say the CPU portion of the APU was a quad-core implementation and the integrated GPU had no trouble running Alien vs. Predator at a moderate 1024X768 resolution with DirectX 11 features enabled.





AMD Llano Running Alien vs. Predator (click for larger view)





AMD Llano Reference Test Platform (click for larger view)





AMD Llano APU Cooler (click for larger view)

We have talked about Llano a few times in the past, though. To reiterate, the first thing to know about Llano is that it isn't based on Bobcat or Bulldozer. Llano is a 32nm, low-power derivative of the company's current Phenom II architecture fused with a GPU that will target a wide range of operating environments. As we’ve mentioned before, Llano will sport a quad-core processor and target more mainstream market segments. Unlike current Phenom IIs that have an L3 cache, however, Llano forgoes any L3 in favor of a larger compliment of L2 per core--1MB of L2 cache per core, to be exact. Other features are a 3GHz-or-higher operating speed, support for DDR3 memory, and an on-die DX11-class graphics processor.



No word of pricing or availability just yet, but Llano should be sampling to OEMs soon and arrive sometime in the first half of next year.

And just in case we were too subtle in our opening paragraph and you didn't catch it, AMD has also disclosed the name of their initial, second-generation DX11 class graphics cards, the Radeon HD 6800 series. The first two products in the series will be the Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon HD 6850. Behold.



To show off some of the capabilities of the upcoming Radeon HD 6800 series cards, AMD produced a new demo dubbed "Mecha Warrior" that features--you guessed it--a large Mech robot. The Mech runs through a cityscape producing debris along its path. The flying debris is created and animated on the GPU using the open source Bullet Physics library. More details are disclosed in the video below.

Stay tuned to HotHardware for more information and a full review of the Radeon HD 6800 series, coming VERY soon.