AMD 800 chipset series

AMD 800 chipset series
CPU supported future Opteron, Phenom,
Athlon (X2, X3, X4)
Sempron
and Turion Ultra processors
Socket supported Socket F+, Socket G34 (server)
Socket AM3 (desktop)
Socket FS1 (mobile)
Southbridge(s) SB850, SB810, SB820M (mobile and embedded)
SP5100 (server)
Server chipsets
Uni-processor (1P) SR5580
Not known SR5690, SR5670
Desktop / mobile chipsets
Enthusiast segment 890FX
Performance segment 890GX
Mainstream segment 870, 880G
Miscellaneous
Release date(s) March 2, 2010 (890GX)
IGP Direct3D support 10.1 (880G, 890GX)
Predecessor AMD 700 chipset series
Successor AMD 900 chipset series

The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007. This chipset series also marks the return of AMD to the workstation/server market after the completion of the ATI acquisition in October 2006 with the first server chipsets.

Lineup

Server

The chipset series is targeted in three markets: the workstation/server market, the desktop market and the notebook market. Current information about the chipset series is very scarce, while the officially published information about the series is the server chipsets with two variants available, the AMD 890S chipset and the AMD 870S chipset, all of them paired with the SB700S series southbridge.[1] The chipsets were supposed to support the codenamed "Montreal" processor made on 45 nm process, in Socket G3 package, supporting both unbuffered or buffered DDR3 (with Socket G3MX), HyperTransport 3.0 and IOMMU, all of them forming the codenamed "Piranha" server platform. However as a result of shifted strategy, AMD abandoned plans for Socket G3 and G3MX completely and focused to deliver new server platforms. Also for uni-processor server platform, the combination of SR5580 (Originally codenamed "RS780") and SP5100 formed the codenamed "Catalunya" platform.

The codenamed "Fiorano" platform consists of codenamed "Istanbul" six-core processors, while "Istanbul" processors still feature Socket F+ and support dual-channel registered DDR2 memory, the platform supports HyperTransport 3.0 and IOMMU.[2]

The codenamed "Maranello" platform consists of six-core "Sao Paolo" or twelve-core "Magny-Cours" processors. These two processors support a new socket called Socket G34 with four-channel DDR3 support, with other platform features such as HyperTransport 3.0 and IOMMU support.[2]

The codenamed "Catalunya" platform consists of codenamed "Suzuka" quad-core processors, featuring Socket AM3 and support dual-channel registered DDR3 memory, the platform supports HyperTransport 3.0.[2]

The codenames of the chipsets "RD890S", "RD870S" and "SB700S" has also changed to "SR5690", "SR5670" and "SP5100".[3]

Desktop and Mobile

890FX

890GX

880G

870

Southbridges

While in the same internal event mentioned above, AMD gave a preview on the features of the SB8xx family of southbridges, as follows:[4]

Features

Desktop comparison matrix

Northbridge Socket Support Processor Support Fabrication
process (nm)
TDP HyperTransport 3.0 IOMMU CrossFireX
Enabled
Integrated
Graphics
IGP Frequency PCI Express 2.0 NB-SB Interface
890FX Socket AM3 Phenom II family,
Athlon II family,
Sempron
65 nm 19.6 W 2600 MHz
bi-directional
Yes1 Yes None N/A 42 lanes A-Link
Express III
890GX 55 nm 25 W No Yes Radeon HD 4290 700 MHz 22 lanes
880G 55 nm 18 W No Yes Radeon HD 4250 560 MHz 22 lanes
870 65 nm 12.5 W No No None N/A 22 lanes
Notes:
  1. Full IOMMU functionality requires a BIOS with an ACPI IVRS table present. Currently only some 890FX motherboards provide an IVRS table:
    • ASRock 890FX Deluxe3
    • ASRock 890FX Deluxe4
    • ASUS Crosshair IV
    • ASUS M4A89TD Pro
    • ASUS M4A89TD Pro/USB3
    • Biostar TA890FXE(latest BIOS required)
    • Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 (from Gigabyte Tech Support: use Bios ver F5 or higher, Board Rev 3.0 or higher)
    • Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 (beta-bios available from tech-support)
    • MSI 890FXA-GD70 (from bios 1.7 and greater)

Integrated graphics

Some members of the AMD 800 chipset series, the 880G and the 890GX have integrated graphics (IGP) that support hardware video playback acceleration at different levels. The IGP features are listed below:

IGP features
Chipset/
Codename
Gfx model
(Radeon)
DirectX API supported Video playback
acceleration
Video formats
decoding support
Multi-graphics Other video features Native video output support
AVIVO AVIVO HD+
UVD+AVP
MPEG-2 H.264 VC-1 DisplayPort
(with DPCP)
HDMI 1.3a
(with HDCP)
DVI
(with HDCP)
D-Sub
890GX/RS880DHD 429010.1YesYes, UVD 2FullFullFullATI Hybrid CrossFireXDual video stream1YesYesYesYes
880G/RS880PHD 425010.1YesYes, UVD 2FullFullFullATI Hybrid CrossFireXDual video stream1YesYesYesYes
RS880M seriesHD 4270
HD 4250
HD 4225
10.1YesYes, UVD 2FullFullFullNoDual video stream1YesYesYesYes
Notes:
  1. Dual video stream may include the followings at a maximum total bitrate of 40 Mbit/s:
    • 2 HD video streams OR
    • 1 HD video stream + 1 SD video stream + 1 HD audio stream

Southbridge issues (SB8x0)

AMD does not provide any SB8x0 errata publicly. Most OSes require patches in order to work reliably.

See also

References

  1. AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 presentation, presented by Mario Rivas, page 21 of 28. Retrieved December 14, 2007
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 (Japanese) PC Watch report, retrieved August 20, 2008
  3. (Japanese) 4gamer.net coverage, retrieved August 20, 2008
  4. ChileHardware thread, retrieved July 12, 2008
  5. Early boards based on the chipset used a NEC chip for USB 3.0 support

External links