AMD launches the Beema and Mullins APUs

Posted on Tuesday, April 29 2014 @ 13:46 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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AMD introduces Beema and Mullins, two new mobile SoC APUs for tablets and low-end laptops. These chips promise significant improvements in terms of efficiency, they offer 50 percent higher clockspeeds at a significantly reduces TDP versus the previous generation, Kabini.
Designed to enable the best user experience on today’s most popular and innovative PCs, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced its 3rd-generation Mainstream and Low-Power Mobile Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Combining category-leading compute performance1,2 with unique features and rich user interactions, the 2014 AMD Mainstream and Low-Power Mobile APUs (formerly codenamed “Beema” and “Mullins,” respectively) are the ideal choice for consumer and commercial client devices alike. These new mobile APUs feature up to four newly-designed x86 CPU cores with updated, industry-leading AMD Radeon™ graphics and a hardware-level data security solution based on the ARM® Cortex®-A5, all on a single, power-sipping system-on-chip (SoC). Products based on these new APUs are already announced by Lenovo and Samsung, with many more expected on-shelf in time for the 2014 back-to-school shopping season.

“When designing our 2014 Mainstream and Low-Power APUs, we were determined to once again set the standard in graphics and total compute performance in fanless form factor categories – and we’ve done just that,” said Bernd Lienhard, AMD corporate vice president and general manager, Client Products. “These processors combine the latest core technologies – including the first-ever ARM-based security solution on an x86 processor – with user experiences that will delight consumer and commercial buyers alike in a package that’s impressively energy efficient.”

The new accelerated processors come equipped with the latest hardware features, impressive performance increases, and enable differentiated software experiences for more natural user interaction, a best-in-class video streaming experience, and a full Android experience on Windows-based PCs using BlueStacks software optimized for AMD.

Unmatched Feature Set
The 2014 AMD Mainstream and Low-Power Mobile APUs are designed for consumer and commercial mobile devices of all shapes and sizes, from fanless tablets to 2-in-1s like detachable and convertible notebooks, to small-screen and ultrathin laptops. They feature up to four x86 “Puma+” CPU cores and AMD Radeon™ R Series graphics based on Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, which enables fast performance, outstanding image quality and low power consumption. Additional power management features integrated into the APUs include:

  • AMD Enduro™ technology3 that enables longer battery life;
  • AMD Start Now technology3 for quick boot-up and resume from sleep mode;
  • AMD Turbo Core technology3 that senses when a computing task requires more performance.

    Enhanced Security
    And, marking AMD’s first implementation of ARM-based technology into processors designed for consumer and commercial client devices, the 2014 AMD Mainstream and Low-Power APUs feature an AMD-developed platform security processor (PSP) based on the ARM Cortex-A5 featuring ARM TrustZone® technology for enhanced data security. These are the first and only x86 processors available to integrate an ARM core for security. The integrated PSP taps into the open standards-based ARM TrustZone ecosystem and partitions the new processors into two “virtual CPUs” – a “secure world” and a “normal world” based on the type of data being processed – and ensures secure storage and processing of sensitive data and trusted apps including online payments, digital rights management and enterprise- and web-based services.

    Category-leading Performance
    The 2014 AMD Mainstream and Low-Power APUs deliver category-leading compute power and a best-in-class gaming experience. Through the robust feature set of these new APUs and engineering prowess, they exhibit impressive performance improvements when compared to the previous generations and to the competition.

    2014 AMD Mainstream APUs:
  • Up to 100% better graphics performance over the previous generation (“Kabini”)
  • Up to 20% power reduction versus the previous generation (“Kabini”)
  • Increased memory support from the previous generation to DDR3-1866
  • Up to 50% better graphics performance6 and up to 7x the compute performance1 versus Intel® Pentium® (“Haswell U”)
  • Up to 3x the graphics performance and over 35% better system performance8 than Intel® Pentium® (“Bay Trail M”)

    2014 AMD Low-Power APUs:
  • Over 2x the graphics performance-per-watt and nearly 2x the productivity performance-per-watt versus the previous generation (formerly codenamed “Temash”)
  • Better graphics performance than Intel® Core™ i311
  • Three times the compute performance of Intel’s Atom™ processor


  • About the Author

    Thomas De Maesschalck

    Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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