Hardware Insights Forum

Llano motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI

Fusion is way past due. Indeed, it took so long for the marriage of AMD and ATI to produce an offspring that combines a CPU and GPU on the same silicon die that Intel popped one out first. The Pineview Atom's CPU and GPU cores have shared the same silicon since 2009. AMD didn't release its first Fusion-based Zacate and Ontario processors until early this year, which is right about when Intel unleashed Sandy Bridge, the first CPU/GPU hybrid for real PCs rather than netbooks and ultraportables. More than six months later, Sandy finally has some competition from Llano, Fusion's second coming.

By now, you've no doubt read our coverage of the mobile variant of this Fusion APU, a so-called "accelerated processing unit" in AMD's hip new lingo for the next generation. You've probably also pored over the pages of test results that make up our in-depth look at how Llano fares on the desktop. Hold tight, because there's even more of this story to tell. Llano comes with a new FM1 socket and A75 chipset, so it's hitting the desktop amidst a crowd of fresh motherboards eager to prove their mettle.