At the Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany, AMD announced the third generation of Embedded G-Series and LX SoCs, hoping to provide customers a broadened portfolio of performance options. The latest offerings expand ability to scale x86 platforms, starting with the entry-level AMD Embedded G-Series LX SoC, which is pin compatible to the previous generation of SoC devices.
Besides low-power processors, AMD also announced two higher performing SoCs, codenamed “Prairie Falcon” and “Brown Falcon,” which introduce pin compatibility between G-Series processors and high-performance AMD Embedded R-Series SoCs.
The new products expand upon AMD’s low power capabilities, bringing scalable performance, power, and price across the CPU, GPU, multimedia, and I/O controller hardware, helping to lower development costs for AMD customers. Together, the new G-Series processors should deliver immersive, graphically rich experiences across a broad range of platforms, from entry-level to mainstream gaming, digital signage, imaging, and industrial control.
“The latest AMD Embedded G-Series SoC additions offer our customers a broad range of mainstream embedded solutions, including two that are in the same package as the higher-performance R-Series,” said Scott Aylor (Corporate Vice President, General Manager Enterprise Solutions at AMD). “The new SoCs further our commitment to provide embedded design engineers with an evolutionary path toward the highest levels of power efficient compute and graphics capabilities, and a strong value proposition for a broad range of embedded applications.”
AMD claims the G-Series brings a balanced set of peripheral support, performance options, and overall energy efficiency are expected to make an immediate impact with AMD customers and the embedded ecosystem.
“The embedded market is an incredibly dynamic space right now, enabled by more immersive graphics and significant gains in power efficiency and performance,” said Shane Rau, IDC. “The advent of versatile system on chip (SoC) solutions that are pin-compatible across a range of performance and price, coupled with comprehensive embedded software stacks, are giving product engineers a much greater range of choices in building dynamic, graphically rich next gen systems.”
3rd Generation AMD Embedded G-Series SoC
The low-power AMD Embedded G-Series is designed to deliver an immersive, graphically rich experience and smooth system performance, all in a compact, energy efficient SoC with low power consumption and significant memory bandwidth for mainstream embedded applications.
With impressive gains in compute and graphics performance compared to the prior generation embedded G-Series, the new additions to the lineup are ideal for thin clients, IP set-top boxes, and TVs, casino gaming, industrial control and automation, digital signage, and communications networks. The new models include Excavator x86 CPU cores and 3rd generation Graphics Core Next (GCN 1.2, Tonga-class) graphics with support for OpenGL ES, OpenCL, DirectX 12 and EGL. The company is not stating support for Vulkan API at this time.
G Series Features and specifications
- Up to two “Excavator” x86 cores (Quad-Core / Quad-Thread)
- 28nm Process, GlobalFoundries
- AMD Radeon Graphics (up to four GCN compute units)
- 4K x 2K H.265 decode (10-bit compatibility on select devices) & multi-format encode & decode
- Multiple display technology – HDMI 2.0, DP 1.2, eDP 1.4
- 6-15W Thermal Design Power (TDP)
- Up to Dual Channel DDR4/DDR3
- Integrated AMD Secure Processor (embedded ARM TrustZone)
- 10-year planned longevity
Embedded G-Series LX Family SoC
The Embedded G-Series LX SoC is a new, low-power x86 SoC offering compelling performance for the price with advanced multimedia and display features. It features a Jaguar x86 CPU core with support for Error Correcting Memory (ECC). GPU part as ever is based on GCN, supporting DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and OpenCL 1.2. The Embedded G-Series LX SoC should be suited for numerous applications, including retail point-of-sale terminals, digital signage, arcade gaming, and industrial control. The AMD Embedded G-Series LX SoC uses the same FT3b socket as its predecessor codenamed “Steppe Eagle” and provides a higher-performance migration path for legacy customers that utilized AMD Geode platform.
G-Series LX Features and Specifications
- 2 “Jaguar” x86 cores
- AMD Radeon™ Graphics Core Next (GCN) graphics
- Multi-format encode & decode
- Multiple display technology – HDMI 2.0, DP 1.2, eDP 1.4
- 6-15W TDP
- Single-channel DDR3
- Integrated AMD Secure Processor (embedded ARM TrustZone)
- Industrial temperature – extended temperature SKUs
New AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs are available immediately with additional offerings planned through the first half of this year. The first AMD Embedded G-Series LX products are expected to be available in March.
Source: AMD
