AMD's Piledriver-based 'Trinity' to Arrive in Q1 2012

A leaked processor roadmap provides a first clue about the schedule of AMD's upcoming Trinity APUs.

Trinity will replace Llano in the performance, mainstream and entry-level CPU segments with updates new A8, A6, A4 and E2-series processors. The roadmap only relates to mobile processors and offers very few details, but it appears that the upgrade to the Piledriver CPU core and London graphics core won't change the positioning of the processors in the market.

The Bobcat core will be moved upmarket and extended to the Wichita APU for entry-level and mainstream notebooks later in 2012. The Bobcat-Krishna APU will replace the Ontario APU for compact notebooks in AMD's Deccan platform. Trinity, Wichita and Krishna will use variations of the London graphics core.

Not surprisingly, AMD is also driving down the power consumption of its ultra-low power Desna APU, which is at 5.9 watts today, but will be hitting 4.5 watts in the Hondo APU (also with Bobcat cores) next year.

Trinity should become part of the Comal platform next year, which seems to be coexisting with the Sabine platform throughout 2012 in the performance and mainstream segments. Deccan will replace Brazos in the entry-level and compact notebook range, while AMD will survive 2012 in the ultra-low-power segment as Brazos T.

2013 will bring the Samara APU with Jaguar CPU cores on the very low end. It is unclear how much this roadmap has actually changed over the past few weeks, especially since the firing of CEO Dirk Meyer, who was accused of not getting AMD into attractive mobile markets, which would suggest a potential focus on tablets. We were told that AMD would have tablet processors ready in 2012, and Samara looks a lot like the processor we were told about earlier this year.