AMD VISION Engine Marketing Brief

AMD VISION EngineMARKETING BRIEF

AMD VISION Engine

HistoryThe history of technology is full of examples of increases in processing power,

reduction in size, and increase in affordability. One such extreme example is the

launch of the AMD Fusion line of APU (Accelerated Processing Units). The introduction

of these processors is so monumental that a new product category had to be

defined. The APU was born and what it effectively does is merge the functions

previously controlled by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a GPU (Graphics

Processing Unit) into one single chip (as well as a dual channel DDR3 memory

controller). This alone is a major step forward for computing and ease of system

building but to take it one step further, the CPU component is a multi core CPU

(2 or 4 cores) and the GPU functionality is that of a true discrete level GPU

(including high performance on 3D, vivid video playback, and improvements in

overall PC speed).

This document will focus on what drives this incredible discrete level GPU

performance via the AMD VISION Engine. Let’s begin with a few definitions to

ensure consistency of terminology.

“The AMD A-Series APU

represents an inflection

point for AMD and is

perhaps the industry’s

biggest architectural

change since the invention

of the microprocessor.”

Rick Bergman Senior Vice President and General Manager AMD Products Group

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Northbridge Quad-Core CPU Discrete DirectX® 11 GPU with UVD 3

AMD A-Series APU

+ + =

66 sq. mm 13W

200 sq. mm 65W-95W

108 sq. mm 30W

228 sq. mm 65W-100W

AMD VISION Engine Marketing Brief 2

TERMINOLOGY

APU

Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) – A processor which consists of a multi-core x86 CPU combined with the highly parallel

vector processing architecture of a discrete-level GPU. These functional blocks are on a single piece of silicon, are joined by

a high performance bus, and both have local access to high speed memory.

DISCRETE LEVEL GPU PERFORMANCE

There are many measures of GPU performance but one commonly used in the industry is gaming performance on new

graphics intense games. To ensure that the user has a good experience the game must play stutter free with as many

visual effects enabled as possible. AMD defines 30 Frames Per Second (FPS) as a good user experience.

One other measure of discrete level performance is stutter free and smooth HD video playback. This simply means that high

definition video is played back as it was intended to be seen by the artist that created it. No stuttering, no dropped frames,

just crisp smooth video.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam run on AMD Radeon™ HD 6450 GDDR5. 41.62 FPS observed at settings of: 1366x768 — 0x AA 0xAF and DX9 High Quality Settings

AMD was awarded with the highest industry honor, “2011 Best Choice of Computex TAIPEI Award” for its Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) in the Computer & System category.10


DEFINITION

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AMD VISION Engine Components Benefits

AMD Video Accelerator

AMD Radeon™ Cores

AMD VISION Engine Software

Smooth 1080p HD Playback, DVD Upscaling

Life-Like Gaming with DirectX® 11

Accelerated Web Browsing

AcceleratedMedia Apps5

AMD Image EnhanceAMD Steady

Video Technology4 AMD Perfect Picture HD7

AMD VISION ENGINEAMD’s revolutionary APU graphics hardware and software that leverage AMD Radeon™ Cores, Video Accelerator and

AMD VISION Engine Software to enable vivid HD entertainment, blazing fast Internet browsing and accelerated applications.

AMD VISION Engine


AMD RADEON™ CORESWhat they are:

Radeon™ Cores are a key feature of the AMD VISION Engine that accelerate GPU enabled applications. GPU shader

processors are the industry standard term for Radeon™ Cores. The Radeon™ Cores typically increase with each

VISION technology Tier and APU to help provide a numerical differentiator between Tiers. E-350 = 80 Radeon™ Cores,

A4 = 240 Radeon™ Cores, A6 = 320 Radeon™ Cores, A8 = 400 Radeon™ Cores (those are notebook numbers, desktops

have even more).

What they do:

> Unlock the immense processing power of the GPU and boost system performance by offloading demanding tasks

and applications from your CPU — helping you do more with your notebook.1

> The Radeon™ Cores help accelerate applications like Internet Explorer® 9, Firefox® 4, and Adobe® Flash® 10.1 for a faster,

richer, more vibrant Web experience.2

> With the new GPU accelerated features in Microsoft® Office® 2010, Mozilla Firefox® and Internet Explorer® 9, Radeon™

Cores enable improved graphics performance (over non GPU accelerated versions), smoother visual effects and faster

Web page load time for the improved productivity.3

AMD Radeon™ Cores High Level Architecture Block


AMD VIDEO ACCELERATORWhat it is:

Video Accelerator is a key feature of the AMD VISION Engine that helps accelerate video (both internet based and local).

The technical name of the Video Accelertor is UVD (Universal Video Decoder).

What it does:

> Accelerates many formats such as h.264, vc-1, DivX™ and even dual video (picture in picture) based video

to full 1080p high definition

> Enhances video quality through features such as Advanced De-interlacing, Dynamic Contrast Adjustment,

Color Vibrancy Adjustments, Noise Reduction, Edge Enhancement

> AMD Steady Video technology is a unique feature that helps stabilize shaky video4

AMD Video Accelerator High Level Architecture Block


AMD VISION ENGINE SOFTWAREWhat it is:

AMD VISION Engine Software is unique software developed

by AMD to enable The Ultimate Visual Experience™.

The components of AMD Vision Engine Software are

Catalyst™ graphics drivers, OpenCL™ Drivers, and

AMD Vision Engine Control Center.

What it does:

> Stability – AMD Vision Engine Software helps ensure

that PC’s are stable and operating at an efficient manner

> Performance – AMD Vision Engine Software updates continually help to improve performance on key applications

> Innovation – AMD Vision Engine Software continually deliver new and exciting features through monthly Microsoft

certified updates

AMD Vision Engine Software is AMD’s free software suite that drive APU’s (as well as AMD GPU’s). It is composed of three

major software components as follows:

1. AMD Catalyst™ Graphics Display Driver

The main software that permits the computer to communicate

with the APU (as well as the GPU)

2. AMD VISION Engine Control Center

The application that permits users to control/adjust available

options of their hardware

3. AMD Catalyst™ Driver for OpenCL™

The main software that permits the computer to perform “compute” tasks

by balancing workload between the CPU cores or the GPU cores. This enables

AMD App Acceleration for helping offload tasks to the GPU when needed.5

AMD Vision Engine Software is based on three guiding principles.

1. Stability – Every month we internally and objectively benchmark our stability against our competitors using publicly

available tools from Microsoft. Third party group, Perseus Labs, conducted stability testing with Microsoft® Windows

Logo Kit (WLK) Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) to compare AMD graphics hardware stability versus that of

competitors. Using a variety of drivers and configurations, the tests determined driver stability under extreme conditions.

Notably, only AMD hardware and driver software passed 100% of test runs successfully without any system crashes

or failures.6

2. Performance — We have the industry’s ONLY public commitment to monthly driver updates and have been doing it for

many years now. Driver updates might include items such as performance optimizations to 3D, 2D or video performance.

In fact since the launch of our AMD Radeon™ HD 5870 product we have seen a 70% performance improvement in the

game Resident Evil V7. It should be clearly understood that with our products and our commitment to frequent updates,

users often experience an added benefit to the product they initially bought.

3. Innovation — In a typical month we might have a couple of brand new features that did not previously exist. These are

the result of our dedicated engineering team that constantly finds new uses for our users’ hardware. Recent examples are

things like AMD Dual Graphics, AMD Steady Video technology and a major usability upgrade in our user interface.

FACT: AMD Catalyst™ drivers have been downloaded over 50 million

times in 2010 alone

AMD App Acceleration is enabled by the

Catalyst™ OpenCL™ driver5


SUMMARYAMD VISION Engine

Components:

1. Radeon™ Cores

2. AMD Video Accelerator

3. AMD VISION Engine Software

a. AMD Catalyst™ Driver

b. AMD Driver for OpenCL™

c. AMD Vision Engine Control Center

Features:

> Helps smooth and stabilize web and home video with AMD Steady Video Technology4

> Enhances color and contrast of photos and videos AMD Perfect Picture HD8

> Enables vivid HD video with AMD Radeon™ Discrete-Class Graphics

> Immersive gaming with AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics 9

> Helps speed up web browsing and accelerates photo and video editing with AMD App Acceleration5

All components of AMD VISION Engine Software can be easily found on www.amd.com

SOFTWAREAMD VISION Engine

©2011 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Phenom, Radeon, and combinations thereof

are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Microsoft and DirectX are

registered trademarks, of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Open CL™ and the Open CL logo

are trademarks of Apple, inc. and used by permission of Khronos. Other names used in this presentation are for identification

purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. PID#

1 Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash Player 10.1 feature support for hardware-accelerated H.264 decoding. H.264 video is decoded in Flash Player 10.1 by a GPU or media accelerator whenever capable hardware is available, which greatly improves playback performance and battery life. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/fplayer10.1_hardware_acceleration_02.html

2 In testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs, the AMD Fusion Processor E-350 showed up to 3 times faster performance (with hardware acceleration on) with Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 (29 FPS vs 7) and Firefox 4 using DirectX 9 and Direct2D as compared to hardware acceleration off.

3 In testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs ,the AMD Fusion Processor E-350 showed 2.4 times faster performance when using Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 which demonstrated 22 FPS vs 9 with hardware acceleration on.

4 AMD Steady Video is a technology designed to eliminate shakes and jitters during the playback of home video. Users may turn on this technology via the AMD Catalyst Control Center™ or the VISION Engine Control Center application. AMD Steady Video will work with content that can run on Adobe® Flash® Player 10.2 (and later versions) or on any player which has been programed to use AMD’s decode acceleration (DXVA) engine. AMD Steady Video is not designed to (a) isolate overlays, logos or captions, or (b) improve the playback of letter boxed, premium/commercial, or interlaced content. AMD Steady Video is only recommended for use with videos that contain unwanted shakes and jitters.

5 AMD App Acceleration is a set of technologies designed to improve video quality and enhance application performance. Full enablement of some features requires support for OpenCL™ or DirectCompute (including AMD’s Universal Video Decoder (UVD)). Not all products have all features and full enablement of some capabilities and may require complementary products

6 Results from “Project Final Report: Catalyst Stability Testing” from Perseus Labs in Round Rock, TX http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Best-Ever-AMD-Catalys™-iw-1925420413.html?x=0&.v=1

7 Measured on ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 using AMD Catalyst™ 9.10 53 FPS and 10.10 drivers 90 FPS, using the following image quality settings: 1920x1200x32 8xAA 16xAF overallquality=high motionblur=on shadowquality=high texturedetail=high hdr=high

8 AMD Perfect Picture HD is a an image, video processing and display technology that features advanced de-interlacing, dynamic contrast adjustment, color vibrancy, noise reduction and edge enhancement that provides brilliant colors and sharp images for smooth playback of Blu-ray and other HD content on your PC. Additional hardware (e.g. Blu-ray drive, HD or 10-bit monitor, TV tuner, wirelessly enabled HDTV) and/or software (e.g. multimedia applications) are required for the full enablement of some features. HD Video display requires an HD video source. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems — check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.

9 AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics requires an AMD “A” series APU plus an AMD Radeon™ discrete graphics configuration and is available on Windows® 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows® 7 Home Premium, and/or Windows® 7 Home Basic OS. Linux OS supports manual switching which requires restart of X-Server to engage and/or disengage the discrete graphics processor for dual graphics capabilities. With AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics, full enablement of all discrete graphics video and display features may not be supported on all systems and may depend on the master device to which the display is connected. Check with your component or system manufacturer for specific mode capabilities and supported technologies

10 Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/24/idUS28911+24-May-2011+MW20110524

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AMD VISION Engine Marketing Brief