First Look: AMD's 690 series chipset

1024x768 Testing

At a more reasonable 1024x768 resolution, Half-Life 2 still remains just about playable, but Quake 4 is barely more than a stutter-fest. The discrete X1300 card still runs at least twice as fast as the RS690, and G965 isn't even on the gaming radar, but it'll suffice for desktop usage.

First Thoughts

Despite not being a graphical powerhouse, and only offering a basic 640x480 gaming experience, the RS690 still does far more than the widely used Intel G965 integrated chipset will ever do, for those who enjoy a splash of gaming. Now that popular OEMs (like Dell and HP) are investing more heavily in AMD, we should see more affordable, 3D capable machines arriving in people's homes in time for the inevitable Vista upgrade.

AMD has developed a very low power integrated graphics solution that offers a range of very useful functionality that can easily be implemented by board and OEM manufacturers, with minimal extra cost. This provides a better experience for the consumer, without paying extra for a discrete graphics card, a larger/heavier case or an increased electricity bill.

If anything, we're really looking forward to seeing the mobile version of this chipset being used in thin and light notebooks. Having an HDCP compliant HDMI port on a very portable laptop will make it a fantastic travelling companion, and a potentially huge seller in the business sector if AMD can make more power efficient mobile processors.

Considering that AMD has just announced that it is committed to producing chipsets for Intel's processors as well as its own, perhaps we will see mobile Core 2 processors being used with AMD chipsets in the future too. Look out for more bit-tech coverage on AMD's 690G chipset soon.