AMD demonstrates Radeon HD 7000 at Intel Developer Forum

It’s not just Intel’s own products that are on display at this year’s edition of the IDF in San Francisco. In the middle of the competitor’s stronghold, AMD demonstrates a fully functional graphics processor from the upcoming Radeon HD 7000 series, also known by the code name Southern Islands.

The circuit in question is adapted for laptops and manufactured in 28 nanometers, a shrinkage from today’s 40 nm. AMD does not reveal any more details than that, but is content to show an early test system and the game Dirt 3.

AMD Southern Islands is based on a new architecture called Graphics Core Next Gen. With the new generation graphics processor, AMD focuses on general calculations via interfaces such as OpenCL and DirectCompute, but at the same time promises not to compromise on performance in games and 3D.

According to AMD, the first graphics processors in the Radeon HD 7000 series will be released sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. However, the semiconductor manufacturer TSMC’s previous problems with transitions to new manufacturing technology make many industry experts doubt whether AMD will really have time to deliver any major volumes before the turn of the year.