AMD 800 chipset

The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007. This chipset series also marks the return of AMD to the workstation/server market after the completion of the ATI acquisition in October 2006 with the first server chipsets.

Server

The chipset series is targeted in three markets: the workstation/server market, the desktop market and the notebook market. Current information about the chipset series is very scarce, while the officially published information about the series is the server chipsets with two variants available, the AMD 890S chipset and the AMD 870S chipset, all of them paired with the SB700S series southbridge. The chipsets were supposed to support the codenamed "Montreal" processor made on 45 nm process, in Socket G3 package, supporting both unbuffered or buffered DDR3 (with Socket G3MX), HyperTransport 3.0 and IOMMU, all of them forming the codenamed "Piranha" server platform. However as a result of shifted strategy, AMD abandoned plans for Socket G3 and G3MX completely and focused to deliver new server platforms. Also for uni-processor server platform, the combination of SR5580 (Originally codenamed "RS780") and SP5100 formed the codenamed "Catalunya" platform, which is planned for a second-half of 2009 release.

The codenamed "Fiorano" platform consists of codenamed "Istanbul" six-core processors, scheduled to be released in the second half 2009, while "Istanbul" processors still feature Socket F+ and support dual-channel registered DDR2 memory, the platform supports HyperTransport 3.0 and IOMMU.

The codenamed "Maranello" platform consists of six-core "Sao Paolo" or twelve-core "Magny-Cours" processors, scheduled to be released in the first half of 2010. These two processors support a new socket called Socket G34 with four-channel DDR3 support, with other platform features such as HyperTransport 3.0 and IOMMU support.

The codenamed "Catalunya" platform consists of codenamed "Suzuka" quad-core processors, scheduled to be released in the second half 2009, featuring Socket AM3 and support dual-channel registered DDR3 memory, the platform supports HyperTransport 3.0.

The codenames of the chipsets "RD890S", "RD870S" and "SB700S" has also changed to "SR5690", "SR5670" and "SP5100”.

Desktop and Mobile

890FX

· Codenamed RD890

· Single AMD processor configuration

· Four physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x8 electrical which can be combined to create two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x16 electrical, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 38 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 2.0 for A-Link Express III solely in the Northbridge

· HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0

· ATI CrossFire X

· AMD OverDrive

· IOMMU

· Pairs with SB850 southbridge with support up to six SATA 6.0 Gbit/s ports

· Enthusiast discrete multi-graphics segment

890GX

· Codenamed RS880D

· Single AMD processor configuration

· Two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (one @ x16 or two @ x8 in Crossfire mode), one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 2.0 for A-Link Express III solely in the Northbridge

· Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 4290

· Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR3 chips up to DDR3-1333.

· ATI PowerPlay technology

· Two physical PCI-E x16 slots (one 16x and one 8x electrically. In Crossfire mode, both will revert to 8x electrically)

· HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0

· ATI CrossFire

· Hybrid CrossFire X

· AMD OverDrive

· Performance hybrid multi-graphics segment

880G

· Codenamed RS880

· Single AMD processor configuration

· One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 2.0 for A-Link Express III solely in the Northbridge

· Integrated graphics: Mobility Radeon HD 4250

o Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR3 modules up to DDR3-1600.

o ATI PowerPlay 7.0 technology

· HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0

· ATI CrossFire

· Hybrid CrossFire X

870

· Codenamed RX880

· Single AMD processor configuration

· One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 2.0 for A-Link Express III solely in the Northbridge

· HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0

Southbridges

While in the same internal event mentioned above, AMD gave a preview on the features of the SB8xx family of southbridges, as follows:

· A-Link Express updated to PCI Express 2.0 x4 lanes giving 2 GB/s bandwidth, named "A-Link Express 3.0"

· Southbridge incorporating 4 PCI Express 2.0 lanes

· Supporting C6 power state, which is featured in Fusion processors

· Southbridge incorporating Gigabit Ethernet MAC

· Support integrated clock generator as optional feature

· Support for AHCI 1.2 with SATA FIS–based switching support

· Mandatory support for SATA 1.5 Gbit/s, 3.0 Gbit/s, and SATA 6.0 Gbit/s - no support for Sata 6.0 Gbit/s in SB810.

· Two embedded 8051 controllers, and one dedicated for DASH compliance

· Support for 14 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 1.1 ports, 3 integrated EHCI controllers - no support for USB 3.0 in initial products, early boards based on the chipset used a NEC chip for USB 3.0 support.

· Supports 5 fan controls, 8 Vin and 4 Tempin for hardware monitoring

Features

Desktop Comparison Matrix

Integrated graphics

Some members of the AMD 800 chipset series, the 880G and the 890GX have integrated graphics (IGP) that support hardware video playback acceleration at different levels. The IGP features are listed below:

Southbridge issues(SB8x0)

AMD does not provide any SB8x0 errata publicly. Most OSes require patches in order to work reliably.

• Windows platform:
• Microsoft KB982091
• Linux platform:
• HPET operation with MSI causes LPC DMA corruption on devices using LPC DMA (floppy, parallel port, serial port in FIR mode) because MSI requests are misinterpreted as DMA cycles by the broken LPC controller
• SATA soft reset fails when PMP is enabled and attached devices will not be detected

source: AMD articles