AMD 890GX chipset with onboard 1080p-capable HD 4290 GPU confirmed

AMD have officially announced their latest chipset, the AMD 890GX, which incorporates integrated ATI Radeon HD 4290 graphics as well as paving the way for the company's upcoming AMD Phenom II X6 hexacore processor.  Out of the box the 890GX chipset will support 1080p HD Blu-ray playback, including picture-in-picture support, in addition to SATA 3.0 6Gbps interface and USB 3.0 support.

If you'd rather pair it with a separate graphics card or two, the AMD 890GX supports ATI CrossFireX technology.  Still, the basic integrated graphics are enough to upscale standard-definition DVDs and support DirectX 10.1 gaming, as well as decode the MPEG2, VC-1 and H.264 video formats.

There's also gigabit ethernet support, HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express Generation 2.0 support.  AMD say the 890GX chipset will be the first of several 8-series models, and will form the basis of a new desktop platform that we'll find out more about in Q2 2010.

Press Release:

AMD Unveils Versatile AMD 890GX Chipset for High Definition Entertainment on Virtually Any PC Budget

New Chipset Serves as the Foundation for 2010 Client Platforms Featuring ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 Graphics, Advanced SATA 3.0, and USB 3.0 Connectivity for an Outstanding Out-of-Box 3D Graphics and HD Entertainment Experience

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —3/2/2010

AMD (NYSE: AMD) and its motherboard partners today unleashed ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 Graphics with the AMD 890GX Chipset, a versatile, affordable and exceptionally energy efficient solution for an incredible, high definition visual computing experience.

The AMD 890GX chipset redefines the way you play with versatile graphics configurations, including DirectX® 10.1 graphics on the motherboard and support for up to two high-performance ATI Radeon™ Premium Graphics cards with ATI CrossFireX™ technology. The same AMD 890GX motherboard which can be used to build an efficient and slim home theater PC using the integrated ATI Radeon HD 4290 Graphics, can be augmented with ATI Radeon™ HD 5450 Graphics for a dual-graphics performance preview, or upgraded to a gaming powerhouse with ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 Graphics and the visual realism of DirectX® 11.

With Integrated ATI Radeon HD 4290 Graphics, family and friends can enjoy accelerated and enhanced high definition and 1080p Blu-ray™ playback including dual-stream PiP (Picture in Picture) on Blu-ray™ 1.1. 1 Standard DVD movies can be viewed in near high-definition quality with DVD upscaling with post-processing to enhance standard and low resolution videos and movies on HD displays. ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 Graphics are designed to decode and play back Blu-ray™ and other HD content with support for MPEG2, VC-1, and H.264 formats.

The AMD 890GX Chipset supports the SATA 3.0 6Gbps hard drive interface to help speed application performance, decrease boot times, and provide faster access to information, HD video, photos and more.2 SATA 3.0 technology on the AMD 890GX Chipset can help speed application performance and Windows 7 data access speeds with high-bandwidth SATA 3.0 solid state drives and in multi-drive RAID configurations.

Many AMD 890GX-based motherboards feature SuperSpeed USB 3.0, quickly synchronizing and transferring digital media files on the new generation of USB 3.0 devices.2 With USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 support, these platforms are designed to be ready for a new generation of high-speed hard drives and high resolution digital camcorders and media players. The AMD 890GX Chipset also includes support for Gigabit Ethernet, HyperTransport™ 3.0 technology, and PCI Express® Generation 2.0 to create a system designed to provide fast data flow resulting in speedier transfers of work, games, and entertainment files.

The first of the AMD 8-series chipsets, these technologies serve as the foundation for 2010 VISION technology for AMD desktop platforms that are scheduled to be announced in the second quarter of 2010 and are designed to be compatible with the upcoming AMD Phenom™ II X6 six-core processor.