AMD 690 chipset series

Last updated
AMD 690 chipset series/
Radeon Xpress 1250
AMD 690G Chipset Logo.png
CPU supported Athlon 64/X2/FX
Sempron
Turion 64/X2
Pentium 4/Pentium D
Celeron D/Celeron M
Intel Core/Core 2 series
Socket supported Socket AM2
Socket S1 (Mobile)
Socket P (Mobile, 800 MHz FSB)
Desktop / mobile chipsets
Performance segmentM690T (Mobile)
Mainstream segment690G, M690 (Mobile)
Value segment690V, M690V (Mobile)
Embedded chipsets
M690E
Miscellaneous
Release date(s)February 28, 2007 (690G, 690V)
March 28, 2007 (M690, M690V)
April 2, 2007 (M690T)
January 21, 2008 (M690E)
IGP Direct3D support9.0b
Predecessor AMD 580 chipset series (chronologically)
Xpress 1600
(IGP generations)
Successor AMD 700 chipset series

The AMD 690 chipset series is an integrated graphics chipset family which was developed and manufactured by AMD subsidiary ATI for both AMD and Intel platforms focusing on both desktop and mobile computing markets. The corresponding chipset for the Intel platform has a marketing name of Radeon Xpress 1200 series.

Contents

The chipsets production began in late 2006 with codenames RS690 and RS600, where both of them share similar internal chip design, targeting at the desktop market. Mobile versions of both chipsets have codenames RS690M and RS600M. The marketing name for this chipset on the Intel platform is the Radeon Xpress 1200 series (Radeon Xpress 1200 to Radeon Xpress 1270) while the name for the chipset on the AMD platform is 690G.

Both the 690G and Radeon Xpress 1200 chipsets include an integrated graphics processing unit (IGP) based on the ATI Radeon X700 series GPUs with ATI Avivo technology included for hardware video acceleration. Mobile versions have reduced power consumption [ citation needed ] with adaptive power management features (PowerPlay). The 690G and Radeon Xpress 1250 chipsets are direct successors to Xpress 1600 integrated graphics chipsets (codenamed RS480 and RS400).

Starting in late 2006, mobile versions of the 690 chipset (RS690M) were being rolled out in mass by major notebook computer manufacturers, including HP, Asus, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, and others. For some OEMs (including Dell and Acer), the M690 series chipset was going to replace the Radeon Xpress 1150 (codenamed RS485M) on the mobile platform, and desktop variants of the 690 chipset were announced in February 2007.

The 690 chipset series consists of three members: 690G, 690V and M690T. The planned "RD690" enthusiast chipset was canceled in the official roadmap without explanation and no release date was given for the "RX690" chipset which has no IGP and only one PCI-E x16 slot. [1] [2]

After ATI was acquired by AMD in July 2006, plans for the Radeon Xpress 1250 chipset for the Intel platform were canceled while the 690G/M690 chipsets for the AMD platform became the main production target. AMD released the chipsets to only two vendors, Abit and ASRock. Abit signed on prior to the AMD acquisition and ASRock was given the remaining inventory of RS600 chips for the Chinese market.

On AMD Technology Analyst Day 2007, AMD announced that 4 million units of 690 chipsets had been shipped to customers, calling it a commercial success. With that in mind, AMD announced on January 21, 2008 that the series will be further extended to embedded systems with the last member, the AMD M690E chipset. [3]

Lineup

The chipset has several variants, they are summarized below, sorted by their northbridge codename.

The first one is the RS690 which is the basic chipset and implemented now as 690G. The second one is the RS690C which is a simplified version of 690G and without TMDS support and named as 690V. The third one in the series is the RS690M for mobile platforms, named M690. The fourth one is the RS690MC, a simplified version of M690 and without TMDS support, called M690V. Another one in the lineup is the RS690T, another variant to the M690 chipset with a local frame buffer (see below). A member for the embedded systems, the M690E, is basically a M690T with different display output configurations.

Key features

IGP General features

Chipset models in the series (excluding RD690 and RX690) feature an Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP) which is incorporated into the northbridge and manufactured on an 80 nm fabrication process. The IGP's 3D architecture is based on Radeon R420 and contains 4 pixel pipelines capable of Shader Model version 2.0b with DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.0 compatibility but lacks hardware vertex processing. It uses a shared memory architecture, meaning system RAM is shared with the IGP. The IGP was the first chip in ATI's integrated lineup that included ATI Avivo capabilities (also seen in the Radeon X1000 series), and is therefore capable of decoding videos of resolution up to 720p/1080i in hardware. [4]

Both chipsets in this family are fully compatible with the Windows Aero interface and are Windows Vista Premium certified. Also supported by the chipset are PCI slots, high definition 7.1 channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet.

The northbridge has a TDP of 13.8 Watts [5] or an average of 8 Watts, [6] [7] and is pin compatible with RS485 northbridge. The northbridge supports HyperTransport 2.0 at 1 GHz, and an additional 3 PCI Express x1 slots. The northbridge and southbridge (SB600) are connected via "ALink II". This is in reality 4 PCIe lanes, providing 2 GB/s bandwidth.

690G

AMD (ATi) 690G North bridge (RADEON X1250 integrated) Amd 690g radeon x1250.jpg
AMD (ATi) 690G North bridge (RADEON X1250 integrated)

For 690G, the IGP was named "Radeon X1250", operating at 400 MHz clock frequency, with VGA, HDMI and dual link DVI-D output with HDCP support for single link transmission and TMDS support for HDMI output. (however a DVI to D-sub adapter will not work and is not compatible with DVI-D interface due to the lack of the four analog pins of DVI-A and DVI-I) One HDMI output can be active at the DVI/HDMI interface or at the TMDS interface. HDCP support is limited to only one of those interfaces at any time. The chipset also supports VGA and DVI -or- DVI and HDMI dual output simultaneously, to achieve a maximum of two active out of three attached monitor outputs, called "SurroundView", and up to four independent, active displays with an additional video card.

The 690G chipset also supports a maximum of 24 additional PCI Express lanes and a PCI Express x16 expansion slot, and the chipset mixes audio and video signals and output through the HDMI interface. The mobile version of the chipset is the M690 chipset (codenamed RS690M). [8]

AMD dropped support for Windows (starting from Windows 7) and Linux drivers made for Radeon X1250 graphics integrated in the 690G chipset, stating that users should use the open-source graphics drivers instead. The latest available proprietary AMD Linux driver for the 690G chipset is fglrx version 9.3, which is outdated and no more compatible with current Linux distributions.

The free and opensource driver for AMD graphics in the Linux kernel supports both 3D acceleration and hardware decoders as of kernel 3.12, [9] and is unlikely to drop support of this (or any AMD graphics it already supports) in the foreseeable future. Being part of the kernel, no installation/configuration is needed.

690V

For 690V, "Radeon X1200" was the name of the IGP, with clock frequency of 350 MHz. The major differences between the 690G and 690V chipsets is that the 690V chipset lacks support for TMDS and HDMI output, and is therefore limited to VGA or LVDS output only. The mobile version of the chipset is the M690V chipset (codenamed RS690MC). [8]

M690T

Originally codenamed "RS690T", the chipset is for mobile platforms only. Featuring an optional 16-bit DDR2 side-port memory with maximum 128 MiB [8] capacity as local frame buffer. Sources revealed that the RS690T chipset may pair with SB700 southbridge and named as the "trevally" platform focusing the mobile market. [10] It is worth to note that the RS690T chipset has been added to AMD "longevity programme", that is AMD committed to supply the chipset for at least five years after general availability. [11] However, currently, M690T chipset was coupled with SB600 southbridge. [8] The chipset was officially referred as "M690T chipset with Radeon X1270 graphics". [12]

M690E

Announced on January 21, 2008, the M690E chipset as the suffix "E" suggests, is solely for embedded systems, providing the same feature sets as the M690T chipset, but with the analog TV output interface replaced with a secondary TMDS output interface, providing a total of two DVI/HDMI outputs with HDCP support limited to one of those interfaces at any time. [13]

Radeon Xpress 1250

A version of the 690G chipset for Intel processors [14] codenamed RS600; [15] supports all of 690G features, but the HyperTransport controller is replaced with a QDR FSB controller and it also contains a dual-channel DDR2 memory controller. IGP clocked with 500 MHz instead of 400 MHz of the 690G.

Since Intel has not given the 1333 MHz FSB license to ATI Technologies after the company was purchased by AMD, the Radeon Xpress 1250 only comes with official support of 1066 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB). However, supporting 1333 MHz FSB was obviously given higher priorities when RS600 was being developed, resulting Xpress 1250 motherboards actually have the support for 1333 MHz FSB via overclocking, and support all 1333 MHz FSB Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad microprocessors.[ citation needed ]

Only Abit has released a motherboard with this chipset as a result of signed agreement before the AMD-ATI merger, while ASRock was reported to have purchased all of the remaining inventory of RS600 resulting from a strategic move of AMD to clear all RS600 inventories, [16] thus making Abit and AsRock the only RS600 motherboard manufacturers.

Northbridge issues (690G, M690, 690V, M690V, M690T, M690E)

AMD does not provide any RS690 errata publicly (AMD document ER_RS690A5 for Revision A11 & ER_RS690B4 and its addendum for Revision A12). Most OSes require patches in order to work reliably.

Southbridge issues(SB600)

AMD does not provide any SB600 errata publicly (AMD document ER_IXP600AB7 for Revision A12, ER_IXP600AC33 for Revision A13 and ER_SB600AD12 for Revision A21). Most OSes require patches in order to work reliably.

List of mainboards using 690 chipset

The lineup and output features comparison for 690 chipset series motherboards are summarized below.

Note: data below does not include RS690M and RS600M - mobile editions of RS690 and RS600 chipsets.

ChipsetManufacturerModelForm FactorIntegrated
HDMI 1.2		 HDCP Keyother features
690GAlbatronKI690-AM2 Mini-ITX YesYes DDR2 SO-DIMM
ASUS M2A-VM Micro ATX NoYes DVI
M2A-VM HDMIaddon cardYesDVI-D, VGA, FireWire 1394a, add-on card: HDMI, S-Video, YPbPr
Biostar TA690G-AM2YesYesHDMI, DVI, S-Video, VGA
ECS AMD690GM-M2NoYesDVI
EPoX AT690G Pro ATX No?DVI
AT690G-MNo?DVI
Foxconn A690GM2MA-8EKRS2HMicro ATXNo?DVI, VGA, addon bracket: FireWire 1394a, S-Video
A690GM2MA-8KRS2HNo?DVI, with addon bracket:S-Video
A690GM2MA-RS2HNo?DVI, with addon bracket:S-Video
Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3HATXYesYesDVI, FireWire 1394a, addon bracket:SPDIF In+Out
GA-MA69GM-S2HMicro ATXYesYesDVI, FireWire 1394a, addon bracket:SPDIF In+Out
JetwayM2A692-GDGNoYesDVI
M2A692-GHGYesYes
Magic-Pro MP-A2AM-HDMicro ATXYesYes
MSI K9AG Neo2 DigitalATXYesYes
K9AGM2-FIHMicro ATXYesYes
K9AGM3-FIHYesYes
K9AGM3-FDNo?DVI
PC PartnerRS690MKM-AB1SYes?
SapphirePI-AM2RS690MHYesYes VGA
PI-AM2RS690MHDYesYes VGA, FireWire 1394a, S/PDIF In+Out, addon card: DVI, S-Video
Xpress
1250		 Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HDMicro ATXYesYes VGA, S/PDIF TOSLINK Out
Asrock 4Core1333-FullHDNoYesDVI-D, VGA, FireWire 1394a
DeLL Latitude XT Notebook?? VGA, DVI-D (with docking station)
690V ECS AMD690VM-MMicro ATX——No TMDS and HDCP support for 690V,
limited to VGA only
EPoX AT690VI ProATX——
AT690V-MMicro ATX——
ASUS M2A-MX——
Foxconn A690VM2MA-8KRS2H——
A690VM2MA-RS2H——
A6VMX——
A6VMX/K——
A6VMX2-K——
Gigabyte GA-MA69VM-S2——
JetwayM2A692-VP——
M2A693-VP——
M2A693PLUS-VP——
J&WJWT-A690M——
MSI K9AGM Neo-F——
K9AGM2-F——
K9AGM2-L——
K9AGM3-F——
K9AGM4——
PC PartnerRS690CMKM-A94CL——
SapphirePE-AM2RS690MV——
PE-AM2RS690V2——
TULTRS690-M1——
690T AAEON COM-690T COM Express Type 2No?optional 128MB Side-port memory, TV-out, Socket S1
EMB-6908T Mini-ITX No? Socket AM2
avalueEMX-M690T Mini-ITX No?6× serial ports, 2× GbE, Socket S1
DFI AM100-BFNo?64MB Side-port memory, Socket S1
AM300-BFMicro ATXNo?64MB Side-port memory, CompactFlash, Socket S1
Kontron KT690/mITXMini-ITXNo? CompactFlash, Mini PCI-E, optional TV-out, 2× GbE, Socket S1
KT690/mITX-FWNo? FireWire 1394a, Mini PCI-E, optional addon bracket: TV-out, 2× GbE, Socket S1
MSI Fuzzy RS690TYes? S/PDIF, DDR2 SO-DIMM, Mini PCI-E, optional addon bracket: TV-out, 2× GbE, Socket AM2

See also

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References

  1. ↑ (in Chinese) HKEPC coverage on 690G benchmark (page 1)
    The next generation 690 [chipset] family will not feature the CrossFire-ready RD690 version. The last-generation RD580 chipset will still be the principal product for the enthusiast segment.
  2. ↑ (in Chinese) HKEPC coverage on 690G benchmark (page 4), the ASIC part number for RD690 presents but being labelled as "deleted"
  3. ↑ "AMD Increases Choice and Maintains Consistent Platform for Embedded Systems" (Press release). AMD. 2008-01-21. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-22. Coupled with the new processors, a new chipset has also been added to the portfolio. Based on the award-winning AMD 690 Series chipsets, the AMD M690E provides additional display design flexibility for embedded graphics and enables seamless playback of high definition video content for embedded applications.
  4. ↑ Gasior, Geoff. AMD's 690G chipset: Platformization ahead, Tech Report, February 28, 2007.
  5. ↑ HKEPC test report on RS690 IGP chipset
  6. ↑ XBit Labs report Archived 2007-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ (in Spanish) ChileHardware Original Thread Archived July 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 3 4 AMD M690T specification page
  9. ↑ "RadeonFeature".
  10. ↑ (in Spanish) ChileHardware Report Archived 2007-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ "The Inquirer report". The Inquirer . Archived from the original on 2007-01-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ↑ AMD Mobile Platform sales training document Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (Page 5): AMD M690T with ATI Radeon X1270 Graphics
  13. ↑ "AMD M690T/M690E Chipsets for Embedded Designs Product Brief" (PDF). 2008-01-21. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  14. ↑ Radeon Xpress 1250 product page Archived May 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Guru3D report Archived March 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ DigiTimes report, retrieved July 14, 2007
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