Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_southbridge_flash_support/
The next generation of ATI's South Bridge core logic technology will support Flash memory as a fast-loading, power-conserving hard drive data cache, if allegedly leaked company roadmap slides are to be believed.
ATI's current South Bridge, SB600, debuted in May this year, though it didn't show up in chipsets until a little later on. According to slides posted (http://www.chilehardware.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1631) by Spanish-language site ChileHardware.com, its successor, SB700, will debut in Q4 2007, just ahead of Socket AM2+ chipsets RS740 and RS790 (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_roadmap_2007/).
SB700 will support a total of 12 USB ports and six 3Gbps SATA ports, the slides indicate. More interesting, is the reference to Flash support, surely an alternative to Intel' 'Robson' technology - a plug-in NAND Flash module due to debut with the next incarnation of Centrino, 'Santa Rosa'.
It's not clear how the SB700 will support Flash - through an optional add-in module like Robson, or as a directly-connected bank of NAND Flash chips. We suspect the former but either way, the non-volatile memory's role will be to hold frequently accessed data. Flash memory has speedier access times than hard drives, resulting in faster application load times and accelerated awakening from a PC's sleep mode.
Both AMD/ATI and Intel Flash systems will initially tap into Windows Vista's support for such devices, a technology Microsoft calls ReadyDrive. ®
ATI RD580 set to star in AMD's '4x4'? (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_crossfire_roadmap_07/)
ATI next-gen chips said to back Vista Flash cache tech (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_southbridge_flash_support/)
ATI targets next-gen Athlon 64 FX with four-GPU chipset? (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_roadmap_2007/)
AMD readies HyperFlash cache tech (18 May 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/18/amd_readies_hyperflash/
Samsung fields Flash cache fitted hybrid hard drive (7 March 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/07/samsung_ships_hybrid_hdd/
Vendors pledge to make Flash as easy to upgrade as RAM (22 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/22/onfi_spec_launched/
Intel's Flash cache module wins PCIe thumbs-up (15 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/15/intel_robson_pcie_approval/
Vendors partner to promote Flash-fitted hard drives (4 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/04/vendors_push_flash-fitted_hdds/
Samsung readies Vista-friendly double-speed Flash chip (3 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/03/samsung_50nm_16gb_flash_samples/
AMD flies in Hawk, Griffin notebook CPUs (15 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/15/amd_mobile_roadmap/
AMD maps out path to HT 3, DDR 3, DirectX 10 (15 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/15/amd_desktop_roadmap/
AMD and ATI fuse (25 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/25/amd_fuses_with_ati/
ATI to launch Radeon X1650 XT next week? (24 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/24/ati_to_launch_radeon_x1650_xt/
ATI: all our GPUs will be 80nm by July 2007 (19 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/19/ati_process_roadmap/
Samsung Flash drives win WHQL thumbs-up (17 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/17/samsung_flash_drives_pass_whql/
I-O Data touts double-speed ToteBag USB Flash drive (11 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/11/io_data_double-speed_usb_flash/
AMD 65nm dual-core Turion laptop CPUs due Q2 2007? (10 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/10/amd_mobile_roadmap/
Intel EOLs Pentium D 805 (10 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/10/intel_eols_pentium_d_805/
ATI RD580 set to star in AMD's '4x4'? (6 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_crossfire_roadmap_07/
ATI targets next-gen Athlon 64 FX with four-GPU chipset? (6 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/ati_roadmap_2007/
Nvidia stock jumps on Intel takeover rumour (5 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/05/intel_nvidia_takeover_rumour/
ATI 80nm GPUs given PCI Express thumbs-up (3 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/03/ati_80nm_pci-e_ok/
ATI to take GPUs into the stream age (2 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/02/ati_unveils_stream_computing/
ATI unveils 'world's first' strained silicon GPU (24 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/24/ati_unveils_mobile_gpu_updates/