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AMD's APU technology - combining CPU and GPU in one chip - is well-known for offering up entry-level gaming power that significantly outperforms the Intel equivalents, usually at a very competitive price point. But in the last few months, the technology has upped its game. With the arrival of Xbox One and PlayStation 4, we've seen APU tech move on to the next level, defining the next generation of console gaming, while the latest PC desktop equivalent - codenamed Kaveri - promises to completely revolutionise the relationship between CPU and graphics tech in a way that simply isn't possible in a conventional computer.This key new technology is called HSA - Heterogenous System Architecture - and it utilises the currently unique ability of the main processor and its GPU compute units to simultaneously access the same memory space, allowing for both components to work on the same tasks in tandem without having to shuttle data back and forth across constricted interfaces. It's an exciting technology, allowing apps to more easily take advantage of the very different processing strengths and weaknesses of the CPU and GPU architectures, with neither relegated to second-class citizen status.
The really impressive thing about HSA is that all of this cooperation between the two processing units is entirely invisible to the software - the API itself takes care of all the heavy lifting. Results in demos so far look promising, but really we're looking towards the longer term before we start seeing HSA make a genuine difference to everyday computing. Perhaps the biggest disappointment in reviewing Kaveri is that one of its most exciting new aspects currently has little relevance either to general computing or gaming.
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