AMD Releases the Dragon, Desktop Platform Technology Provides Users with Soaring Performance for Less Than $900 USD

Dragon platform technology capable of delivering HD gaming and videoprocessing performance that rivals “extreme” PC platforms priced more than twiceas high1

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - January 8, 2009 - Empowering consumers to getelite-level computing performance for under $900 U.S. dollars2, AMD (NYSE:AMD)today launched ¡°Dragon¡± platform technology for desktop PCs featuring the newAMD Phenom. II X4 processor. Even the most demanding users such asenthusiasts and high-end gamers desire affordable systems capable of deliveringHD entertainment, graphic-intensive game play at the highest settings theirmonitors can handle, as well as quick and easy transfer of video entertainment toand from mobile devices. Dragon platform technology provides the power to do itall by combining AMD¡¯s highest-performing CPU, the AMD Phenom II X4 processor,with award winning ATI Radeon. HD 4800 Series graphics and AMD 7-Serieschipsets. And it¡¯s offered at an incredible value with Dragon-based systemsavailable for up to $1,200 U.S. dollars less than competing systems that delivercomparable performance.1

Leading global PC manufacturer HP plans to offer Dragon platformtechnology-based desktop systems in the near future.

Reviews Celebrate “Dragon” price-performance leadership and headroom
Initial PC hardware review community assessments of Dragon platformtechnology and the AMD Phenom II X4 processor are notably positive andenthusiastic:

- “As a result of its exceptional energy efficiency advances and an affordableprice/performance ratio, AMD Phenom II X4 deserves our seldom-grantedRecommended Buy award.” – Tom's Hardware3

- “The Phenom II puts AMD back in the running right in the middle of the enthusiastPC market, where price and performance converge in solid value.” - Scott Wassonof The Tech Report4

- “The new Phenom II X4 920 and 940 are easily the most powerful desktopprocessors released from AMD to date. We get the feeling these first two Phenom IIX4 processors are just the tip of the iceberg.” - Marco Chiappetta ofHotHardware.com5

Massive Headroom
The heart of Dragon platform technology is the AMD Phenom II X4 processorfeaturing intelligent multi-core technology that automatically provides processingpower where it’s needed most during multitasking among demanding applications.Offering frequencies up to 3.0 GHz with significant headroom for overclocking,6AMD Phenom II CPUs give consumers the power to use their favorite productivity,HD gaming and multimedia applications without skipping a beat.

“With Dragon platform technology, AMD is changing the desktop industrylandscape by offering affordable performance and maximum headroom for gaming,video editing, and other media-intensive tasks,” said Leslie Sobon, vice president ofproduct marketing, AMD. “Through our Fusion platform approach, AMD is able todeliver CPUs, GPUs and chipsets that work better together to meet the industry’sevolving needs today and well into the future.”

Beyond HD
ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics and AMD 7-series chipsets enableDragon platform technology to deliver a superior visual experience by givingconsumers the ability to enjoy smooth video, brilliant images and immersivegames. The platform offers fast DirectX® 10 graphics to improve integratedgraphics processor performance, and ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics giveconsumers the ultimate gaming experience, even at the highest game settings ondisplay resolutions beyond HD, limited only by the resolution of their monitors.

“AMD is known for bringing fantastic hardware innovations to market in away that allows consumers to enjoy new experiences and take full advantage of thegaming capabilities that DirectX delivers,” said Walt McGraw, director of WindowsGaming for Microsoft. “The new Dragon platform technology is another greatexample of AMD driving the kind of platform technology robustness and scalabilitythat today’s PC users demand.”

Energy Efficiency
Dragon platform technology enables manufacturers to design and developPCs that deliver performance when you need it while saving power when you don’t.AMD Phenom II CPUs feature AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ 3.0 which automatically providesdramatic power management improvements with minimal performance impact.7 Itsefficient multi-core design offers low processor temperatures and quiet fans, evenwhen computing in HD.

Free Software Supercharging
Consumers can take performance to the next level with free software fromAMD. Download all now at: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx.• AMD Fusion for Gaming8 -- Easy-to-use program that, with a single click,automatically suspends resource consuming background tasks to focus moresystem performance on gaming.

• AMD OverDrive™9 -- Highly-customizable utility with greater functionality that canhelp power-users take system performance even further, with advanced overclockingcontrols that can be turned on and off with a single click.

• ATI Catalyst™ with ATI Stream technology -- Version 8.12 and later automaticallymerges the power of the CPU and GPU to enable a growing number of applications,such as ArcSoft TotalMedia™ Theater and CyberLink PowerDirector 7, to rundramatically faster than when using the CPU alone.

• ATI Video Converter -- With the latest Catalyst Driver 8.12, the new ATI VideoConverter utilizes the graphics processor and ATI Stream technology to quickly andeasily convert your videos to play on portable entertainment devices much fasterthan converting video using a microprocessor alone.

• AMD Fusion Media Explorer Beta -- Simplifies the entertainment experiencing byenabling a simple but powerful way for consumers to interact with their music,photos, movies, TV and social media on their PC. This utility offers one-buttonpostings of photos to Facebook™ accounts as well as automatic related mediasearches when the system is online, plus much more.

Elite Performance for Less Money

End users can experience high-end performance with Dragon platformtechnology from AMD, all while spending approximately $1,200 U.S. dollars lessthan competitive offerings.10 Dragon platform technology consisting of the new AMDPhenom II X4 processor, ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 1GB graphics card, the AMD790GX motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2-1066 memory can be purchased forapproximately $900 USD. By comparison, a competitive platform consisting of anIntel Core i7 3.2 GHz, x58 motherboard, 3 GB of DDR3-1333 memory and the sameGPU can be purchased for just over $2100.11 Both platforms run the mostdemanding PC games like Crysis™ at elite performance levels, and delivercomparable Crysis benchmark frame rates at an average of 38 frames per second.12

Availability and Phenom II Processor Pricing
Consumers can expect to see systems featuring Dragon platform technologyfrom leading system builders and OEMs in the first quarter of 2009. In addition toDragon platform technology-based offerings from AMD’s OEM partners, PCenthusiasts who enjoy building their own systems can search “Dragon” on populare-tail sites such as newegg.com and tigerdirect.com to find special promotions onthis new desktop PC platform.

In addition to Dragon platform technology, individual AMD Phenom II X4processors will be available from AMD channel e-tailers at launch:AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition processor – (3.0GHz) – $275 MSRPAMD Phenom II X4 920 processor – (2.8GHz) – $235 MSRP