AMD Adds USB 3.0 To Fusion APUs

AMD will add USB 3.0 to its AMD Fusion line of APUs. Huzzah! That makes AMD the first chipmaker to support the interface (though it’s been available in higher end motherboards from the likes of Asus and Gigabyte for about a year now). Yes, yes, Intel invented the spec, but its newfangled Thunderbolt interface seems to be getting all the love. Why would you bother with USB 3.0, then?

For one, it’s backward compatible with previous USB specs. What happens when you plug a USB 2.0 device into a USB 3.0 port? It works—handy. What happens when you plug a USB 2.0 device into a Thunderbolt port? Nothing—not as handy, no.

USB 3.0 tops out at 5Gbps (versus USB 2.0′s 480Mbps), so it’s mighty fast. Connect a hard drive there and you’re good to go.

AMD will brand USB 3.0′d APUs as “Superspeed USB” chipsets. The first APUs to be christened thus will be the A75 and A70M.

Exciting times, yes.