When it comes to Vishera processors and new Bulldozer cores, one would expect to see some new chipsets to ship with the new Volan platform.

This won’t happen as the Volan platform and new Vishera processors are completely compatible with currently available AMD 990FX, AMD 990X or AMD 970 Northbridge.

Most motherboards will come with AMD SB950 Southbridge that has been shipping for a while now and will last at least until middle of 2013, if not even longer. The Southbridge of the top offering doesn’t have native USB 3.0 support but instead offers 14 USB 2.0 and two USB 1.1 support, PCIe X4 gen two, 6 SATA 6GB/s, Raid 0/1/5 and 10 and comes in 605-pin FCGBGA package. It is pin compatible to older SB850 Southbridge making it easy to integrate. The TDP stays at 6W.

According to the plans we’ve seen this will be the only Southbridge to official get supported in Volan platform in 2012 as well as in its extended life in 2013 until the new core replaces it. AMD will sail trough this year but it will take a while before it comes to a position to seriously threaten Intel, like in its glory days.

In some segments AMD has a chance, but in others it becomes mission impossible. However, AMD will always have a price advantage, something that its fans always appreciate.