AMD announces a 5GHz microprocessor, but few will care

June 11, 2013

On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices announced the AMD FX-9590, the first 5GHz microprocessor for the PC—at a time, unfortunately, when even PC enthusiasts care little about the processor’s clock speed. The new eight-core 5GHz FX-9590 and 4.7GHz FX-9370 feature AMD’s latest “Piledriver” architecture, which was designed to allow higher clock speeds. They also come “unlocked,” which means that end users are free to push their clock speeds and voltage levels even higher. but with the risk that the chips may overheat. AMD did not say what the new chips would cost, although the company has tended to charge several hundred dollars for its premium processors. Consumers won’t be able to buy the chips directly— at least not at launch, as AMD will supply them to system integrators like Maingear, which will build them into high-end boutique gaming PCs. AMD made the announcement at E3, one of the premier gaming conferences. In recent years, the PC has played second fiddle to consoles from Microsoft, Sony, and others in the gaming space. However, publishers of top-tier titles have generally included the PC as as one of their publishing platforms, tapping the PC’s processor and graphics capabilities to render their games at high levels of graphic realism. AMD also recently launched a “unified gaming strategy” to bridge consoles and PCs by writing games with a common code base. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2041341/amd-announces-a-5ghz-microprocessor-but-few-will-care.html#tk.rss_all