The computer tech world is always full of surprises and this story is about one such surprise.
AMD's recent CPUs have had rather lackluster performance when compared to Intel's best, or even midrange CPUs in recent years. This is especially true since the release of their psuedo 8 core Bulldozer CPU in October 2011. However, it appears that incredibly, they haven't given up on the ultra high end market and actually hope to take Intel on.
There's no official word on this yet, but respected British tech site, HEXUS, reports that "we have it on good authority that the chip-maker will soon be releasing a super-FX chip" which will allegedly get its performance the same way the old Pentium 4 did more than a decade ago: high clock speed.
The new chip is reportedly to be based around the latest Piledriver core which is at the heart of AMD's latest flagship Vishera psuedo 8 core CPU, the FX-8350. This CPU is build on a 32nm process and has a base clock speed of 4GHz with a boost speed of 4.2GHz, according to AMD's spec sheet.
AMD will apparently make a better performing processor than the FX-8350 not by redesigning the core, but by simply binning the chips for high speed clocks. These top performers will be codenamed "Centurion" and run at a 5GHz stock speed, on air, guaranteed. Unsurprisingly, they will be available in "very limited quantities", according to HEXUS. There are no details yet on what voltage or hardware will be required to run these chips. Presumably, more powerful motherboard power circuitry, if nothing else.
Poor value and performance as AMD price gouges
So, assuming that this rumour is true, AMD will charge a premium for such a chip and it looks like they will price it sky high like the FX series of old, circa 2005: an eye watering $795! That's around £500 in real money. This is a huge markup when the current Piledriver-based FX-8350 can be had for around £155. Yes, that's right, serious money for a chip overclocked out of the box by 1GHz over the bog standard version. Since the standard chip can often be overclocked by a similar amount and so can Intel's processors (5GHz+ without too much trouble) this seems like very poor value for money to me and if anything, widen the performance differential between AMD and Intel chips. These Centurion CPUs should perhaps be priced no more than 20-30% over the standard version and give the dwindling group of loyal AMD enthusiasts something to look forward to.
Instead, this smacks of a desperate price gouge by AMD to get some money off their loyal fans and try to stake a claim of having an "elite" level processor. Instead, this is mutton dressed as lamb and Intel will still leisurely walk away with the performance crown. Sorry. AMD currently make quite good value for money processors that compete well with Intel at their current price points and they should keep to this ethic with these enhanced Centurion models. Once again, of course the rumour could be false and none of this applies, but it's got a good chance of being true.
In the end, the official reviews will tell us if this chip can hold a candle to Intel's offerings at this premium price point.
Source: HEXUS
AMD's recent CPUs have had rather lackluster performance when compared to Intel's best, or even midrange CPUs in recent years. This is especially true since the release of their psuedo 8 core Bulldozer CPU in October 2011. However, it appears that incredibly, they haven't given up on the ultra high end market and actually hope to take Intel on.
There's no official word on this yet, but respected British tech site, HEXUS, reports that "we have it on good authority that the chip-maker will soon be releasing a super-FX chip" which will allegedly get its performance the same way the old Pentium 4 did more than a decade ago: high clock speed.
The new chip is reportedly to be based around the latest Piledriver core which is at the heart of AMD's latest flagship Vishera psuedo 8 core CPU, the FX-8350. This CPU is build on a 32nm process and has a base clock speed of 4GHz with a boost speed of 4.2GHz, according to AMD's spec sheet.
AMD will apparently make a better performing processor than the FX-8350 not by redesigning the core, but by simply binning the chips for high speed clocks. These top performers will be codenamed "Centurion" and run at a 5GHz stock speed, on air, guaranteed. Unsurprisingly, they will be available in "very limited quantities", according to HEXUS. There are no details yet on what voltage or hardware will be required to run these chips. Presumably, more powerful motherboard power circuitry, if nothing else.
Poor value and performance as AMD price gouges
So, assuming that this rumour is true, AMD will charge a premium for such a chip and it looks like they will price it sky high like the FX series of old, circa 2005: an eye watering $795! That's around £500 in real money. This is a huge markup when the current Piledriver-based FX-8350 can be had for around £155. Yes, that's right, serious money for a chip overclocked out of the box by 1GHz over the bog standard version. Since the standard chip can often be overclocked by a similar amount and so can Intel's processors (5GHz+ without too much trouble) this seems like very poor value for money to me and if anything, widen the performance differential between AMD and Intel chips. These Centurion CPUs should perhaps be priced no more than 20-30% over the standard version and give the dwindling group of loyal AMD enthusiasts something to look forward to.
Instead, this smacks of a desperate price gouge by AMD to get some money off their loyal fans and try to stake a claim of having an "elite" level processor. Instead, this is mutton dressed as lamb and Intel will still leisurely walk away with the performance crown. Sorry. AMD currently make quite good value for money processors that compete well with Intel at their current price points and they should keep to this ethic with these enhanced Centurion models. Once again, of course the rumour could be false and none of this applies, but it's got a good chance of being true.
In the end, the official reviews will tell us if this chip can hold a candle to Intel's offerings at this premium price point.
Source: HEXUS
