AMD unveils first eight-core 5GHz processor

If there were a clock speed war going on, AMD would win again.

The chip maker unveiled today the most powerful member of the AMD FX family of CPUs, the eight-core AMD FX-9590, which it claims to be world's first commercially available 5GHz processor.

Back in 2000, AMD was the first to break the 1GHz barrier by delivering its 1GHz Athlon chip to the general public in May of that year. The FX-9590 will be available this summer and Intel has until then to unveil its own 5GHz CPU. Currently the fastest CPU from Intel is the 3.5GHz Core i7-3970X. Clock speed is not the only factor that determines the performance of a CPU, however.

In addition to the FX-9590, there's also the FX-9370, which has a clock speed of 4.7GHz. Note that both processors offer these top clock speeds in the Max Turbo mode, a feature available in the AMD FX family that makes it possible for the CPU to throttle its speed depending on the workloads. Both new CPU use the Piledriver microarchitechture and AM3+ socket.

AMD says the new processors deliver new levels of gaming and multimedia performance for desktop enthusiasts. It's currently unclear how much they cost.

:story: c|net