AMD FX-8350 Piledriver CPU Expected to Launch Mid-Q3
There are high hopes for AMD's Piledriver FX CPUs, but Steamroller may be more interesting.
As Zambezi launches, anticipated to happen in mid-Q3, there is growing speculation surrounding AMD's high-performance FX processors. Piledriver cores will be an upgrade from Bulldozer and enable AMD to take another, more effective shot at the enthusiast market.
The eight-core FX-8350 will still use socket AM3+ and will be manufactured using a 32 nm process, but it carries the hope that AMD will deliver on its promise to achieve a 10 to 15 percent performance increase over the previous Bulldozer design. Expect a TDP that remains at 125 watts, but clock speeds that are inching closer to 4 GHz, as the Piledriver design is more efficient than Bulldozer. The current FX-8150 runs at 3.6/4.2 GHz at 125 watts TDP.
However, even if the basic specs and plain benchmark performances of the new FX chips turn out to be more compelling for AMD, the more interesting processors will be Steamroller in 2013 and Excavator in 2014 - especially in the light of the change of ranks inside AMD. There is a decidedly stronger mainstream focus in the company, but there is also talk of the company embracing web-technologies that are directly supported and accelerated via its hardware -- especially taking browser-based gaming into the enthusiast range.
Piledriver is too early to show any of these efforts, but Steamroller could be the very first cloud-gaming optimized CPU design coming out of AMD.
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Douglas Perry was a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering semiconductors, storage technology, quantum computing, and processor power delivery. He has authored several books and is currently an editor for The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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Memnarchon Yeah, but in 2013 and 2014, Haswell and Broadwell will be out... AMD has a huge gap to cover and for the sake of competition (and low prices for us), lets hope this will not be just talking like buldozer architecture.Reply -
rmpumper 32mn? Sounds more like 8 core Phenom than an upgraded Bulldozer. I wonder if they'll work in AM3 mobos with bios updates.Reply -
apache_lives Is it just me or is everyone just over it and not really interested in any of these future AMD cpu's and there promise on more performance?Reply
Gone are the days of intense competition and exciting new hardware releases, amazing performance and change (new revolutionary things) etc.
Not really interested any more..... -
agawtrip if they could do 1GHz 8core cpu with 8150 level of performance....Reply
then we know AMD is back in the game! -
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if they could do 1GHz 8core cpu with 8150 level of performance....
The absolute clock rates are irrelevant as long as they reach clock rates high enough to deliver the necessary performance.
I don't care if Intels CPU give the same performance at 3 GHz as AMDs CPU at 4,5 GHz, as long as AMD is reaching 4,5 GH. - especially if they got the pricing right. -
agawtrip ZoidoThe absolute clock rates are irrelevant as long as they reach clock rates high enough to deliver the necessary performance.I don't care if Intels CPU give the same performance at 3 GHz as AMDs CPU at 4,5 GHz, as long as AMD is reaching 4,5 GH. - especially if they got the pricing right. yeah price will play a big roleReply
but lower clock = lower tdp = lower temp (usually) = good overclock
i remember intel pentium e21xx series overclocks up to 100%
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SirRaulo If the price is right, i'll probably stay w/ AMD for my next upgrade. Im not really a hardcore gamer, so price/performance matters most to me..Reply -
amigafan Zoidoespecially if they got the pricing right.They might have their pricing right but they surely will not have their TDP right...Reply