AMD to Bring Back ‘FX’ Series

Regardless of what market we are dealing with, there is always going to be a product that screams ‘ultra high-end’. It will cost a lot more than the rest, but gives certain perks that cause it to be drool-worthy for enthusiasts everywhere. One such case is with our CPUs. Intel’s Extreme Editions cost much more than the second rung in the ladder, but they are binned for perfection and stock-clocked higher than anything else.

But remember when AMD had such a series as well? With the launch of Intel’s latest Core 2 processors, AMD was whipped, and they knew it, so their ‘FX’ line was dropped. It was rather upsetting. When FX models first hit the market in 2003, they really meant something. I clearly remember the first time I read about the single-core FX-51, a 2.2GHz wonder chip that just screamed ‘take out a loan, now!’.

The last ‘real’ FX chip was the FX-60, a 2.6GHz Dual-Core offering that came out in early 2006. Since then, we saw CPUs for the Quad FX platform, but I don’t think we need to talk too much about that. For those who miss that FX moniker, no fear, as AMD plans to relaunch the series next summer. The big question though, is whether or not AMD will be able to deliver a product that actually deserves the title. We can hope…

The code-named Deneb FX microprocessors that are projected to be launched sometime in the middle of next year will feature four processing engines, shared level-three cache, dual-channel DDR2 (up to PC2-8500, 1066MHz) and DDR3 (up to PC3-10666, 1333MHz) memory controller, according to sources with knowledge of AMD’s plans. The new chips are projected to utilize AM3 form-factor, which means better system flexibility.