AMD’s 5GHz FX-9590 & 4.4GHz FX-9370 Now Available – Just Expect to Look Hard for Them

At last month’s E3, AMD unveiled the world’s first consumer 5GHz processor, and now, it’s finally becoming available – but in small doses. AMD’s new top-end is the FX-9590, which is stock-clocked at 4.7GHz but can peak at 5.0GHz when the load demands it, while the FX-9370 is clocked at 4.4GHz and is boostable to 4.7GHz.

The easiest place to get either one of these processors is through a system integrator, but even there, finding it is difficult. Even some of the builders that mention the 5.0GHz clock speed on their front page don’t have the FX-9590 as an option in any of their AMD rigs – it’s about as nonsensical as it gets. Nonetheless, those builders that will offer at least that one model at some point in the near future includes:

• Canada Computers
• CyberPower
• iBUYPOWER
• Digital Storm
• Extreme PC
• Maingear
• Memory Express
• NCIX
• Origin PC
• Puget Systems
• Velocity Micro

When the FX-9590 hit some etailers last week, the going price hovered around $900. Looking at MAINGEAR, we can see this price backed-up; upgrading from the $200 (market value) FX-8350 to the FX-9590 adds $729 to the total price. At Origin PC, moving from the FX-9370 to the FX-9590 yields a $200 premium. These sure are some expensive CPUs.

At Amazon, the FX-9590 can be found at some sellers for just $600, so clearly, pricing at the moment is about as stable as my typical overclocks.

Is AMD’s FX-9590 worth its mammoth pricetag? That’s a hard one to answer. Currently, Intel’s highest-end six-core offering is the 3.5GHz (4.0GHz Turbo) Core i7-3970X. Head-to-head, I’d assume both CPUs would come awful close, but it will take a review to put it to rest. In some ways though, it’s nice to see AMD offer such a high-end CPU – remember when FX chips regularly cost $1,000? I wouldn’t go as far to say that AMD’s truly competitive on the performance front with Intel at the moment, but at least it’s trying its heart out to remain so.