Produced From 2011 to present Designed by AMD Max. CPU clock rate 2.8 GHz to 5.0 GHz | Marketed by AMD Common manufacturer(s) GlobalFoundries Min. feature size 32 nm to 28 nm | |
AMD FX is a series of high-end AMD microprocessors for personal computers. Debuting in 2011, the line competes directly with the Intel Core line of desktop processors, primarily the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge architectures upon launch. However, unlike the majority of their Intel counterparts, FX chips offer no integrated graphics, a feature reserved for their APU line of processors. When it was marketed, AMD claimed it was the first native 8-core desktop processor. The FX-series was based on the Bulldozer microarchitecture at launch and was then succeeded by its derivative Piledriver in 2012, which both use a module design containing two cores on one module.
The next generation of architecture, Zen, with SMT - similar to Intel's Hyperthreading, allowing for two threads per physical core - will be released throughout 2017 under the Ryzen brand, replacing the FX series.
Features
One notable feature of the AMD FX microprocessors is that they are all unlocked and overclockable; a feature reserved for the high-end 'k' suffix SKUs from Intel. This allows users to increase the clock speed of their CPU and to gain extra performance out of their product. The FX series are famously more capable of achieving higher clock speeds than their Intel counterparts. In fact, the World record for highest overclock was achieved on an FX-8370, which is clocked up to 8722.8MHz on liquid nitrogen.