AMD readies trio of new eight-core FX desktop processors for October release

It's been several months since AMD released its first eight-core "Bulldozer" desktop processors, and the company appears to be rolling out successors in time for their one-year anniversary. Three new "Vishera" chips could be available this October, based on Piledriver cores that look to improve upon the Bulldozer design.

The top-performing chip will be the FX-8350, which will feature 16MB of cache, 4GHz default clock speed for its eight cores, and 4.2GHz turbo speed. It will also include an unlocked multiplier, so expert overclockers could hit 5GHz speeds with their tweaks. It should replace the FX-8150 as the top desktop processor available from AMD.

For a little less, you should be able to obtain the FX-8320, which also comes with 16MB of cache but its default clock speed is 3.5GHz (jumping to 4GHz in turbo mode). While the FX-8350 and FX-8320 both have a TDP of 125W, the FX-8300 will be 95W. Not surprisingly, its default clock speed will be 3.3GHz, but it still boasts 16MB of cache.

All three FX-8300 series processors are based on a 32nm manufacturing process and will be compatible with AM3+ motherboards. They'll also support DDR3 1866 memory.

Pricing, of course, will be key, as the new chips will compete with Intel's Ivy Bridge desktop processors, which bottom out at $199 for Core i5 CPUs. Considering that the top Bulldozer launched at around $245, would $199 be a reasonable starting price for the FX-8350? At what price point would you build a system around these new processors instead of Ivy Bridge?

[Via Fudzilla]