AMD recently added two new chips to the FX processor family, the quad-core FX-4350 and the six-core FX-6350. Both chips are based on the Piledriver architecture, support the latest instruction sets including FMA3 and AVX and work with existing AM3+ socketed motherboards.

The chips effectively replace the FX-4300 and FX-6300 processors as faster, yet less energy-efficient upgrades. Both new parts operate at a base clock that's 400MHz higher than their predecessors while checking in at a TDP that's 30W higher than before. That said, the unlocked processors both have a base clock of 3.9GHz and max Turbo speeds of 4.3GHz and 4.2GHz, respectively.

Furthermore, the FX-4350 doubles the amount of L3 cache found on the chip it replaces but perhaps the best news of all has to do with pricing. That's because the retail price for the FX-4350 and the FX-6350 is the same as the products they are replacing: $122 and $132, respectively. X-bit Labs points out that the chips have been on sale for over a month but are just now being added to AMD's price list.

Despite the high clock speeds, AMD has had a tough time keeping up with Intel's Core processors in recent years. This partially explains why they are forced to sell highly clocked chips at a discount versus what Intel is asking for current Ivy Bridge processors. That said, if you are looking for a decent performing chip but are on a budget, these new FX chips from AMD are certainly worth a look.