The first commercially-available processor to reach clock speeds of 5GHz is now a reality courtesy of AMD. The FX-9590, the latest addition to the chipmaker's FX lineup, features eight Piledriver processing cores and is completely unlocked as per its Black Edition branding to aid in overclocking, should 5GHz still not be enough for you.
The Fx-9590 carries a base clock of 4.7GHz but is able to hit the 5GHz mark using Turbo Core technology which means it's about 17.5 percent faster than the FX-8350, AMD's current top chip. It'll arrive using the AM3+ package, we're told, because there aren't many boards that officially support a ship with such high power consumption.
The chip will initially be available only through system integrators which means the average enthusiast won't be able to get their hands on it right away. The reason for this likely has to do with cooling requirements as some end users won't have the necessary cooling capability to keep the chip from overheating.
Reaching the 5GHz mark is good news for AMD as it's another feather in the proverbial cap as the chipmaker was also the first to reach the 1GHz barrier way back in May 2000. They were also the first to build a 64-bit processor for the PC, the first to launch native dual- and quad-core processors, first to market with an APU and the first to produce a quad-core x86 SoC. In reality, however, the FX-9590 will do little to help AMD position themselves against rival Intel.
The FX-9590 is expected to be released later this summer. Pricing remains unknown at this hour, however.