The chip has two Piledriver modules and a price of $99.99 / 74.13-99.99 Euro

Jan 30, 2013 07:17 GMT  ·  By

Advanced Micro Devices has formally released a new quad-core central processing unit, one whose name doesn't accurately indicate the technology on which its cores have been developed.

The chip is called FX-4130, meaning that it is positioned in the 4100 series, which are powered by the older-generation Zambezi silicon.

Nevertheless, according to X-bit Labs, the new processor is every bit the same type of current-generation Piledriver-based FX-series CPU, codenamed Vishera.

Since four cores are present, that means that two Piledriver modules can be found inside.

As a Bulldozer/Vishera family chip, the FX-4130 quad-core has no integrated graphics, unlike the A-Series Trinity and Llano, or Richland for that matter (A10-6800K).

Then again, AMD wanted it this way. While A-Series and all other APUs are meant for systems with no add-in video boards, the Bulldozer are meant for PCs with better graphics, where games can run well yet costs of acquisition aren't too high.

Indeed, the quad-core newcomer, even with its 2.8 GHz clock speed (3.90 GHz Turbo Core), 2 MB of cache memory per Piledriver module (4 MB total) and 4 MB L3 cache, has the same price as an Intel Core i3-2100 unit.

Obviously, the Sunnyvale, California-based corporation is using a good price-performance balance as the main selling point, rather than raw power.

The instruction set of AMD FX-4130 includes things like SSE4.2, FMA, XOP, AES-NI and AVX, some of which are absent from similarly priced Intel CPUs.

Finally, the cooler that the AMD chip sells with is larger and stockier than others. And since larger fans mean stronger airflow at lower rotary speeds, AMD can safely claim its FX-4130 processor is less noisy than alternatives on top of everything else.

All in all, compared with the FX-4100 that it replaces, the FX-4130 is 3-9% faster and, by virtue of Piledriver's higher flexibility, can be overclocked better.

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