Question about Extreme Edition, FX, etc chips

[AmberClad]

So those Extreme Edition and FX chips -- are they cut from the same wafers as the regular grade stuff? The "extreme" pricing is just a premium for being the best of the best, right?

I guess what got me thinking was surfing over at NewEgg and seeing a FX-74 for $229 and a FX-62 for $169 and remembering that they retailed for >$1000 not all that long ago.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

They're all off the same wafers. The others just have the multipliers locked. I would suppose the FX and extreme editions are the result of binning directed at coming up with chips which overclock well without a huge increase in voltage (although I have doubts about AMD's 5000+ Black Edition, I think it is simply unlocked)

 

[taltamir]

The extreme and FX means that:
1. It is the fastest chips on the market when they are announced. (marketing fluff only)
2. On rare occasions they have more on chip memory then lower end models (L3 cache, but later released models of the non extreme/FX kind have that increase aswell)
3. They have unlocked multipliers allowing you to over clock more aggressively (useful if you water cool / liquid nitrogen)..

Only #3 matters on anything but the latest chips... for example the FX62 HAD more cache and was fastest when it was released... but the AMD X2 6000+ has the same speed and cache (numbers 1 and 2) as the FX-62. So unless you want the unlocked multiplier it is the better buy... and there is a black edition 6400+ with the same F3 process, cache, unlocked multipler, and faster default speed which means it will be a better purchase then a FX-62; and it is cheaper to boot.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: taltamir
The extreme and FX means that:
1. It is the fastest chips on the market when they are announced. (marketing fluff only)

Am I right in thinking that there's a pretty lucrative advantage for either of the companies to have the absolute top chip, even if the other mainstream offerings are relatively equally matched?

:roll: @ the X6800 still being priced right around $1000 after more than a year

 

[taltamir]

yea... it is pretty lucrative...
1. They get bragging rights, and some people will shift "loyalties" based on whose on the top...
2. They get insane margins on those chips... usually if a person will pay 600 for their cpu they will also pay 1000 dollars for it. And it probably costs only a few dollars more to manufacture that chip.

 

[lyssword]

Here's what extreme means http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO2Abp0FbA0

 

[coldpower27]

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: taltamir
The extreme and FX means that:
1. It is the fastest chips on the market when they are announced. (marketing fluff only)

Am I right in thinking that there's a pretty lucrative advantage for either of the companies to have the absolute top chip, even if the other mainstream offerings are relatively equally matched?

:roll: @ the X6800 still being priced right around $1000 after more than a year

Intel Extreme processors don't drop in price even if something better comes along typically. You can buy the superior E6850 anyway for almost 1/4 the price.