While Zen may still be a long way off, AMD isn’t just sitting around without new CPUs to launch. Stealthily launched, AMD is releasing a new FX-6330 chip to slot into their lineup but unfortunately only for the APAC (Asian Pacific) region for now. Set to replace the aging FX-6300 at a similar price point, the new chip is more of the same, with the same Piledriver architecture and 32nm process. The biggest change is the clock speed which gets a bump up to 3.6/4.2 Ghz, up from 3.5/4.1 Ghz. Cache sizes remain the same at 6MB of L2 and 8MB of L3.
With speeds like that, the 6330 pretty much slots right under the FX-6350 which features a higher base clock at 3.9/4.1 Ghz. While the new chip is likely only targetted to those already disposed to get the 6300 or 6350, it should offer a better for these customers. Competing against Intel’s i3, the 6330 is a decent offering as it should age better as DX12 lowers driver overhead and allows for better multithreading in games.
The biggest competition though will be existing stock of 6300 chips which should perform really similar to the 6330. The biggest impact will be felt by the new S3.0 stock cooler which should offer much better cooling performance with less noise than previous models. Overall, the 6330 is a decent chip at $109.99 USD but with Zen just around the corner, holding off may be the better option.
Images Courtesy of WCCFTech
