AMD’s Bulldozer-based FX processors have yet to arrive, but already, Turkish site Donanim Haber has a leaked slide detailing what to expect from their successors. Dubbed FX Next, these next-next-gen CPUs will feature the same reworked “Piledriver” CPU cores as Trinity, AMD’s upcoming replacement for Llano.
What’s new in Piledriver? According to the slide, a 10% increase in x86 performance. Version 3.0 of Turbo Core is also on the menu, as are a couple of new instructions. FX Next will reportedly use the same AM3+ socket as the first wave of Bulldozer CPUs, so you should be able to pop it into existing motherboards.
The AMD slide suggests that FX Next will use the same 9-series chipsets that have been around since May. Those chipsets are actually just rebranded versions of AMD’s old 8-series gear, which has been gracing motherboards for a year and a half now. That means no native USB 3.0 support and a slower 6Gbps SATA controller than competing Intel platforms. The 990FX does offer gobs of PCI Express 2.0 connectivity, but that’s gonna look dated if PCIe 3.0 hardware starts popping up next year.
We don’t know exactly when AMD’s next FX platform will arrive, of course. We’re still waiting for the first one, whose launch may be hampered by poor 32-nm yields at GlobalFoundries.