Chip refreshes typically don’t add many new features aside from a speed bump here or there and a bit more cahce to make things run smoother. Some chip manufacturers want to shake things up.

Intel’s Core i7 980X brings 6 Hyper-Threading capable cores and 12MB of cache to the party with some mighty impressive results for multi-threaded applications. Here are some of the reviews floating around the web:

The Core i7 980X Review: Intel’s First 6-Core CPU – AnandTech
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Review – bit tech
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor – Hot Hardware
Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review – PC Perspective
Intel Core i7-980X 32nm LGA-1366 Six Core CPU – TweakTown
Intel’s new Gulftown Six Core CPU meets LN2 Extreme Cooling – TweakTown

Intel’s LGA1156 lineup is good, a little too good in fact, easily encroaching on their high-end LGA1366 lineup of processors especially at the low end. So in order to keep the halo on their top tier they’ve got to bump the entry chip up a notch.

The Intel Core i7 930 replaces the company’s 920 chip as its lowest priced CPU for the X58 platform and improves on the amount of performance you get for the cost of entry. Hexus.net has a look:

Clocking up to 4GHz with minor voltage adjustments and a few tweaks in the BIOS, the Core i7 930 becomes a superlative-inducing CPU and easily faster than any stock-clocked desktop processor shipping today. But the same can be said for current D0-stepping ‘920s, as well, so we’d only recommend the newer model if contemplating a platform upgrade as a whole.

A nice option for first time buyers but for those with existing systems it’s not much of an improvement over the old.

The onward march of technology means sooner or later that fancy new chips will eventually come down in price for just about anyone to enjoy. Sadly that just means more processing power to be wasted away on rousing web-based games.

The AMD Athlon II X4 635 comes ready to tackle your computing tasks with four cores operating at 2.9GHz all at a reasonably low MSRP. TechwareLabs has the review:

The rest of you who are looking to squeeze the most out of a processor and are choosing between the 630 and the 635 will likely choose the 635 since we were able to over-clock the processor an additional 600MHz on air alone. Though overall we were looking for the Athlon II which was to follow the 630 to leave the 630 way behind, but the 635 at stock didn’t leave us speechless, but the 635 did make us smile while over-clocking.

In other words if you’re a tweaker on a budget this might just be your next chip.

Intel’s Core i3 lineup presents a bit of an interesting premise for system users. It’s certainly fast but there are older processors that are clearly faster but the new chip shows it has the muscle to handle other tasks at a much faster clip.

Phoronix has a look at how the Intel Core i3 530 handles quite a few tasks under a Linux operating system and the results might surprise you, if you use your system for things other than office work:

In our Core i3 Linux benchmarks we found this processor to perform very well especially in the heavily SMP-based areas where it was able to shine and run quite well. In other areas, the Core i3 530 was running neck-and-neck with the Core 2 Duo E8400 processor that is based on Intel’s Wolfdale from 2008. In some benchmarks, this older processor would come out ahead when running at its higher clocks, but this was a very close race and the Core i3 can be overclocked well too. The Core 2 Duo E8400 actually retails for around $170 USD where as the Core i3 530 is selling for about $120 USD, which makes it a much better bargain. The AMD Phenom II X3 710 did not pose much of a threat to the Core i3 530 processor except in the OpenSSL and Apache benchmarks.

A speedy little chip for tasks both big and small.

The budget PC enthusiast seeks out the sort of hardware that might look like a less than appealing option for those with bigger budgets but can, with some coaxing, transform itself into a beast of a performer.

AnandTech has a look at the AMD Phenom II X2 555 which may or may not be able to unlock itself from a dual-core chip into a quad-core beast all with a very low price tag.:

The Phenom II X2 is nothing more than a Phenom II X4 with two cores disabled. Originally these cores were disabled because of low yields, but over time yields on quad-core Phenom IIs should be high enough to negate the need for a Phenom II X2. This is most likely why AMD removed the Phenom II X2 from its official price list. It’s also why the stranger Phenom II derivatives are also absent from AMD’s price list. All that’s left are Phenom II X4s pretty much.

As with anything enthusiast oriented it’s a case of buyer beware but if it works out you’re looking at some extremely fast chips at a low cost of entry.

Energy friendly computer hardware tends to cut out features or run things a bit slower in order to get their power usage in check. Then there are those cases where they cherry-pick the best of the best in order to make things run quickly and with less of a power load. This is one such case,

The AMD Phenom II X4 910e sports all of the great features the rest of the Phenom II lineup but operates in a 65Watt envelope. PCStats has the review:

The 65W TDP revision chip also lowers heat output, boding well for overclocking potential. While the Phenom II X4 910e is not one of AMD’s Black Edition processors, it’s still possible to overclock its core operating frequency. PCSTATS will see just how much we can crank up the Phenom II X4 910e processor a little later on in this review.

A powerful option for those small form factor PCs.

Nvidia’s graphics division is having a rough time getting new products out the door but that doesn’t mean the rest of the company is stagnating. The company has announced its newest system on a chip dubbed Tegra 2.

The new Nvidia Tegra 250 will sport a total of 8 RISC-based processor cores running at up to 1GHz for your low-power computing needs while its updated 3D and video decoding components will allow for some impressive mobile gaming and 1080p HD video decoding while on the road.

The company expects the chip to be used in a wide variety of mobile entertainment devices as well as a new segment of “netbook-like” computers and tablets coming out this year.

Exciting stuff

Intel has been on a bit of a roll when it comes to their processor offerings. While they’ve certainly made the high-end happy with their performance the budget conscious system builders have been looking for something a little friendlier, price wise, to offer customers.

In comes the Intel Core i5 661 which sports a graphics chip nestled closely to the CPU offering basic video processing for the office user set. Here’s a roundup of some review links:

The Clarkdale Review: Intel’s Core i5 661, i3 540 & i3 530 – AnandTech
Intel Westmere 32nm & Clarkdale Core i5-661 Review – HardOCP
Intel Clarkdale Core i5 Desktop Processor Debuts – HotHardware
Intel Core i5-661 Clarkdale Processor Review – Westmere debuts – PC Perspective

If you’re really into computing hardware you tend to seek out information on the top-end products that are available, unfortunately many of those high-end processors are cost-prohibitive for some…that doesn’t mean there aren’t speedy bargains to be found however.

X-bit labs tests some of the most inexpensive processors out there and comes up with a few impressive performers in the bunch, especially if you enjoy overclocking:

And our supposition proved totally right. The first CPU, AMD Athlon II X2 215 did very well during our overclocking tests. Without touching any voltages, we could easily push its frequency from the default 2.7 GHz to 3.6 GHz.

Plenty of performance to be found without breaking the bank on a snazzy new processor.

Sony/Toshiba/IBM’s joint effort to create a monstrous number crunching chip has been limited to the PlayStation 3 and a few niche applications that need the sort of power the chip is pumping out. Now it’s making its way to the PC to help you with your media creation.

The Leadtek PxVC1100 MPEG-2/H.264 Transcoding Card utilizes a Cell chip that operates with 4 processing units more than capable of handling video tasks. Legit Reviews has a look at this interesting add-on card:

The Leadtek PxVC1100 with the Spurs Engine does a great job of speeding up the encoding time over our 4GHz Core i7! With nearly a 50% speed up on the DVD rip, it can really cut down on the time spent waiting for your movies to be converted!

They seem to be really excited about it! A great upgrade option if you’re handling quite a bit of home video content.