PC Format Magazine - January 2012 (UK)

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Last year could have been one of the greatest ever for PC processing. After an awfully long wait for new high-end chips from AMD or Intel, verily they both delivered. The result could have been, and should have been, a titanic tussle for desktop supremacy.

Even for those who can't afford premium-priced chips and let's be honest, that's most of us the knock on effects would have been huge. Competition not only improves the breed, it also tends to push down prices. Faster chips and cheaper prices for all, in other words. As it turned out, neither AMD nor Intel's uber-processors were quite what we were expecting.

AMD's new Bulldozer-based FX processors, for instance, haven't exactly torn up the record books for raw computational grunt. Rumors of upcoming re-spins could translate into improved performance, of course. For now, the FX is AMD's new top chip and at least offers an intriguing alternative at certain price points.

Intel's latest range topper, the chip known as Sandy Bridge E, has indeed emerged as the hands-down fastest processor you can buy. But it's still not the massive leap forward we had hoped for. Worse than that, it very much looks like it's a case of Sandy by name, sand bagging by nature.

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