Advanced Micro Devices plans to return its premium class FX-series processors to the market sometime in the middle of next year. The question is whether the new central processing units (CPUs) will truly be capable of successfully competing against rivals.

AMD Athlon 64 FX processors were first release back in 2003 to address the market of computer enthusiasts and gamers, however, when Advanced Micro Devices lost its performance crown on the x86 chip market in 2006, the firm had to cease production of “FX” parts since they were not competitive against Intel Corp.’s products. There were no new “FX” chips in 2007 and in 2008, but AMD hopes that in mid-2009 the “FX” will return.

The code-named Deneb FX microprocessors that are projected to be launched sometime in the middle of next year will feature four processing engines, shared level-three cache, dual-channel DDR2 (up to PC2-8500, 1066MHz) and DDR3 (up to PC3-10666, 1333MHz) memory controller, according to sources with knowledge of AMD’s plans. The new chips are projected to utilize AM3 form-factor, which means better system flexibility.

Precise specifications of AMD Phenom FX chips based on Deneb FX core are unknown, however, specs of AMD’s first 45nm microprocessors for desktops include 2.80GHz and 3.0GHz chips, which means that the FX products will operate at higher clock-speeds, bringing higher performance to the market.

It is crucial for AMD to increase frequencies of the Deneb FX chips considerably in order to attract attention of performance enthusiasts, who can pay $1000 per CPU provided that they get unbeatable performance. Currently AMD’s chips cannot provide unrivalled speed, which is why the company has to concentrate on mainstream and entry-level microprocessors, which means that the company’s profit margins are lower than they used to be.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Tags: AMD, Phenom, Deneb, 45nm