Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), world’s second largest chipmaker and rival to Intel Corp., today introduced the world’s fastest single-core gaming chip that operates at 2.8GHz and supports 1MB of L2 cache with a more flexible memory controller that can now support memory speeds at DDR533 comfortably.

Although dual-core microprocessors are the latest in microprocessor advancement, there aren’t nearly as many applications in the market to fully take advantage of dual-core chips. The FX-57, which is mainly designed, targeted and promoted as a chip for gamers, would continue to remain the fastest single-core chip for some time to come, according to industry analysts and independent lab conclusions.

Certain analysts claimed that in the next 18 months, single-core CPUs would continue to hold a solid ground in the industry. Only after that would many games and other applications would be multithreaded to take advantage of multiple cores.

Similar to its rest of the FX product line, the FX-57 is multiplier unlocked, meaning computer enthusiasts and custom PC builders would now be able to overclock the chip to much higher speeds than the default 2.8GHz.

"Now in our fourth iteration, the AMD Athlon 64 FX family of processors continues to remain unmatched in the industry, designed to provide even the most demanding gamer with reduced memory latency and increased performance," said Bob Brewer, Corporate Vice President, AMD in a statement.

AMD’s launch partners that include Voodoo PC, Alienware and Velocity Micro (all custom PC builders) said they are ready to ship systems with AMD’s new addition to its FX product line.

The chipmaker is pricing its FX-57 at $1,031, respectively. This makes this particular chip about 41 percent more expensive than its predecessor.