Some of these chips were budget overclocking favourites, others reshaped the server market, and a few still sit in gaming rigs today. Three decades of silicon, one vote at a time.
1Ryzen 7 5800X3DAn eight-core AM4 processor from April 2022 and the first desktop chip with AMD's stacked 3D V-Cache, totalling 96 MB of L3.1000pts
2Ryzen 7 1800XThe March 2017 eight-core, 16-thread flagship that debuted the Zen architecture on the AM4 socket.777pts
3Ryzen 5 1600A six-core, 12-thread Zen processor released in April 2017 at a launch price of $219.777pts
4Athlon XPThe 2001 successor to the Athlon, introducing PR ratings such as 2500+; the Barton-core 2500+ was widely overclocked to 3200+ speeds.678pts
5AthlonAMD's 1999 K7 processor, which in March 2000 became the first x86 desktop CPU sold at 1 GHz.555pts
6OpteronAMD's server processor that debuted AMD64 in April 2003, with integrated HyperTransport links between processors.555pts
7Phenom II X4A 45 nm quad-core line from 2009; Black Edition models such as the 955 had unlocked multipliers.555pts
8Ryzen 7 7800X3DAn eight-core AM5 processor with 96 MB of L3 cache via 3D V-Cache, released in April 2023.555pts
9Athlon 64Launched in 2003 as the first 64-bit x86 desktop processor, with an on-die memory controller.555pts
10Threadripper 3990XA 64-core, 128-thread Zen 2 workstation processor launched in February 2020 at $3,990.555pts
11Am386AMD's clone of Intel's 386, sold from 1991, whose Am386DX-40 out-clocked Intel's fastest 33 MHz 386.0pts
12Athlon 64 X2AMD's first dual-core desktop processor line, launched in 2005 with both cores on a single die.0pts
13Threadripper 1950XA 16-core, 32-thread HEDT processor from August 2017 that opened AMD's Threadripper line on the TR4 socket.0pts
14Ryzen 5 3600A 2019 six-core Zen 2 processor on 7 nm, sold at $199 with a bundled Wraith Stealth cooler.0pts
15EPYC RomeAMD's second-generation EPYC server processors from August 2019, offering up to 64 Zen 2 cores per socket in a chiplet design.0pts
16Ryzen 9 7950XThe 16-core Zen 4 flagship that launched the AM5 socket and DDR5 support in September 2022.0pts
17K6-2A 1998 Socket 7 processor that introduced AMD's 3DNow! SIMD instructions and powered many budget PCs.0pts
18Phenom II X6AMD's 2010 six-core desktop processors, led by the 1090T and 1100T, with Turbo Core boosting.0pts
19Ryzen 7 9800X3DA November 2024 Zen 5 eight-core processor that put the 3D V-Cache die beneath the CPU cores, allowing higher clocks and overclocking.0pts
Photo credits
- Ryzen 7 5800X3D — Phiarc, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ryzen 7 1800X — Michael Wolf (Webseite), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ryzen 5 1600 — ITEagle Europe - Sebastiaan Broekhoven, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Athlon — Krdan, CC BY 3.0
- Opteron — ZyMOS, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Phenom II X4 — JupiterSSJ4, CC BY 2.0
- Athlon 64 — ZyMOS, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Am386 — Henry Mühlpfordt, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Athlon 64 X2 — ZyMOS, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Threadripper 1950X — CustomRigsDE Custom PC-Builds, Hardware & Reviews, CC BY 3.0
- Ryzen 9 7950X — Memory PC, CC BY 3.0
- K6-2 — ZyMOS, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Phenom II X6 — D-Kuru, CC BY-SA 3.0
