New TWKR pictures tip up

NEW PICTURES and video have tipped up on AMD's Flickr account and YouTube showing its mysterious high-performance TWKR chip for Overclockers.

The chips - focused on overclocking 140W CPUs running at 3.2GHz - are limited edition and laser etched. Rumour has it there are only 100 of them in existence.

AMD appears to have sent out their little TWKRs to the creme de la creme of overclocking high society, with forums announcing that the likes of K|ngp|in, Chew*, SF3D and Maci have already gotten their paws on them.

K|ngp|in et all are considered demi gods in the world of extreme overclocking and the likes of SF3D and Macci have previously appeared in AMD unprocessed videos pushing the firm's Phenom II to the max.

Looks like AMD has definitely been choosing the best when it comes to the job of playing around with its new TWKR then.

**UPDATE**:Legit Reviews has just posted more details about a TWKR its staff found lying about in the labs (yes, we're jealous).

According to LR, the processors are designed to reach "the utmost performance barriers of the AMD Phenom II processor and operate beyond the specifications of typical production level processors." Also, TWKR's first name is actually AMD Phenom II X4 42 Black Edition TWKR processor, which is rather more of a mouthful.

Sadly, as we suspected, the processor won't be going on sale, nor is it covered by AMD's product warranty. AMD is apparently providing it "as is", shrugging off any liability for damages of any kind (including system damage, loss of data or personal injury). Good to see AMD lawyers are earning their keep though.

The processor will only be distributed through AMD's marketing team, which seems to have been well schooled in viral internet promotion lately.

According to Legit Reviews, cooled to extremely low temperatures (with liquid nitrogen and liquid helium), the TWKR processors can reach clock frequencies and near absolute zero temperatures "previously unheard of for x86 quad-core processors."

LR tested TWKR on an MSI DKA790GX Platinum motherboard with BIOS version 1.7and claimed to be able to reach 4.0GHz on it using a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 air cooled heat sink.

Hauling out the liquid Nitrogen, LR insulated the motherboard with a combo of artist eraser and Vaseline. Check out the results:

Next, LR tested for maximum frequency with all four cores enabled, saying the team had to push the vcore up to 1.8v to achieve the following screenshot:

When LR pressed AMD on the significance of the part number '42', it was told it was an homage to the Douglas Adams Classic 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'.

The @AMDDesktop Twitter handle will apparently have updates on upcoming TWKR contests and details so check it out. µ

See Legit Reviews for more information

See Also:

AMD's mysterious TWKR demystified