Details about AMD's FX-8150 and FX-8120 eight-core desktop processors have appeared on some retail sites ahead of their official launch. The FX-8150 and FX-8120 processors are part of the reincarnated AMD FX processor brand announced at E3 2011 and are pitched as high-performance parts aimed at gaming systems. The chips are based on AMD's new Bulldozer architecture.

The FX-8150 has eight cores, it runs at 3.6GHz and is priced at $287 and $283 on retail sites. The FX-8120, also with eight cores, runs at 3.1GHZ and is priced at about $237.

The chips will compete with Intel's high-end Core i7-990X Extreme Edition processor, which is much more expensive at $999. However, Intel will soon release an Extreme Edition chip based on its newer Sandy Bridge microarchitecture.

Last month, AMD said an eight-core Bulldozer microprocessor broke the world record for clock speed by running at 8.429GHz.

In order to ensure that your system is ready to accept the new 8-core CPUs, make sure your PC sports a motherboard with an AMD 9-series chipset, which includes the all-new AM3+ socket that the AMD FX CPU requires. The AM3+ socket is backward compatible with AM3 AMD CPUs so you can install the motherboard now. ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, ECS, GIGABYTE Technology, Jetway and MSI are offering 9-series motherboards. In addition, ensure you have the latest BIOS installed.

AMD plans to launch the FX chips code-named Zambezi chips this quarter.