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There are many ways of making a product exclusive, through design, pricing, limiting the production run and similar schemes. However, AMD came up with a novel way and launched a CPU that you simply can't buy.
The AMD Phenom II X4 42 Black Edition TWKR will probably go down in history as one of the rarest AMD products ever, with fewer than 100 cherry picked CPUs. So, the company has decided not to sell them, but give them away to the creme de la creme of oveclockers. The company says the move is a tribute to the chosen ones for their support, and it encourages them to push the overclock envelope.
Initially hacks thought TWKR was simply a rough abbreviation of 'tweaker', but it apparently stands for 'those who know', with the R added at the back to make it sound like tweaker. We're not sure if AMD will come up with a secret handshake for those who know. The '42' in the designation means absolutely nothing. It's a reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which a fictional supercomputer named Deep Thought works out 42 is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything after 7.5 million years of calculations. (Somewhat like trying to do GI in Max a few years back.sub.ed.)
AMD claims the cherry picked TWKRs can handle more voltage than death row inmates, scale higher and run faster than any processor on the market, and we could even see one of them break the 7GHz mark with liquid helium. The company might not be able to match Intel's Core i7 performance with its regular Phenom II parts, and you won't be able to get TWKR CPUs in your local shop, but this stunt will at least generate quite a bit of publicity for the chipmaker.
Published in
PC Hardware
AMD launches Phenom II TWKR
And no, you can't buy one
There are many ways of making a product exclusive, through design, pricing, limiting the production run and similar schemes. However, AMD came up with a novel way and launched a CPU that you simply can't buy.
The AMD Phenom II X4 42 Black Edition TWKR will probably go down in history as one of the rarest AMD products ever, with fewer than 100 cherry picked CPUs. So, the company has decided not to sell them, but give them away to the creme de la creme of oveclockers. The company says the move is a tribute to the chosen ones for their support, and it encourages them to push the overclock envelope.
Initially hacks thought TWKR was simply a rough abbreviation of 'tweaker', but it apparently stands for 'those who know', with the R added at the back to make it sound like tweaker. We're not sure if AMD will come up with a secret handshake for those who know. The '42' in the designation means absolutely nothing. It's a reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which a fictional supercomputer named Deep Thought works out 42 is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything after 7.5 million years of calculations. (Somewhat like trying to do GI in Max a few years back.sub.ed.)
AMD claims the cherry picked TWKRs can handle more voltage than death row inmates, scale higher and run faster than any processor on the market, and we could even see one of them break the 7GHz mark with liquid helium. The company might not be able to match Intel's Core i7 performance with its regular Phenom II parts, and you won't be able to get TWKR CPUs in your local shop, but this stunt will at least generate quite a bit of publicity for the chipmaker.