fastest cpus for each year from 1990 to current day!

[chrisNova777]

answers sourced from AI on google.com

The Motorola 68040 was one of the fastest CPUs released in 1990, performing at 44 million instructions per second (MIPS) at 40 MHz, while Intel released the Intel 486 DX in both 1989 (at 25MHz) and again in 1990 (at 33MHz and 50MHz).

The Intel 50 MHz Intel486 DX was the fastest CPU in 1991, with its introduction occurring in the fall of that year. This processor was a significant achievement for the era, offering much higher clock speeds than previous generations and a large number of transistors for its time.

The fastest CPU available in 1992 was the Intel 486DX2-66, which debuted in the latter half of the year and offered a dual-clock design, running at an internal speed of 66 MHz while utilizing a slower external bus, significantly boosting performance over earlier 486 models. Other 486DX2 models, like the 50 MHz variant, were released earlier in the year, as well as the clock-doubling 486DX2-66 in May.

The fastest CPU available in 1993 was the Intel Pentium, with initial models like the Pentium 60 MHz and Pentium 66 MHz released on March 22, 1993. This processor was Intel's fifth-generation x86 processor and featured a new superscalar architecture that provided a significant performance increase over its predecessor, the Intel 486.

The fastest CPU available in 1994 was the Intel Pentium 100 MHz, which was released on March 7, 1994, and provided desktop processor performance at that time, offering significant speed improvements over previous processors like the IntelDX2.

The fastest CPU released in 1995 was the Intel Pentium Pro and the AMD K5, which were the first of the "6th Generation" of CPUs, released in late 1995. The Pentium Pro was for the high-end market, while the AMD K5 was more focused on the mainstream and was able to deliver performance comparable to the Intel Pentium at the time.

The fastest consumer CPU in 1996 was the Intel Pentium at 200 MHz. For high-performance and supercomputing applications, the Intel Pentium Pro was used, with a 200 MHz version being overclocked to 266 MHz in the same year, and also served as the core for the ASCI Red supercomputer.

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The fastest CPU available in 1997 was the Intel Pentium II 300 MHz, which was introduced on May 7, 1997, combining the strengths of the Pentium Pro processor with Intel's MMX media enhancement technology for businesses and workstations.

The fastest CPU released in 1998 was the Intel Pentium II 450 MHz, which was introduced by Intel in August 1998. Earlier in the year, Intel had released the 333 MHz Pentium II in January 1998.

The fastest CPU at the end of 1999 was the Intel Pentium III 800 MHz, introduced on December 20, 1999, but the AMD Athlon 750 MHz, released in late November 1999, was the fastest CPU for a period after its release, according to CNN. The Athlon processor had briefly overtaken Intel's fastest model, the 733 MHz Pentium III, before Intel launched its new 800 MHz chip.

The fastest consumer CPU in 2000 was a close race between Intel's Pentium III 1.0 GHz and AMD's Athlon processor, with Intel claiming the 1 GHz milestone in March 2000, followed shortly by Intel's release of the much-anticipated Pentium 4 in November of that year. The AMD Athlon was also performing very strongly, with an on-die cache version called the "Thunderbird" being released in June 2000.

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The Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz, released in August 2001, was the fastest CPU of the year, offering superior performance to its predecessors. Competitively, AMD's top-performing CPU was the Athlon XP 1900+.

The fastest CPU in 2002 was the Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with Hyper-Threading  it was the first desktop CPU from Intel to feature Hyper-Threading Technology (not the first dual-core CPU), which simulated a second logical processor for improved multitasking. The 3.06 GHz speed was a significant milestone for a commercial microprocessor, and the chip was designed for high-performance business users and multitasking.

The fastest mainstream CPU in 2003 was the Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition at 3.2GHz, with the AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 also being a high-end competitor and the first 64-bit processor for the desktop market released that year.

The AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 was generally considered the fastest CPU in 2004, receiving the "Best CPU" award from Maximum PC magazine for its strong performance, gaming benchmarks, and real-world application results. This processor was based on the 64-bit AMD64 architecture and offered high performance in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments, competing with Intel's Pentium 4 processors of the era.

The fastest single CPU in 2005 was likely the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (a dual-core model) or the high-clocked single-core Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73 GHz, though the "fastest" depends on the specific metric and whether it was single or dual-core. AMD also released the Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor in May 2005, which became a top-tier performer that year.

The Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 was the fastest CPU in 2006, offering a significant performance increase over previous Intel processors with a new, more efficient architecture. Released in July 2006 as part of Intel's new Core 2 line, this dual-core processor, running at 2.93 GHz, outperformed other high-end processors of the time in both classic and modern applications.

The fastest CPU in 2007 was the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800, which launched as the first true quad-core desktop CPU. Another extremely fast CPU released later in 2007 was the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, clocked at 3.20GHz.


 The Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (released November 2008) was widely considered the fastest desktop processor on the planet at the end of 2008, leveraging the new Nehalem architecture to offer industry-leading performance with features like Intel Turbo Boost Technology and Hyper-Threading Technology.

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The fastest desktop CPU in 2010 was the Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, a 6-core, 12-thread processor clocked at 3.33GHz with Intel Turbo Boost technology. This processor offered high performance for digital content creation, gaming, and multitasking, and was compatible with many existing Intel X58-based motherboards.


The Intel Core i7-3960X was a leading desktop CPU in 2011, known for its performance and high clock speeds, while the Intel Xeon E5-2600 series (Sandy Bridge-EP) offered high-core-count options, though primarily for server and workstation use. Other notable processors included the Intel Core i5-2500K, which was popular for its excellent performance and unlocked multiplier for overclocking, as highlighted by pcr-online.biz.

The fastest high-end desktop CPU in late 2012 was the Intel Core i7-3770K, part of Intel's Ivy Bridge generation. For AMD, the high-end was represented by the AMD FX-8350. For mobile processors, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 was considered the best processor of the year by Qualcomm.

The Intel Core i7-4960X was the fastest desktop consumer processor in 2013 for overall performance, while the AMD FX-9590 offered a high clock speed (up to 5 GHz) and more cores ( for multithreaded tasks. The i7-4960X featured 6 cores and 15MB of L3 cache, making it a powerful option for high-end users.

The Intel Core i7-5960X was the fastest desktop CPU in late 2014 for general use, being the first 8-core consumer processor supporting DDR4 memory. However, for gaming, the Intel Core i7-4790K was a strong contender, a quad-core "Devil's Canyon" CPU that reached a 4.0 GHz base clock speed and was a top-tier gaming processor at the time.

In 2015, there was no single "fastest" CPU, but the Intel Core i7-5960X was considered the top multi-threaded consumer CPU, while the Intel Core i7-5775C excelled in single-threaded performance, and the Intel Xeon E7-8890 v3 dominated server performance. New processor architectures like Intel's Skylake were also launched in 2015, with the i7-6700K and i5-6600K becoming available and showing significant improvements over previous generations.

The Intel Core i7-6950X was the fastest CPU released in 2016, featuring 10 cores and supporting high-end desktop (HEDT) use for consumers and creators, according to sources like CRN Magazine and PCWorld. It was the first 10-core processor for consumers and was designed to handle "mega-tasking" and complex creative work, notes Thurrott.com.

The Intel Core i7-8700K was widely considered the fastest gaming CPU in 2017, offering strong single-core and multi-core performance. However, for the absolute highest performance, particularly in heavily threaded tasks, the AMD Threadripper 1950X stood out with its 16 cores and 32 threads, offering unprecedented multi-processing power for consumer desktops.

The Intel Core i9-9900K was a top-performing CPU in 2018, offering excellent all-around performance for gaming and production tasks, while the Intel Core i7-8700K served as a practical and still high-performance gaming choice. For high-end workstation users, the AMD Threadripper 2990WX (released in late 2018) was the fastest option for heavy workloads.

In 2019, the Intel Core i9-9900K was a top performer for gaming, while the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X was a leading CPU for productivity, with Intel also offering the high-performance Intel Core i9-9900KS for those with extreme performance needs in gaming. The fastest CPU depended on the specific benchmark or application being used, as each processor excelled in different areas.

In 2020, for top gaming performance, the Intel Core i9-10900K was considered one of the best, while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X emerged as the best overall desktop CPU for various workloads, and for high-end workstation tasks, the Threadripper 3970X and 3990X were leading options.

[chrisNova777]

In 1994, there was no single "fastest" GPU, but the Number Nine Imagine 128 was a leading high-performance card for Windows, while the ATI Mach64 series and the S3 Trio64/Vision series were also prominent high-end choices. For DOS-based gaming, the ET4000/w32p was among the fastest PCI cards available.

In 1995, there was no single "fastest" GPU, but the Matrox Millennium was a leading 2D Windows accelerator, while ATI's Mach64 GX offered strong performance for its time, and the NVIDIA NV1 was a new, ambitious card for 3D, though often compared unfavorably to later products. The landscape was fragmented, with different cards excelling in different tasks like DOS compatibility, 2D Windows performance, or early 3D graphics, and early 3D acceleration was still evolving rapidly.

In 1996, the 3dfx Voodoo 1 was the fastest 3D accelerator, offering nearly double the frame rate of competing cards despite being a 3D-only card requiring a separate 2D card to function. Other notable cards included the ATI 3D Rage and the S3 ViRGE/VX, which provided 2D and 3D capabilities, but the Voodoo 1 was the leader in raw 3D performance for the year.

In 1997, Nvidia's RIVA 128 was a dominant, fast GPU, especially considering its affordable price and integrated 2D and 3D acceleration. However, the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics was the fastest 3D-only card of the year, though it required a separate 2D card to function.

In 1998, while 3dfx Voodoo2 cards, often used in SLI configurations, offered the peak performance for single-card solutions, Nvidia's Riva TNT provided the fastest performance for a single-card, mainstream solution, especially in scenes using a single texture, making it a strong competitor to the Voodoo2 in certain scenarios and a key card that put Nvidia on the map.

The NVIDIA GeForce 256, released in October 1999, was marketed as the world's first graphics processing unit (GPU) and was the fastest graphics card of that year due to its integrated hardware transform and lighting (T&L) engine, which significantly boosted 3D gaming performance by offloading these tasks from the CPU.

The NVIDIA GeForce 2 Ultra was one of the fastest GPUs in 2000, representing the high-end of NVIDIA's second-generation GeForce 2 line which launched in March 2000. Other fast cards from the era included the ATI Radeon line (7500?) and the extremely high-end (but less powerful) 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000, which featured four VSA-100 chips in a powerful but non-T&L design.

The NVIDIA GeForce 3 was the fastest GPU in 2001, released in February of that year and introducing the use of programmable pixel and vertex shaders for more advanced graphics. It was quickly recognized as the fastest graphics card on the market, though its main competitor, the ATI Radeon 8500, was released about six months later with an advanced architecture but ultimately could not dethrone the GeForce 3 in performance.

In 2002, the NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 was widely considered the fastest consumer GPU, though the new NVIDIA GeForce FX and AMD Radeon 9700 series also emerged during the year and became top contenders for performance supremacy.

The ATI Radeon 9800 XT was the fastest GPU in 2003, competing with the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra. The Radeon 9800 XT was a high-end card featuring the R360 core, offering a minor clock speed advantage over its predecessor, the Radeon 9800 Pro, and came in 256MB configurations.

The NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra and the ATI X850 XT were the top high-end GPUs in 2004, with the GeForce 6800 Ultra launching in April 2004 and the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition (Radeon X850 XT PE) launching in late 2004, often considered ATI's flagship for the year. The X850 XT PE was considered a strong competitor to the 6800 Ultra, outperforming it in many scenarios and becoming one of the fastest cards available by the end of the year, according to YouTube creators.

The NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB was the fastest GPU released in late 2005, featuring significantly increased clock speeds and 512MB of fast GDDR3 memory, while the ATI Radeon X1800 XT and X1900 XTX were also high-performance competitors.

The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX is considered the fastest consumer GPU of late 2006 and into early 2007, outperforming AMD's then-current Radeon X1950 XTX. Other high-end single-GPU options in 2006 included the AMD Radeon X1950 XTX and the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX, which battled for the top spot before the release of Nvidia's significantly more powerful 8800 series.

The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra was the fastest GPU in 2007, offering significantly higher clock speeds and improved performance over its predecessor, the 8800 GTX, and was the high-end option for serious enthusiasts during that period.

The fastest GPU in 2008 was the AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2, a dual-GPU card that launched in August 2008 and featured two HD 4870 GPUs on a single printed circuit board (PCB). It used the Terascale architecture and was clocked at 750 MHz, offering significant performance in supported games and at higher resolutions, solidifying its position as the fastest card available at the time.

The fastest GPUs of 2009 were the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 for much of the year and the AMD Radeon HD 5970, which became the most powerful GPU upon its release in November 2009, shortly after the GTX 295. The GTX 295 was a dual-GPU card, while the HD 5970 was also a dual-GPU powerhouse, released to support the new DirectX 11 standard.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 was the fastest single consumer GPU in 2010, released in November and based on the NVIDIA Fermi architecture. It brought a new level of performance to DirectX 11 games, featuring hardware tessellation for increased visual realism, and was faster and more efficient than its predecessor, the GTX 480.

In 2011, there was a close competition for the title of the fastest GPU, with both the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 and the AMD Radeon HD 6990 considered contenders for the "world's fastest graphics card". While NVIDIA claimed the GTX 590 was the fastest single card, and AMD marketed the HD 6990 as the fastest, they were both high-end, dual-GPU designs released in early 2011, with NVIDIA's high-end single-GPU option being the GeForce GTX 580.

The fastest GPU in 2012 was the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, a dual-GPU card released in April 2012 that combined two Kepler architecture-based GeForce GPUs to deliver world-leading consumer graphics performance at the time.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti was the fastest gaming GPU in 2013, released in November by NVIDIA. Powered by the Kepler architecture, it offered superior frame rates and smooth performance for the hottest PC games of the year, including Assassin's Creed IV and Call of Duty: Ghosts. The GeForce GTX Titan was also a powerful high-end GPU from earlier in 2013 with ample VRAM and compute functions, but the GTX 780 Ti later surpassed it in gaming performance by year-end,

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 was the fastest single-GPU card in late 2014, while the AMD Radeon R9 295X2 held the title for the fastest overall graphics card with its dual-GPU design for much of the year. The GTX 980 launched with Nvidia's new Maxwell architecture, offering excellent performance and efficiency for 1440p gaming, while the R9 295X2 was a powerful, liquid-cooled, dual-GPU solution built for extreme 4K gaming.

In 2015, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti were among the fastest GPUs available, with the GTX 980 Ti becoming a top choice for demanding 1440p and 4K gaming by the middle of the year, while the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X was the top single-chip AMD card and a strong competitor.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 was the fastest GPU available for consumers at the launch of NVIDIA's Pascal architecture in May 2016. While the GTX 1080 Ti was introduced by NVIDIA later, in early 2017, the GTX 1080 was the top performer in 2016.

The NVIDIA Titan XP was the fastest GPU in early 2017 for professional workstations, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was the fastest gaming GPU introduced in March 2017, offering extreme performance for high-end and 4K gaming.

The NVIDIA Titan RTX was the fastest graphics card in 2018, featuring the new Turing architecture and 24GB of GDDR6 memory, but it was expensive and for the high-end consumer market. Later in 2018, NVIDIA launched the RTX 2080 Ti, which took the crown for the fastest gaming GPU by a significant margin over its predecessor, the GTX 1080 Ti.

In 2019, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti was considered the fastest consumer graphics card, offering significant performance improvements over previous generations and enabling true 4K gaming at high frame rates, with the Titan RTX positioned as an even faster, though more expensive, overall fastest card, also suitable for professional use.

In 2020, for gaming and professional visualization, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti was the fastest consumer-grade GPU, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 was the top card for visualization and rendering, and the NVIDIA Tesla V100 (and similar Tesla family cards) led in high-performance computing, machine learning, and deep learning workloads.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 was the fastest consumer GPU in 2021, particularly for high-resolution gaming and professional tasks, outperforming its competitors at 4K resolutions. While AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT offered strong performance for 1080p gaming, the RTX 3090's significantly higher computational power and advanced ray tracing capabilities made it the top-tier choice for demanding workloads

The fastest GPU released in 2022 was the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, which launched on October 12, 2022. While other powerful cards like the Radeon RX 7900 XTX were also released in late 2022, the RTX 4090 was positioned as the single fastest consumer graphics card at that time