The 10 Coolest CPUs, GPUs Of 2012 (So Far)

CPUs And GPUs Take Center Stage

As summer temperatures climb, competitive heat is also rising in the processor market. With new tablets and smartphones popping up like weeds in a vegetable garden, the demand for faster, more powerful system-on-chip designs has come to the spotlight like never before.

In demand for their high-speed and low-power consumption, modern SoCs combine multiple application and graphics processor cores on a single die and are well suited for today's increasingly mobile, increasingly networked prosumers. Here's a look at some of the hottest CPUs and GPUs so far in 2012.