AMD's Athlon plays catch-up with Intel

Advanced Micro Devices will rev up the performance of its Athlon XP processor with new models, due later this month. The chipmaker will introduce, at a minimum, an Athlon XP 2400+ and an Athlon XP 2600+ for desktop PCs toward the end of the month, sources familiar with AMD's plans said. AMD is also evaluating whether to increase the speed of the chip's front-side bus--the pathway used to shuttle data between the processor and PC memory. Doing so would boost the performance of future Athlon-based PCs.

The newest Athlon XPs will help AMD increase its competitiveness with archrival Intel's Pentium 4. The Pentium 4 currently tops out at 2.53GHz, while AMD's highest performance Athlon XP is a 2200+ model, which runs at 1.8GHz.

To get there, AMD moved up the launch of the 2600+ chip, which was not expected until the fourth quarter, to this month. The move helps AMD combat Intel's imminent 2.8GHz Pentium 4 launch. Intel moved the chip forward to this month from the fourth quarter to help stimulate demand, analysts said.

Both companies are expected to cut chip prices as the new chips become available.

News source: ZDNet