AMD ships top-performing PC processors

Chip vendor AMD last week continued to pile the pressure on rival Intel by shipping the highest performing PC processors currently available.

Chip vendor AMD last week continued to pile the pressure on rival Intel by shipping the highest performing PC processors currently available.

AMD released 1.2Ghz Athlon and 800Mhz Duron processors to PC manufacturers worldwide on 18 October. The vendor has been gaining ground on Intel in recent months, following profit warnings and product recalls by Intel.

Gateway has been selling systems based on the chips since they launched, and a number of leading manufacturers, including Compaq and Hewlett Packard (HP) have agreed to offer systems using them.

Athlon and Duron processor-based systems are available in high volumes following the strong take-up of the company's Socket A architecture. Unlike Intel's confusing stance on memory for its soon-to-be-released Pentium 4, there is now a wealth of Socket A compatible motherboards available to resellers.

HP and Gateway have announced that complete systems based on the 1.2Ghz Athlons and 800Mhz Durons will be widely available in November. AMD's 1.2Ghz Athlon and 800Mhz Duron will retail for $612 and $170 respectively in 1000-unit quantities.