News
AMD Intros 1.4 GHz Athlon, 950 MHz Duron
- By Scott Bekker
- June 07, 2001
AMD ratcheted up the clockspeed for its desktop processors this week.
Wednesday, AMD introduced a 1.4 GHz Athlon processor for performance use and a 950 MHz Duron processor for business desktops and home users.
Intel Corp. currently offers a Pentium 4 processor at 1.7 GHz. The Duron is AMD's equivalent of Intel's economy Celeron line.
The Athlon processor comes with two speeds for its front-side bus, 266 MHz or 200 MHz. The Athlons also have Double Data Rate (DDR) memory, which AMD claims makes its processors perform better than the faster clockspeed Pentiums. The Duron has a 200 MHz front-side bus.
Prices for the Athlon are $253 per processor in 1,000-unit quantities. The Duron is $122 each in 1,000-unit quantities.
Compaq Computer Corp. had systems available on the new processor immediately. Hewlett-Packard Co., MicronPC and NEC Corp. planned to bring out systems based on the new processors.
Earlier in the week, AMD introduced its first multi-processing server processors, capable of being installed on two-processor boards. AMD has had more success penetrating the desktop market than the server market thus far.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.