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January 7, 2000
Web posted at: 9:19 a.m. EST (1419 GMT)

by Tom Mainelli

(IDG) -- It's beginning to sound like a broken record: Major chipmaker offers incredibly fast new processor. This time it's Advanced Micro Device's turn with an 800-MHz Athlon, formally unveiled Thursday.

The jump brings the Athlon up to speed with the most recent announcement from rival Intel, which announced an 800-MHz Pentium III on December 20.

Three manufacturers -- Compaq, IBM, and CyberMax -- are immediately offering systems with the new chip, and more vendors will follow. Polywell is also taking orders for user-configured systems running the 800-MHz Athlon, and expects to begin shipping January 10. PC World tested a Polywell prerelease unit in December.

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By Wednesday, Compaq was offering on its Web site a configure-to-order Presario 5900Z-800 with the new processor. Two default configurations appear on the site. The package priced at $2550 includes 128MB memory, a 20GB hard drive, a 32X CD-ROM drive, a V.90 modem, a 3dfx Voodoo3 3500 video card with 16MB of memory, a 17-inch monitor, a Creative Labs 1373 sound card with JBL speakers, and Microsoft Office-Small Business Edition 2000.

The second default configuration for the Presario 5900Z-800, priced at $3027, has 256MB of memory, a 10X DVD-ROM drive, a 19-inch monitor, a SoundBlaster Live Value sound card and Klipsch speakers, the Microsoft Featured Home Collection plus Word 2000, and the same hard drive, modem, and video card as the other Presario. Both systems run Windows 98 Second Edition.

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IBM will feature the processor in its configure-to-order Aptiva line through its ShopIBM Web site and begin shipping systems January 17. IBM describes a sample configuration priced at $2299. The new Aptiva S Series 880 includes 128MB of memory, a 27GB hard drive, an 8X DVD-ROM drive, an ELSA Erazor II AGP card with 32MB video memory, an Aurel Vortex 2 sound card with infinity speakers, a V.90 modem, Lotus SmartSuite Millennium, and Windows 98 Second Edition. A monitor costs extra.

Polywell's systems are user-configured, but as an example, the $2800 Poly 800K7-800 has 128MB of memory, a 27.3GB hard drive, a 6X DVD-ROM drive, 4X AGP graphics with 32MB of video memory, a V.90 modem, a 100MB Zip drive, a 19-inch monitor, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Lotus SmartSuite.

AMD applies pressure

AMD plans to offer an Athlon mobile processor for notebook computers by the second half of 2000, says Steve Lapinski, AMD's director of product marketing, computational products group.

"We are challenging Intel at every system level price point," Lapinski says. AMD plans to intensify that competition across product lines.

Lapinski says AMD will ship the new 800-MHz Athlon in quantity, so vendors and customers who want the chip can get it. Some critics have taken Intel to task for announcing the new 800-MHz PIII without having enough of the chips available.

Proof of the scarcity: PC World recently compared PCWorldBench test results of the prerelease 800-MHz Athlon-based Polywell system with an Intel reference box running a 750-MHz PIII and Rambus memory because no PIII-800 system was yet available.

The results were very close, with a slight edge to the Intel PIII system. Lapinski says the results were likely due in part to the PIII system's more expensive Rambus memory, which boosts memory throughput.