AthlonXP Released

ldopa1 writes "True to form, AMD has released the new Athlon XP today. This article on Tom's Hardware has the full technical specs for the chip as well as a look at the new packaging. Tom's also has a full set of benchmarks for the chip." michael : See also reviews on LinuxHardware.org, Newsforge, AnandTech and AMDMB. Update: 10/09 20:29 GMT by T : gregfortune points out that AMD is giving away quite a few of these in a six-city promotion as well, so if you live in one of the six, perhaps you can snag one.

Comments

Question

[Anonymous Coward]

Do we have to call into AMD to get a number to have the chip activated?

Re:Question

[haruharaharu]

Try running in with a heatsink; your results might improve.

Name

[Anonymous Coward]

XP... Not a blatant Microsoft rip-off as some may say, but rather a bright future crystallised, a vision of something better, a god given choice name! Give AMD the Nobel Prize in Literature!!! Excellent! Bravissimo!!!

XP hype

[nizo]

Since X-( is listed in the smiley guide as: User just died I nominate the new XP smiley to be listed as User just died of confusion (with tongue sticking out) after trying to figure out if Windows XP would run better on a machine with an Athlon XP CPU or a faster(?) Intel cpu (NOTE: Trademarks above are owned by respective companies blahblahblah)

Re:Model Numbers

[ldopa1]

Is this a fair thing to do? It seems to me that it is trying to trick customers into evaluating the processors more fairly.

Sure it's fair, I just think it's a bad idea. This ties AMD's entire branding effort to whatever Intel does. In other words, if Intel were to take the same tack, in five years we could end up with the "Intel Plentidum XXP++ 1800+++ Equiv4" and all of a sudden, the Cyrus Logic 2.5 GHz chip will look great despite the fact that the latest P7 (or whatever) is running in the 15 GHz range.

If we were to do this with political candidates, our ballot would look like:

George W. Bush (Equivalent to A. Gore)

Al Gore (Equivalent to G. W. Bush)

John McCain (G.W. Bush+)

Ralph Nader (iMac)

Re:Athlon or Athalon?

[Black Parrot]

> "True to form, AMD has released the new Athalon XP today"

> I really hate when it gets spelled that way for some reason.

That's the athaletic spelling. Athaletes need computers too, you know.

Analagies of the XP processor... (FUNNY!)

[uigrad_2000]

This is taken from:
http://athlonxp.amd.com/includes/content/whitePape rs/quantiSpeed.pdf (a whitepaper about the "technical details of QuantiSpeed")

AMD Athlon" XP processor with QuantiSpeed" Architecture Analogies
1. Adult and Child Walking
If a child and an adult are walking together, the child needs to take more steps to keep up with the adult. Since the adult has a longer stride than the child and travels further with each step. The child has to work harder by moving faster to try and keep up.

2. Automobile Engines
Two cars are in a race. The Blue Car has a 6-cylinder engine while the Green Car has a 9-cylinder engine. While the Blue Car s engine works hard in terms of high RPMs, it doesn't actually go all that fast down the road. In contrast, the Green Car s more powerful engine doesn't have to run at high RPMs. Yet on the road, the Green Car blows the doors off the Blue Car. The more powerful Green Car engine is designed to run efficiently and to deliver a faster, more powerful driving experience.

3. Bucket and Cup
You and a friend are out on the lake in a rowboat. At some point, you both notice that the boat is taking on water. Your friend starts bailing water with a cup while you start bailing water with a bucket. In a panic, your friend bails faster than you, but since your container is larger, you end up bailing more water in the same amount of time.

4. Cycling
Two cyclists ride together on 10-speed bikes. One cyclist uses the 10th gear, pedaling slower but moving faster down the road and covering more distance with each stroke. The other cyclist uses 1st gear and has to pedal like a lunatic to achieve even close to the same speed on the road and cover the same ground.

This is what one finds by going to athlonxp.amd.com and clicking on any links that say "technical"

Re:AMD's heatsink problem?

[FFFish]

I worry about my heatsink falling off about as much as I worry about my dink falling off, i.e.: not at all.

Re:AMD's heatsink problem?

[kreyg]

Wow, if my heatsink fell off, it would fall directly on, and likely short out, my video card - which costs as much or more than my processor.

Welcome to FUD.

Re:MP?

[counterfeitfake]

At least it's smart marketing

Which will from now on be known as Smarketing.

Ah, I love doing this.

[stuffman64]

Now officially armed with the news of the AthlonXP, I decided to play my favorite game: "Dumb Shopper at Circuit City." This is how it works. I walk into Circuit City, and, well, pretend I am a dumb computer shopper. Here is what transpired:

Walk up to "Kevin," say my greetings.
"So, Kevin (Who, by the way, must have gotten some information in advance about the AthlonXP), I hear AMD is coming out with a 1.8GHz processor!"

Kevin
"Naw, that is a lie. It is really only like a 1.4GHz (notice, he is wrong already, it is a 1533MHz processor), but they call it a 'Model 1800' to try to get you to buy it. It isn't really 1.8GHz"

Me
"Then they are lying to us?"

Kevin
"Well, kinda. Even so, AMD is so far behind Intel (points to a brand new HP, with a 2GHz P4). Look, Intel has a 2GHz chip out now."

Me
"No kidding... Wow... But, it is a lot more expensive than that one (I point to a Compaq with a 1.4GHz Athlon, similarly configured). Would I really notice the differece, besides the one in my wallet?"

Kevin
"Of course. What kind of computer do you have now?"

Me
"Uh... A P3 733 (a lie, of course, I never owned an Intel chip....), It was top of the line at the time."

Kevin
"Yeah, well think of it this way, When you got it, it was pretty fast at the time ('uh-huh,' I reply). The difference in performance between the two chips is almost the speed of your entire computer!"

Me
"No kidding... really? And the cost difference between the Intel and the AMD is less than I paid for my system too!"

Kevin
"So, if you use your Circuit City card, you can stretch payments of this HP over 2 years.... "

Of course, I had no intention of buying a computer that day. I just love to see how the sales staff operates. The first thing AMD has to do is go in there and teach the "Kevins" of the major retail chains that they do in fact have a superior product (in terms of performance and cost). Then, and only then, can AMD succeed in places like circuit city. I think tomarrow I will go up there with charts from Tom's Hardware, but this time play "'I know more about computers than you do' shopper,'" and set Kevin in his place.

By the way, my real system is a K6-III 428 (yes, 428, O/C'd) with 768MB RAM. A real man's system [two years ago].