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What's Hot for 2003

The year in preview--from the tech gear you'll buy to Web services you'll try.

By The Editors of PC World   

I Wanna Be Your Clawhammer

AMD's successful Athlon CPU line is in for some big changes in 2003. In its ongoing race with Intel (see News and Trends ), AMD has built a new hot-rod--an entirely new chip called Clawhammer that will replace the Athlon XP in early 2003. Besides the usual improvements--higher clock speeds, better memory access, and faster overall performance--Clawhammer has something extra in store: It's the first 64-bit processor you'll find in desktop PCs.

Why does AMD think you need 64 bits? Memory is one reason: A 32-bit CPU can address up to 4GB of memory--more than enough for current desktop PCs. But servers are already pushing past that limit, and AMD is betting that today's 1GB desktops will soon become tomorrow's 4GB systems.

Still, most of the benefits of 32-bit CPUs came after they could run a 32-bit operating system, with drivers and applications to match. Microsoft hasn't announced plans to release a 64-bit OS designed for Clawhammer, so no one knows when that transition will occur. Fortunately, Clawhammer is compatible with existing 32-bit applications.

--Eric Dahl

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