AMD Expands Athlon 64 Line

Advanced Micro Devices extended its line of Athlon 64 processors Tuesday, rolling out three new mobile chips and a processor aimed at desktop PCs and desktop replacement notebooks.

The Sunnyvale, California, company introduced the new 3200+, 3000+, and 2800+ mobile chips, saying that their 64-bit processing power makes them well suited for notebooks with digital media and other applications requiring added performance.

The mobile chips are priced at $293 for the 3200+, $233 for the 3000+, and $193 for the 2800+, all in 1000 unit quantities.

The new Athlon 3400+ chip, meanwhile, is targeted at desktop PCs or desktop replacement notebooks with digital media applications, offering power management and wireless LAN compatibility, AMD says. The 3400+ is priced at $417 in 1000 unit quantities.

AMD has lined up some 60 manufacturers and system builders in support of its AMD 64 family of processors. The new Mobile AMD 64 chips will be in systems from eMachines as early as January, with Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Fujitsu to use the new 3400+ chips in desktop systems immediately, the company says.

Tough Competition

The new AMD chips come as part of an overall effort to turn up the heat on rival Intel, which is preparing to launch its new Prescott chip, according to IDC research analyst Ian Gibb.

Prescott, which is an update to the current Pentium 4 processor, is expected to ship next month, and will arrive with multimedia instructions and a more mass-market appeal than the new AMD chips, Gibb says.

The AMD chips are geared toward niche markets such as gaming and high-end workstations but could filter further into the mass market as prices come down, he says.

Although it remains to be seen how the new AMD chips fare in the next couple quarters, they show that AMD can at least compete with market leader Intel, Gibb says.