AMD is expected to unveil its most powerful desktop processors to date this week, a few days after rival Intel disclosed changes to its desktop processor road map.
The Athlon 64 FX-55 and the Athlon 64 4000+ will take over the top of AMD's performance lineup. The Athlon 64 FX product line is for the most demanding PC users and applications, while the Athlon 64 is viewed as a more mainstream chip for the consumer and business desktop market.
The Athlon 64 FX55 runs at 2.6GHz and matches up against Intel's Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor. Both of these chips represent the highest level of desktop performance available from each company, and each charges a premium for these chips.
The Athlon 64 FX55 costs manufacturers £472 in quantities of 1000 units. The 3.4GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition costs £552 for 1000 units.
In order to increase performance over the Athlon 64 3800+, AMD added 512KB of cache memory to the Athlon 64 4000+ for a total of 1MB of Level 2 cache.
The Athlon 64 4000+ is virtually identical to the Athlon 64 FX55, but runs slightly slower at 2.4GHz and is slightly less expensive.
For a review of the Athlon 64 FX55, see the December issue of PC Advisor, on sale tomorrow.
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