Late yesterday, Advanced Micro Designs (AMD) announced new Athlon microprocessors that close the gap with Intel's most powerful performers. The Athlon XP 2800+ and 2700+ use a 333 MHz bus, a first for AMD, and are roughly comparable to Intel's market-leading Pentium 4, which runs at speeds up to 2.8 GHz. AMD says the speedy new Athlons will become available to customers beginning next month. Of course, by that time, Intel will have likely released its 3 GHz Pentium 4 design, keeping a promise it made earlier this year to hit 3 GHz by the end of 2002.
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