Jul. '00 Headlines

The AMD Duron and Thunderbird microprocessors have arrived. These new CPUs now include the much needed full-speed secondary cache that AMD lacked in the past-- up until now, Coppermine PIII processors smoked the competition because this feature was already in place. However, AMD has once again "taken the lead in performance" with their new CPUs, which now use the new `L2 cache` in conjunction with their already superior chip design.

There's just one new catch with the new generation of AMD CPUs: they will now use a format called Socket-462.

All of AMD's processors in the upcoming future will support this new "design", meaning Slot A boards on the market currently catering the `Athlon Classic` will slowly become obsolete. The question is, who will be the first motherboard manufacturer to create a motherboard for the new-generation `Socket-462`?

Via actually responded to this request the very day that the new Thunderbird and Duron CPUs were announced. The Taiwanese company introduced a motherboard with the `KT133` chipset, much similar to the "Slot-A" KX133 chipset in form, but tweaked to support socket-based Athlons. (It should be understood that the Thunderbird will be released under the Athlon name; the only way to differentiate the new Athlons from the old are the slot and socket designs). At present time, Via reports that the KT133 chipset will support all upcoming Duron CPUs and Thunderbirds ranging up to 1 GHz.

It may be possible it can go beyond this threshold, however there are no AMD CPUs currently above 1 GHz, so at this point it is hard to say.

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