AMD today announced the launch of the Athlon 64 FX-62 and Athlon 64 X2 5000+ CPUs, which are compatible with the new socket AM2 platform. With AM2, AMD is finally supporting DDR2 memory. Benchmark of the new CPUs and the one or both of the new core logic chipsets (ATI and NVIDIA) can be found at Tech Report, PC Perspective, Bjorn3D, Motherboards.org, GamePyre, Hardware Secrets, HEXUS and Guru3D.

Tech Report reports on AMD's most recent price cuts, which discount the Athlon 64 X2 lineup by up to 20%. Linked in the story is this bit from The Inquirer, where they report that there will be some dramatic price cuts for Opteron 200-series CPUs soon.

AMD today announced the release of the Athlon 64 FX-60, their latest dual core processor now available for anyone who has a spare thousand bucks. Reviews can be found at Tech Report, AnandTech, NeoSeeker, Hexus, Trusted Reviews, bit-tech.net, PC Perspective and Bjorn3D.

EETimes.com reports on the most recent AMD analyst conference call, during which it was revealed that the chip manufacturer plans to release quad-core processors by 2007. The previous AMD road map had such a CPU being released in 2008. AMD also has plans to release a reference platform for notebooks, to speed up the time it takes to bring such products to market.

DigiTimes reports that AMD has lowered the prices for its CPUs. The biggest changes are for the AMD Turion 64 Mobile CPUs, but Athlon 64 X2s have gone down in price as well.

AMD outlines future technology directions on Tech Report takes a look at what AMD has in store for the rest of the year and beyond. Among the plans: 'more extensions to AMD64, four or more CPU cores per chip, and "reconfigurable" cores that can act like on-chip coprocessors'.

So the AMD vs Intel lawsuit is indeed raging on and the allegations from AMD have really begun to pile up. One of the most recent ones to come to light is that the compiler distributed by Intel actually compiles differently when an AMD processor is detected. Intentionally making applications slower and more prone to crashing. Here's the full PDF (Thanks /.) if you're feeling all lawyer like.

"To achieve this, Intel designed the compiler to compile code along several alternate code paths. ... By design, the code paths were not created equally. If the program detects a "Genuine Intel" microprocessor, it executes a fully optimized code path and operates with the maximum efficiency. However, if the program detects an "Authentic AMD" microprocessor, it executes a different code path that will degrade the program's performance or cause it to crash.""

Update: Looks like some Intel offices just got raided!

Following the release of the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840 and dual-core Opterons, AMD is soon releasing the Athlon 64 X2, a line of dual-core processors for desktop machines. Various sites have posted their benchmark results: check out HardOCP, Tech Report, Techware Labs, AMD Zone and Sudhian.

Both Tech Report and 3DGPU have taken a look at ATI's new Xpress 200, a new platform for AMD with PCI-Express support. Most of the test board was real solid, leading the Tech Report guys to say "It's a surprise because it's so darned good".

New on HomeLAN Fed this morning is a Q&A with Linda Kohout, marketing manager at AMD. Questions are about 64-bit CPUS and their importance for gaming.

AMD today launched the Athlon 64 desktop CPU, offering 64-bit computing while stile remaining compatible with all 32-bit software. Reviews of the Athlon 64 and/or Athlon 64 FX-51 with plenty of benchmarks - including comparisons with the upcoming Pentium 4 Extreme Edition - can be found at Tech Report, AnandTech, HardOCP, Gamers Depot, Legit Reviews, UK Gamer, Digit-Life, AMD Zone, and Sudhian (more links will be added as we get them). Here are some Unreal Tournament numbers from the Tech Report article

	UT2003 640x480 - Flyby
Athlon 64 FX-51	285.3 fps
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Extreme Edition	265.4 fps
Athlon 64 3200+	264.2 fps
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz	235.5 fps
Athlon XP 3200+	211.3 fps
Athlon XP 2500+	173.7 fps

A press release about industry support, performance, pricing, etc can be found here. The Athlon 64 3200+ will retail for around $417 while the Athlon 64 FX-51 will retail for somewhere around $733.

Well, the AMD 64bit Opteron CPU has shown up to play, the only three  reviews right now are available at AcesHardware , AMDZone , and Tomshardware. From the few benchmark images that I was actually able to load it looks like the Opteron beats out the 3GHz Xeon chips pretty handily when it comes to server related stuff like running SQL. If you were thinking about running one on your desktop though it's probably not worth it. We'll have to wait and see how the Athlon64 chip shapes up when that one comes along. Oh hey, Tomshardware drew a similar conclusion:

In the extensive benchmark tests under Linux Enterprise Server 8 (32-bit as well as 64-bit), the AMD Opteron made a good impression. Especially in the server disciplines, the benchmarks (MySQL, Whetstone, ARC 2D, NPB, etc.) show quite clearly that the Dual Opteron puts the Dual Xeon in its place.

update: More info @ AMD website , Linux Magazine , Newsforge (Thanks /.), HardOCP.

AMD has released the latest Athlon CPUs, and apparently we'll actually be able to buy them this time unlike previous Athlon paper launches. You can check out reviews of the XP3000+ (based on a new core) on HardOCP, Tech-Report, AnandTech, Deviant PC, Hexus, SimHQ, Ace's Hardware, Sudhian and Xbit Labs.

Well it's finally been decided, AMD will be launching their next-gen 64bit Hammer CPU, the Opteron in April. Along with that are a couple other CPU speeds mentioned in the following PR sent out by AMD this morning:

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2003 today announced that the worldwide introduction of its next-generation, 64-bit AMD Opteron(TM) processor for servers and workstations will take place on April 22 in New York City. AMD plans to follow up with the introduction of the AMD Athlon(TM) 64 processor for the desktop and mobile markets in September 2003. AMD also announced today that it will introduce the AMD Athlon XP processor 3000+ on February 10 and the AMD Athlon XP processor 3200+ in mid-2003. These processors, based on the core code-named "Barton," feature additional integrated cache memory for industry-leading performance. [snip]

Oh yeah, Hammer time! HAHA OMG YOU GUYS HAD NO IDEA I COULD MAKE SO MUCH FUNNY.

The long awaited AMD Hammer CPU, their next-gen 64bit crazyness looks to finally be just around the corner. March will see a very light sprinkling of chips, and when the 2nd quarter hits we'll see a bit more volume. Thanks Tech-Report

Thanks to VE for pointing the way to this quick blurb about the guys at AMD reconsidering the FSB's they are putting in to the lower end AthlonXP chips. Anyone here actually gotten to see or play with an AthlonXP beyond a 2100? I swear they launched those things a while ago.

This story on The Inquirer has some bad news about AMD, their market share has dropped to the lowest point in four years. While AMD managed to get a 20% marketshare before, they have now tumbled back to around 11.6%. Hopefully the Hammer introduction next year will help AMD.

For a little while it was looking like the AMD Hammer CPUs were going to come out a bit ahead of schedule, but now that doesnt seem to be the case. Check out the news.com article.

According to The Inquirer and their numerous sources, the new Athlon XP CPU to be released (the 2700+) will finally use a 333Mhz FSB. The XP 2700+ should ship in October.

AMD has released two new Athlon XP CPUs (2600+ and 2400+) and as usual, everyone and their mom has done a review. Check out Xbit Labs, VIA Hardware, Tech Report, Overclockers.au, FiringSquad, Aces Hardware, AMD Zone, HotHardware, AnandTech and HardOCP. If you want to check AMD's press release about the new CPUs, go here.