AMD thinks long and hard about what to call Athlon chip

AMD has announced it will release the latest chip in its Athlon range next month - the suspiciously named 1.5GHz Athlon XP.

However, according to reports on US newswires, the company is claiming the branding decision has nothing to do with Windows XP, which also hits the shelves next month. In AMD's case the XP stands for eXtra Performance - in Microsoft's it stands for eXPerience.

By rebranding its chips AMD is looking to end unfavourable comparisons with Intel. By choosing not to make a feature of the chip's speed AMD removes direct comparisons with Intel.
Consumers buying PCs often use the chip speed as a criteria for which PC they choose - not taking into account the fact that AMD chips offer better performance at lower clock speeds than Intel.

Athlon is even planning to offer a rating for its chips to show how they compare to Intel's own chips - for example the 1.5GHz chip would carry a rating of 1900+ to show what kind of megahertz processing power it offers compared to an Intel chip of the same speed.