AMD: New chips still haven't caught up with Intel

AMD has taken the wraps off its desktop chip built on 0.13 micron process technology, but it still isn't speedy enough to rival Intel.

The new Athlon XP 2200+, formerly codenamed Thoroughbred, runs at 1.8GHz, a slower clock speed than Intel's fastest-available 2.53GHz Pentium 4 chip.

AMD has always maintained that its processors deliver more bang per hertz than its rivals, with benchmark tests rating it approximately equivalent to a 2.2GHz Pentium 4.

Over the past two years, AMD has been able to match or exceed the performance of its larger rival's chips, but Intel now seems to have pulled ahead on the raw power stakes.

However, AMD still has an advantage in terms of cost, with prices of $241 per chip in thousand-unit quantities.

The launch price of Intel's 2.53GHz Pentium was $637 each for a 1,000-unit order.

AMD's 0.13 micron process effectively means that a processor with the same number of components can be squeezed onto a much smaller piece of silicon - increasing the number of chips that can be made on a single wafer of silicon, and bringing down the unit cost of each chip.

0.13 micron manufacturing also produces chips with lower power consumption.

The company's first 0.13 micron product shipped in April 2002, though Intel released the world's first commercial 0.13 micron products in July 2001.

Fujitsu-Siemens and Compaq have both announced Athlon XP 2200+ based products, said AMD.

On the same day, Intel announced a new product for the lower end of the market - a new 1.8GHz Celeron aimed at entry level PCs.