AMD announced its 148, 248, and 848 processors two weeks ago.  These are essentially 2.2GHz Opterons which have an onboard memory controller capable of PC3200 (DDR400).  Unfortunately there do not seem to be any available right now.  For all intents and purposes, these are exactly identical to the Athlon FX-51 processors, but there are some minor electrical changes that make them capable of SMP. 

AMD still appears reserved about what they are going to do about Socket 939, considering updated roadmaps and rumors on Athlon FX-53.  It is looking, for now anyway, that the Socket 940 will stick around for a while still.  Also since this Socket 940 will be able to run Opteron chips it looks like there is no need to panic for all of you who bought into the first generation boards.

If you doubt the effectiveness of AMD’s low end processors, just check out Derek’s article from earlier this week.  The trusty Barton 2500+ chips continue to be the most desirable AMD processors and rightfully so (Derek’s benchmarks continue to show the Barton core outperforming the Thoroughbred 2600+).  Even with recent price increases this is the chip to have.  For AMD users looking to pack a little more punch, the 400FSB chips are still slightly cost inhibitive, but we will see a turn around in January most likely.

Opteron and Athlon 64 prices continue to remain stable.  We will continue to see a few small cuts in the Athlon 64 3200+ but probably not in the Athlon 64 FX 51.  We are still looking for supplies of Opteron X48 processors but once they hit stores the other speed units should dip in price. 

Intel Motherboards Intel CPUs
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  • KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link

    Drewintheav;

    While over the last few weeks I have begun to agree with you. This board is designed by my particular favorite former-Abit employee (he also did the BP6), and really is a killer design. Anyone else object?

    Kristopher
  • drewintheav - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link

    I think the DFI Ultra Infinity should be recommended over the Asus A7N8X Deluxe. The Infinity is faster, overclocks higher, supports 4x SATA raid, Digital coaxial S/PDIF in and out, CMOS reloaded BIOS setup and costs less than the A7N8X!
  • BlackShrike - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link

    So uh why does INTEL price their only competing cpu to the athlon 51 FX at like twice the price?
    I mean I know they can bullshit their marketing to anyone they want without AMD making a single protest, but the serious gamers will never buy it. Not when the FX is better at less price.
  • KristopherKubicki - Monday, December 8, 2003 - link

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/chipsets/display/2003...

    It depends on the board really. Some manufacturers have a stockpile of unlcoked chips, others do not. Check the forums for which motherboards have it and which dont.

    Kristopher
  • robschneider - Monday, December 8, 2003 - link

    This is the first time I've heard that Intel is removing the PAT backdoor from their 865PE chips. Has this been verified? Is it too late to buy an 865PE motherboard and get that feature?

    Rob
  • LazyBoyTony - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link

    Those P4 EE are soooooooo expensive....i thought they were going for around double the non extreme version..... i guess the extreme editions come with extreme prices :P
  • Glenn - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link

    no intel board prices either??
  • KristopherKubicki - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link

    Sorry, typo mistake ;) Fixed.
  • EglsFly - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link

    Ditto #1 - "Where are the AMD CPU prices?"
  • LHolmstrom - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link

    Where are the AMD CPU prices?

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