More news today: Compaq, IBM, Gateway all unveil K6-III computers
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 26, 1999, 9:00 a.m. PT
Advanced Micro Devices is raining on the Pentium III parade with a fast K6-2 chip and new customers for its processors.
Although the company has recently suffered financial and manufacturing setbacks, AMD continues to land design wins with major PC vendors in the consumer computer market. Gateway's Select line of consumer PCs marks the company's first use of AMD chips in the United States.
Price is a major attraction for both manufacturers and consumers. The 450-MHz K6-2 sells for $202 in volume while the 400-MHz K6-3 sells for $284.
By contrast, Intel's 450-MHz and 500-MHz Pentium IIIs are expected to sell for over $500 and $700, respectively, when they are launched today.
Like the Pentium IIIs, the K6 line contains multimedia extensions that can improve visual computing.
With the 450-MHz chip, AMD is only 50 MHz short of Intel's 500-MHz Pentium III. Increasing performance, however, continues to nudge the price range of AMD-based systems upward.
The IBM Aptiva 520, for instance, which comes with a 450-MHz K6-2, 64MB of memory, a 10GB hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive for $1,299, will run more than a number of AMD-based computers. The Aptiva 520 will go on sale March 8.
The Gateway Select line incorporates the K6-2 processors running at clock speeds of 366, 400, and 450 MHz. Prices start at $899.
The Compaq Presario 5600 is the only computer of the bunch that uses the recently released K6-III microprocessor. Further details are expected to follow later in the day.
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